Oh, the places you go

I met Paul weeks ago.

While having a coffee on the roadside he gave me his number and told me to let him know if I’m ever near Kamloops.

‘Pritchard’ to be precise. A tiny settlement near Kamloops with just a handful of houses.

But enough to do to keep me entertained for the next week.

Well, not exactly there as plans were quickly made to go boating, camping, hiking and kidnap a woman.

Yes.

Kidnap a woman.

Bonnie and I stayed in touch after she spent a few days in Derry last summer.  I happened to know she was going to be on the bus that would stop in Kamloops at 3am that morning.

We got her off the bus and made her do fun stuff.

Like having lunch with Laurie,the girl that gave me a lift into Jasper.

She lives in Kamloops, we went for a walk

with her little dog.

This time of year the Salmon are running.

Sockeye Salmon come from way out the oceans back to their place of birth to spawn and die.

Once every four years is a ‘dominant’ run, when millions of Salmon return.

2014 happens to be such a year. It’s amazing how the fish can find the place they’re born. I have trouble doing so, but I guess I’m not ready to spawn and die… That might help.

They are a good food source, not only for the newborns, but for bears and eagles who are attracted by this dead fish feast.

And we.

But we’re only passing by on our way to Adams Lake. Where we went to try out Paul’s little canoe.

There’s a lot of logging in the area and the 60km long lake is used to transport the logs to the mill at the start.

We had a lovely time exploring Rock-islands,A few small islands full of pretty mushrooms,

impressive eagle feathers and even an accidental treasure-find!

The rain was threatening so we build us a shelter,and a campfire.

Paul showed me an app on his phone for locating stars and planets. 

It tells you exactly what is where in real time! Every hour-and-a-half we stared up to try and catch the space station come over.

Here she goes.

After some great days with pancakes

and a few too many beers (…) it was time to go find my bicycle and move along.

Bonnie had to catch a flight out of Vancouver and Paul had to make his way to Suriname for a job.

So I got back on track,

but not before visiting the great and wonderful Log Cabin Pub  😉

There’s a road that climbs out of Spences Bridge along disused logging trails all the way up and over the hills.

It seemed a lovely track on the map.

And it was too.

Not very fast, but I’ve never been known to be in any major hurry. Not even with winter on my heels.It got a little wet in places, but as long as the rain stayed out I was really enjoying it.

There were a few decisions to be made along the way, but it turned out I made the right one as I got through the rough parts and into a very pretty valley,where I was halted (briefly) by a locked gate.

The property owner Brian just happen to come along and open it for me.  I was on my way to the main road when a vehicle overtook me.

“Jij bent knettergek!” (You are crazy)  Joost told me.

He then explained that Brian had rang him to say there was a Dutch girl in the valley and he had to go and see it himself.

So here he was inviting me to stay in his converted barn;

Joost moved to Canada in 1960 and has built his gorgeous home in the valley himself.

It’s a wonderfully quiet spot and he spends a fair amount of time here with his wife Jane,

and the dog.

Each time I check the weather forecast it tells me rain is coming.

And apparently the closer I get to Vancouver the larger the chance is. So I decided to take a bit of a loop before getting to the city. That would stop it. Right?

It seemed to work! Or at least I manage to avoid the worst of it.

I took a pretty road north of Lillooet that took me out to Carpenter Lake.

I could see dark clouds ahead of me, and dark clouds behind me, But I had a dry and at times even sunny day riding along the lake.

This road took me to Gold Bridge, another tiny community in the hills where time seems to stand still. (42 inhabitants)

With a terrible weather forecast and a big hill to ride over I was lucky to got talking to Darlene who runs the local motel all by herself. She had a few odd jobs lying around and I was happy to help in exchange for a shower.

I had no problem sleeping in my tent but she would have none of that and offered me a beautiful well equipped motel room!

That night I realised how handy this was as I peaked out the window to see a huge black bear stroll around the premises, knocking over the bin outside my door and wandering around looking for food.

I stayed three nights before a break in the weather warranted me a good crossing over the Hurley. I probably shouldn’t have stayed up half the night drinking with a new friend… But hey. You can’t always be sensible.

I took this picture after cycling 5km.

I had started out below the lake. It was a rather steep climb.

The first car overtaking me offered me a ride.

But I had waited for this dry spell for three days!

The road was great. And because of the climbing I wasn’t very cold at all, The rain turned into snow not that much further up and it was like a fairytale landscape riding over the 1800 meter pass.

It got chilly on the way down the other side, but nothing less pretty.

When I got back to the highway I had a day of heavy rain going to Whistler. But since it was just along the main road it didn’t really matter. And I had a warm shower waiting for me at Craig’s place!

He gave me the wonderful news I did not actually need to follow this busy highway all the way into Vancouver.

There is a trail that runs between Whistler and Squamish I would never have known if he hadn’t mentioned this. So After a warm and dry night I climbed back on the bike to find this little turn off he’d been telling me about.

And I found it!
Having to climb over boulders to cross a railway road and push through the river only added to the fun.

I started to get a sore neck from staring up to the trees. They’re beautiful with all the moss growing on them.

From Squamish  there is no more avoiding the main sea-to-sky-highway.

It’s still pretty, just a little busier.

The last 30 km I carefully followed the road making sure not to fly over my handlebars like the unfortunate dude on this traffic sign.

I managed! Safely made it to West Vancouver where a bit of a surprise was waiting for me.

Ric welcomed me into his place. But since he’s the manager of an apartment block he gave me a whole apartment to use for myself!

This is the view from my window…

Truly the most luxurious place I can imagine! (including gym & jacuzzi!)

Here I spent a few days sleeping, reading, looking out the window and trying to come up with a plan of what to do next.

It rained.

I’m still not all that sure but for now it seems my wheels keep (very slowly) turning…
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