Next Hike

The next hike will be on Saturday, 18th October.

We meet at the Ballpark in Gillies Bay at 10:00am

As some of you probably know I was off travelling around in Europe for a month just recently and my photo this week is one I took in Salzburg, Austria.  You may well wonder what that has to do with Texada, but as I shall explain there is a curious ecomomic link between the two places which has lasted for a few decades I think.  I had hoped to stay in Frankfurt after taking the train from London to Brussels and Cologne, but the hotels were all full up and I had spent the night trying to sleep on a train travelling south to Munich. That was not so bad as I was in a almost empty first class carriage.  However, I decided to treat myself and booked into a rather more expensive hotel than usual on a narrow street in the central part of the old town.  I was given a very comfortable suite with a separate sitting room in the middle of which was a low table with a vase of roses with some stiff  green foliage.  I thought at first that the flowers were artificial, but closer inspection proved I was mistaken and there was certainly water in the vase.  The leaves looked familiar and they too were real and then to my delight I realised I was looking at a bunch of Salal leaves that had quite likely travelledall the way to Austria from Texada, reaching my hotel room not too long before I did!

  

Leaves of both Salal and our abundant Evergreen Huckleberry have been gathered on our island by local brush cutters for as long as I can remember and then sold in bunches to buyers in Powell River. From there it goes down to Vancouver where I believe some of the best quality leaves are selected and packed for air shipment to the Far East and also to Amsterdam where they get auctioned off to florists who distribute them all over Europe.  The German language title of the book translates "Best Austrian Hospitality", and I have to compliment the Austrians who, in my experience after several visits to the country, do  a very good job when it comes to looking after their visitors. 

JD.

        

        Roses and Salal leaves in a hotel room in Salzburg.