What can I say about Whistler, except that it is an adventure sports playground! The fact that it is on Vancouver's doorstep is another tick to why this is probably the most livable city in the world!
Andrea and I hired a car to go up, as between the two of us, it worked out cheaper than the bus and also meant we could stop en route - as the Sea to Sky Highway is beautiful.
By the way, please never use Budget car rental, they are full of hidden costs and lies.
Anyway, the drive up was amazing. Whistler is not very high, and the road follows the side of a sea loch with dramatic mountains on each side. We stopped at Brandywine waterfall, which was pretty impressive, and I struggled a little with the overlook - a shear drop into the gorge.
Whistler has all the usual ski resort feel, including the high prices, but for some reason it just completely took me in, and that is in the summer. I therefore cannot imagine what it is like in the winter! Just before the village, we gave a French guy, who was hitchhiking, a lift and asked him for advice on what to do. He also mentioned that although many of the European resorts are larger, the snow does not compare. Also, why so you need a massive resort when you only ski a bit of it. My memories of Val d'Isere are huge motorway pistes!
We decided to spend some money and do the typical tourist trap thing of going up the mountain on the lifts. It turned out to be fantastic for two reasons. Firstly, we went right to the top which involved a final small chair lift. At the top there was snow and the occasional glimpse through the clouds of the valley below. It started snowing while we were up there and was freezing! On the way down, the snow turned to rain and we were both soaked through by the end, which involved going into the restaurant just to warm up again.
Secondly, Whistler connected two peaks for the Olympics and this involved taking a gondola with the longest free span, which was quite impressive, over the valley. Some of the gondolas have glass bottoms, which again is very impressive.
During the Summer, Whistler becomes a mountain biking paradise, which seems I clever year round money maker for the place. It looked incredible, so much so that next week, I am going to cycle up and treat myself to a day in the mountain bike park for my birthday (it is very expensive!). It just cannot be missed.
Last night I believe Andrea and I were involved in the first Old Gregorian (ex-alumni of my school) meet up in Vancouver. It was a great occasion, with four of us plus Andrea, and also four different eras (of want of a better word). I just feel sorry for Andrea, as I think we talked about school all night!
Today Andrea flew back to the UK to start her new job on Monday. I was tasked with packing the bike and managed to squeeze in all sorts, as her only other bag was carry on. On the way here, they had not weighed the box, so I decided to stuff in the cheap tent we bought. At the airport, the box was weighed, and well above the hold luggage limit, so I was waiting for a huge charge. However, God bless Air Canada, as they allow bike boxes to be much heavier!
I am home alone now, as the family I am staying with are all on holiday in Vancouver Island. Not sure what I am going to do with myself now that Andrea is gone. It is a bit strange being on my own again!
Thursday 30 August 2012
Tuesday 28 August 2012
Sunday 26 August 2012
Vancouver!
Wow, so much to talk about I do not know where to begin! Most importantly, however, we are in Vancouver, and my Trans-American cycle is finished!
The Washington coast north of Seattle was beautiful. We were travelling up the Pugent Sound and never really left view of the sea. The smell of salt water is uplifting! There are also huge mountains in the Olympic Peninsula, which were stunning. If not by the water, we were surrounded by huge pine trees. It was lovely to finish the days in a campsite right by the coast. I took an opportunity to take some photos with the bike in the water, and take a dip, but it was super cold! I spent a couple of summers when younger swimming in the Scottish Atlantic, without a wetsuit, but the Pacific took the biscuit. I could only manage a sharp 20 seconds!
The great thing about cycling around the Pugent Sound was that we had to take a number of ferry rides. I love cycling on and off a ferry, something very satisfying about it. The views from the water also give another perspective of the terrain. My father says that the best way to enter a place, particularly a city, is by water. I definitely have to agree with him, and the ferry into Seattle was particularly impressive.
En route, Andrea was able to meet Laura and James, who were coming south from North Washington. It was lovely to see them again, but it was weird to be back with them having lived side by side for a month. James was finishing in the next few days, but Laura is going on to San Diego - so best wishes to her!
Andrea has been fantastic and a very strong rider. I think most people would have complained cycling with me, but she nailed it. I had promised that the days would be short, and most were, except for one! We got to a point of no return, and being by the sea, I expected it to be fairly flat, but it was not - we did almost 70 miles that day. Some people would ask and require sponsorship money for that kind of distance, but she did it no problem with a loaded bike!
N.B. A bit of advice - just because a road follows the coast, it does not mean it is flat. Some of the steepest gradients of the trip have been in this section!
The only major issue that Andrea had to put up with was my stupidity one day with fixing her bike. To replace a puncture, I turned her bike over, and in the process I unknowingly moved her bell so it rested again the gear lever. Down the road she complained that the front derailleur was not working and after a look at it, I concluded that she would have to ride the rest of the day stuck in that gear, and then we would get her to a shop the next day. The next shop was 30 miles away, but luckily there is a good bus system around the Pugent Sound (with bike racks on the front of buses - Boris take note). She went ahead on the bus and we arranged to meet in Port Townsend. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the bike mechanic looked at it, moved the bell, and all was right! Port Townsend is a cool place by the way, and just like an English fishing village, with a lovely smell of fish and chips!
My first view of Canada was the evening after Port Townsend, when we had supper on top of a cliff and watched the sun set over Vancouver Island. No words needed to describe what that was like.
From Anacortes, we discovered it was possible to take a ferry to Vancouver Island, rather than follow the mainland north to Vancouver, through a lot of suburbia. It was strange to leave the USA, but I was very happy to enter Canada. We were stopped at immigration on our bikes and got out passports stamped with a few questions - that was fun.
Vancouver Island was straight away different to the USA. It felt a bit more like the UK, and was definitely richer. Victoria is the capital of BC, and a very quaint town, but possibly a little too touristy. We stayed in a hostel run by a Chinese man that could barely speak English - that was fun booking over the phone! What is clear is that Canadians love the royal family, as the Queen was mentioned in a lot of places.
The final ferry took us just south of Vancouver. What a sight to see the city emerge on the horizon! We had to take a bus for a bit with the bikes as cycling was not allowed on a certain road, but then we got dropped just short of the river south of the city. After getting lost, we eventually found a safe route across the river (rather than on the motorway!) and entered our final destination.
On the opposite side of the road was a sign for Vancouver, which I had to get a photo with, but it took 10 minutes to cross the busy road!
Vancouver is awesome! Very energetic and incredibly diverse, with all sorts of nationalities residing here. We are staying in the house of the aunty of Don (who started Bike the US for MS). It is in a beautiful area, and we are both incredibly grateful to her!
So, right now we are exploring Vancouver before Andrea leaves next Thursday. Downtown, Chinatown, Granville Island, Yaletown, Jericho Beach, etc. Tomorrow we may hire a car and drive up to Whistler and spend a couple of days in the mountains (which overlook the city). I plan to do some mountain biking - take a lift uphill this time! BC is a beautiful and massive place. It is about 4x the size of the UK and 70% of it is covered by mountains. The only issue is that everything is quite expensive, so getting around is not cheap. Once Andrea goes, I may continue cycling a bit, as that is much cheaper than staying in the city. What is certain though, is that this is a city I would be happy to live in!!!
The Washington coast north of Seattle was beautiful. We were travelling up the Pugent Sound and never really left view of the sea. The smell of salt water is uplifting! There are also huge mountains in the Olympic Peninsula, which were stunning. If not by the water, we were surrounded by huge pine trees. It was lovely to finish the days in a campsite right by the coast. I took an opportunity to take some photos with the bike in the water, and take a dip, but it was super cold! I spent a couple of summers when younger swimming in the Scottish Atlantic, without a wetsuit, but the Pacific took the biscuit. I could only manage a sharp 20 seconds!
The great thing about cycling around the Pugent Sound was that we had to take a number of ferry rides. I love cycling on and off a ferry, something very satisfying about it. The views from the water also give another perspective of the terrain. My father says that the best way to enter a place, particularly a city, is by water. I definitely have to agree with him, and the ferry into Seattle was particularly impressive.
En route, Andrea was able to meet Laura and James, who were coming south from North Washington. It was lovely to see them again, but it was weird to be back with them having lived side by side for a month. James was finishing in the next few days, but Laura is going on to San Diego - so best wishes to her!
Andrea has been fantastic and a very strong rider. I think most people would have complained cycling with me, but she nailed it. I had promised that the days would be short, and most were, except for one! We got to a point of no return, and being by the sea, I expected it to be fairly flat, but it was not - we did almost 70 miles that day. Some people would ask and require sponsorship money for that kind of distance, but she did it no problem with a loaded bike!
N.B. A bit of advice - just because a road follows the coast, it does not mean it is flat. Some of the steepest gradients of the trip have been in this section!
The only major issue that Andrea had to put up with was my stupidity one day with fixing her bike. To replace a puncture, I turned her bike over, and in the process I unknowingly moved her bell so it rested again the gear lever. Down the road she complained that the front derailleur was not working and after a look at it, I concluded that she would have to ride the rest of the day stuck in that gear, and then we would get her to a shop the next day. The next shop was 30 miles away, but luckily there is a good bus system around the Pugent Sound (with bike racks on the front of buses - Boris take note). She went ahead on the bus and we arranged to meet in Port Townsend. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the bike mechanic looked at it, moved the bell, and all was right! Port Townsend is a cool place by the way, and just like an English fishing village, with a lovely smell of fish and chips!
My first view of Canada was the evening after Port Townsend, when we had supper on top of a cliff and watched the sun set over Vancouver Island. No words needed to describe what that was like.
From Anacortes, we discovered it was possible to take a ferry to Vancouver Island, rather than follow the mainland north to Vancouver, through a lot of suburbia. It was strange to leave the USA, but I was very happy to enter Canada. We were stopped at immigration on our bikes and got out passports stamped with a few questions - that was fun.
Vancouver Island was straight away different to the USA. It felt a bit more like the UK, and was definitely richer. Victoria is the capital of BC, and a very quaint town, but possibly a little too touristy. We stayed in a hostel run by a Chinese man that could barely speak English - that was fun booking over the phone! What is clear is that Canadians love the royal family, as the Queen was mentioned in a lot of places.
The final ferry took us just south of Vancouver. What a sight to see the city emerge on the horizon! We had to take a bus for a bit with the bikes as cycling was not allowed on a certain road, but then we got dropped just short of the river south of the city. After getting lost, we eventually found a safe route across the river (rather than on the motorway!) and entered our final destination.
On the opposite side of the road was a sign for Vancouver, which I had to get a photo with, but it took 10 minutes to cross the busy road!
Vancouver is awesome! Very energetic and incredibly diverse, with all sorts of nationalities residing here. We are staying in the house of the aunty of Don (who started Bike the US for MS). It is in a beautiful area, and we are both incredibly grateful to her!
So, right now we are exploring Vancouver before Andrea leaves next Thursday. Downtown, Chinatown, Granville Island, Yaletown, Jericho Beach, etc. Tomorrow we may hire a car and drive up to Whistler and spend a couple of days in the mountains (which overlook the city). I plan to do some mountain biking - take a lift uphill this time! BC is a beautiful and massive place. It is about 4x the size of the UK and 70% of it is covered by mountains. The only issue is that everything is quite expensive, so getting around is not cheap. Once Andrea goes, I may continue cycling a bit, as that is much cheaper than staying in the city. What is certain though, is that this is a city I would be happy to live in!!!
Saturday 25 August 2012
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