We had planned on going further South from Banff, to Waterton NP­ and then cross the US border to go through Glacier NP to get to the coast. But as we did before; we changed our minds again.

We decided that it would probable be nicer to go West, towards the coast, through Canada and then go South to Vancouver. We also wanted to go back to Bellingham to see Janiene and Katie again. But that did mean we had to go through Vancouver…

The route really was beautiful. From Banff, we had to go back to Lake Louise on a cold and rainy day. In the mountains we saw a dust of fresh snow. A week later it really snowed in that whole region, they expected about 20-30 cms (about 10″) of snow.

Through the beautiful Yoho NP we cycled to Golden, where we could camp in the yard of a hostel. It was still rainy and we decided to stay for a day. There also was an English guy, Rob, and we cycled together for a few days. From Golden it was a long climb up, to Rogers Pass and then all downhill to Revelstoke; 150 kms (90 miles) in 1 day. We were out of the mountains, but it stayed hilly. Over hills, alongside lakes and in a lot of rain we arrived in Kamloops. We were wet and cold and there wasn’t a decent campground around, so we decided on a hotelroom. Luxury for 1 night!

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We said goodbye to Rob the next day. He went south, the direct route to Vancouver and we went further west and then south to Vancouver. Everything changed there in Kamloops. The weather was great; sunny and warm and the scenery changed drastically. All of a sudden we were in the desert, it was like being back in Mexico! That part of Canada is desert and therefor very different from what you would expect. The road had been very busy till Kamloops, but that also changed. It became nice and quiet on the road, with only some traffice from tourists.

After the town of Lillooet there was another long climb; more than 1000 meters (3000 ft) up. Another beautiful stretch through the mountains. Then there was a descent to Pemberton; the same more than 1000 meters down in 14 kms (9 miles)! There were grades of 11-15%. We were so happy we didn’t have to go up that way!

After Pemberton we arrived in Whistler, another jet-set ski town. We had been there before, in summer and winter. But it was different being there on our bikes. We saw the slopes we descended on our snowboards. In the summer, mountainbiking is hot over there. There’s a bikepark where the daredevils stunt and jump over big jumps.

After a day of beautiful weather and enjoying the pleasant but very touristy town it was time to go to Vancouver. A day to get there and almost a whole day to go through! Tony, the Warmshowers we stayed with in North Vancouver, gave us good directions, but it was a long way to get through! The US border is on the south side of the city (suburbs) and it took 80 kms (48 miles) before we were finally there. To get through a city like that, you have to avoid the highways because you can’t cycle on them and that automatically means many detours. We were very happy when we finally got to the border and could start the last part to Bellingham. When we arrived there, it was already pretty late but we were happy we had made it before dark. We had a good time in Canada and cycled a beautiful route, one of the nicest routes of our trip, and we met some very friendly people.

Linda’s bike needed some maintenance; it neede a new bottom bracket. Janiene had already made an appointment with a bikeshop and they also had the exact part we wanted in stock. So, the next day the bike was fixed again.