Today we transitioned from a very rural experience to a very urban experience as we biked from Hope to Langley in the Fraser River Valley. As most of you know there are only about 60 people in all of Canada. So far we’ve seen two of them in the Thousand Miles we’ve covered in British Columbia. Today we saw the other 58 as they drove past us repeatedly. The Fraser River is not quite the Mississippi but it’s quite a massive River. It’s clearly made the Fraser Valley incredibly fertile. I took it easy on Gloria today only making her ride about 10 hours rather than 12 and going about 70 miles.
Our first 25 miles went quite smoothly as we followed the wide shoulder of Highway 7 mostly downhill into the valley. Unfortunately, we were on the north side of the river and eventually had to go to the south side of the river. There being few Bridges, we only had one to choose from and it had neither a sidewalk nor shoulder. Our increasingly frustrating app guiding us along the Great Trail took us to this bridge. It was so narrow that cars behind us literally had to slow down and wait for cars on the other side to pass before they could pass us. It wasn’t much fun for me, but for Gloria it was not too big of a problem because she was so terrified she hit the throttle and was across the river while I was still climbing up the other side.
From there we rode another 25 miles or so through Chilliwack along river levees and through beautiful farmland. Most of this was gravel trail with a few roads mixed in and it was quite lovely. It was especially nice as we traveled along a Park trail next to the Chilliwack river.
Interestingly, blueberries are grown in great numbers in this area. It took us awhile to figure out what the plants were that we were riding past. But a bear seemed to know exactly that they were blueberries. As we came along the Levee we passed a field full of people picking the blueberries. Literally as we looked back onto the trail we saw a bear standing ahead of us. The bear ran off the side of the levee but stayed at the bottom. We were able to ride past but he was clearly waiting for the blueberries.
As mentioned previously, the Great Trail app is not so great. At one point we came to an intersection and the app directed us up onto a road with heavy truck traffic and a sign stating private property no trespassing. We wandered around to try to find an alternate route which led us up a very strenuous climb. As we came onto the trail it was closed because of a washout and we were again left to our own devices. That simply means I began using Google Maps. The only good thing about our Google Maps route was it brought us to one of my favorite places in Canada. Every single town of more than 5,000 people has one and it’s simply the best especially on a hot day riding your bike.
Unfortunately, the route also took us on a freeway – always fun on a bike especially with your wife. The route also taught us again that while maps are two dimensional the places they represent are not. The final twenty miles or so we’re over hill and dale as we passed through Abbotsford and eventually made our way to Langley during rush hour traffic on narrow two-lane roads. I don’t think glorious going to divorce me but the last two days have brought her close.
Grumpy Grandpa's Great Bicycling Adventures 