Day 3. Kelowna BC to Victoria, Vancouver Island BC

Wow, what a long day!  Although the miles were not quite a long as the previous day, we covered a lot of ground which included a ferry crossing to Vancouver Island BC.  Back to this morning then and starting the day at the Best Western Kelowna.  It had been a very comfortable night and as has become the norm on these trips, Wendy was well asleep by the time I had finished with the Blog and turned in myself.  I become something of a martyr to my fan as far as the Blog is concerned and won't go to bed until I have jotted down my thoughts from the day.  With another day in the saddle looming, I was soon up and taking a quick glance through the curtains to check the weather.  What I revealed was a wet start to the day.  Well this is BC, so nothing new there then.  We Brits always poke fun at our weather in the UK and the seemingly endless rain.  It seems very similar in BC, but the obvious benefit as with the UK, is the lush rich colour of the countryside.  We quickly threw some cloths on and headed for a bite of breakfast.  This being a Best Western, there was small buffet, the highlight being make your own waffles, mmmmmm!  Suitably stuffed, we headed back to the room to change and pack.  All our belongings now back inside waterproof saddlebags and 'stuff bags', we headed down to load the bikes for the off.

The bikes duly loaded, we put on helmets and gloves, plugged into our bike to bike radios, a quick check that Wendy was ready and we were riding out of our night stop.  Then I noted that we couldn't make the left turn I wanted and had to head back toward Kelowna - bugger!  We headed in the wrong direction for only about 1/2 mile, until I saw a left turn into a residential area.  We swept across the road, neatly turned round and now heading in the right direction, set off - again!  The night before, Wendy had said we should clear the town, then look for a gas stop, before heading off.  Slightly 'thumb up bum and mind in reverse', I sailed past the first gas station I saw.  Wendy piped up on the radio, "I  thought we were stopping  for fuel?"  Indignation took over and I reminded her she had said we would stop outside of town - all very righteous!  That would come back to bite me squarely in the arse!!  Not far down the road and now well out of town, we were heading back into the mountains and a distinct lack of buildings.  It quickly became pretty obvious, that there was not going to be any fuel stop for quite some time.  Certainly well beyond Sydders endurance that was for sure!  Ahead of us was a solitary turn off, which I took.  At the bottom of the ramp, I used the GPS to find the nearest source of fuel - just 3.5km away.  Well 3.5km it might have been, but there was nothing to say you needed to be a Mountain Goat to get there.........  The main Route 97C that were were following, was set high above the nearby lake and it was down this steep hillside we now had to descend to get to fuel.  Although the road took us through a small subdivision/estate, every hundred yards we were faced with a descending hairpin bend.  Eventually we made the edge of the lake and the main highway.  A further 1km and we were at the Petro Can and the welcome sight of gas...  Refuelled, we made our way back to the 97C, though thankfully, not having to retrace our steps.

Once back on the highway, it quickly started climbing.  The road is an amazing piece of engineering, four lanes of great road clinging to the side of the mountain, pointing up - or down depending on your direction of travel - at crazy angles and going on seemingly for ever.  Huge trucks laden down, lumbered slowly up the inclines, while we shot by with ease.  After climbing for what seemed like ages, the road made a right turn and proceeded to climb again.  At this point we were able to look over our right shoulders, looking way down the side of the mountain and the thin ribbon of asphalt we had just ridden up.  It now became apparent to us both, that although the trusty Weather Channel had said the temp would up at about 21'C today in Kelowna, it failed to mention that several thousand feet up a mountain, it would be BLOODY COLD!  It actually dropped to about 8'C and we were both feeling the cold.  On we rode, occasionally dropping down for a little while, but almost inevitably climbing again.  The cloud and the snow line started to get much closer and at that time, the mountain saw pity on us and we started a decent.  With the decent the temperature rose and in no time we had gained 10'C!  We continued our decent and round one of the many long corners, the town of Merritt BC lay way below us in the valley floor.  We briefly touched the outer edge of town before heading South - oh yes and climbing once again!

Up we climbed and down came the temperatures again!  We even got some rain and more low cloud thrown into the mix.  Bet you wish you were a biker don't you fan??  One certainty about riding up a mountain, eventually, you have to come down again.  Some of these 'downs' were pretty jaw dropping!  I have ridden and driven down some long and steep hills, but the one we finally came down today, was a bit of a monster.  It is common to see emergency runaway lanes to the side of big hills for trucks suffering brake failure, but I have never seen one with 4 runoffs!  What really focused our attention, was a car wreck about half way down this ten mile long hill.  As we descended under control, ahead of us we saw lots of blue and red flashing lights and a guy waving a 'SLOW' sign way above his head.  As we approached the scene, we saw a small red car on it's roof in the ditch to the side of the road.  It was also facing the wrong way.  Once we had stopped, Wendy said the occupants were still inside the car and the emergency crews were beside them with stretchers.  A salutary lesson that if you don't treat these mountain roads with respect, they will bite!

After what seemed like forever riding in the mountains, we finally rode into the town of Hope.  It being about midday and once again Sydders needed refuelling, we filled both bikes ready for the final leg into Vancouver and then headed to the delights of Micky D's for lunch.  We seem to hit every midday stop just when the whole town decides it is time for lunch and so it was at Micky's, the place was heaving.  The town itself was singularly uninspiring, however, the mountains surrounding the town and the low cloud, created quite an imposing sight.  As we were finishing our lunch, we watched the comings and goings in the car park and watched as a shiny new BMW GS (not a GSA like Gertie) came into the car park with 2 up - did the man know nothing!  As the only parking spot available was next to our bikes, he parked his gleaming bike next to our road filthy warriors.  As the pillion passenger alighted, I noticed that instead of bike boots, she was wearing heels!  New jeans with a new pair of leather chaps and a Joe Rocket with lots of 'bling' on the shoulders marked this lady as anything but a serious GS passenger.  There is something a little high and mighty, nay, smug, about piloting a GSA built for serious riding, when someone parks his gleaming 'lesser' machine next to mine.  Anyway, gloating over, time to get our asses back in the saddle, we had a ferry to catch.

We headed out of Hope, rejoined the highway which was heading toward Vancouver.  As we settled back into the journey again, we passed the last entry ramp from Hope and a lone biker joined the highway.  He managed to slot in between Wendy and I and for a while, we became a threesome.  I would slow behind traffic, but all my new companion would do, was move out into the overtaking lane to block traffic for me.  We went through this routine about three times, before Wendy had had enough.  I looked back in my mirrors and 'Sydders' was roaring along in the outside lane, overtaking my 'companion' and slotting in neatly behind me.  By now we were travelling a bit quicker than the other chap and we soon lost him back in the traffic.  We were approaching towns now with names that we had only previously read on maps and I had heard from colleagues at work, Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Langley.  As we rode on, the traffic became much heavier, a clear sign we were approaching the greater Vancouver area with a population of about 4.5 million people.  It felt like most had decided to take the afternoon of and join us on the road!  We picked up signs for the ferries and made our way to the docks.  Save one small navigation error, we went straight to the ferry dock.  We approached the ferry terminal at about 2:50pm and I steered to one of 3 booths for the Victoria ferry.  At the booth I indicated I needed 2 tickets and girl said, "if we hurry, we could get you on this one".........  This one was leaving at 3pm!  I managed to stuff my wallet into my jacket, but held our ticket and my credit card in my clutch hand and now tried to ride the bike using a finger to work the clutch.  We sailed down the lines of cars, following a couple of cars ahead of us driving straight onto the ferry.  We carried on, and somehow ended up being last onto the ferry.  So much so, that as we were getting out of helmets and off the biles, the doors were being closed and we moved away from the jetty.  Now that was close!

The crossing time to Vancouver Island is about 1 hour 40 minutes.  I wasn't sure why it should take so long as no sooner had we departed the ferry terminal, than you could see Vancouver Island.  I likened it to the crossings I used to make to the Isle of Wight to see my folks years ago.  After about 40 minutes we approached the Island, but we were no where near the ferry terminal.  The main Island has many smaller Islands close to its shore and the ferry had to make it's way through theses to gain the main ferry terminal.  So although we had departed at 3pm, we didn't dock until 4:40pm.  Even the docking was similar to the Isle of Wight ferry.  The ferry has to make a 180' degree turn in the channel and reverse into the dock.  At this point we were down on the lower of 3 car decks, getting the bikes ready once again.  Along one of the legs during the day, I had reprogrammed the GPS, as the route data seemed to be corrupted.  Now I prayed that the new route I had loaded on the roadside, would behave.  We had about 20 or so miles to go to Victoria and the hotel.  I was going to be absolutely dependant on the GPS.  It behaved faultlessly and eventually took us all the way into the town centre, to the harbour and the front entrance of the Fairmont Empress Hotel.  We pulled up to the front entrance and were immediately met by a doorman.  He was very helpful, but declined to valet park the bikes for us.

The hotel is classic Fairmont Chateaux style and Wendy had paid extra to have a service upgrade - worth every penny. We had a separate check in desk on a different floor.  A separate lounge area where they served complimentary pre dinner appetizers and an honour bar, a lovely way to relax after such a long day.  After a bite to eat we had a wander round the waterfront, before returning to the hotel.  The view of the hotel from the waterfront was quite spectacular, as is the view of the Parliament Buildings, also adjacent to the harbour.  I took several of each, which should be in the slide show I have attached to the Blog.  We finally returned to our room and a chance for me to get busy with todays Blog.  I'll close now, but will leave you with a photo of the hotel and a short poem we found left by the chamber maid after tidying the room this evening.  Nite nite fan, hope you enjoyed todays offering, see you tomorrow:

 
Alas, the night falls on the castle by the sea,
May your dreams be as sweet as our Afternoon Tea.
As you close your eyes and begin to count sheep,
You will soon drift away in a deep peaceful sleep.
Let the night embrace you with it's warm sweet caress,
And your dreams will come true at the fairmont Empress.