May 13, 2016
Friday the 13th: Again!?!
I had a pretty good night's sleep in my little hiding place down at the bottom of the field and woke up to a beautiful morning. I got out of the tent, stretched, and walked away from my campsite to answer the call of nature. I was in behind some trees and bushes, and well hidden from the road, so I had no concerns as I went through the process of what I like to refer to as 'digging a hole.' I'd never been disturbed during this private time before, except on one memorable occasion when a fox came and stared at me. Probably more memorable for the fox than me, to be honest. But this particular morning I was startled to see a man walk along through the field not far from me, fortunately just after I had pulled my pants up.
“Morning.” I said, trying to act casual, like this was a normal situation.
“Hi. How's it going?” asked the young man jovially.
“Good. I'm just camping here, I'm bike touring. Do you live here?”
“Yeah, I live next door. I've just been for a walk up the hill over there. It's fine you're here. I'm not the landowner, but he'll be alright with it.”
The conversation was going surprisingly well, and I was particularly pleased he hadn't asked me exactly what I was doing coming out of the bushes a hundred metres from my tent. But apparently I had taken him quite by surprise.
“I thought you were a bear!” he informed me, making me rather relieved that he wasn't a hunter with a trigger finger. Then he went on, “Actually, you should watch out, there is a bear den down there.” And then he pointed to a spot that could not have been more than fifty metres from my tent. My tent which was full of the food I hadn't thought necessary to remove the night before.
“Just right there?” I asked, disbelieving.
“Yeah, three brown bears living there. Have a nice day. See you.”
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What was interesting about this was that the stage was now perfectly set for the most rapid taking down of a tent and evacuating a field that the world has ever seen. I folded up the poles faster than ever. I clipped my bags back onto my bike with an efficiency quite unlike me. It was not yet seven in the morning and yet this, it seemed already, was going to be a tough Friday the 13th to survive.
Within ten kilometres I had arrived in the small town of Chase. I wanted to go to the library here, mostly because it seemed like a safe place to hide out the rest of the day, but it was not yet open. Instead I sat in a park and decided to go for a swim in the lake next to it. I knew this seemed a bit of a gamble on Friday the 13th, but I was quite sure there were no sharks, piranhas, alligators, or other dangerous creatures in the lake, and, what was more, I thought it less likely I'd bump into any brown bears underwater than on land. So I stripped down and dived in. It was ice cold. Hypothermia seemed likely. I got out again, put my clothes back on, and told myself not to be so stupid.
I was sitting on the steps of the library when it opened, and I got to meet a nice woman named Carmen who worked there. We had a really good conversation and she was interested to ask what I was doing and where I was going. This happened half a dozen times a day here, almost whenever I stopped my bike. People are so friendly. This was good, this was really good. The library was a safe place.
But I couldn't hide in the library all day, so I left after a couple of hours and cycled on the Trans Canada Highway for about fifty nerve-wracking kilometres until I arrived in Salmon Arm. My friend Dani, from tree-planting, who now lives in Vancouver, she comes from Salmon Arm. Five years ago she had told me about how they were talking about building a Walmart in the smallish town and how it had divided opinion. Now I was greeted almost as soon as I passed the Welcome to Salmon Arm sign by a great big brand-spanking new Walmart. I thought I'd better stop.
I did a bit of shopping in Walmart, and then I came back outside to my bicycle to load on the quality merchandise that I had just purchased, when two teenagers, of first nation ethnicity, came along. They were a boy and a girl and they were pushing a shopping trolley. They were both a little fat and, if the way they were staggering along was anything to go by, a lot drunk. I was delighted when they stopped to talk with me.
“Excuse me,” started the boy, who seemed a little camp and thankfully quite harmless, “Do you work here?”
Now this was an intriguing question. I certainly did not think that I looked like a Walmart employee at that moment. I told him I did not.
“Oh. Do you shop here?”
“Yes. I have just shopped here, yes.”
“Do you live here?”
I was not sure if he was still referring to Walmart, or more generally Salmon Arm, or perhaps Canada, but it didn't matter, because the answer was the same.
“Where are you from?” asked the girl.
“England.”
“India?”
“No, England.”
“Do you want a shot? Let's get him a shot!” the boy was excited, and began to rummage in a bag in the trolley. They really did seem like quite friendly drunk teenagers.
“No, it's okay, thank you.”
“Okay. It was nice meeting you. We're off to steal some stuff now. We're gonna steal from Walmart. See you.”
Salmon Arm was alright, especially down by the wharf. The town is right on a lake, and the wharf area had a really nice atmosphere. And from there I was able to follow a trail for several kilometres out the other side of town. It was a fantastic nature trail, right next to the lake and separated quite a distance from any roads. I read information boards that told me there were beavers around, and I hoped to see one because I'd never seen a beaver before. Unfortunately I didn't get to see one here either, but I saw a tortoise hanging out on the trail, and that was good enough for me.
Unfortunately after a few kilometres I suddenly came across a section of trail that was submerged underwater. It wasn't so much the case that a puddle had formed, as that the lake had overflowed. It looked really rather deep, and there was no way around and no way back. So I thought 'in for a penny, in for a pound', and I cycled right out into the water. Turned out it was quite deep, with the water level rising steadily until it was halfway up my front panniers. The trail was still good beneath my wheels though, and so I was able to keep pedalling despite the water, and then a whole school of small fish appeared. I cycled right through them, and they darted around my bike, and I marvelled at how after all these years I can still come across these surprising firsts. Not only would today be remembered as the first day I camped within fifty metres of a brown bear den, but it was now also the first time I'd cycled directly through a school of fish. Fantastic!
I made it back to solid ground again, but that wasn't the end of the animals. I was then held up by a flock of geese as they waddled along in front of me, frantically herding their goslings until they could find a way to escape my menacing advance. That was soon followed by another tortoise. This was a real nature trail and no mistake! I just hoped there were no brown bears! But the trail did come to an end and I made my way back up onto the road system. Now there was just the small matter of finding a place to camp and I did so in a town park that was in fact basically a wood with trails through it that made it easy to find a place to sleep. Another Friday the 13th was almost at an end, but there were a few more hours to get through, and, although I'd been careful to try and avoid pitching anywhere near anything that looked like a brown bear den, I was still concerned. The name of this place was Coyote Park. It was going to be a long night.
Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 49,238 km (30,577 miles)
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