August 4, 2021


Kilby General Store, Harrison Mills

Ruth:
Hope to Mission: 91 kms
Our ride back from Hope to Mission was completely different from our trip out. The smoke from the fires at the north end of Harrison Lake filled the valley with a thick smoke. It felt like a weird twilight rather than the middle of the day. The barn we had passed before was now much less sharp. I decided to paint the view of it in the sun instead of in the smoke.
 

Mission to Vancouver: 72kms

Ok, sometimes Pocket Earth gets it wrong. The best route into Vancouver to my sister’s house is not to the top of Burnaby Mountain!!!  I didn’t catch it because Vancouver is such a grid and the roads looked straight on the map. They were straight but not flat! Wowee! Fortunately we were feeling pretty strong and we made it in one piece.
It was great to have some time with my sister Joan.

Vancouver to Victoria: 83 Kms.  Total for trip:  717 kms.

Just enjoy the ride, I kept telling myself, but it still made me mad. Cyclists have to travel 20 kms further than cars to get to the ferry.  The backtrack to New Westminster was lovely and we are now old hands at crossing the Alex Fraser bridge.
We were keen to get an early ferry so we decided to take highway 17. Lots of traffic, but nice big shoulders. After a few kilometres we heard a bang and watched as a car spun and rolled and a truck became airborne after fishtailing and hitting its own trailer. We were sure there would be fatalities, but fortunately everyone exited their vehicles. Next time I’ll take the country roads!
While it would have been interesting to cycle across B.C. and perhaps the Prairies, our cat assured us that we made the right decision.  It was wonderful to be back on the bikes seeing new places, if only for 11 days.  And there is still the possibility of a bike trip in Europe in the Fall…

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