The dates for our Vancouver, BC trip for the gathering of the A Division Drop Outs were set so on April 14 we took off for Ian Roberts’s house in Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver.  It was a 6-hour trip with a border crossing so we just headed up I-5 – oh joy!  Our journey started in driving rain with a temperature of about 45’F/7’C and the weather didn’t improve until we were past Seattle.  Must be something to do with age but I really dislike fighting interstate traffic, especially in bad weather, and driving through Portland, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, and Bellingham did nothing to change my dislike.  Tacoma and Seattle are virtually one city so the traffic starts building at Olympia and that’s it pretty much to the Canadian border.  There was some beautiful countryside, even going through Seattle, but as a driver you don’t get to see stuff.  Anyway, we made it safely to the border where a delightful Border Patrol lady checked us through after we confirmed we had no weapons in our possession!  The drive into Coquitlam was pain free though we did cross a lot of bridges.

A Division Nick – New Scotland Yard 1962

The A Division Drop Outs were Ian & Neil Roberts, Peter Taverner, and myself.  Peter was flying in from Australia, where he is now living in Queensland.  Neil and Lesley were travelling from their home on Savary Island, which involves a water taxi to Lund where they collect their car, then its 2 ferry crossings, in the 100 mile journey to Vancouver.  Took almost as long as Taverner flying in from Aus and certainly longer than our drive from McMinnville!  I hadn’t seen Ian & Peter since our days in the Met – 52 years ago!

The good old days – CND riots 1962

Traffic duty Parliament Square 1962 – took 6 of us working in sync to get the MPs in and out of the Houses of Parliament while they were in session.

Our host Ian likes to cook and bakes his own bread and pies as well as making jams, jellies, and chutneys, so our stay promised to be memorable in more ways than one.  Lesley & Neil had brought coolers of Savary Island oysters with them that were super delicious. The first night’s dinner was oysters on the half shell followed by Beef Bourguignon followed by Raspberry Tart – I could see things were going to be tough!  In fact every dinner started with oysters that Lesley prepared in a different way – truly spoilt.  Ian arranged for us to meet up with his son Robby and wife Cary whom we hadn’t seen since they visited us in Beijing while exploring China – now married with 2 children – that does make you feel your age!  We finally all gathered on Saturday night for one of Ian’s curries where we caught up, to a certain extent, and did “who the hell was the fourth person we shared the flat with in Russell Road?”  I think the lack of remembering was more to do with the alcohol consumed at the time, rather than old age!  Ian and Peter made a big impact on my life as they introduced me to their lives in Kenya and Tanganyika, Curries, Modern Jazz, and taught me enough Kiswahili to try and fool their friends in the Habari Club.  At least Ann and Lesley now know those outlandish stories their husbands had been telling for years were actually true!  With emails and phone numbers exchanged we’ll hopefully see each other a bit more often in the future.  On Sunday Neil and Lesley left to catch up with their kids who live in Vancouver, Peter was spending time with his daughter, and we took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island to see our other Canaardian friends, Wishart & Kathy.

Coquitlam, BC

The ferry crossing was quite lovely as it was a fabulous day with clear blue skies as we made our way through a series of islands before the final open water stretch in Nanaimo, VI’s largest town after Victoria.  It’s a 1 1/2 hour crossing to VI, which is the size of England – about 550 miles long and 200 miles wide with the Vancouver Island Range running down the centre and Mount Golden Hinde topping out above 7,000 ft.  So named as it was first spotted by Sir Francis Drake.  Our stay with Wish and Kathy was quite splendid to say the least – I mean who has a guest suite with a king sized bed and bathroom the size of Marks Fulham flat!  Pure luxury!  Their new house is quite spectacular and in many respects very similar to Jim & Jerries’ new house.  Fabulous kitchen, dining, and living room all looking out over Nanaimo Bay and distant snow-capped mountains.   Our hosts were out playing golf when we arrived so we sat on the deck with a bottle of 40 Knots, a Vancouver Island Rose that was surprising good and went really well with the setting.  As we all had a tough day playing golf and doing a ferry crossing we went out to their local pub, the Black Goose Inn, for dinner; very much a pub as you order food and drinks at the bar.  Also, true pub fare – 7 varieties of pies including steak & kidney pie, halibut and chips, bangers & mash, etc.  My steak & kidney pie was one of the best I had in years!  Good draught beers, but a small wine list though we did manage to find a decent Shiraz to go with the pie.  The next day our perfect hosts gave us a tour of their area complete with rocky coves and beaches and the one and only sandy beach.

Pheasant Glen GC

The next day it was a round of golf at Pheasant Glen with Eddie, one of Wish’s old time Petro-Canada buddies.  Great fun in a beautiful setting though my golf was not so hot.  I blamed it on having to play in trainers with a mixed bag of old clubs – hey, I need every excuse I can to cover my lack of skill!  Did find a shitty green brown Pheasant Glen golf shirt for Scott in the sale rack, which made me a happy chappie!  While we were playing golf Ann & Kathy had gone off to collect a bunch of Spot Prawns which had just come into season and are only found in this part of BC. They are a hard shell deep water prawn with four small spots on the tail, which were some of the best prawns we had ever tasted.  Cooked by me in white wine, ginger, and garlic while Wishart prepared and cooked Ling Cod he had caught earlier in the year for the main course – what a meal!  What can ever be better than good friends, great food and wine, all with one of the most spectacular views you will find anywhere in the world.  Ann and I were mesmerised by the changing colours of the water and mountains in the evening light.  We reluctantly left the next morning to drive over the mountains to Victoria to catch the ferry to the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State.  Wish and Kathy said we should have lunch at the Inn at Laurel Point which we could walk to from the ferry terminal and which had the best view of Victoria Bay and the town.  Rocked up at the terminal and parked number two in line behind a 1940 F-100 pick-up that was immaculately renovated.  Picked up our tickets and headed off to Aura, the restaurant at the Inn at Laurel Point, where, as Wish and Kathy had promised we had a stunning view across the bay to the town.  We enjoyed an outstanding meal of Asian inspired dishes (Chef was Japanese) followed by local VI/BC cheeses, all accompanied by an excellent VI Sauvignon Blanc, all while watching little ferries, float planes, and whale watching boats moving across the bay.

Victoria Harbour from the Inn at Laurel Point.

We cleared Customs and Immigration in Victoria and then it was an another 1 & 1/2 hour ferry trip that was pretty much a straight run across open water to Port Angeles.  Picked up some duty free for Steve, our next friend stop in Sequim (pronounced Squim – catchy) and then it was a quick check by Border Patrol before we headed down Rt 101.  Our Border Patrol agent asked where I was from in the UK, and when I said the Cambridgeshire/Norfolk borders he said he original came from Blakeney!   Travelling really is quite amazing at times!  Our host for the night was Steve Schermerhorn who had been best man at our wedding in Bali many moons ago.

Dinner was steamed Dungeness Crab with lashings of a very good Washington State Sauvignon Blanc.  The Friends with Food theme continued!  After dinner Steve produced a 35 year old cask aged Armagnac for us to sip on – quite something.  He then went one further the next morning when he produced Hangtown Fry for breakfast made with eggs and fresh Hama Hama Bay oysters.  Steve said we would drive past the Hama Hama Oysters store and we should stop as apart from their fresh oysters they did great smoked and pickled oysters.  We duly stopped and bought smoked and pickled oysters!  Our route back home was down Rt 101, across the Columbia River at Astoria, then picking up Rt 47 into McMinnville.  My Navigator in Chief decided we should stop for lunch at the Miller House in Elma, which was not easy to find!  We parked outside the Miller House only to see a truck across the road in a large parking area was belching smoke and fumes and surrounded by a number of police.  We ate our lunch while watching the local fire brigades get the fire under control – did a great job.  A beautiful drive through Washington and Oregon blighted by huge areas of mountains completed clear logged.  I’m sure they would all be replanted, but in the meantime it looked pretty awful.

So back to Hidden Hills after an International Friends & Food Road Trip!  It was quite amazing in so many ways – the people, the countryside, the food, and the wine – a once in a life time trip where everything just comes together!