Linley Valley Forest Trail, Nanaimo, is a refreshing naturalized area to come to when you need to blow the cobwebs out of your head.
Linley Valley, Nanaimo 
If you like sampling berries as you walk, go here for a stroll. These huckleberries, thimble berries, and small wild raspberries are out now in July. Salmon berries are ripening, and next month there will be blackberries. My dog, Bear, and I went this week, and I had a berry feast!
Linley Valley Forest Trail is in the centre of the city of Nanaimo. I parked in a new residential development at the peak of Rutherford Road, where there are signs at the entrance to the trail. Dogs on leash. Use poopy bags (provided there, alongside a garbage can). A map of the area. Facts about the flora and fauna. The trail by this lily pond even has illustrated story boards along the way, about a bird who went for a walk with her friends. Cute.
We started mid afternoon, strolling and feasting slowly for an hour or two. On the way back I was glad to rest on a bench by the pond as the sun lit up the trees and undergrowth in golden shades. Couples, singles, children and families came out with dogs of all kinds on leashes. A boy on a bicycle called his dacshound named Ava, just as a family with a little girl named Ava approached. Must be a popular name these days. I’ve noticed there are more ‘Ada’s around too. When I was growing up I hated my names, Pearl Ada, because nobody I knew had those kind of names. And there was funny old Aunt Pearl on the Beverly Hillbillies. How embarrassing! I’m glad these old-fashioned names are making a bit of a comeback. Now I like mine. And I’ve become Aunt Pearl and I like that too.
It’s another new favourite place for me. Maybe we’ll run into each other there sometime. Hope so!
