[slideshow]
We hauled the boat out at Jack’s Boat Yard in Lund B.C. August 30. Roy and Cindy, Jack’s kids, were fantastic and made what can be a stressful experience a pleasant one. We chatted about politics and the lack of general knowledge about local native culture in B.C. and how Apple is taking over the world and a bunch of other stuff as Roy and Cindy manoeuvred the boat into the travel lift (the boat weighs 10 tonnes…this is a big job) and then pulled the lift up a hill to the yard with a front loader (which Roy kindly gave me a ride on while Cindy drove the travel lift).
We spent the next morning winterizing the boat (anti freeze and putting tarp up etc.) and then lowered the bikes off the boat and got going around 3.
First day was 33 km. It was hilly to start — about a 5 km climb out of Lund, but then graduated to rolling hills. We were tired when we got to Powell River, a combination of spending the morning climbing on and off the boat doing the winterizing tasks and then getting used to hills with a fully loaded bike.
But all was well when we arrived in our little motel room a few kms past Powell River. I panicked a little and booked on line using Booking.com as I was under the impression there was a music festival here this weekend. Not sure about that but cycled by lots of perfectly good motels that probably would have been a better deal. Good first day lesson on the road…don’t book in a hurry or panic. I can’t recommend the motel although I would have possibly been fine with it if I hadn’t trapped myself here with a no cancel reservation through booking.com. It turned out I saved no money booking through them and there was lots of room here. Oh well. Will avoid booking.com in future as it is misleading. I often do use online hotel bookings though…but to get deals…that’s the point!
Anyway, a good start as the weather today was perfect and the scenery beautiful and my bed very welcome.