Bicycle Mania (XIV): North Vancouver to Roberts Creek

5:00
Enough sleep!

And only SIX SLEEPS until I get to go home ;-)

8:15
It's COMPLETELY overcast and GREY out there...

.. I regret having stored my Converse shoes at Grandma.... I'm going to have to cycle through cold weather in only sandals.....


9;00
In the News:
Air Canada has been named the favourite airline in North America.......

OK, that can ONLY mean one of TWO things.....
1) Either "Millennials" are ALL RETARDS.... or
2) I am trapped in a strangely similar but abhorrently deviant branch of reality ...

10:40

On y va!

grey in grey, metal to metal

a light snack

en route

The washroom in the BC Ferries terminal in Horseshoe Bay is even MORE FOUL-smelling than the YVR-airport washrooms..... WOW...  What to say about a company that leaves its bathrooms in such a state ?  

about to release the Exhaust Monsters ....

12:00
I'm on the ferry.  

Port Mellon Pulp Mill fills the entire valley with YUK AGAIN...

lovely Pulp Mill pollution ....

13:10

The usual stop in Gibsons ....

... for Mongolian Chicken ;-)

14:30
And I'm back 'home' (one of many around the world).

16:00
A trip to the General Store.... 3 bottles of wine (cheap ones) and 2 packs of cigarettes.....$80..... OUCH.... Thank God it's only 6 more sleeps until I get to deal with affordable prices again....

Hans wants to drink & smoke outside..... who am I to say NO ????

midnight..... ouch....

There must be some kind of way out of here (V): Boston Bar to Vancouver

5:00

That should be enough sleep now…. I wake up in Canyon Alpine Motel.....

Now what is wrong with the WiFi now AGAIN?

Nope…. NO Wifi on the laptop, just on the phone…. Must be a router mis-configuration again…… I so HATE being in the 3^rd world…..

I was going to stay here until 11:00 so that I wouldn’t get to my next hotel WAY TOO EARLY for check-in time, but what am I going to do for SIX HOURS without internet ….?

It starts working again half an hour later, but I'm still in low spirits..... until I remember:

I get to go HOME in 10 days ;-)

8:00  GOOD NAP ;-)

Breakfast.  Toast with Canadian Gouda (it doesn't even taste a little bit like real Gouda!) and Turkey breast (wet cardboard is the closest taste I can think of).  Must be that British heritage that forces Canadian food to be appalling ....

Driving is FUN ..... 

Yale... closing/closed down
This place was still open when I came here with George 5 years ago!

Sorry, Jesus, walk on water somewhere else ...

rather more the norm than the exception .....

.... until I reach Hope......... then all the traffic from the Coquihalla Highway joins me and it becomes slightly unpleasant.... 

.... and it gets worse and worse ....

By the time I pass Chilliwack traffic has become a NIGHTMARE.

Stop-and-Go forever....

I can't wait to get off the highway at the Rest Area just west of Abbotsford .... but when I approach it I see that the entrance is completely blocked by RVs.....I would have to wait God knows how long just to get onto the Rest Area... OH SCREW THIS BS !

I keep driving.... 

13:30 
I've made it to North Vancouver!
Check-in time is not until 15:00 but my room is READY !

14:30
The taxi delivers me to Grandma's place.... I NEED my bicycle !   Grandma is her usual selfish self.... she wants to have her birthday lunch with me ONLY..... NOT including the two other people who each saved her life once by picking her up the floor and calling the ambulance....

16:00
The car is gone and I am mobile by bicycle ;-)  



What a relief!  








Driving a car in this city is like having to navigate an obstacle course in a fat-suit!

In addition, I'd be contributing to air pollution and global warming.....

Here is the current air advisory for Vancouver:

WHY is level 3 'IDEAL'? Isn't level 3 dirtier than level 1 and wouldn't consequently level 1 be 'more IDEAL'?   
YES, sometimes being a physicist and having a keen sense for languages sets one apart from the great unwashed masses.....  




19:00
I did sink laundry and hung the clothes out to dry over my bicycle..... when they are dry I bring them in and sniff them.... they REEK of EXHAUST ! (which they did NOT before I washed them...)  

FUCK THIS CITY !


The hotel front desk refuses to beat Booking.com's rate when I try to extend my stay, they only agree to match it.... even though me coming to the front desk saves saves them the commission to Booking.com..... that's the last time I try to do them a favour..... where is Raj when I need her, LOL.


20:00
That's it....I need sleep

There must be some kind of way out of here (IV): 108 Mile House to Boston Bar

7:00
I sleep like a log in this house!  Maybe it was all the booze I consumed last night ?

The ticket is booked.... Zu is coming to Vietnam in March !!!!!  

Fabulous, it's been too long since Zu I went on a trip together!

We chat and chat and chat... I do NOT want to get ready and I do NOT want to leave... Zu has such a great sense of things ... and all of a sudden it's 12:30.... I NEED to leave .....  I hope I see you again soon, Gurl!

That endless 4-lane highway ....

(Here in the middle of Nowhere?  WHY?) south of 100 Mile ....

.... and then ... MORE lakes.....

Just south of Clinton:

Just North of Cache Creek

Everybody knows this is nowhere 

somewhere close to Cache Creek

...and this simply has to be Spences Bridge 

Another pull-out. I stop again..... Not really for the view... but because I HATE car driving! Might as well take some pictures.....

and have a smoke... ....but I feel strangely wary....

.... in front of me, there is steep drop down to the river.... and behind me there is a huge rocky overhang on the mountain side......

Then I read the plaque....

.... my gut feeling has been well trained ;-)

16:00
Canyon Alpine Motel ... This place MUST have been built by Germans.....

.....The receptionist is a chubby bubbly red-headed woman..... I get my room..... then I start looking for the Wifi Password in the room.... NO..... back to the office ..... the door is locked and no-one shows up even when I ring the bell..... maybe someone at the Alpine Restaurant knows  .... A very gruff woman informs me that they are separate owners..... but tells me to look for the receptionist in the laundry room.... now WHERE is that..... I find it.... chubby ginger gets scared when I walk in.... but gives me a password combination.... I try it and get a message "traffic limit exceeded"..... back to the laundry room.... Ginger has to walk to her office to give me another combo..... FINALLY !   

WHICH century am I living in?     Go Canada Go !

18:00
I've caught up with my booking and planning ..... I'll be in Vancouver tomorrow ;(

19:00
I am SO TIRED .....

21:15
The WiFi stops...... traffic limit reached... WTF?  And I wasn't even watching Netflix.....

Headache and exhaustion (from what?) lead to a bout of mini-desperation (returning to Vancouver tomorrow does NOT help) .... but finally....