I think this is my first post in NBR in 10 years...lol.
I lived in Vic for 20ish years and made the move up to Cumberland in late 2020...and I love it up here. I love being able to just pop out onto the trails from my house...something that I could not do easily in Victoria...Vik was riding to the trails once in a while but I could never make that sustainable for me at the time. In the winter when we have to pack up the car and drive to a less snowy/frozen trail system it reminds me how lucky I am to live so close to the trails. If we get bored of the local trails, we go to Mt. Wash, Forbidden, CC, Hammerfest, CR or some of the smaller lesser known systems in the area...definitely more to ride here than in Vic...but I do miss my weekend trips to the Tzou or Maple....and now with gas prices what they are I doubt that will happen much this summer.
House prices on the island are friggin crazy, we bought a townhouse for what I felt was was too much money...but another unit just like ours (but not as well appointed) just sold for 200k above what we bought for...just nuts. I work in Campbell River, so the drive every day is not great...but the amazing thing is that it takes the same amount of time to get 55k as it did to go 20 on my commute in Vic...and it's all fast highway driving!
I love the easy access to the lakes, rivers, backroads up here. I picked up a gravel bike and am planning at doing some more backroad exploring up here...I have not done much above CR...that's exciting!
With that said, when we retire we are looking at the kootenays...just to get more sun and the unlimited access to the outdoors that the area offers.