89.5Kms
The 9am ferry crossing from Kootenay Bay to Balfour was on The Osprey and in a shoreline treetop an osprey called a morning greeting as the vessel pulled away from the dock. It was a gorgeous blue sky day, with perfectly white clouds (though they did darken and sprinkle in the early evening as we pedaled into Castlegar).
On board The Osprey, we met a young man from Sherbrooke and another woman from Washington state who were also tour biking. Email and phone communications with two UBC classmates of B's resulted in a coffee stop in Balfour, just near the ferry. Keegan, elder son of Pete Schuh made his famous masala type coffee for us and it was extraordinary. Keegan also told us of his interesting editor job and his plans for music school. We rode into Nelson along the undulating, curving road along the lakeshore and arrived in Nelson for a visit with B's classmate Doug Kelly. It was a brief but nice hello and Doug told us about his recent return from a Chile bike trip that he and wife Karen had done. Doug also told us about a back road route from Nelson to Castlegar and after a v.garlic lunch in Nelson we took Doug's suggested route and loved it (Blewett and Pass Creek Roads, for those in the know).
The Blewett Road section went high up the mountain to the Southeast of Nelson and then whizzed so far down again to the dammed Kootenay River (where we saw rainbows in the mist). On the other side of the Kootenay River, we joined the Pass Creek Road, which passes many rushing creeks. Both sections were fantastic! Just before we reached Castlegar, we encountered Pete Schuh again, en route to visit a pal and Pete was surprised to see us on this back road!
This was a great day of riding and visiting and we feel comfortable at The Flamingo Hotel in Castlegar and have picked up grocery supplies at Safeway for tomorrow's admin/bike-care day, and the next big day of bicycling to Christina Lake.
No comments :
Post a Comment