Spences Bridge to Kelowna

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Yesterdays blog was written much later at night than usual, because when we returned to the Inn after eating a meal at the local cafe/restaurant, we were invited to share a pot of tea with our hosts. This led to the discovery that Mike was an ex BMW mechanic and a classic British car enthusiast. Need I say more - although the conversation did turn to life in Spence's Bridge. It is a very small Canadian town, with only about 100 inhabitants and an average age of 63. We discovered our hosts frequently went panning for gold in the Thomson river, which flows alongside the inn and often take guests along for the experience. Unfortunately the river is too high for panning at the moment, but they did show us a phial of gold they had recovered from the river.

The trains did not keep us awake, although I did have an ear worm singing 'the freight train runs through the middle of the house' - probably have to be old to understand that! This morning we enjoyed a lovely Canadian style breakfast, with cameras poised ready to go out onto the patio should a train pass by. We waited and waited, packed the car up ready to go and still not one train either way passed by.

We had to admit defeat and get on our way, after thanking our hosts for their hospitality. We were initially following the river Nicola through quite a barren canyon-like valley, but eventually the vegetation and trees increased and the roads became very long and straight, with very little traffic. We had a drive of about 190km today to the lakeside city of Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley. We arrived about lunch time and parked in the attractive city park close to the main town and lake. What a lake it is too, covering an area of 127 square miles and with it's own resident Nessie called Ogopogo, but bearing a striking resemblance to it's Scottish cousin.

Lunch time beckoned and we had to follow friend's recommendations and at long last visit Tim Hortons. Delicious and very reasonable prices. We then walked along the waterfront admiring the many boats and beautifully tended parkland. Next we drove to Knox Mountain Park and admired the views from the two viewpoints of the City, Lake and surrounding mountains. Here we discovered that the name Kelowna is from the Indian for grizzly bear.

After checking in to yet another delightful B&B we went to the lakeside nearby for a delicious meal, complete with red wine from, of course, the Okanagan Valley.

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