16 September - Vancouver to Kelowna
So, my first trip on a Canadian Greyhound bus. I am planning a couple of these, in the spirit of travelling (a) by public means and (b) to see as much of this place as I can. So off I trotted to the Vancouver Pacific Central Station at 930 to get my bus towards Kelowna, which is in the Okanagan valley, and more importantly, heading towards the Rockies.
I am intrigued by coach travel. 2 years at National Express does that for you. Now this is the scary bit. National Express seems advanced beyond its years. Stop sweating Scribbles!! But no, it is. Imagine, for example, the surprise of having a 42 seater waiting for you, and then 60 people turn up with valid tickets to get on it!
So I was on a 'dupe' as we call it (a duplicate replacement vehicle) bound only for Kelowna. Or so it should have been. At Abbotsford, we were told that neither of the buses had seen fit to pull in to Langley City, so off we went back again, 30 km back up the road to pick up the passengers.. (and pass by Abbotsford again!)
A couple of numbers of note. 38. The number of hours in British Columbia before i saw blue sky (basically once we had risen above the clouds on our journey into the mountains!). 12. The degrees celcius temperature as we left Vancouver. I can see why they call it BRITISH Columbia. In fact, it used to be called New Caledonia I believe. Caledonian weather it certainly is. Meanwhile last week in Toronto it was 30. God its cold over here.. good job i brought clothes for the mountains.
3 hours in, I passed by a town called Merritt. Random sign 1: "Check your fuel. Next service Hope 112km". Middle of nowhere doesnt begin to cover it. This was the place I was scared of ending up in when I wanted to come to North America. A bus stop, a car park, a filling station and a shop. Merritt, British Columbia. Homework is for anyone to find out whether anyone lives there or not...!
I am planning on having a random sign award on this tour. The first scary sign was the "End avalanche area" sign in the mountains. Scary because I'd never noticed the area had begun! I'd like to think that, if we truly were in danger, we might have selected a different route. Maybe I'll ask Greyhound that... or maybe ignorance is bliss!
200m past the end avalanche sign was another "Critical accident zone next 20km". Thats the trouble with driving through the mountains, the views are great, but if the driver looks left or right to admire them, then the car takes a closer look too...
Winner on day 1 of the sign award definitely goes to "Hunting and Shooting prohibited within 400m of highway" No one else seemed bothered by this. So basically, I am on a coach, i am on the most dangerous road in Canada, I have the potential for avalanches above me, and, failing that, a deer or bear hunter is going to jump out and shoot me. And I paid $66 for this? Someone has a sense of humour!
Just on the way into Kelowna, which is lovely by the way, you cross the water by means of what is called a 'floating bridge', a 650m work of engineering miracle. This isnt the 17km Ponte Vasco de Gama in Lisbon by any means. I am sure we have floating things in the UK too. Oh yes. We call them boats. Still, after the threats of avalanches and gunshots, whats the risk of drowning when it comes to it. Besides, I was beside the emergency exit!
Number of the day? $10,000,000. Thats how much the Canadian federal government donated to the Terry Fox foundation.
Other awards to consider? Well, i am looking at the Random Grazing Cattle Award. Some brave early contenders there too. They say Canada has a problem with mad cows. After seeing a cow grazing about 15m up what must have been a 40 degree incline, I tend to agree!
I am intrigued by coach travel. 2 years at National Express does that for you. Now this is the scary bit. National Express seems advanced beyond its years. Stop sweating Scribbles!! But no, it is. Imagine, for example, the surprise of having a 42 seater waiting for you, and then 60 people turn up with valid tickets to get on it!
So I was on a 'dupe' as we call it (a duplicate replacement vehicle) bound only for Kelowna. Or so it should have been. At Abbotsford, we were told that neither of the buses had seen fit to pull in to Langley City, so off we went back again, 30 km back up the road to pick up the passengers.. (and pass by Abbotsford again!)
A couple of numbers of note. 38. The number of hours in British Columbia before i saw blue sky (basically once we had risen above the clouds on our journey into the mountains!). 12. The degrees celcius temperature as we left Vancouver. I can see why they call it BRITISH Columbia. In fact, it used to be called New Caledonia I believe. Caledonian weather it certainly is. Meanwhile last week in Toronto it was 30. God its cold over here.. good job i brought clothes for the mountains.
3 hours in, I passed by a town called Merritt. Random sign 1: "Check your fuel. Next service Hope 112km". Middle of nowhere doesnt begin to cover it. This was the place I was scared of ending up in when I wanted to come to North America. A bus stop, a car park, a filling station and a shop. Merritt, British Columbia. Homework is for anyone to find out whether anyone lives there or not...!
I am planning on having a random sign award on this tour. The first scary sign was the "End avalanche area" sign in the mountains. Scary because I'd never noticed the area had begun! I'd like to think that, if we truly were in danger, we might have selected a different route. Maybe I'll ask Greyhound that... or maybe ignorance is bliss!
200m past the end avalanche sign was another "Critical accident zone next 20km". Thats the trouble with driving through the mountains, the views are great, but if the driver looks left or right to admire them, then the car takes a closer look too...
Winner on day 1 of the sign award definitely goes to "Hunting and Shooting prohibited within 400m of highway" No one else seemed bothered by this. So basically, I am on a coach, i am on the most dangerous road in Canada, I have the potential for avalanches above me, and, failing that, a deer or bear hunter is going to jump out and shoot me. And I paid $66 for this? Someone has a sense of humour!
Just on the way into Kelowna, which is lovely by the way, you cross the water by means of what is called a 'floating bridge', a 650m work of engineering miracle. This isnt the 17km Ponte Vasco de Gama in Lisbon by any means. I am sure we have floating things in the UK too. Oh yes. We call them boats. Still, after the threats of avalanches and gunshots, whats the risk of drowning when it comes to it. Besides, I was beside the emergency exit!
Number of the day? $10,000,000. Thats how much the Canadian federal government donated to the Terry Fox foundation.
Other awards to consider? Well, i am looking at the Random Grazing Cattle Award. Some brave early contenders there too. They say Canada has a problem with mad cows. After seeing a cow grazing about 15m up what must have been a 40 degree incline, I tend to agree!
posted by CBC at 8:48 am
1 Comments:
Jeeeeesus. And I thought driving up the A5 through north Wales was scary.
So glad that NX compares well to the Greyhound, because that of course is not what the customers used to tell us. Coach companies in the back streets of Karachi used to give a better service than NX, apparently.
Before I forget, I forgot to thank you for your postcard! Most excellent, thank you, and it is now magnetised to my fridge door, so I think of you everytime I stuff my face.
These are most excellent posts CBC. Glad you are well.
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