Vancouver Pilgrimage. Circe Barracks.
This is the big building at the bottom of the hill. Of the 3 buildings, it is the one in the best condition. They did some of the season 1 filming in there, so I assume it is not riddled with lead and asbestos. I was talking to one of the locals who said that for a long time this was used to house tuberculosis patients, keeping them separate from the mental patients in the central lawn buildings.
The most accessible part of the building is the back of it. When you walk down the hill, you come to the back section. So that is where I got to first. I had an encounter with the security people, but I showed him a picture of the part I was looking for and he directed me round to the front. He had clearly decided that I wasn’t dangerous, just foreign. Goodness knows what he made of the fact that I was going around with a blue balloon tied to my back pack. I had numerous conversations with people while I visited and some asked me about the blue balloon. ‘It’s my birthday’ seemed a perfectly satisfactory answer. And it was the truth. A birthday like no other.
So, let’s start at the front.
The car park in front is fairly narrow and I was standing with my back to the hedge to take this pic. The other side of the hedge was the Lougheed Hwy, very busy and very noisy. Visuals filmed here would have been great, but any dialogue would have needed to be redone as there is way too much traffic noise to record any useable sound. And the occasional train whistle from the train line the far side of the highway.
When you walk down the hill, the first part you come to is this.
The site of Raelle and ‘Helen’ discussing necros and one very special necro.
I carried on walking to the left.
The railing at the end in this picture is the middle railing in the previous car park picture.
This area has been used for several scenes. They shot this area from both directions and sometimes used the full length, but at other times, just used parts of it.
This is shot from the reverse angle.
Then continuing round the building, past the necro conversation site and over more grass, I came to:
Recognise it? As I took the shot, I knew what was behind me.
Memorable for the witchplague attack in 2.10.
Hearst walks out from in the middle of that and threatens the unit plus M and Adil during 2.10.
And so, I finally made it to the front of the building.
The unit were there when the male soldiers arrived. And they almost made enough noise to drown the cars.
And, of course, the blue balloon had to be there too.
The view from Circe Barracks across the narrow car park to the hedge with the Lougheed Hwy behind it.
I had adventures with trees, which will be the next blog. But after that I walked to Port Coquitlam (Poco). Finding the correct exit for that is not easy, so I am putting the instructions here.
Face Circe barracks. Turn right. Walk the length of the car park. Walk past the next building, which will be on your left. You will see an exit on your right. Ignore the no exit sign and the barrier. That is to stop cars driving onto the Lougheed Hwy in the wrong direction. You will exit onto the path at the side of the Hwy and there will be a pedestrian crossing a few yards to your left. Push the button and stay behind the concrete barrier. The traffic will stop and you can cross. You want the road straight in front of you. Just make sure the level crossing gates are not down, for a train.
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