Day 5. Rest day in Prince Rupert

Our room is lovely, and the bed is so comfortable, we both had a great nights sleep. However, always in the back of my mind was the question of whether the bike would or wouldn't start. I'd gone over plans in my head that involved repositioning the bikes so they weren't outside the lower level rooms at the hotel - just incase we had to jump start 'Gertie'. Also, the car park has quite a useful slope for a good old fashioned 'bump start'...... Anyway, first things first, breakfast! The restaurant has a wonderful view out over the harbour and down to 'Cow Bay', so we had a lovely start to the day.

After breakfast, it was time to see how 'Gertie' was going to behave! It took way more throttle than it should do, but second stab at the start button & she burst into life. There was a sigh of relief from the pair of us. I still relocated the bikes, but there was less pressure now. I'd already said I wanted to give the bike a wash, and Wendy was planning to wander round 'Cow Bay'. I found out where a near by car wash was located, and off I went. It only took a few minutes to pre wash and blast the bugs & crap off the bike. A quick rinse & we were done. I couldn't find a cloth anywhere, so I used my jacket sleeve to dry the saddle. If I was going to have any trouble starting, it would be now after blasting the bike with high pressure water, but she fired up first push of the button. Helmet back on, I rode the half dozen blocks back to the hotel, parked up and wandered down the hill to Cow Bay to meet Wendy.

As I mentioned in yesterdays Blog, there are not that many places to shop in Cow Bay, but Wendy still managed to find one with a 'cute' handbag she couldn't resist - love her!!! We then made our way to a lovely little cafe, suitably called 'Cowpacino'! This was another establishment recommended by Ron & Lila. He told us the coffee was good, but they are better known for the cakes and scones.... Well once again, his advice was on the money. I had a Blueberry scone the size of a small plate, and Wendy had a 'wedge' of home made Carrot cake, mmmmmmm! Then we decided to have a wander round town. PR is built on the side of the hills, so none of the roads are flat. Good chance to walk off the 'snack', before tackling dinner tonight.

Prince Rupert is in a wonderful location, but the overall feeling we had, was that it is a 'sad' town, way past it's former glory days. The town centre is quite small and runs along 3 avenues. We walked past so may shops and businesses that were either closed or closing. Whole buildings were up for sale - very sad & a little depressing. However, the Crest where we are staying is buzzing, as is the casino next door - no surprise there then! This is a Monday & the bar was busy at lunch time, and the restaurant was pretty busy this evening. A lot of the customers appeared to be either locals, or like us, waiting for the next ferry. There is also a cruise terminal here, and the pier obviously takes good sized vessels - not while we've been here though. Other than that, I'm not sure what drives PR these days. After the walk we headed back to the hotel to make a little use of our suite. Wendy found things to read & I made a start on todays Blog.

This evening we 'pushed the boat out' just a little for my coming birthday, and did some 'damage' to the bank balance by treating ourselves to a wonderful meal in the restaurant. There was the usual 'grill' fare, steaks etc etc, but we get Alberta AAA beef all the time, so having it for dinner was no real 'biggie'. I'm afraid if you are in BC, there is only one thing to have - seafood! Bearing in mind my comment re what we should be eating tonight, Wendy had already scanned the menu and seen a wonderful meal for two - an 'Ocean taster for two'.......... It had BC halibut & salmon, gulf prawns, Alaskan crab legs, coastal sea scallops, chilled shrimp & smoked salmon. Oh yes, and we added a lobster tail for good measure! I can not begin to tell you how much flavour was in this fresh fish, truly amazing. I'm sure there were some vegetables, the menu said there were, I just saw this mountain of fish. To use an oft used phrase of mine, we really kicked the arse out of it, but my God, it was amazing! This is one birthday meal I won't forget in a long time.

That is nearly the end of our visit to BC for this trip. Tomorrow afternoon we board the ferry, and at 6:30pm, we head out for Skagway and Alaska. A quick glimpse of Alaska to be fair, then we head back into Canada. This part of the trip has been such an eye opener, I never guessed the interior of BC was so stunningly beautiful. With the exception of Terrace, there hasn't been anything about this glorious Province that I haven't loved, and wouldn't come back for. We have had an amazing 5 days, and we both agree that if we were told we had to head home now, we would do so as happy people having seen and experienced what has happened so far. The prospect of more travel to places we've never seen before, seeing more of this wonderful huge country on the back of a bike - I tell you, life just doesn't get much better than this!

So, time to finish this days blog and head to bed. I offer my own advice to each & every one of you, go out there, live life to the full and 'kick the arse out of it'. You just never know when 'Big G' is going to call in his marker, and think how you will feel on that day saying, 'I wish I had................'!! Love to you all & to all the bikes out there, keep the black stuff down.