Day 58: Canadian kindness continues

I woke up at 4.30am. Then I woke up again at 5.30am. Dammit! So by the time I was riding away from the campsite at 6.20, the sun had come up over the mountain top and it was getting warm. Wayne waved me off and I headed out of town then up a steep hill with the sun at my back, sweat dripping off my face.

Then I rounded a corner and was going north in the shade of a mountain, up a slightly less steep hill. Ahhh. I started to power my way up at 12km/h and didn't stop until I got to the top, two hours after setting off. The mountains are different here - there are more rocky outcrops, scree slopes and patches of dry grass so they look brown with scattered trees.

At the summit I stopped at a rest stop and sat at a picnic bench in the woods, looking out for bears as I ate breakfast. Then I zoomed downhill to Greenwood and stopped at the museum. When the copper mine opened here, the mayor sent for cheap Japanese workers. Whole families were taken from their homes in Japan, their belongings sold without their consent to pay for internment they hadn't asked for. Then they lived in tiny rooms and the men worked in the mine. When the mine closed down, they were going to be sent back to Japan! But the town committee opposed the decision because they were friends with the Japanese by then, and they were allowed to stay in Canada. Greenwood is a gorgeous little town with all its original buildings.

The next town had a nice little museum in the old railway station and I stopped for a look around and a chat with the lady on duty. It was getting pretty hot by the time I did the final stretch to Rock Creek. The butterflies were fluttering by, I saw a bald eagle not 20 feet away take flight and a million grasshoppers were getting under my wheels again. But I got to Rock Creek at midday, having ridden 70km, seen two museums and stopped at two cafes, which isn't bad. 

I had lunch at a golf club and after a few Skype chats, I payed up and talked to the staff for a bit. Sam asked me where I was staying the night and when I said I didn't know, she offered up her spare room! So we cycled to her beautiful house together and talked the afternoon away whilst she prepared dinner. When her husband Gunnar came home, we all nattered the evening away, ate a delicious chicken tabbouleh dinner with home made bread then went down to the river for an evening swim before pudding of peaches and cream. So now I'm tucked up in a huge soft bed with a full belly, dosed up on good conversation and ready for a good sleep before the big mountain tomorrow.