From Whistler, it was back to Vancouver and on the bus to Okanagan valley, a wine growing area. It reminded me of the south of France, with nice low rolling hills, the smell of pines and sandy dust, and nice cycle ways. Except south of France doesn't have cougars, bears and big bitey things like that, unless something strange has happened since I was last there.
It was warm in the valley, quite a change from the mountains, I hired a bike for a day to tour the 'Kettle Trail', a nice bicycle route that goes to the next town and maybe further, but I wasn't going very far, just as far as the winery's, which there were plenty.
I wanted to check out the Skaha Bluff area reknown for rock climbing, Canada dosn't do small local town to town buses like in the UK, its either Greyhound or just within the immediate town, so I walked there with a girl from the hostel called Saven. It was a long walk, but the bluffs where worth it. We didn't do any climbing but we scrambled to the top of the bluff to get some great views over the valley.
We had a bit of pressure on to get back to the Greyhound station before 5pm so Saven could get her next bus to Banff that afternoon and I could buy my ticket for Banff the next day before the office shut.
Okanagan, a nice place, but a bit awkward to get about without a car, like most places in Canada.
Notes:
- Bikes can be hired from Freedom Bikes for $25 for half a day, this was very good value and included lock, helmet and a decent mountain bike.
- It's warm.
- The HI Penticton hostel is only a few minutes walk from the Greyhound bus station.
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