Bonne fete Hannah et Renee

It so happens that my sister Renee and my niece have the same birthday (some 30 years apart however). Happy birthday to you both.

June 10: Nelson to Nelson (about 4km)
Woke up to foul weather today. The rain was torrential and I was glad to be inside and Tony and I decided to take a rest day in Nelson. This was fine with me as I hadn't had a chance to visit the town the previous day, because the weather didn't allow for it. Moreover, Tony has a friend who is going to pay him a visit and it would be easier for the friend to find Tony in Nelson than in a town where we didn't know where we would stay.

I was aching to get out of the motel and meet people however. I decided to move my stuff to the Youth Hostel. Tony preferred to stay in the motel. So after running a few errands, the rain finally stopped and I moved my stuff to the hostel. I'm glad I did. I met some really cool people while making supper and we went to see a documentary about problems with water usage in the world. The documentary was informative if repetitive, but the real pleasure was talking with my new companions. There was a lady from Ireland, another from Denmark and man from France (who I must mention said that he could understand my French much more easily than any Quebecker - HA!) and a lady from Moncton no less. She is probably a few years younger than I am and she went to a rival high school so our paths had never crossed before.

I also visited Nelson. I like it. It has a bohemian feel to it where every second commerce seems to be a cafe or an outdoor adventure store. It seems to attract young people who like doing outdoor activities. In other words, Nelson is the place where pretty people live. My co-worker Sarah Jane gave me a number of suggestions of what to visit (thanks SJ, your tips were bang on).

June 11: Nelson to Boswell (about 60km - I accidentally erased my mileage on my computer)
I woke up to heavy rain and I thought "here we go again", but by the time we were ready to leave, the sun was almost shining. Oh my God, it's a miracle. And by the time we crossed the bridge outside of Nelson, the sun was shining and it was starting to get warm. I started peeling off my rain gear and it had been such a staple of my wardrobe that I felt naked without it.

We rode up north to Balfour to take a ferry across the lake. The ride was spectacular. The weather was warm and sunny and the wind was at our back. I felt great. We reached the ferry in good time and we only had to wait a little bit before it arrived. Also waiting for the ferry were Rebecca and Pascal - two Swiss bikers who took a year off from work and are doing a ton of touring (they've already ridden 8000km since November mostly in South America and are now doing the cross Canada trip - in fact they have their own website of their adventures if you care to visit www.kimble.ch).

Once the ferry reached the other side, we rode south. The wind that was pushing us along on the first part of the trip was now in our face. It made for slower going but it was still nice. At around 4PM we stopped to set up camp. The day had been nice. So camping sounded promissing. Well as soon as our tents were up, it started pouring. The whole night was pretty cold and wet. I stayed dry, but I never got cozzy warm during the night even though I was wearing a lot of clothing. In the morning, I decided that I wasn't going to camp again until the weather turned warmer – likely not until I left the rockies.


June 12: Boswell to Creston (about 60km - I didn't place my bike computer properly and it didn't record the first 35km)
The day was cold and the ride was all rolling hills along the lake – all in all, very pretty.

Since this blog is a transcript of my travel experiences and should be representative of what I am living, I would be remise if I didn't address one important topic ... I smell really bad. It's crazy. I shower every day and I clean my clothes as often as I can and still, I stink big time. Sometimes I get a tail wind while I'm riding and I get a wiff of myself – holy cow! Words do not describe. When I get back home I'll have to take an hour long shower before I approach any of you. Otherwise I may lose some of you as friends. It is however yet more proof that I am now a man and no longer but a boy.

June 13: Creston to Cranbrook (107.72km)
This has been my longest day so far and I finally surpassed the 100km mark. This was the perfect day to have such a long ride. The weather was perfect (mostly sunny, but still relatively cool and a strong wind in our back) and the hills were not devestating. Tomorrow promises to be even more challenging. We hope to get to Fernie which is about the same distance as we did today and it will be a constant uphill from what I'm told.

The mountains that are before us are much more beautiful and dramatic than those that we have already climbed – apparently, because the latter are older and have been more “worn down” than the former. In any case, we are approaching the continental divide and should be out of BC in two days if all goes well.

As Rebecca and Pascal are going north from here, I have said my good byes and depending on when they are going to reach Ottawa, I may be able to see them again.

Last story: All day today I had the song called “Island in the Stream” (I think that's the name) made popular by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. I feel I must explain that I had heard a new version of this song prior to my trip that was sung by Feist and some dude (the singer of the Weakerthans maybe) and their version was much better than the Kenny and Dolly version. In any case, in a few spots during the ride I was belting out the song with great gusto (my rendition of the Dolly parts are especially poignant:)

Anyways, not sure when I'll post again, but hopefully in a few days. Cheers and check out my pictures