Tuesday, Aug 14, 2012
I slept in big time. With no predetermined agenda, I felt no need to hurry out of bed and start any projects. Instead I simply watched movies in bed until about 10am, at which time I had a nice shower and took a walk down the main street in Oliver.
For a guy with a natural fascination with rocks and geology, the South Okanagan is a playground. It is Canada’s only desert so the surrounding hills and mountains are not heavily treed, allowing you to see the rock formations clearly. Oliver itself is the centre of the south Okanagan in my mind, and claims to be the Wine Capital of Canada. It’s a claim that I support.
I’ll admit that I was not eager to start wine touring today. I was feeling very tired and felt that I needed a solid day to chill out and relax. I couldn’t avoid getting some needful things, however, and jumped on Silver for a quick tour back into the Similkameen Valley and back again.
The reason for the mini-tour was to visit Seven Stones Winery near Keremeos. The ride from Oliver, through Osoyoos, and up into the Similkameen offers spectacular scenery and was very hot and dry. I was able to reach the winery at about 11am and I even went through a tasting (since I was there). The tasting did not include their Syrah- a wine I am quite fond of. As usual they were sold out, but a month ago I phoned ahead and purchased a half dozen bottles so that I could pick them up on this day. Glad I did that.
The young woman who worked there was exicted that I came because she was the one who took the call and thought it was cool that someone would ride their bike from Saskatchewan just to purchase their wine. Of course, I didn’t come JUST to purchase their wine, but I was delighted to get my hands on my Syrah bottles and loaded them on Silver in time to get hit with the hot, midday sun.
I rode back into Keremeos and went north from there on the 3a, effectively taking what I call the “Keremeos loop” around the desert. It was a lovely ride but as I approached Oliver at 2pm I was ready to have a snack and a nap.
I actually spent most of the day around the Cactus Tree. I would take a few walks here and there, but for the most part I drank a bottle of my Seven Stones Syrah, read local tourism visitor guides, and watched movies. In the later evening I even had another swim before retiring to bed.
BC Bike Tour 