Blue Skies, lakes and cowboys: Day 6 - Merritt to Kamloops
At several points today I wondered why anyone would ever cycle over the Coquihalla highway when you can take the route we did. The 5a from Princeton to Merritt was fabulous, and it just continued today on through to Kamloops.
We got another early start, we were cycling by 7:15. Now does this sound familiar,.... not a cloud in the sky, very light (almost no) traffic and perfect cycling temperature in the low 20's. It would stay like this all day, except for the temperature. Kamloops felt like an oven when we got there.
A gentle climb out of Merritt and about 8 kms of cycling brought us to the quaint historic village of Nicola. It was first settled by European's in the late 1880's as cattle ranching took over the Nicola valley. A few km's past Nicola we came accross some of the grand old buildings of the Douglas Lake Ranch, one of the largest cattle ranches in the world. All of this while biking along the placid waters of Nicola lake.
We were truly in ranching country as we came accross cowboys and cow girls working thier stock, several more ranches and lots of smaller lakes. Once past Quichena there were no other towns or settlements, but lots of ranch and farm activity.
It was great cycling, moderate grade hills, a tailwind that started to pickup about mid day, and then a killer hill at the 80 km mark. Three km of steep uphill, some at 11%, with the sun starting to show its Okanagan intensity. Once we got past this it was another dowhill scream into Kamloops where we arrived about 2 pm. We quickly found a campsite on the edge of town, got cleaned up and headed back into town for dinner.
When we were about 1 km away from the campsite, and about halfway to where we were planning on going, Kirsten had a flat. Of course all our repair kit and pumps were in our bags at the camp. Day 6, lesson 1, always carry tubes and pump!
A quick change of plan, we were right outside the Kamloops Keg ..... so in we went and had a great meal. Full confession here, the first paying job I had was at a Keg in Calgary when I was 14 washing dishes. I vowed that I'd never set foot in one of these places again, but I did,and it was ok. Maybe that's a sign to recognize and let go of some of your dogma's. Okay, philosophical mussings are over. For now
We also met Bill Brooks from Sidney BC as we were pulling into Kamloops. Bill was a few minutes behind us on the 5a from Merritt. He came into Merritt from spence's Bridge on highway 1. He's continuing on the Trans Canada and his goal is St. John's as well. Bill is also keeping a journal here on CGOB. That's five other Trans Canada cyclist's that we've met so far in week one!
To recap, it was another fantastic day of riding. To anyone who is contemplating riding east from the coast, I would highly recommend the hwy 3 and 5a route that we did. It's longer than the TCH, the roads are narrower and often without shoulders, but the traffic is light to non-existent and the countryside is sublime.
