Day 5: As Good as a Rest Day (Almost)

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We had the luxury this morning of not being in a hurry to leave. With only 26kms to travel to Princeton it is as good as rest day (you'd think). After a sleep-in we rose to a lazy breakfast. Mike came around and so did his lovely wife Sandra. What a great couple. We spent the best part of the morning chatting, hearing stories of freezing winters waste deep in snow with temperatures normally around -10C and summers that hit 40C. And stories of bears, cougars and deers in the local area - just what we wanted to hear.
We enjoyed Mike and Sarah's company so much we arranged to meet them for dinner in Princeton that night
We left Tulameen at midday with a prospect of the KVR being in better condition than yesterday and it certainly was - but still not what you would call an enjoyable ride. The bone jarring bouncing and intense concentration you need while riding leaves you physically exhausted.
We were treated to some more magical views of the Tulameen River, a number of Rail Bridges (and a couple of tunnels). Most unexpected was coming across a large sandy beach on the river. It made for a great lunch spot and an impromptu dip in the river to cool off. The water was freezing but certainly refreshing.
We also saw a black bear enter the river from the opposite bank and wade across to our side. It was about 150m back and when we started riding it got further away - quickly.
As we neared Princeton the track improved greatly. We had noticed this happened as you approached and left towns on the KVR but we're painfully aware of truth of what lies between. If we travel on the rail trail tomorrow we can't expect to travel at anything more than 10km per hour. It's meant to be a 96km leg almost exclusively on the KVR. Luckily there's a road that parallels the trail which is what we've decided to take instead.

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Photos

Mike and Sandra
The end to yesterday's ride will be recounted many times