Unpacking

Something we didn't notice at the airport, when we collected the bikes from the 'OVERSIZED BAGGAGE' counter and wrestled it out to the car, was a rather sizeable hole in the box that contained my bike. Even at midnight when we got to Rachel and Steve's place, where we were to spend the next couple of nights, we remained blissfully unaware because we left the bikes in the car.

It was only the next morning (well, OK, afternoon because we slept in just a little) when we pulled the boxes out of the car that the damage was discovered. 

My heart sank just a little.

What kind of damage did it represent to my bike? How was I going to find somewhere that could repair or replace damaged parts at short notice? What implications would this have for the trip? Fortunately, there were no problems and the bikes were soon reassembled, ready for action. 

So, tomorrow we are off to Chilliwack BC.

Or apparently not. In all of our planning we had failed to realise that bicycles are not allowed on the main Highway 1 between Vancouver and Hope BC, so we would need to take a very circuitous route to get to our accommodation in Chilliwack adding at least another 25km to that leg and making it a VERY long first day. Probably not good to realise this the night before you set off. Hmmm.

Plan B involved continuing up Route 7 to Harrison Hot Springs and spending the night there.

Cancel the reservation at Chilliwack and hope that we have it right this time.

Day One

Waking up on the morning of Sunday May 13th and the realisation that this is where it all starts. We had set a nominal departure time of 10:00 am and were to be joined for the first couple of days by Helen's nephew Paul. It was awesome to have a 'local' to guide me out of Vancouver and to share the ride with.

We set a cracking pace and were soon out of the city and cruising along the North side of the Fraser river valley, and stopping at Mission for some lunch. The scenery was wonderful.

It was a big day of riding though, some 96 km for a first day was probably a little ambitious but we had the comfort of knowing that our first night would be spent at Harrison Hot Springs           ... nice.

Speaking of 'hot'. We had spent quite some time acclimatising ourselves to the cold of a rampaging Romsey autumn, riding in temperatures down to 6C, just to make sure we were ready for grinding through the snow-capped Rocky Mountains in late Spring. 

But here we are riding in 32C heat along the Fraser, sweating profusely.         I wasn't expecting that.

The riding was relatively flat along the expansive river valley, flashing past dairy farms, with the accompanying pungent smell of concentrated cow - delightful. We also passed a number of sawmills and were greeted each time by the wonderful smell of sawn cedar.

After a long day we rode into Harrison Hot Springs, a resort town at the South end of Harrison Lake.

Stunning!