Tour de Frost (or Cycling to the Sunshine Coast on a sunny Saturday)

The -2 overnight temperature chills middle-aged bones and leaves frosty starry patterns on the windshields of cars. But it's sunny in Vancouver in November and the bone-chilling temperatures are the price one has to pay for that.

Having put my laundry in the machine and my bike battery on the charger, I am at Denny's at 8:25 am for breakfast.  They already know that I'm having wine with every meal, maybe that's why service is very slow this morning, so they can serve me a glass of wine at 9 am, when they finally are allowed to do so by Canada's strange liquor laws.

At 10;30 I start cycling towards Horseshoe Bay and quickly discover there is something wrong with the bike. During down-shifts, the chain seems to double-up and snag on the front sprocket.  Could it be that it's just too COLD for the chain-grease, so that the chain has become overly stiff?  Bloody ARCTIC weather!  I make it to Horseshoe Bay despite the occasional snag.

The length of the shadows should indicate how low the sun is in these parts





























I still don't trust Bay Moorings restaurant in Horseshoe Bay to prepare a decent meal (After a few fabulous dishes, they served CRAP three times in a row) and head to Troller Restaurant, where the food might not be as good as food at Moorings in their peak days, but at least Troller manages to keep their quality at the 'good' level.

At 12:15, the elderly lady at the next table asks me for the time.  When I give her the info (cell phone time), she exclaims "Oh my God, really? I'll miss my ferry!" Apparently it is an hour later than she thought it was and it seems that her watch has stopped working.  She gets her food to go and runs off.  While some people might consider this amusing, I personally have been a victim of  failing watches at Hong Kong airport (may 2012) and Gatwick airport (Oct 2013) and know the panicky feeling she was experiencing.

I double-check that my watch is still working correctly.

The ferry ride is mostly uneventful (I charge my battery and take some pictures of seagulls).

Just when I congratulate myself on having conquered the hill on the Langdale side, my phone rings.  It's Hans, Denise, and Eike, who want to know whether I want to join them for lunch in Lower Gibsons (at the bottom of the hill I just cycled up).  There is a saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but I consider having to ride up that hill a very small price to pay ;-)



The day ends with a movie on a big screen TV.  In Bruges.  This is the first time I have seen the movie since I was in Bruges in July and I have to hold back not to shout out loud "I rode my bicycle there" every time I see a familiar bridge or street corner.  Like the bridge in the movie cover on the right ;-)