June 30th - Kelowna, BC (BST -7hrs)

02/07/2009 by Brigid.

Wine tasting and motorcycling are not ideal bed partners, to say the least. Still it did seem a shame not to explore some of the area’s vineyards, some of British Columbia’s best, even if only for the sake of a day out. So, on the recommendation of the good folk at SWMotorrad, we hopped on John’s Triumph and rode almost three-quarters of the way round Okanagan Lake to the Naramata Bench wineries, in search of lunch and, perhaps, a small glass of wine.

This area is extraordinary. Here we are, in BC’s own “lake district”, little more than a stone’s throw from the Rocky Mountains, where road signs on the highway warn of winter conditions at any time of year, and yet we are essentially in the desert. And, despite the lakeside location, there is even a water shortage here.

Okanagan Lake is about 85 miles long and, in places, up to 1000ft deep. So deep, in fact, that a large span of the 5-lane highway bridge is built on floating pontoons. All around the lake, the valley rises steeply towards the Okanagan Highlands’ main ski areas. For the most part, the partially forested hillsides are brown and arid. But, for over a century, the lake water has provided irrigation for a booming fruit industry. More recently, amongst the patchwork of orchards, vineyards and lavendar fields have appeared, creating the illusion of Provence in the Canadian heartland.

We had a delicious two-course lunch at the Lake Breeze winery. Not daring get stuck into a whole bottle of wine, we chose a glass each of red: meaty ‘Tempest’ for John and a spicy Merlot for me. Red wines are fairly new to the region, but BC whites have been winning awards for many years. Since we have a fridge in our motel room, we also bought a bottle of their Pinot Gris … to enjoy later.

It had gone 5pm when we got back to SWMotorrad to pick up my, now pristine, bike. The parts, including two new rubber boots, a shaft seal, swingarm bearings and a litre of gearbox oil, came to $328. Expensive, but a fraction of the cost of a new final drive. The oil alone cost $56. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be replaced that often. The bike’s designers apparently neglected to provide a drain plug for the gearbox. So if you want to drain the oil, you have to turn it upside-down and use the filler cap … I wonder how many steins of pilsner went down before someone came up with that bright idea!

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