MY FAVOURITE PLACE

ASHLEY STORRIE, COMEDIAN SALT SPRING ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA

WHERE IS IT?

Salt Spring Island, one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada, and Vancouver Island.

WHY DO YOU GO THERE?

My mother Janey Godley and I realised we had only ever travelled for work. We had not been on a holiday together without work since I was a little girl. So, we went to Salt Spring.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU GO?

I went once in real life; I go often in my imagination.

HOW DID YOU DISCOVER IT?

My mum asked random people on the internet where we should go. A woman she had briefly met years before invited us to come to stay with her. It was risky but it paid off.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE MEMORY OF BEING THERE?

I found this old second-hand book shop, the kind with rolling ladders where you can climb up the shelves. I bought a book called O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker, a creepy little book that’s well worth a read, and headed to a patch of grass where I sat in the sunshine.

The tiniest, oldest man with a little sausage dog approached me. I cannot stress enough how old he was. He spoke to me in a thick German accent through the dog: “I wonder what the girl is reading?” he asked his pet, never looking at me.

“It’s a scary book,” I responded to the dog. “Oh, the girl isn’t reading a romance, she likes to be scared, eh? How interesting,” he again addressed his sausage dog. He then hobbled off, climbed into a rowing boat where the dog sat at the front staring out to sea.

The old man rowed speedily to what I can only describe as a pirate ship which was anchored just out of the bay, tied up his rowing boat, and climbed the rigging. It was legitimately the most magical and weird thing I’ve seen in my life ever.

WHO DO YOU TAKE?

My mum, maybe my own sausage dog …

WHAT DO YOU TAKE?

Books. It’s the perfect place for reading.

WHAT DO YOU LEAVE BEHIND?

My phone because you don’t get signal. And any mistrust: it’s completely normal to hitchhike around this island, to go to parties that random people invite you to, to eat berries off a bush and talk to ancient German wizard pirates.

SUM IT UP IN FIVE WORDS.

Magic. Happy. Clean. Expensive. Joyful.

WHAT TRAVEL SPOT IS ON YOUR POST-LOCKDOWN WISH LIST?

I want to go on one of the world’s great train journeys, probably the Trans-Siberian Express.

Ashley Storrie, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and Rosco McClelland star in Up For It on BBC Scotland, Thursdays, 11pm or catch up on BBC iPlayer. The Ashley Storrie Show is on BBC Radio Scotland, Fridays, 10pm-1am