Belgian Breakfast

For someone who isn’t a morning person, I seem to be waking up earlier and earlier every day. Perhaps the time change played a small role this morning. Either way, it always seems to be a rather satisfying feeling when you wake up after an uninterrupted night of wild camping. Today was another one of those mornings. I really didn’t anticipate any problems but you never really know what will happen.

Given the early hour, I opted not to pack up my tent right away but rather give it some time for the copious amounts of condensation to dry out. While I waited for that to happen, I managed to find a spare outlet or two for the daily device recharge. Yes, it was another pretty typical morning. Typical until about 8:00. By that time Serge and Pict, the two Belgians I met yesterday, emerged from their RV and invited me to join them for breakfast. I accepted.

I wasn’t really sure what my breakfast plan was going to be this morning but it certainly wasn’t eggs, bacon, sausage, toast with Nutella, and chocolate milk. As you might imagine, it was infinitely better than the bagels and peanut butter I likely would’ve made for myself.

We had a very enjoyable breakfast. I learned more about their trip and how it came to be that they were travelling around B.C. while their wives were at home (in case you were wondering, one had done a similar trip years ago and the other wasn’t into the whole RV idea). From what I could tell, both the husbands and wives seemed to be enjoying their holiday.

After breakfast, I packed up my things and was on the move by 9:30 – but not before actually remembering to get a photo with Serge and Pict.

Today’s ride started off very well. It was a nice riding temperature and the winds were very calm. It was downright blissful. The bliss would only last about 20 km. At that point the winds started to pick up a little. And then a lot. While the mountains seemed to shelter me from the wind yesterday, today they seemed to be funnelling it directly at me. They giveth. And they taketh away.

As frequently happens with a headwind, I took a lot more breaks than usual. It was during one of these stops that I met yet another German cyclist, Jonas. Either Germans really like cycling here or else they’re plotting some sort of secret bicycle invasion. I hope it’s the former. Anyway, Jonas was doing a loop of the area – he started in Vancouver and will be returning to Vancouver in a week or so. Who knows, maybe I’ll run into him there. Stranger things have happened.

The rest of the afternoon was okay but the headwind definitely made me work for every kilometre. Well, maybe not EVERY kilometre but definitely a vast majority of them. As such, I was very happy to arrive in Blue River where I ended up having a night of relative luxury.

Between the campground being full, my desperate need for a shower, plus the backlog of updates needing to be uploaded, I decided not to camp tonight (wild or otherwise) and instead found a somewhat reasonably priced motel. It’s SLIGHTLY more cozy than that of the Lakeview Signature Inn (and there’s no breakfast) but it will do. Perhaps the best part is that there’s a fridge/freezer in the room so not only can I freeze some water bottles for the ride tomorrow, but the fridge is also chilling the juice and milk which I bought at the grocery store. And yes, the milk is for the box of cereal I also bought. If nothing else, I’ll be enjoying a good breakfast in the morning.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 96.08 km
Ride time: 4:58:37
Average speed: 19.30 km/h
Maximum speed: 57.14 km/h