Day 3: Castlegar to Kelowna

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This was the only day of the trip where a destination was set. Castlegar to Kelowna isn't a particularly long trip: 346 km, or thereabouts. But the kind of highway it's on isn't meant to be tackled quickly. Those 346 kilometres get tacked in closer to 6 hours than 3.

The riding was gorgeous. Sunny, warm enough to be comfortable, and a relatively traffic-free roadway. This is a perfect stretch of curvy BC highway. Particularly Castlegar to Osoyoos. Osoyoos takes you out of forested mountains and into a desert valley filled with orchards and vineyards--real BC wine country. Whenever I make it back near that part of the province I want to spend a lot more time somewhere between Osoyoos and Kelowna.

The crazy part about the highways near Osoyoos weren't just the turns--180-degree turn-arounds, spiraling downhill curves asking you to slow to 20kph, or just the insane inclines. No, it was how perfectly paved some of the roads were. In Alberta, you really never see anything like that. Any road remotely pristine gets pitted and scraggly over winter.

We made it to Kelowna in a little more than 6 hours. We then got a little lost finding our accommodation wince Westbank and West Kelowna are not the same thing. It was an early, relaxing night that was well-earned after 3 hard days of riding.

Total riding: ~400km