Day 4 - Sunday 27th July 2008

Richmond to Osoyoos

The time had come to leave our spacious suite in Richmond and start our journey east.

We headed south initially, then east through Surrey and other places on the south side of the Fraser river. Lots of new development out here. At one stage we followed the railway, with typical sights like this grain tanker and grain silo.

Tom Tom kept us on the route.

And Laurie got his first indication that roads here may not alway be open - and a sense of the distances involved.

It was pretty grey, rainy in parts, as we left Highway 1 (Trans Canada) for Highway 3 (Crowsnest) and climbed into Manning Provincial Park. We stopped briefly at Cascades to find a large group of horse riders returning from a 9-day trail ride.

We were getting in among the mountains.

Further on we stopped for a picnic lunch, at a campground beside the Similkameem river. As we walked down to the river, B had to jump the fallen trees.

Others balanced on rocks to take photos...

...of people standing on the river bank.

Lots of little flowers about here.

We'd not gone much further when we saw a signpost to a viewpoint. We twisted our way up a switchback road, but the views were worth it.

And the chipmunks were friendly...

...eating out of Bridget's hand.

This bird wanted to make sure you identified it correctly

Yes, me!

Shortly afterwards we came across Beaver Lake where we stoped 6 years ago, so we stopped again briefly to see this lake, where the beavers brought all the trees down, then moved on.

We dropped down from Manning Park into Princeton and the terrain changed from the wetter, greener mountains to dry rocky hills.

We still had a fair distance to cover, though the road wasn't too hard.

After Princeton we stopped to buy fruit at one of the many road side stalls.

Not a bad spot to grow fruit - it's dry, arid land but they irrigate from the river.

Dropping down into Osoyoos - apparently this is Canada's only desert.

We went to book riding for the morning, and crossing back over the lake took this view of the setting sun illuminating the far bank, and all the resort hotels on the strip of land at the foot of the lake. Although our suite is small, I think we are happy to be slightly removed from the bustle of this part of town.

So, after a fine steak dinner at the restaurant opposite our motel, Laurie and I got on with diaries and blogs and e-mails. Free Wi-Fi here too, but the signal is better outside on the veranda. Still, it's warm and pleasant out here.

Now I'm out on the veranda again, writing the words, it's 7 a.m., bright and sunny, cool fresh air but you know it's going to get HOT. Good thing we're riding at 9, not later in the day!