Thursday July 2, 2015

A long ride up and over Bonanza Pass 1553 metres – This sign was at the bottom of the pass, preparing us for what was to come. We didn’t need to put the chains on the bicycles or experience any inclement weather.

It took us an hour to do the first 20 kms and then almost three hours to do the next 35 kms, the last 35 kms were fast and downhill.

I had looked at the elevation gain on google maps last night and decided that when we got to Paulson we should be nearly at the top. When we came to the Paulson Bridge, elevation 1,106 m, I realized we still had another 450 metres of climbing.

Will these mountain passes ever end?

Apparently we had to get to Paulson Summit not Paulson Bridge.

As we went down the other side we saw three touring cyclists. They had spotted the moose in the water across the road. The three guys were from Switzerland and were heading for Nelson.

The moose had found something tasty in the water because it kept putting its head under the water and then coming up for air and then going back down again.

We arrived at Nancy Greene Park at 12:30, we were going to camp here for the night, but both of us were feeling surprisingly good, so we decided to carry on to Castlegar. At this point however, we had just about run out of water, so I asked at a camper if they had any water they could spare and they gave us six bottles to make sure that all our water bottles were full!

We arrived in Castlegar at about 2:00. After visiting the Tourist Info office, we had lunch and then headed out to the grocery store and the camp site.

It was hot when we came down the hill into Castlegar, I was tempted to suggest a motel, but we are on budget and if we can save any money I want to use it for a nice meal in a fancy restaurant on our anniversary.

We spotted our first bear today, a little bear cub. We kept on peddling, you never know where momma bear is and we didn’t have the protection of a car to run to if she turned up while we were taking photos of her baby.

My back tire is still giving me problems, we kept having to stop to put more air into it. There is no point me changing the inner-tube, as that will go flat as well, we need a new tire. Castlegar does not have a bike shop, but Nelson does. Hopefully they have Schwalbe Marathon’s.

The campsite has a man made beach and a small lake, Ralf has gone for a swim.

We met up with the group of cyclists from last night’s campsite. They are cycling a circle route around southern BC and northern Washington. They invited us over for a beer and a chat.

Met another couple Ed and Lynne who met at Eastview School in Barrie (small world). They are following the TransCanada Trail and not enjoying it very much, it is rough going and often soft so they have to get off and push. Lynne doesn\’t like riding on the road with the traffic.