The morning broke georgeously through our windows. I was very eager to get out into it. However, my ankle was screaming at me.
I took a look at it. Uh oh. That can't be good!!! It was all swollen up in a disturbing way. I guess I had hurt it more than I thought, on my Cape Roger Curtis tumble the day before.
Since I was actually pretty worried, and in a fair amount of pain, I downed an Advil and very slowly made my way to the Doctor's Office in Artisan Square. (If you know me, you will be shocked by this, as I didn't even visit a doctor when I broke my rib two years ago.) After seeing the Doctor, I tried to expand my walk into more of a real "hike," but only made it to the Knick Knack Nook before I had to turn back in tears. A total of about 3.75 km.
I picked a fairly random starting point. I headed up Village Drive. At the end of Village Drive there was a set of stone pillars. I paid careful attention to each step, making sure my ankle was perfectly aligned. Any slight slant to the left or right sent a shot of pain up my shin, and warned me that I could be doing serious damage. As long as each footfall was straight, I suffered no pain by walking.
It had actually taken us a few attempts to figure out the location this right-of-way path. It is directly to the right of the brick driveway. We had to get pretty close to realize that it was a path at all!
The path started out flat, then soon descended a long set of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was the Bowen Island Municipality (BIM) building, or in other words, "City Hall." From here, one can access Cates Hill via multiple trails, as well as descend down to Snug Cove.
To get to Artisan Square, one must walk through the BIM parking lot, and then follow the road, called Prometheus Place.
Prometheus Place is little more than a one-lane road, but there was very little traffic, now, or any other time I had walked it. A tiny sign indicating "Artisan Square path" was attached to a tree, below several colorful birdhouses.
Prometheus Place leads directly to Artisan Square. Fortunately, the Doctor's office was at the close end of the complex. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that until I had done two or three complete circles of the shopping area. :( By then, my ankle was throbbing.
Fortunately, the Doctor was able to squeeze me in within 30 mins, and take a look at my ankle. I told the Doctor I that I had sprained my ankle two years ago, which was true (I had fallen into a fence-post hole in France), but actually, it was only after checking my phone later that I realized that I was conflating two separate ankle injuries.
Google Photo had sent me an email "This day in 2008"... I was in China. I laughed that one of the photos in the set was me hobbling along the Great Wall. A couple weeks before I left for China, I had fallen in a totally different hole in Vancouver and snapped the tendon in my foot. I had been on crutches, but had ditched them and done my trip with just a leg brace. My driver (yeah, I had a driver-- like I'm gonna drive in China!! NOPE) had laughed at me when I returned to the parking lot after touring the wall. She said she could pick me out the whole way, as I limped awkwardly along the wall. Here I am walking down the incline sideways, because I couldn't do it facing forwards.
But I digress... So, after seeing the Doctor, who gave me a tentative "A-OK: nothing too serious," and suggested some treatments I could start immediately, and some rehab exercises I could do after the swelling and pain subsided, I decided I could handle a bit more of a walk. For some reason, after seeing the Doctor, my ankle was hurting a lot less, and even looked less swollen. Funny how that works, eh? ;)
I walked to the opposite end of Artisan Square, and took Artisan Lane downhill towards Grafton Rd. It was only about 450m.
I took a right at the corner, and walked a short stretch on Grafton Rd. Normally, that road was pretty busy, but this day, I could make it the 150m to Carter Rd without many cars passing.
At Carter Rd, I turned left, and soon encountered the Bowen Children's Centre. They offer after-school care, day care, preschool, parenting seminars and workshops, and the Family Place, a space for parents and children to socialize.
Just past the Bowen Children's Centre, I could see the Island Pacific School, on the other side of a small bridge over Terminal Creek. The Island Pacific School was a very small (68 students!) private middle school with an IB programme. According to The Undercurrent, their advanced and comprehensive learning environment has helped send students onward to top institutions, such as Oxford and Cambridge.
Just shy of the bridge, a foot path diverged from the road, and ran parallel to Terminal Creek. The view from this area was fantastic, as the creek cascaded down the hillside.
A little farther down the path, the path split in two. I really didn't know which way I should go, so I chose the left-hand path, thinking it would follow the creek, which is what I wanted.
The path was fairly dry and even, as I descended the incline towards Mt Gardner Rd. It was not too hard on my ankle, as long as I took every step carefully, and made sure I didn't tip my ankle side-to-side.
I encountered a picnic table set next to a lovely viewpoint of the creek. A woman sat at the table, having a cigarette and looking at the water. Here again, the waterfalls were stunning.
From the picnic table, Mt Gardner Rd was visible, and I made my way down. I exited next to the gas station-- yes, THE gas station: it's the only one on the island. There has been a gas station on and off the island for decades. I was glad that this was a time when the gas station seemed to be running well. An interesting dilemma for Bowen Islanders has been that fuel can only be brought on-island via the BC Ferries once per week, on Wednesday's "Dangerous Cargo" sailing. This regulation has affected not only gasoline, but also propane, on which many homes rely for heat and cooking.
Across from the gas station, is the Bowen Island Recycling Centre (BIRD) and the Knick Knack Nook. The BIRD had an amazing set-up of bins... I barely have words... my brain LOVED the meticulous organization of it, and I wished I had taken some photos inside... I just didn't want to look like a weirdo to all the wonderful people bringing in their glass, cans, plastics, papers, lightbulbs, batteries, and all the rest. ;) I just looked online for a photo, but couldn't find one that captured the beauty of it. I'll have to simply take one myself, later. ;)
[Edit: as promised, here is the inside, that I snapped at a later visit.]
On this day, I did, however, manage to snap a shot of the Knick Knack Nook, a volunteer-run store dependent on donations, intent on reusing, reducing, and recycling previously loved goods on the island. It was less meticulously organized inside ;) but it did have a lot of great stuff... clothing, household, decorative, even a weed wacker outside that I had to leave behind because I couldn't figure out how to get it home on (gimpy) foot.
Two teens in wigs wove their way excitedly through the aisles, looking for matching outfits. I picked up a few adornments for our new home. This place would be even more valuable, now that the Antique Emporium in Snug Cove was closed.
After my shopping, I crossed at the crosswalk to get back to the path.
I found myself back at the picnic table. This time, it was empty.
At the picnic table, the path forked, and I realized that the two paths I had seen on the way down joined at both ends. So I chose the other path on the way back up, just for some variety.
It didn't take me long to have my regrets... this path was practically a creek. But I didn't slip, and my shoes only got a little bit wet.
I was grateful to rejoin the other trail again, at the top of the incline.
I made my way back to the little fence and the lookout over the creek's upper waterfalls.
On the way out, I noticed that the trail split, and led to the back of the Children's Centre. Funny, I didn't notice that on the way down. Perhaps because I was staring at the waterfall, on the other side of the trail.
I got back on Carter Rd, and walked up the hill to Grafton Rd.
I turned right onto Grafton Rd, and just past the intersection saw two sets of blue signs. The first was for BIM, and the second for Artisan Square. At the second set of signs, I was surprised to also see a brown Trans-Island Trail sign! Beside it, a footpath led off into the trees.
I was excited to not have to walk on Grafton Rd. It was so funny how things looked so different, when walking in the opposite direction. I had not seen the signs or trail, on my way out.
The trail exited back onto Grafton Rd, right across from the intersection with Artisan Way. How convenient! I wondered whether there were other trails like this along Grafton Rd that I had missed when walking to the Irly.
I headed up Artisan Lane back to Artisan Square.
Just before exiting the square to go onto Prometheus Place, the view of the mountains caught my eye. How spectacular! I didn't think I would ever get tired of gazing at those mountains.
Prometheus Place had a sign saying "No Thru Road," but that was just to notify the cars. Pedestrians had many options, past the BIM building at the end of the road.
Heading down the road towards the BIM, the noise of children playing echoed up from the Bowen Island Community School, the public elementary school, down on Grafton Rd.
As I hobbled slowly along the road, my foot was hurting again. I had pushed it too hard that day. I worried about being able to do a hike the next day... or the rest of the week...
Since moving to Bowen, I couldn't seem to fit in both hiking and spiritual work, or any blogging, especially when trying to set up the house. Now, with an injured foot that threatened my hiking, I was close to tears.
BIM came into view, and I gingerly hauled myself up the stairs.
The little path led me out to Village Drive, and it wasn't long before I was past the stone pillars and back on the road.
My dog was happy to see me, as always, but my sour mood stayed with me.
Then, as I washed dishes in my kitchen, a Stellar Jay squawked at me through the window. Then there were two, three, four of them!! I knew that the previous owner of my house used to put out peanuts for the birds. I wondered whether the birds were scolding me for cutting off their supply. I grabbed a handful of almonds and put them out in the dish the previous owner had left on the patio.
I remembered getting a message from the Stellar Jay when on my hiking trip with Nihan in the Cowichan. I looked it up. It said: "I am fortitude. rebirth, and life after death. No, everything is not okay and you have died, but I will make you pick up your bones and show you how to build a new life." (Source)
Well, I certainly was learning to build a new life here, on Bowen Island. I suppose this injury and this message meant I was right on track... ;)
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