We followed the Central Valley Greenway out of town, which is a combination paved and gravel path that goes for about 24km through mostly green and wooded areas. It is always a surprise to find gems like these around Vancouver, and as we left the trail, we prepared for some highway riding.
The highway riding wasn't great, as there was a lot of construction, but passed fairly quickly. We got onto some more trails through Port Coquitlam that passed by various streams and rivers, which the locals were out at in force due to the great summer day that it was.
With a big lake at our destination, we pressed on over the Golden Ears Bridge, and through some picturesque farmlands. We stopped in at a farm market which had some great cherries, which we quickly ate before riding on.
Being the eternal optimists, we pressed on for another 5km to the Park headquarters, where we confirmed that indeed the sign was correct, and that we would not be able to camp there for the night.
Travis cracked a beer as we consulted blackberrys and iphones to assess our options. As the beer slowly emptied itself out, we came to the agreement that riding home would make the most sense.
We did stop briefly at a park to refuel on hot dogs and ichiban, and eventually rolled in home after 10 hours in the saddle and perhaps 130km, marking the longest day of touring that we had done. Carrying all the extra weight certainly took its toll, and the evening was capped off with pizza and falling asleep on the couch watching Magnum P.I.
Map of Tour:
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Highlights: Central Valley Greenway, Poco Trail, Farmstall on Dewdney Trunk.
Lowlights: Realizing the campground was full, getting sprayed with a watergun by rednecks passing by in a large truck
Funny moments: Peter falling over with bicycle still clipped in.
Readers Challenge: post a link in the comments to your favourite park/destination within a 70km radius of your home.
