Bromley Rock Prov Park to Osoyoos 95km (785km total).
The ride from Bromley Rock to Keremeos was wonderful, slightly downhill, not too hot and a new landscape. This is a land of fruit, wine and ranches. I am still on Hwy 3 and made the decision to enjoy today and take more pictures.
I was a little concerned as to the size of the sheep I might encounter!!
In Keremeos I made my pilgrimage to the Tourist Info centre to get some info on the road to Osoyoos and a recommendation for an early lunch. The lady seemed a little concerned I would be cycling that far today given the tenperature and told me it was very hilly. There had also been a Forest fire at the Richter Pass on the weekend so she said the air quality might not be good. After lunch at Emmy's cafe in town where more people questioned my plan I got my water bottles and 3 litre nalgene bladder filled. The nalgene bladder has been awesome, yes it weighs close to 3kg full but it means I have a lot of water which has come in very handy.
The concerns of the locals were not unreasonable as it was hot.... and hilly. It was another slow, steady effort although this time trying to find shade to stop in was pretty much impossible. I kept drinking lots and at one point checked my phone to find the temperature was apparently 38C. As I was cycling along I found it rather ironic, for those that know me well I am not a fan of the heat, I worked outside this past winter as a dog sled guide in the coldest winter for 20 years and loved it!! I thought back to my post-doc and first 2 years in Canada where I studied heat stress and wished I had some sensors and probes on me, it would have been an interesting field experiment.
I have never really experienced scenery like I saw today and marveled at the different landscapes I had already seen in such a short space of time since I left the coast. I finally made it up and over the Richter Pass and stopped to see Spotted Lake and my first views of Osoyoos.
The valley from Keremeos to Osoyoos.
On my way up Richter Pass looking back the way I had come.
Spotted Lake.
View of Osoyoos and Osoyoos Lake.
This evening I was staying with some warm showers hosts for the first time. I was really looking forward to meeting them and we had exchanged a number of emails. Kevin and Gay were wonderful people and I am so grateful to have had the evening with them. They were incredibly generous and hospitable and clearly love hosting people and hearing about their adventures. We went for a dip in the lake, had a wonderful chicken pasta dinner and chatted non-stop. I was trying to decide whether to head up the Okanagan like most cyclists do or continue on the 3, see Scott in Rossland and head back up to Revelstoke via Nelson etc. They were really helpful with local knowledge and we compared distances and gradient profiles on google. They also very kindly let me sleep in the guest room, apparently the current temps are the highest they have experienced in 8 years in Osoyoos.
We even had tea with our yummy desert.
I loved this part of the country too and remember how hot it was when I was there!! I had stayed in a place called Savona, in the heart of the desert where it can hit 40C +. Glad you survived the heat without incident - keep drinking!!
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