Road trip

Route 2 · South Valley Heritage Loop

Driving: ≈ 110 km, 2 h 30 behind the wheel
Day: Full day
Terrain: Highway, village streets, one 1 km flat trail
Season: Any; Saturday for Duncan market

Schematic map of the route with numbered stops — Open this route in Google Maps ↗Schematic map; numbered stops match the list below. The link gives turn-by-turn directions.

A loop through the valley's built history: a railway-station museum, a ruined stone mission church, the village on stilts, the farm gate and one of the tallest timber trestles in the world. It links the Inn's own float-home story to the place that tradition is still alive.

Duncan — Cowichan Valley Museum in the 1912 E&N station, then the totem walk. Brunch on 3rd or a market breakfast on Saturdays.
Butter Church, Comiaken Hill (1870) — A roofless stone mission church above the estuary, funded in part by selling butter from the mission farm. It stands on Cowichan Tribes land; view it respectfully from the road and the hilltop, which has fine views over the bay.
Cowichan Bay — Walk the docks among the float homes, True Grain for bread, Hilary's for cheese, lunch at Rock Cod or The Cook and Butcher, ice cream at Udder Guys. The Maritime Centre's pier galleries are by donation.
Cobble Hill — Cherry Point or Merridale for a tasting or a mid-afternoon coffee on the orchard patio.
Kinsol Trestle (1920) — A 1 km flat gravel walk from the parking lot to a 44 m-high, 187 m-long timber rail trestle over the Koksilah River, restored in 2011. The view from the far end, looking back, is the one.
Mill Bay — Dinner at Unsworth Vineyards (book) or a simpler meal at the Mill Bay Centre, then home on Highway 1 in about 40 minutes.

Add-on for a long day: Bamberton Provincial Park, a sandy beach below the old cement works south of Mill Bay, is ten minutes off route.