Castlegar - Oliver: Three Big Summits 3rd Sept - 5th Sept

For the next three days we reckoned with very similar terrain: they each involved 30-40km back-breaking climbs and, of course, descents, although these varied greatly in quality.

Castlegar to Cristina Lake was supposedly the most difficult with a 40km climb up by 1000m to the excellently named Paulson Summit. We had an early start and luckily it was only after a few metres of climbing that we realised P had left some clothes in the motel! We reached the top after 4 hours but it wasn’t so difficult - we only remember two short steep bits and the rest was gently uphill. Or maybe our big psyche up the day before was very effective! An excellent descent welcomed us on the other side, although due to the lack of picnic table facilities we had a very uncomfortable lunch sitting on pointy rocks by a stream with lots of insects sharing great interest in our food. Further down, we encountered the Paulson Bridge which went over the Kettle Valley Rail Trail (now being restored for recreational use). After only an hour of wonderful descent, we found Cristina Lake waiting for us (the warmest in Canada), where after an ice-cream and a chat with some fellow travellers (well, car travellers), we had one of the most refreshing swims of our journey. After enormous dinners that we couldn’t eat (first burger Paul couldn’t finish), we slept soundly and the following morning set off for Grand Forks on the Kettle Valley Trail to check it out. Lovely and scenic it was, but it did not prove wholly practical to our purposes. Within the first 500m we encountered no less than three gates which had bars across them (to prevent motorised vehicles from using the trail) which meant the bikes - luggage and all - had to be lifted over, the path was quite sandy and pebbly, reducing our speed to a measly 10km/hour, and at one point, it was so overgrown that the weeds whipped our legs in a most painful manner. It also meant that we arrived in Grand Forks rather knackered, and we hadn’t even gained any altitude! However, it was a lovely peaceful break from the lorries, RVs and SUVs which constantly tormented us on the roads.

The climb up to Eholt summit was supposedly the easiest, with a 400m climb over approximately 25km. We left Grand Forks at one and, like most days in the Kootenay mountains at this time of year, it was very very hot and sunny. Being quite tired from the day before and from the morning’s shenanigans on the trail, N’s morale was very low, and because the road was a constant steep climb, it took hours to cover a few kilometres which resulted in issues which we will not discuss here. After yet another badly placed lunch, also on uncomfortable rocky boulders, we finally reached the top at the late hour of 4:30pm and descended into Greenwood (the smallest city in Canada - but actually looked like more of a village to us) for ice-cream, and then Midway, where dusk brought an excellent sunset over-looking the mountains, for food and much-needed and welcome sleep in the last available room at the Mile Zero Motel.

After the previous day’s ups and downs an early start was deemed imperative for the last of the big mountains before the Okanagan Valley. We left for the wonderfully named Anarchist Summit at 8:15 (possibly a record!) in much better spirits than the day before. The climb not only involved some thigh-splitting steep slopes but also various rank-smelling decomposing deer at the side of the road. After 3 and a half hours and 40km we crested the summit - this time the sign was posted in the correct place (although some of our profile maps would have you believe otherwise). Luckily, however, the rest area marked on the map did materialise (unlike previous days), and we ate lunch in relative luxury at a picnic table.

The following descent into Osoyoos immediately entered into our top 5 of all time, with its dramatic fast-swooping 14% switchbacks and excellent views of Osoyoos Lake which were divided in half by the US-Canadian border and Osoyoos itself (see photos 5 Sept). The descent went on for ages and came to an end at Osoyoos Gelatto Ice Cream shop where we were given our first cyclists’ discount of the journey! Well done, Gelatto!

A mere 20km, largely flat/downhill road took us into Oliver, the wine capital of Canada, where we managed to find a motel with a pool within our (somewhat revised) budget, and once again put off the camping for a more desperate situation. We therefore dived straight into said pool and shortly after, a delicious bottle of Mystic River Pinot Blanc, before falling fast asleep in front of the telly once again!

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