Day 37 - Keremeos to Osoyoos

The wind woke us up this morning. A lively breeze coming from the west flapped the awnings like mini sails. This, coupled with the normal hydraulic pressures, got us out of bed before 6:00am. We breakfasted in a little cabin complete with microwave to heat water for the tea and oats. This is a very nice campsite.

The bike was up and ready to be off well before 8am and the breeze pushed us down the valley without much effort. The valley widened as the Similkameen River grew in stature, and Marge took plenty of opportunities to snap pictures on the fly. All good things come to an end, and after 15 km we started to undulate in a more serious way, many of the up-hills bringing us down into granny gear; ie bottom gear, middle ring. For the techno weenies, we do have a lower gear, nicknamed “groveling granny” which is a combination of the lowest with low. This one gives us a speed just slightly greater than a slow walk.


We breasted the top of Richter Pass (1200m) at 38km after a 7 km ascent. Then it was all fun as we descended 6% grades at over 60kph. We passed Spotted pond, a sacred mineral lake of the Okanagan Indian Band, vineyards owned and operated for over 40 years by local Indians and red rock paintings. Unfortunately, we were going much too fast to see them in any detail. Truth be told we saw them in no detail at all and learned about them in the Osoyoos Tourist Magazine.

Spotted Lake is quite interesting - Ed

First stop in town was second breakfast at Tim H’s, then a grocery stop. We initially opted for the campsite in our Itinerary, Nk’Mip RV Campground, but felt we were being ripped off at $40 plus tax. We opted instead for one that had waterslides and a $25 tally. We ended up with a nice shady site right next to the waterslides. We were entertained all afternoon by the squeals of kids having fun.

33C today, same tomorrow, so it’s up early and away we go. Night, Night.

PS, I think we have the creak sorted out. It’s just the tip of the teeth on the rear cassette interfering with the side plates on the chain. This is not a problem normally, but after 2-3 hours in low gears they run short of lubrication. Solution is to either stop, or pedal backwards for a couple of revolutions.

PPS: Marge never went up to our French neighbors last night to chat. I’m still in shock.

Pictures

17.3 kph average

Distance: 59km
Total Distance: 2601km
Alt change: 1200m
Total Alt change: 16149m