September 19, 2005 | Tips from Us >
Duncan, Historic & Heritage Sites
One of the best things about this vacation is getting to do some things I’d never normally do in Victoria as a local. Taking some pretty spectacular things for granted is something we’re guilty of here I’m afraid. A perfect example is taking (or not taking) a ride on
VIA’s E&N Dayliner, our version of a train. This isn’t one of those long trains with the little red caboose on the end. It is a dayliner which contains the engine, passenger seats and caboose all in one neat little car. It is kind of cool because the train can really pick up speed relatively quickly since it hasn’t got all that extra baggage hanging on.
It was a bit of a circus getting 9 of us down to the train station and on board by the 8:15am departure but we managed.
Lesson #4: book this trip well in advance. This is a small train with only two cars running on a usual day in the summer. When we called two days in advance, they were sold out because one of the cars had been taken off the route for maintenance. Wait listing a group of 9 people is not the easiest thing to do. Save yourself the headache and book in advance…there is no penalty for canceling or no-showing.
Attention all seniors. VIA has a promotion that enables an adult to ride free when accompanying a senior citizen. Great deal. Did I mention we invited my mother to come along?
Now I’m not an experienced train traveler, having been on only a few trips in my entire life but there is something both thrilling and relaxing about chug-chugging along, doing nothing but checking out the sights. This route took us out of downtown Victoria, along the western communities of the Greater Victoria area, through
Goldstream Provincial Park and then began the climb up and over Malahat Mountain. Some of the scenery near the summit overlookin