Vancouver to Hope
When I awoke, Ruth told me that Dave wasn’t well, and so we did our packing as quietly as we could in order not to wake him. We did a good job because he didn’t stir, even when we clattered around toasting ourselves bagels from the freezer.
Ruth gave us a phone number for a taxi before she left work work, but we were unable to work out how to make an outgoing call using their Skype phone, so we had to use Debbie’s mobile: expensive! The taxi driver was with us astonishingly quickly, and soon we were on our way to fetch our RV. We got a little lost at the last mile, and the driver kindly stopped his meter while we drove around. When we finally found the place, we couldn’t understand how we’d missed it. It was huge.
The counter seemed to be staffed entirely by continental Europeans, and the man who saw to our booking didn’t know what a flat was (other than something that requires you to change your tyre). Still, he eventually got us sorted, and we were introduced to our rental RV.
Due to some confusion twixt rental company and agent, we didn’t get the bikes and bike rack we had ordered — instead we got foldable bikes. The girl who showed us around the RV took us to fetch them from a shed. She offered to show us how to assemble them, and it soon became clear that she was no more experienced in the matter than us.
The bikes turned out to be quite handsome. Unfolding isn’t quite as fluid as one might hope, but once done, they’re pretty serviceable mountain bikes with shock absorbers, gears and everything!
Soon we were on our way. Debbie was nervous about driving such a huge beast, but was more nervous about letting me, so she went first.
The first place we stopped was about an hour and a half East on Route 1, at the fantastically named Chilliwack. Our Chilliwack adventures included:
- Lunch at Tim Hortons: sandwich and donut combos
- Supplies shopping at Walmart: most importantly an iTrip-alike. We had been hoping the RV would have a cassette player or a line-in, but it did not.
- Supplies shopping at Safeway. We bought an awful lot of liquid, because we were thirsty. We did plan some meals, and bought food accordingly, but all in all we don’t really have enough of an idea of how this whole RV thing is going to pan out, to know what to buy.
- My taking over driving duties
We continued East along 1. Debbie browsed one of our guide books, and pointed out that Bridal Falls were ahead: the 6th highest in Canada. We turned off to have a look. I wasn’t sure how wise it was to take the RV up such a narrow road, but I did it anyway, and found there was designated RV parking when we got there — so I had been unnecessarily cowardly. A brisk stroll up a steep path got us to the base of the waterfalls, which were very pretty indeed.
A sign forbade us from getting close enough to see the top of the falls. Sarcastic graffiti added, “Be safer, stay home!”.
Back on the road, we arrived in Hope, where Rambo was filmed. We stopped at tourist information to ask about RV campsites, in an exercise which could not possibly have been more fruitful. Before we knew it we were back on the road, heading for the Othello Campsite.
The Othello Campsite is named after the Othello Tunnels, as series of tunnels which allowed a railway track to follow the Coquihalla Canyon. The 18th century engineer responsible had a penchant for Shakespeare, so points along his route are named after Shakespearian characters.
The site was manned by a helpful Englishman, who advised us to see the tunnels immediately. After reversing the RV for the first time, into our space, and hooking up, we assembled the bikes and went to have a look. The tunnels were certainly worth the effort - and it reassured us that we weren’t wasting money renting bikes.
The locals are warning us about the insects further North. They say it’s OK here, but not there. However I’ve been bitten already, and the bites are swelling into spot-like itchy problems already.
On our return, I bought some firewood, lit a fire (most successfully!), and cooked some sausages over it. Debbie boiled some potatoes and peas, and soon we were eating delicious sausage, mash and peas infused with the toxic smoke from a mosquito coil.
When it got dark, we retired to the RV, where I sit writing this.
Junk food of the day - from Safeway - “Chewy Chips Ahoy!”, or en Francais, “Tendres pépites de chocolat de M. Christie”. What a poetic language.