Discover Esquimalt’s walking trails

Meet new friends, get healthy and learn about walking trails around your community at the Remembrance Day Community and Murals program, a Volkssport five, six or 10-kilometre walk Saturday starting from the Esquimalt Recreation Centre.

The walk is hosted by the Victoria YMCA Volkssport club, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting healthy, non-competitive activities for people of all ages.

Although Volkssport activities can include swimming, crosscountry skiing and cycling in clubs found in 50 countries around the world, walking events are the most popular among Volkssporters in B.C.

In consideration of Remembrance Day, Saturday’s 10-km route includes a view of Esquimalt naval dockyard and runs through a golf course to God’s Acre Veterans’ Cemetery and Chapel and along the Trans Canada Trail. An alternate ending for this walk will be at Memorial Park, so participants can attend the Remembrance Day ceremony.

The five-km walk follows the 10-km route but does not include the Trans Canada Trail.

The six-kilometre walk does not go to God’s Acre or the Trans Canada Trail. Walkers go through parks and Old Esquimalt and along sections of the paved trail beside the E&N rail line.

The three local Volkssport clubs in Greater Victoria — including Garden City Wanderers and the Juan de Fuca Pathfinders — offer a wide variety of walks throughout the year.

Membership is not mandatory to join a walk.

The first five walks are free, after which there is a fee of $1 or $2 per walk. Registration runs from 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. Saturday. The 10-km walk starts at 9 a.m., while the five and six-km walks start at 9:30 a.m. from the Esquimalt Recreation Centre, 527 Fraser St. For information, call Hazel Dunham 250-385-5439 or go to letswalkvictoria.ca or walks.ca.