June 25th - Williams Lake, BC (BST -7hrs)

In the cold light of day, we began to have doubts about some of our fellow residents. Amongst the obvious tourists in the hotel foyer, there were a number of thin and unhealthy-looking types with ragged clothes, who blended remarkably well with the trolley-pushing bag people, drug addicts and other misfits who populate the area’s streets. Since we could neither connect to the hotel’s wireless network, nor make an international call using our American pre-paid calling card, we had no reason to hang around any longer than it took to pack the bikes.

We took Hwy 99 out of the city, through Squamish and Whistler. It is a great road. Vancouver will host the 2010 Winter Olympics so they have been making great strides in improving access. Almost as far as Whistler, a new dual-carriageway winds its way around the coastline, offering wonderful views of islands and inlets. Past Whistler the work continues. At one point, John and I found ourselves unexpectedly dirt-riding over several miles of twisty unsurfaced road in a construction zone. Then, all of a sudden, we found ourselves back in open countryside, with more stunning views.

It was a slow ride. It seemed that every time we were tempted to speed up a bit, we caught out by degraded road surface, a sneeky bit of construction or a narrow wooden bridge under repair. Best we get used to it though, as I am sure we will find much worse over the next couple of weeks.

We got in to Williams Lake at about 8pm, slightly damp, after being caught in a brief, but vicious, downpour. After our Vancouver hotel room, the Drummond Lodge Motel was pure luxury. Our huge room even had a balcony overlooking the lake. We changed into some dry clothes and went to find dinner at the Laughing Loon pub down the road.

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