A Perfect Winter Camp

Stunning scenery, beautiful beaches, great beach walks and fabulous campfires. Join us for some delicious food and two perfect nights of winter camping. Well hello everybody and welcome. Welcome once more to one of my little winter adventures. Milo and I are headed over to an island I've been at before. It's called Quadra Island and we've just boarded a ferry. A ride's about 15 minutes. It's a gray day but it's not raining and tomorrow it's forecast to be cloudy with some sun so I didn't want to miss that in February. These west coast days you know they're pretty dreary sometimes. Well what do you think? This is uh this is pretty okay. There's hardly anyone here. There's some people in motorhomes up where they've still got hookups and as long as the wind doesn't get up really badly I'll be perfectly fine here. I'm pretty happy. See right at this very moment it's uh I say it's the very very beginning of February and I can do it. All right yes let's give it a go. I think we're just going to walk along this beach towards what's called a Rebecca Spett which is a provincial park and certainly one of the main reasons that I chose to come here because I'm hoping that tomorrow with the better weather we'll get some nice views and we'll be able to enjoy the park. So come on let's go. Slippery. Well I just had a lovely conversation with a delightful young lady by the name of Carly who lives here on Quadra Island and she was just walking along and hey we got chatting and yes such an interesting person and just a you meet the nicest people when you're out. I'm sure that you can identify with that. So over here we've got quite a different view and I just want you to cast your eyes down on all of this driftwood of which there is more than you can imagine. This bit has quite a nice forest over quite a lot of it even though it's not very wide but it does give some nice variety and some wind protection. Beach walking never grows old. Just a beach walker. Well here we are back at the Blue Lady. It's a little wet out and I was going to have a fire and cook my dinner out here but I think I'm going to make a slight adjustment. But first of all it's time for me to get Milo some dinner. He's had a really good walk and I think we both feel so much better for that. Okay good boy and this is what I'm going to try to do. I've never tried this before but I'm using my my steel wok as a barbecue. I put some briquettes in some fire starter and I'm going to hope for the best. So I'm a great believer in if you can make one thing do several different things it's it's not only efficient but it's economical and also it's great for packing in small spaces. So if I can turn this wok into a barbecue using briquettes oh I figured that's a a win-win. Okay we're in the van and here's dinner. I've got some bagged salad. Over here I've got some potatoes which I've cut very small and then over here I've got way too much meat. There you see it is cooking. It's a good thing I like medium rare. This actually looks surprisingly good. So I think I'm going to clean up. I'm going to take the dog out for one last emptying dog walk then I'm going to come in and get my book and just have a quiet evening. I'm going to say good night and I'm going to look forward to seeing you in the morning because I'm really happy that we've got a whole day. I'm not just doing a turnaround and going back home tomorrow. We've got all day tomorrow. It could take a leisurely day and I think we'll have a really great one. So good night and I'll see you in the morning. Wow good morning everybody. This is looking pretty hopeful for today. I woke up earlier and it was so foggy that you couldn't see a thing. I put Milo out he turned around and came right back in. So he wasn't impressed either. So we just crawled under the blankets for another while and sure enough the fog lifted and so we're out now for the first dog walk of the day. I haven't had breakfast yet so I'm going to but I got to walk the dog first. So I'll go do that and then I'll come back and get breakfast done. I'm just going to enjoy this pancakes with blueberries and some bacon and I'll see you on the trail. Well what a gorgeous day for February. It's just absolutely stunning. So I think Milo and I are just going to head up here up the beach and stop and take a few photos now and then and and just enjoy this absolutely terrific day. It's very mild. I'm not sure what the temperature is but it's probably 10 or 12 degrees be my guess. Yes great. Well what a beautiful day this has turned out to be. I've walked out to the end of the spit and just come around the corner on the beach for a little while. Milo's having a really good sniff. He's on his long line so there's ample opportunities to get tangled along all this driftwood and also knock over my tripod. Anyway he's happy. He's a happy boy. I was thinking about that young lady I met yesterday Carly and she told me that somewhere up here that she has a special spot and she likes to come here when she needs that that you know that down time where sometimes you just have to come and sort stuff out emotionally sort of debrief with yourself and it got me thinking when I was walking out here today that how important that is. I remember when I was younger mostly in my teens and early 20s well you know maybe for a long time after off and on I'd really need to go and find a quiet place and it was always for me it was always out in nature. I don't think it matters where it is but I do think that there's a lot of value in having a place where you can just go and just relax and think your thoughts and not be interrupted and if you're in a beautiful place like I am right now you know there's a lot of amazing benefits to being out in nature breathing fresh air being surrounded by beauty and I was thinking about the little spots that I had over the years and I think they're kind of a bit like you know in churches they have a sanctuary the sanctuary they call it and I think that that's kind of what these little places are for many of us is our own place of sanctuary where there's nothing pressing on us and we can just be at peace in the moment so what a joy this has been and the fact that this day has turned out to be so amazing so I'm hoping that later this afternoon I'm going to actually have a fire which I did not do last night because it was just really wet and getting and dark it was all closing in but today I think we've got a good shot at it yes there's a lot to be grateful for in this funny world of ours there are treasures out there this is a great bay in the warmer weather for people on paddle boards kayaking canoeing it's and it warms up a bit because the tide goes out quite far so uh yeah it's a very very popular place in the summer well back in the van I've just had a cup of tea and Milo has had a little snack and Milo's outside having a rest on his dog bed it's a little bit of sun out there and he's pretty comfortable I think he was tired somehow that he and I had been wandering around out on the spit for just under three hours I think it was such a nice day that you know we didn't actually want to come back but it's it's good it's a and the sun is still sort of trying to stay up it'll be behind the trees soon but um I'm gonna try something different for dinner you know me and trying to cook outdoors sometimes things work and sometimes they don't work or should I say sometimes they work better than other times but I was talking to a friend and she said that she makes Yorkshire pudding in a Dutch oven I thought well I'm not going to make Yorkshire pudding and roast beef or gravy or anything like that but I thought I'd want to try this this idea of doing some type of Yorkshire pudding in the Dutch oven which I've not done before my mother-in-law was a wonderful farm cook and she used to make this thing called toad in the hole now you might have called it something different but basically what it is is sausages cooked in um you know a cast iron pot pan and then you pour the batter for the Yorkshire over the top throw it in the oven and the Yorkshire sometimes would rise and sometimes it wouldn't rise but even if it's heavy it still tastes good so as long as it's cooked so I'm gonna go with that not sure about the amounts here but we're gonna go more by how does it look okay I've been mixing for a while and I'll give it a little bit more and then I just let it rest so this is going to sit now for probably at least two to two and a half hours and and then we'll give it a go and see what happens this is absolutely glorious I'm just bowled over it's uh getting on for probably 3 30 4 o'clock but the sun is still up and it's really out shining now and this is absolutely perfect you couldn't ask for anything better the first week of February than this this is one of the best days we've had since last fall it's absolutely terrific well Mila's pretty happy I think he's really enjoyed this day as much as I have you know getting out and walking for as much as we've done today which has been a big part of day and now we've got this gorgeous sun on our campsite okay here's my plan I've got these briquettes in the wok I've got probably way more than I need but better more than not enough and oops there we go so what I'm going to do is get them going in here and I put the handle on the wok I'm going to dump some of these briquettes into the frying pan which is part of this set which I've lined again with some foil and then I'm going to put the cast iron on top of the briquettes in the frying pan and then I will dump with using the handle the other briquettes onto the top because I don't have a shovel and this is my own fault for moving the briquettes around and I have gloves but they have got a rubberized outside and I'm afraid I'm going to melt my my gloves in my hand so anyway that's the plan I'm just going to let these carry on and we're going to progress and when they get going I'm going to start cooking the sausage on the fire I think it's finally time to start thinking about how to cook this all right maybe maybe that'll be better so one step at a time all right I'm trying this but the sun has gone down the mist is like really moving across the bay it's getting cool but it is an absolutely glorious winter evening and just from what I can see in the camera it looks way lighter in the camera right now than it actually is but it's great I'm just absolutely loving this it's so much fun and uh yeah I'm I am going to turn the camera so you can see the mist it's just this is moving in more and more on the bay and oh and my sausage is starting to drip so things are progressing well this has actually been a really special trip for me I never get tired of the the changing and the variation of what happens in the weather on this west coast environment that I live in and all of this mist and fog and the light and everything changes like every few minutes every few seconds like right now it's changing right before my eyes and I'm really glad that I can share this with you I don't know if I'm capturing it adequately probably not because I'm in between jumping up and down trying to cook toad in the hole but it doesn't matter I mean this is what I love I love about where I live I love visiting other places but I do love like the mystery of of living here on the coast and the change that happens constantly be right before your eyes you never know if this I mean you haven't had a whale come up or anything but there could be because they do come in this bay um you know it's just um yeah it's pretty amazing what nature's got this has been 20 minutes I'm a little bit nervous about taking the coals off because I'm never going to get them all back on again if I have to put it back in but anyway I think we have to try I cannot hear any more sizzling which I did hear for quite a while so it's telling me the bottom is done and I don't want to burn the bottom so I'm going to put my headlamp on and we're going to go have a look at this toad in the hole and I must assure you there are no toads in here this is the big reveal right all right let's see whoa holy mackerel but look at what I did I just put all the ash in there but that's that's just freaking amazing I don't know if it's burnt on the bottom or just what oh my goodness so all right I've got to go get another cloth because I've got to lift this off but look at that oh my goodness I would never have thought that all right hang on oh I wish I hadn't got all that ash on there and now you feel about ash in your dinner but anyway so most of it doesn't have ash on it so I can just cut this off I think we can just make this do now it doesn't well it is done it's solid so I'm hoping it's not burnt on the bottom doesn't no look at that I would never have thought that would have worked so well okay you and I both know that I am not going to eat all of this for dinner but let's let's cut into it uh this is not a very well-balanced meal but this is really good you know what I'd like I'd like a little bit of maybe ketchup or some sauce on here but this fluffy Yorkshire is amazing even with ashes on it I'm just gonna eat as much as I want and I was gonna make salad but I think I'm just gonna eat this this is this is something else yeah you gotta try this toad in the hole but it doesn't matter what you call it it's darn good well friends that was quite the day it was an amazing day for a winter day here and I'm just so glad that you came along and we I could have shared some of this with you and I'm tired so I'm just going to sit and have a cup of tea and then I'm going to probably pack it in oh I've got to take Milo out one more time but I'm going to have my tea first and and then I'll take Milo out and I rather expect it's going to be an early to bed for me tonight so I'll see you in the morning good night and thanks again uh it's been a wonderful day well good morning everybody you can see by this morning it's a pretty gray day it was another foggy day it looked like this yesterday morning when I first got up but then you saw what a great day it became so um who knows so I'm just going to put together uh some yogurt and granola a few blueberries and have my decaf coffee and then it's going to be time for me to pack up but what a great uh two night camp out we've had I couldn't have asked for a better time for better weather really and Milo was absolutely terrific he was very very settled this time in the van and he's been a great companion and I have just totally enjoyed being here so I want to thank you so much for coming along it's been terrific having you and I hope that you've enjoyed this little visit to Quadra Island and to our walk yesterday out to Rebecca's Spet to say nothing of some interesting cooking opportunities especially doing Yorkshire pudding yesterday that was still such a great surprise to me that it worked out so well it's one of the things about the Dutch oven like you can't really peek so you just have to say okay I'm leaving it for 15 or 20 minutes and go for it and then see what happens and you can't see through the lid not like looking through your oven door so um yeah it was wonderful and I'm ready to have my cereal and I've got some tidying up so I'll see you on the way home