A National Historic Site Visit - Fort Rodd Hill - Part 2

 Hullo!! We are continuing our exploration of Fort Rodd Hill... it was a fortress that operated from the 1890s to 1956...

We are meandering past a few buildings and saw a sign for the search light batteries...

So let's follow this trail!

It's very pretty...

But the turn-off for the search light batteries was roped off...

This is annoying... 

But we could kind of see the old battery through the trees.

There it is!

We found a side trail that led us down to the beach...

That's the Fisgard Lighthouse over there... we'll visit that too!

But right now... this place is perfect for...

A picnic lunch!!

And we had fresh mangos... yum!!!

Excellent picnic spot!

Onwards!!

One thing we learned is that barn swallows LOVE to nest in these old buildings but they create quite a poopy mess... so they have built stand-alone swallow shelters to entice them to build their nests elsewhere...

I guess it's sort of working... there's one nest here...

But if I was a swallow, I'd much prefer a nice snuggly old concrete building as opposed to some wobbly wooden thing!

Let's go in here...

Oooh, this part was finished in 1898... nice puke-green colour...

Umm... see... poop...

And swallow nest... on top of an electrical junction box... maybe not the best spot!

We learned that during WW2, on 20 June 1942, a Japanese submarine shot at the Estevan lighthouse, north of Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I imagine this place went on high alert after that!

There's another big gun up here...

Alright... on to the next bit!

TO BE CONTINUED

Top Item on a Bear's Bucket List

 Today... we went to one of my Bucket List items...

If you look off in the distance... wayyyyyy over there....

Do you see them?? Those boxes... yes...

We are at a local honey place!!!!

Be still my beating heart... soooo much honey!!!

Creamed honey and liquid honey and honey pollen and honey in bear jars and... just... honey!

After a beary long browsing session... I chose this one... you might think this is a large jar for a little bear but... winter is coming and this little bear needs to stock up!

A National Historic Site Visit - Fort Rodd Hill - Part 1

 Hullo! Yes... we are at Fort Rodd Hill near Victoria.

Honestly, we had never heard of this place... but on one of our adventure days, we came across it... and thought... let's go!

This is the mascot, Parker. He is a beaver (of course).

It's beary nice and peaceful here, without a lot of crowds.

We learned that Fort Rodd was built in the late 1890s to defend Victoria and the Esquimault Naval Base.

It's a hidden little fortress... you can just see a wall peeking through the trees over there.

There are several batteries... and we are going to visit the Upper One first...

It's higher up on the hill (duh)...

Let's go inside!

I wonder if they ever had to defend themselves from the landward side?

That looks like an old bunker, maybe for ammunition.

We came here in late July (I know... too many adventures!)....

And the grass and wildflowers were unmown and those signs tell us...

... "Pardon the weeds... we are feeding the bees..."

That is an excellent idea!!

Oooh... this is cool!

Let's take a look around!

Gorgeous view from up here...

This is a smaller model of their main gun... it is a disappearing gun... it gets loaded when it is down below... 

.

..and then there is a gizmo that lifts it up so it can shoot, and then it disappears again.

Fascinating...

This is the main gun here... the grating is the hole through which it went up and down. It's pretty big...

Let's see where these stairs lead...

Ah, down to the armoury where they kept the munitions...

And then there were other rooms where the crew hung out and ate meals while they were on duty...

Well, that was fun!! Let's go down and see the rest of this place.

TO BE CONTINUED