Cycling across Canada- Day 1

Vancouer to Hope: 190 km 800m elevation gain

I started super early today because I know its going to be a very long day. I have to detour to the Delta Police Station to pick up my camera that was stolen during my car accident. This detour added probably 30km to the trip today, which would be at least two hours. It was also a work day. I did not want to bike with rush hour traffic at all.

I left my friend’s place around 6am and got to Hope around 6pm. It was a little cool and a bit windy. I took the HWY 10 from Delta and then went on the parallel road along Hwy 1, and eventually on HWY 1. HWY 10 is a truck route but there weren’t much traffic. I was quite happy with it. The parallel road was awesome. There’s not much traffic at all. Along the way I passed numerous fruit stands and egg hut. I got myself a dozen fresh free range eggs from an unmanned hut. Just put money in the box and take eggs from a fridge. Totally love the trust they put in people.

At first I wasn’t planning to stop much. Just want to keep on going so I can get to Hope at a decent time. From my previous bike touring experiences, I learnt that I don’t do well with long breaks. Once I stopped for more than 10 mins, it would be really hard for me to start again. But today I felt like I am falling asleep a little……caffeine addiction (I didn’t have any coffee in the morning). So I stopped at a gas station convenient store for a cup of coffee(and of course l brought my own mug with me), rested, snacked and charged my phone and went back on the road after an hour. Ya, didn’t I say no long breaks? I had to admit that this one felt very much needed.

My original plan for this trip was to do wide camping as much as possible to save money. However, I have never done wide camping in Canada, so I am a bit scared. After some intense debating in my head, I decided not to attempt wide camping on my first night as I already had a long day. It would be easier to just find a campsite with facilities. Plus I have been looking on the side of the road and could spot any decent wide camping site.

After visited a few RV campsites, I arrived at the Telte-Yet campsite at Hope and found a spot right by the river. It was super windy at the time. My oatmeal and nuts got blown all over the picnic table and on the ground as well. It took me a while to pick most of them up so that squirrels won’t get feed. Haha.

There was another cyclist at the campsite and I was quite excited to see another one so soon. She’s going to to go Fernie on a mountain bike trail. So cool. This makes me want to get a mountain bike and explore the whole mountain bike touring routes.