Walking Bowker Creek - Oaklands and Jubilee Edition
A few weeks ago, I published the first of three walks in and around Bowker Creek. That walk took us around the southeast portion in Oak Bay and can be read here. Today’s walk is a little closer to my home and is right in the middle of the three Bowker Creeks walks that you can take (That I know of…).
In that first article, I got into a bit of the history of Bowker Creek and the places it runs from. What you notice no matter where you see it is two things. First the creek carries a lot more water than you expect and second that it is almost fully controlled, whether that is while its above ground or below. This is evident in the parts of the creek we will walk by today.
With that said, I am going to start this walk quite a ways from the creek itself, at Haultain Corners. As in the first article, a walk should have a cafe somewhere nearby and since you don’t go by another one, I would suggest starting this one at Haultain Corners in Oaklands with a nice warm beverage from Koffi, truly one of the great cafes of Victoria (and certainly one that would have made my previous article, if it were downtown).
With coffee in hand, start walking along Haultain to the east. I know that at the moment there can be a fair amount of traffic along Haultain, but that will be changing soon, as this is going to be the newest part of the AAA bike system in Victoria. There will be a few purposeful diversion points that will make it much more challenging to drive the entire length and should lead to a significant decrease in traffic. Even in its current form though, Haultain up to Shelbourne is still not as busy as next door Bay Street and just fine fine for a walk. Once you cross Shelbourne, Haultain becomes a quiet side street and there is almost no traffic at all. Along the whole length, are some beautiful little family homes with a fairly divergent amount of styles.
For the walk, make sure to stay on Haultain until you cross Richmond and get about halfway to Foul Bay Road. It’s at this point that you will see Bowker Creek for the first time as you cross over top of it. The creek forms the western border of the Hydro Lands, a space that is in the midst of being turned into a neighbourhood park. I could likely easily spend a whole post just talking about this hidden jewel of a park. Instead, as part of this walk I will let you just enjoy it any way you please. It has a lot going on in a small space.
In 2019, Saanich purchased this space from BC Hydro who had owned it since the late 1950’s. As of now there has not been any full development plans put forward by the municipality that I am aware of. It would be a great spot for a little bit of solid programming in the form of a small square in the centre with benches, public art and maybe even a stage that could be used for theatre or music performances, though I would suppose nearby residents may not be in favour of such a change. The centre space feels a little empty as it is, though I am sure if you have a dog and live around the corner it is a nice benefit.
Anyways back to the walk… Now when I go on this walk, I usually leave the Hydro Lands to the northeast and head towards Allenby Park, but if you don’t have a two year old that needs a playground break I would head to the northwest of the space and follow the creek back to Richmond Road. Once on Richmond, cross to the north across Kings and then take the crosswalk and walk about two properties along it until you get to the Spirit Garden. This is a community space and truly just one of the loveliest little quiet spaces in the whole city. I only found out about it in the last couple of years and am always entranced when I pass through it. Lovely, quiet, beautiful and obviously cared for. A perfect spot to pause and rest on one of the benches for a moment before moving on along Bowker Creek. Following the garden’s pathway to the north will lead you out to the old Richmond Elementary grounds (known today as Lansdowne South Campus.) Directly across from you is where Bowker Creek emerges from underground and you can follow along the west side of the creek to the north. You can walk on the east side but remember that this would be school grounds so be mindful of school hours.
[If you want to avoid the school property all together, you can either follow Richmond up to Townley or you can follow Newton west to Shelbourne]
What this stretch of the creek makes you appreciate is that if we let be a creek, it really could be. While it is clear that this is still a controlled run, there are elements here where it is starting to feel wilder. It does make also feel a little sad about how much of the creek is still in cement pipes under ground. There used to be a way to walk through this part and stay on solid ground, but the bridge that way is closed, so for now you need to take the bridge about halfway along and cross into the back field of Lansdowne South Campus. Follow along the creek and you will just need to dodge one fence at the far end, then Townley Street begins to follow right next to the creek until you get to Pearl Street. Just past the corner of Pearl Street, Bowker Creek goes back underground and that is the last of it you will see of it along this walk. I will get you back to Haultain Corners though.
To finish the walk, follow Pearl Street back across Shelbourne until you get to Shakespeare Street. Here, turn to the left and follow it along till you get to Oaklands Park. This is another wonderful public space, there is a playground here that I spend a fair bit of time at and as you follow the path along to the south, when you get back to Kings Road there is actually even a public washroom to use. To get back to Haultain you will stay in the park past the tennis courts and then back on to Shakespeare for another block. When you do get onto Haultain, turn to the west and make your way back to Koffi. If you didn’t start with a coffee, you might want one now.
Hopefully you enjoyed the walk, there is still one more Bowker Creek walk to come in a few weeks, so stay tuned. Also please let me know if you like these walk articles. I know they are a bit different. If you do, I will do more. Also if there is a particular site along the walk that I missed please let us know in the comments.