31 August 2009
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Thank you to Josh for taking these action shots of The Baron and me |
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After resting up in the famous skiing and mountaineering town of Whistler – where I did neither sports – I headed on southwards. I’d decided that I really didn’t want to venture into Vancouver even though I’d heard it was a lovely city so I pressed on and spent the night in Hope, which was appropriate and a sweet, if not very memorable town. |
Heading north for the first time in a long time I rode Highway 1 to Hell’s Gate and took the air-tram (a cable car) over the Fraser River – this is a really impressive piece of the river where the water rushes through this narrow gorge at a huge rate. The canyon was made narrower when the Canadian National Railway blasted out a passage for the railroad but succeeded in causing a large avalanche which blocked the river even more. There have been massive efforts to ensure the migrating salmon are able to navigate this stretch of the river and salmon leaps have been built into the sides of the canyon. |
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I ended up in the fairly unpronounceable Kelowna and we navigated the terrible traffic to reach the BMW bike shop where Mr Baron had an appointment with a new front tyre, chain and sprockets and an oil and filter change. The man behind the counter was very curt to the point of being rude and seemingly just out to score points from me but then he was from Manchester and I quickly remembered why I don’t spend much time in the UK!!
With shiny new parts and go-faster oil the Baron was ready for some mountain climbing! We struck out for Glacier National Park the following morning and were delighted by the mountains and scenery and the wonderful built-for-motorcycling road through the park. After a night in a rather grotty motel in Golden the next stop was Lake Louise and hordes of tourists!
I have never understood why people travel to stunning places in the world only to spend their entire time chattering about stupid and mundane things and not absorbing their surroundings. I walked to the far end of Lake Louise to try to avoid the coach parties and seething mass of humanity that was congregating around the area a few easy steps from the car park and shops and sat on a bench. I listened to people chatting about what they had watched on television, the latest thoughts on Michael Jackson’s death and other monotonous trivia but not once did I hear anyone discussing the pair of eagles flying overhead, the colour of the glacier on the mountain or why the lake is such a vivid blue (due to the fine limestone sediment that not only causes any particulate matter to sink to the bottom but produces a refraction of light called Rayleigh scattering – in case you were wondering!). Such a shame.
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Thinking I’d fair better at the slightly more out of the way Moraine Lake, up a winding 16 mile side road with difficult parking at the end (the joy of motorcycling!!), I was slightly disappointed to find a similar state of affairs. However I persevered and walked to the other side of that lake too. I was rewarded with peace and quiet and was able to watch the canoeists paddling up and down the azure blue waters.
Riding down through the Rockies was amazing. Something I'd seen many times in books and films but to actually be a tiny figure travelling along a winding road underneath towering jagged peaks was incredible. Exiting each corner produced a "wow" reaction and I didn't think it could get any more beautiful but it kept on surprising me!
I wanted to see the town of Banff as it is featured in all the tourist info and found it to be a pretty town, heaving with people and containing every possible item of tourist tack that you could ever not want or need... that and very over priced hotels! I did think that this strip of Canada would be filled with heaving mass tourism so I wasn’t too surprised and they do say that forewarned is forearmed. I did enjoy wandering about the place and having a large choice on offer rather than the limited selection of foods etc I’d become used to as I usually stay in the smallest places possible!
The ride down to Pincher Creek the following morning was lovely. A nice group of men from Tennessee whom I’d met in Skagway, Alaska had told me about Road 22 running south near to Calgary and it turned out to be an empty stretch of desert like landscape with ranches dotted along the way. Every so often someone would be selling fresh fruit from a small booth by the road and the apples were delicious and refreshing in the heat of the day with the temperature in the 90s.
After a trip to the post office the following morning I ventured towards the most improbably sounding place I’d ever heard... but you’ll have to see the next update to find out what it was!
