Ambleside Walk

Date of Walk: February 14, 2002

Length: 1 1/2 miles round trip
Time to Walk: 40 minutes
Type of Walk: Waterfront, Shopping, Restaurants
Location: West Vancouver, BC
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How To Get There / Parking
Ambleside Park is in West Vancouver , across Burrard Inlet from Downtown Vancouver. You get to the Lions Gate Bridge by driving through Stanley Park and taking the Marine Drive West exit to West Vancouver. Ambleside Park is on your left and there is a parking lot at the park sign.

Let's Go!
We walked down the road that continues on from the parking lot. It skirts the Ambleside Par 3 Golf Course. You pass an exercise circuit and enter a forested area although Burrard Inlet peeks through the trees to your right and the Coast Mountains rise to your left. A trail from the end of the road takes you to a railway bridge. If you continue past the bridge, you can carry on up Capilano Pacific Trail past Park Royal Mall.

We turned away from the Capilano Pacific Trail to the beach. From this point you get your best view of Lions Gate Bridge. Across Burrard Inlet you see downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park. You walk west along the beach past an interesting west coast sculpture. This part of the beach is one of the few areas that people can walk their dogs off leash.

Further along the beach is a Haida totem greeting visitors from the water. The path continues south of the golf course and a duck pond. Bill stopped for a break on the path. Just after the duck pond, you could cut the walk off and head up to the parking lot. We carried on but David did walk up to a sculpture near the parking lot.

At this point, you have a choice. If the tide is out, you can continue walking along the beach but it becomes rocky at this point and it is hard on the ankles. We chose to walk along Argyle St. It has some shops and interesting buildings, including the Ferry Building. As you walk, you can stop at several small parks that return to the waterfront.

We headed away from the water by going north up 17th street. When we got to Marine Drive, we turned right. Marine is an interesting shopping district with varied shops and restaurants. Four blocks later, you get to the entrance to Ambleside park and the parking lot. We drove west on Marine Drive to Horseshoe Bay where we stopped at the Troller Pub for chili and beer. That sea air makes you thirsty!