It was nice to sit still for a few days in Port Moody after four long days of riding all the way to the West Coast through the southern route along the Crowsnest.  On Monday morning my ears were still ringing from the Jack White concert the night before, and I quickly packed my gear and loaded Midnight as soon as I woke up.

A group of us (Scott & Gill and their children, and our friends Ryan & Katherine and their children) was travelling to Summerland to spend a few nights there so we could enjoy some of the local wines.  I rode out about 30 minutes before the rest of them, so that we would arrive there around the same time.  I would need to refuel a few times on the journey and that slows me down.

After grabbing a Starbucks I was back out on the Transcanada heading east back toward Hope.  These morning rides to Hope are never the most pleasant experience, but there is definitely an excitement about reaching Hope and being back in the mountains again.

There are three ways to reach the Okanagan from Hope:  north through the Fraser Canyon (the most scenic but by far the longest), south through Manning Park (the route I took to get to the Coast a few days ago), and the most direct route over the famous Coquihalla Highway into Merritt and then over the Okanagan Connector to Peachland.  This is the route I took, which is not the most fun to ride but is the quickest.

Both stretches of these highways are fast, and usually offer some nice scenery.  Unfortunately the smoke in the air made scenery impossible.  I plodded through the highways until reaching Peachland, which is usually a dramatic entry into the beautiful Okanagan Valley.  The smoke ruined the scenery though, and it was so bad that I couldn’t even see the lake.

I met up with the group mid-afternoon in Summerland.  We quickly set out to visit some wineries before checking in to the house we had rented.  We visited Silk Scarf, Lunessence, Heaven’s Gate, and 8th Generation.  All were quite good, and I started building another collection of wine that would eventually require another trip to the UPS Store.

The house we rented was right in Summerland and it was perfect for our purposes.  We spent both days lounging around, sharing meals, and visiting together.  It was a very relaxing time and I really enjoyed the chance to spend some time with my friends after not having seen them for a few years.

On the second day we ventured out to Naramata to visit Roche, Kanazawa, Hillside, and Black Widow Wineries, and capped off the day with a visit to Legend Distilling.  I felt that my wine collection was complete and was able to visit the UPS store later and send another case home.  There was no way I was fitting that on Midnight.

The only factor that marred the Summerland experience was the smoke.  There was no scenery whatsoever.  It was like walking around in a cocoon of smoke.  The legendary Okanagan scenery was not available.