Welcome to Vancouver

Welcome to Vancouver, there is not much to report today. The pack is complete, in the afternoon we learned everything worth knowing about the next days at our welcome briefing. That all sounds very interesting. We are excited about our adventure in Canada.

Stay tuned.

Daniel and Thomas

a jumpstart into adventure

As hard as it is, we said goodbye today to the lovely city of Vancouver. Everyone was excited to get started riding, so leaving wasnt all bad.

Our plan for today was to leave Vancouver and follow the Highways 1 and 3 east along the Canadian/US border to a little town called Osoyoos located at the shores of the Okangan River.

What sounded like a pretty easy route turned out to be quite a challenging day because today we had nearly everything that can happen on a motorcycle trip compressed into one day of riding. From traffic jams, to overheating motorcycles, dead batteries and nails in the tires we got pretty much every unlikely mishap covered in one day.

But our first day in Canada was still a great day of riding with a lot of great scenery that ended with a great dinner at our hotel in Osoyoos.

Before you fix a tire you have to take pictures of the nail

goldrush and Hippies

Good morning Osoyoos. Our second day of driving begins in a relaxed manner. Breakfast is a little later, so also our briefing this morning. The smoke from the forest fires has become thicker again and it is slightly cloudy. Not the best conditions for a nice picture of the Okanagan Valley as we leave town. But hey at least the road is neatly curvy and there is hardly any traffic. We leave the barren landscape of the Okanagan Valley behind us and arrive in Greenwood. There we drink our morning coffee and let the goldrush athmosphäre work on us. Unfortunately, one of the bikes is still struggling with a battery problem and has to be jump-started at every stop. the whole thing turns into a running gag during the day and will certainly be remembered The landscape changes, and becomes again more what one imagines under Canada. Endloss seeming coniferous forests and long curves accompany us to Rossland. Where we have lunch in a really cool restaurant. From here it is only a few kilometers to Nelson, the destination of our tour today. We arrive early enough to enjoy the city and its unique flair.

Water from all sides

So far we were heading pretty much strait east on our tour. Today was the first day were we started heading north towards the beautiful national parks Canada has so many to offer. Our goal of today was the town of Vernon which was about 360km away from our start in the morning. 

The theme of this riding day was "water" because we were riding along so many stunning lakes and even took a highway ferry across the little "Arrow Lake". The scenery, especially in the morning was just breathtaking, unfortunatly we had quite some rain until lunchtime, so we didnt stop to take pictures, which was a shame. Luckily after lunch the weather cleared up, so we could enjoy riding the Monashee Pass, which was the riding highlight of the day.

the lifeline of canada

Good morning Vernon, As nice as yesterday ended so unsympathetic greets us today. It looks like rain, but hey for that we get clean air free from the smoke of the still raging forest fires. On top of that, the landscape gets a somewhat mystical character. So everything has its good. After the briefing, we first go in the direction of the "last spike monument" We learn how important this place and the CPR, are for the development and unity of Canada. Afterwards we drive up a beautiful curvy road to the "meadows in the sky", in the Revelstoke National Park. There Daniel is waiting for us with a picnic. We follow the Parkway back to the famous Highway Number 1, the lifeline of Canada. Where we reach Rogers Pass a little later. The clouds temporarily give us a view of an impressive mountain world. At the visitor center we warm up again at the fireplace and learn more about the history of this road.  Then we descend to Golden where we spend the night in a wonderfully quiet and syphatic lodge. very cozy.

Donald has found a rather smart solution to dry his gloves. Get it patented

The full Canada experience

After two days with not so great weather we finaly had a perfect day today. After an hour or so the clouds disapeared and the sun came out. Also the smoke from the wildfires of the last weeks was totally gone so we had a perfect view of the beautiful canadian rockys and thats what we came here after all.

Our goal for this day was Lake Louise that is famous for its stunning mountain lake. On the way there we stopped by in Banff, such a wonderfull town surounded by beautiful mountains.

that's no wallpaper

Good morning Lake Louis, The day welcomes us with the best weather, The rains of the night have disappeared. The air is clear and clean. So it should be because today we face one of the, scenic, most spectacular roads in the world. The Icefields parkway. The road leads us all day through the spectacular landscapes of the Canadian Rockies. One would like to stop every 2 kilometers and take pictures. If not behind the next corner already again the next spectacular panorama would wait. We make several stops to immortalize the complete range of the seen on photos, lakes, landscape, the impressive glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, as well as beautiful waterfalls. This is the full load of Canada. What a day

Something for everyone

We spend the restday of our tour in a little town called Jasper. Since we stay two nights here everyone could spend the day how he wants.

Some of us used the chance to go for a little morning ride through the beautiful Maligne Valley which is close to Jasper and rewareded us at the end with the view of the beautiful Maligne Lake.

endless Canada

For a european who is for the first time in North America the sheer wideness of the areas and huge distances are hard to imagine but thats exactly what we came here for. Our route today led us to Kamloops which was a stunning distance of 540 kilometers away from where we started. Thats sounds like an aweful long day, but the fast roads in Canada and the complete lack of towns you have to ride through makes it a rather easy task.

last but not least

Our last day of driving is coming up and the Candian weather is showing its best side. Of course we could take the freeway to be back in Vancouver quickly.... but hey... Anyone can take the freeway. Especially since we have one of the best motorcycle routes in Canada right outside the hotel door. The Highway No. 99 The Sea to Sky Highway. So what are we waiting for. We leave Kamloops and enjoy the view over the lake of the same name. After a quick coffee stop we finally turn onto the Sea to the Sky Highway. We quickly realize why this road is on everyone's lips worldwide. There is everything a biker's heart desires. Breathtaking panoramas, fast curves and little traffic. A dream!
And as if that were not enough, we are in time for lunch in the famous Whistler. We have some time to enjoy the "Alpine" flair before we tackle the last kilometers towards Vancouver. The coastal road with its long and wide curves does not let boredom arise. Back in Vancouver we say goodbye to our bikes, the guides and Canada. What a trip.