Take the Long Way Home

All photos taken on November 28, 2023.

The West End has one of the highest WalkScores in Canada and possibly in North America. Here are the walkscore comparisons for:

Our home in Beaumont

63/100 Somewhat walkable

47/100 Somewhat bikeable

0/100 transit wasteland (my words)

Our home away from home in Vancouver

98/100 Walker’s paradise

72/100 Very bikeable

100/100 Rider’s paradise (transit)

Our kid’s place in the West End

99/100 Walker’s paradise

97/100 Biker’s paradise

98/100 Rider’s paradise (transit)

Given the population density, frequent gridlock, lack of car parking spaces and few if any free parking spaces, is it any wonder that you can get places faster by walking or biking?

We never had any problem getting our steps in. During the 38 days we spent in Vancouver, we walked 249.3 km (155 miles) and biked 46.7 km (29 1/8 miles) together. I biked an additional 61.1 km (37 9/10 miles) with my son.

So, when it came time to walk home this day, we chose to go the scenic route instead of the direct route.

Here is the map of our walk of 5.4 km (2 3/4 miles) on this day.

We first walked down to nearby English Bay…

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…pausing to take in the water traffic (no parking issues out there)…

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…and the sea plane traffic (daily flights to Victoria and Nanaimo and numerous smaller island centers).

Near the Parks Board offices on Beach Avenue and Park Lane, the black and grey squirrels were feasting on the fallen horse chestnuts.

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You may recall the profucsion of rhododendron and azalea flowers here in my May/June posts. This is kinda all that is left at this time of year. Some late bloomers, so to speak. 

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And we think we have problems picking up all the leaves in our back yard.

If you do not mind a lower walkscore and alwyas having to walk up or down hlls, you could stay in this tower with views of Stanley Park and English Bay.

The rhodendron garden preparing for winter

If you want to go skiing, Grouse Mountain (this shot), Cypress Mountain and Mount Seymour are just across the Burard Inlet in West and North Vancouver.

A walk by a pond is just steps away at Lost Lagoon. I won’t say a quiet walk, as you can always hear the city here.

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There are mountain views enough to go around, like this one behind North Vancouver.

Clearing up leaves in the autumn can be a fulltime job and there are plenty of firms willing to take this task on for a fee.

I am afraid we are spoiled. If we ever move to Vancouver, there is little point living anywhere other than the West End.