Having reached (almost) the end of the road, or rather the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, we decided to spend the day here.  It wasn't really Potholes weather, for reasons that will become clear, but it was still pretty nice out.

The Galloping Goose ends just past the site of Leechtown.  From Wikipedia:

The town was named after Lieutenant Peter John Leech of the Royal Engineers and astronomer of the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition who was later City Engineer for Victoria, British Columbia. The Expedition, led by Robert Brown, discovered gold on the Leech River in July 1864. Within weeks, thousands of miners, many of whom were veterans of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush six years earlier, travelled from Victoria overland by trail or by steamer to Sooke. By August 14 of that year, 227 mining licences had been issued and by the end of the year there were 6 general stores and 3 hotels in business along with 30 saloons. At its peak, Leechtown and neighbouring Boulder City had 1,200 mines and 4,000 people, but by 1865, the area went into decline. As much as $100,000 in gold may have been taken out in the first year by a single miner, Donny Roux.

There's essentially nothing there now.

The trail continues a little way past Leechtown but is soon blocked by a serious gate.  The Sooke Lake Reservoir is somewhere beyond and the watershed is off-limits to the public.

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We made our way down to the water and Al had a swim.  I decided to wait until the afternoon, when I would have a towel to hand.

After lunch at our campsite, we headed off on foot along the Riverside Trail, heading towards the parts of the river that Al remembered from his youth.  You may be wondering:  what are the Sooke Potholes?  The Potholes are a stretch of the Sooke River where, at the end of the last ice age, meltwater and boulders carved deep polished rock pools and canyons in the bedrock.  There are spectacular swimming areas (and cliff jumping if you're into that) but the water is freezing cold.  It's refreshing on a hot sunny day, but today wasn't like that.

By the time we got to the swimming area Al had in mind, it was cooling off.  He went for a swim in a little canyon, and says he even jumped in from a small cliff, but I wasn't up to crossing the river there so I didn't witness this feat.  I went to a little beach and used my hands to rinse my hair.  I can't get into really cold water unless it's really hot out...

We walked back on the Goose as it's much easier and quicker than the Riverside Trail.  Dinner wasn't as good as last night, but I though it was okay and definitely better than returning to Sooke.  We had that second freeze-dried meal, with 6 eggs thrown in.  Accompanied by the rest of the wine and cookies, of course.