Friday 21 September 2018
After a long hiatus due to wildfires and too much travel, we hit the trail again from where we left off in Abbotsford almost a season ago.
This last day of summer graced us with blustery, cloudy conditions but thankfully only some of the promised rain.
It was a day of clouds, cornfields, rivers and long flat slogs on gravel between immaculate farmlands.
An early drive out of Vancouver in the rain and the first few kilometres of hills into a strong headwind weren’t promising, but breakfast at the Yellow Barn next to Highway 1 made everything feel lots better. Especially for Bron who found a coin-operated pony to ride here.
Post breakfast the trail was lovely – winding and wooded, following the Vedder River. Hundreds of wading fishermen stalked the salmon swimming up to their spawning grounds, but either the fish were sparse or sly – we only saw one caught.
Drizzle took us in to Chilliwack so the Hofstedes Country Barn lunch stop shone as a most very welcome beacon. Started as a farm stall in 1981 by a newly immigrated Dutch family, this produce store, deli and coffee shop is a gem.
As we headed out of the suburbs of Chilliwack and on to the banks of the Fraser River the drizzle gave way to fingers of clouds playing in the valleys and above beautiful farms of corn, dairy, chickens and even hops. We read that this area nestling in the Fraser Valley was once home to an estimated 40,000 Sto:lo people whose ancient salmon fishing grounds we saw around Fort Langley on a previous leg of this trip. Now Chilliwack is a primarily agricultural community and is surrounded by the lush farms that sprang up in the wake of the discovery of gold in the Fraser canyon in 1857.
We head up the Fraser over the next few days and kept getting glimpses through the clouds of the mountains that await us.
Today’s ride closed with a sweat-inducing crossing of the Fraser (again) on the Rosedale bridge – a narrow two-lane steel structure sporting neither bike lane, sidewalk or elbow room between us and the trucks we shared it with. Happy not to have to do that again.
Home for two nights is the delightful Tall Timbers Bed and Breakfast in Agassiz, with all the warm comforts of a log house.
Dinner was fabulous at Morgan’s in nearby Harrison Hot Springs, including a lovely Kettle Valley Pinot Gris from the Naramata Bench, one of BC’s finest wine growing areas.
66.7km today
459km done
Trans Canada Epic 