Day 2, on to Pemberton

Today began by having some blueberry muffins and fruit prepared by Sally, the host at the B & B and discreetly left outside our door. We had talked with her the day before, and found her to be a very interesting woman, one of three girls who grew up in  that house when it was just a cottage for the summer. That cottage is what we now stayed in, and the family had built a larger more permanent house where she and her two boys stayed. They were really in paradise, and they knew it. 

Sally talked about her rides into town, and gave us some pointers about routes. She seemed to have done the trip often before. So we listened and resolved to follow her example. The first task was to get up the hill outside the house, which rose from the shore and our cottage with a steepness that was impressive. And thankfully, short. Then onto the Sunshine Highway, towards the town of Gibson. Much of this was through forested areas, with some housing as well. You cold see the rise in real estate values in the houses: many were beyond ostentatious, while some remained quite simple. the forest had some quite amazing trees (cedars) which, although not as big as those in Cathedral Grove, still looked like stately old grandfathers. Some serious hills, and some heavier traffic than before. Nancy met us once along the way with some terrific brownies, which quite revived us after some heavy pedalling. And the road got quite busy, including with heavy trucks. (once, there was a deer which crossed the road, and the trucks stopped for that thankfully). 

Once in Gibson, we took the Marine Drive to avoid the highway, and got some lovely vistas of the sea. Met up with Nancy at the Ferry Terminal entrance, and put the bikes on the car at that point. We had pedalled another fifty kilometres, so the total was now about 120 km. The ride across to Horseshoe Bay was another quite spectacular one with scenery difficult to match. And while on the ferry, we met up again with some American bikers with whom we had biked a ways  along the sunshine coast. The had been in the area, biking the Island, and down the coast, and were on their way back to Seattle. Their bikes were seriously laden, with front panniers, back panniers, handlebar panniers, and still more gear on top of all that. But they had had a good time, and it was fun talking with them.

The Sea to Sky road from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler is being rebuilt for the Olympics, with oodles of money apparently, and no sense of the beauty they are scarring. A lot of machinery, a lot of bare rock, and some still-beautiful scenery along the way. We went into Whistler to see what it looked like. A bit too glitchy, all picture-postcard pretty and looking like a rich and disconnected city without a history. We were glad to leave, and get on our way.

So now we are in Pemberton. A wonderful little town just past Whistler. We had thought we would stop the car (which we took from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler) just after Whistler, and bike to Pemberton, but both Barry and I were too tired, so we drove. Made a quick stop at Shannon Falls on the way, to see a magnificent falls over the side of a cliff. then on

 to the town through a classic notch in the mountains, and into the Pemberton Valley. We wondered abut staying at the Pemberton Hotel in the centre of town, but it was so tacky that we took Nancy's advice and went looking for a B & B. We found one in a short time.

And found the Vineyard B & B, with a wonderful (literally wonderful) restaurant on site. And the view from the window was across a grape field with some sheep in it, over to the side on Mount Currie. How much better can you get? We had a terrific meal, prepared by two young energetic chefs (one from Alsace, and the other from Surrey in England). Plus we had a nice time. It's now almost 11 PM here, so I'm off to bed. Write more tomorrow, likely. Will probably get to Lillouet.