Today being the first day of Fall and perhaps the last decent day we are going to see for a while, we headed off for a ride to Sidney and back along trails and country roads. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning! Home to clean up a few outside things and tie down anything loose. The first major fall storms are to begin to arrive tonight packing strong winds and heavy doses of rain. Up to 200mm in some areas, though apparently less here. Good. It looks like our area will be spared the worst of it as we will have a bit of a bubble over us, but all areas surrounding our island tip will be tested.
A few photos from today before I review our next ride in the Okanagan.
Halloween is just over a month away. Perhaps it's a Covid thing, but there doesn't seem to be as many pumpkins around this year. I'm sure the kids will be out, but maybe their parents are a bit Covid concerned? Guess time will tell.
We had wonderful sun until about 15:00 when black clouds arrived and it cooled off considerably.
Our second ride was from Penticton to Naramata along the KVR Trail, out and back with a deviation into Naramata on the lake to have a look around.
It's a lovely ride and we began a slow steady climb right from the start.
As you can see, we climbed quickly. This is looking west across the glacier formed bench. With all the vineyards and estate wineries we could be cycling in SE France! It felt like that for both of us all day.
It wasn't very busy as we continued to climb. Such a beautiful way!
In the far distance to the south beyond Penticton is Skaha Lake, our ride for the next day.
I put this view photo in to show the area we rode the previous day out beyond Summerland. You can see how the KVR Trail would trend upwards out of the volcanic basin on the way to Princeton.
Reaching Clark Road we began the decent into Naramata down on the lake.
Logically this was called Gulch Road: ) Very reminiscent of our wanders through SE France. Hot and dry!
Those are apple trees to the left. Just slotted right into the gulch.
Once at the lake we just wanted to throw ourselves in! Sadly we didn't think to carry our swim suites. We wouldn't make that mistake again!
It's a lovely ride and we began a slow steady climb right from the start.
As you can see, we climbed quickly. This is looking west across the glacier formed bench. With all the vineyards and estate wineries we could be cycling in SE France! It felt like that for both of us all day.
It wasn't very busy as we continued to climb. Such a beautiful way!
In the far distance to the south beyond Penticton is Skaha Lake, our ride for the next day.
I put this view photo in to show the area we rode the previous day out beyond Summerland. You can see how the KVR Trail would trend upwards out of the volcanic basin on the way to Princeton.
Reaching Clark Road we began the decent into Naramata down on the lake.
Logically this was called Gulch Road: ) Very reminiscent of our wanders through SE France. Hot and dry!
Those are apple trees to the left. Just slotted right into the gulch.
Once at the lake we just wanted to throw ourselves in! Sadly we didn't think to carry our swim suites. We wouldn't make that mistake again!
I could picture a summer spent reading at the end of this dock, watching the sunsets while sipping the excellent wines from the area. Probably a good thing that didn't come to be or I'd have a few kilos to shed! But isn't this special?!
We stopped for some refreshments in Naramata and then began the long, steep ride back up to the KVR. It was a hot climb which the guide book didn't cover very well. They called this ride easy, but believe me the climb up was taxing. It would have been much more enjoyable in the heat to walk it, but that's another journey. We had to figure out some deviations to get around road construction, but we managed ok. I think that added a bit to the climb out.
This was our 'lunch' stop. I spotted a small bench well above the trail on our way out that morning and made a mental note to stop there on our way back. Annemarie had found a chocolate brownie to share in a Naramata bakery which we thoroughly enjoyed with this view. It was a long lunch break with such a stunning view.
On our way again. With the exception of parts of the climb up from the lake, there was nothing we didn't like about this ride. We saw more than a few electric bikes on the KVR. As a matter of fact, we saw a ridiculous number of them while riding here at home today. I suppose it allows more people to get out on the trails and the roads, but I'm kind of not a fan. A lot of the people riding them weren't that old. Maybe I'll get one of those bikes when I get old; )
When we finished our ride for the day we drove off to scout out our planned ride for the next day and to check out several wineries on the Naramata Bench and also on the east side of Skaha Lake.
We stopped for some refreshments in Naramata and then began the long, steep ride back up to the KVR. It was a hot climb which the guide book didn't cover very well. They called this ride easy, but believe me the climb up was taxing. It would have been much more enjoyable in the heat to walk it, but that's another journey. We had to figure out some deviations to get around road construction, but we managed ok. I think that added a bit to the climb out.
This was our 'lunch' stop. I spotted a small bench well above the trail on our way out that morning and made a mental note to stop there on our way back. Annemarie had found a chocolate brownie to share in a Naramata bakery which we thoroughly enjoyed with this view. It was a long lunch break with such a stunning view.
On our way again. With the exception of parts of the climb up from the lake, there was nothing we didn't like about this ride. We saw more than a few electric bikes on the KVR. As a matter of fact, we saw a ridiculous number of them while riding here at home today. I suppose it allows more people to get out on the trails and the roads, but I'm kind of not a fan. A lot of the people riding them weren't that old. Maybe I'll get one of those bikes when I get old; )
When we finished our ride for the day we drove off to scout out our planned ride for the next day and to check out several wineries on the Naramata Bench and also on the east side of Skaha Lake.
We had Annemarie's Toyota Prius hybrid set-up with a trailer hitch just before departing and Paul kindly lent us their very cool bike rack to test out. It worked super well and even with a full vehicle we still managed to get about 900 kms per tank. Hybrids, electric and hopefully soon hydrogen based cars are the present and our future. We really have no choice with global warming now well upon us. I'm mentally prepared to get rid of my gasoline powered car and move to something else. I'd prefer to wait for the hydrogen powered cars, but I think that's realistically a decade away. Seems Tesla has a new battery that will extend its range by about 40%. Perhaps that's the solution for now?
Distracted again! This could be the portion of the Via Francigena that I was supposed to walk this year along Lake Lusanne in Switzerland. The Francigena transects the World Heritage vineyards in that area for about 2-3 stages. Thankfully I had a taste of similar scenery this year, but in all honesty it just made me want to head for the Francigena all the more...perhaps next year.
We visited the winery across the valley that our daughter Caitlin recommended. She was spot on! We had a very good tasting and were fortunate in that the winery was a destination place out of the way of the general touring population. It was very quiet. Our wine box was slowly filling up: ) A good thing!
Our next ride will be around this lake. The first half along the road on the east side of the lake until Okanagan Falls (to the left) and the other half along the KVR on the far side of the lake as we ride north back to Penticton (to the right).
This was a wonderful day spent riding in the Okanagan. We are both coming to appreciate the potential for many more rides in the coming years. Perhaps much of the time it would be too hot to walk these areas during the summer, but biking seems to suit this area and us just fine. If it's hot one simply rides earlier in the day carrying a good supply of water. The air stream generated with the speed of the bikes helped to keep us a bit cool even when it was around 30.
Ok, time for dinner. Puck, I hope these photos are bring back a few good memories from your visits here. I'll post the final instalment of our Okanagan exploration in the next day or so. Seems we are going to be house bound anyway. There's always the wine that's ready to bottle as well and apples to be processed and dried.
We wish you the best of conditions for the way and we hope that the biggest problem you'll encounter is a bit of light drizzle. We are finding accommodation a problem here in Germany and yes prices are silly, so maybe a tent? You miss the bonhomie ofthe albergue but gain the freedom of stopping where you want within reason and we found farmers were happy to let us pitch our little tent. Our problem is that our tent is no longer waterproof, wehad to do gaffer tape repairs, so rain is a problem. But it will be so great. Good luck and Buen Camino Pilgrim Geoff.
ReplyDeleteThat was us by the way, John and Cordula
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