Saturday July 27th

 Rain last night. Misty clouds still cloak the peaks. 

Did a check of the tires on the trailer – all good. Headed out down the river. Drove through Lytton – there is a café for sale called ‘View Café’. It is a rundown building which would be a bit scary to step into were it on solid ground, but it’s perched on the edge of the canyon cliff. Hundreds of feet down is the river. I doubt it’ll sell.

Every time I stopped at a pull out the trees were too tall for pictures, so this is the best I can do, but the trip certainly brought back memories.

 I had forgotten about the tunnels through the Fraser Canyon with their familiar names – Hellsgate Tunnel, Sailor Bar Tunnel. I remember going through them on my motorcycle and dropping down a gear in the middle just for the fun of it! Brat! Now I have to say I don’t much like them if you can’t see out the other end. The curving ones are a wee bit scary. But the canyon and the river are as beautiful as ever.

Now in Hope for lunch and trying to post, but the connect is poor. It’ll have to wait. Here I see evidence of the huge coastal trees, and I get a sense of the increase in the population.

I travel down the north side of the Fraser River, avoiding the main highway, and watch the valley widen to include farm fields. What I’ve always loved about this valley is the suddenness of the mountains at the edge. There are no foothills here – just flat river bottom, then mountain.  I follow my GPS through a very convoluted series of turns as the river valley becomes large farm fields – many berry farms – mostly blueberries.

I’m staying tonight at Campbell’s Meadery https://campbellsgold.com/?fbclid=IwAR18o4w7daWONLm-DncVvOrPKZrECIpcuWuCMvcWjrRR0gKzEQhQJJAeDAw

Through the Harvest Host plan.

When I arrive I find they are having a midsummer party this evening, so I buy a ticket. I’m parked by in a field with my door opening out to a view of bee hives and sunflowers. 

Once I’m settled, I try to have a shower only to run out of water before I get rinsed. Yikes! No need for product on my hair tonight! I find enough to sort of rinse, but on my ‘town’ duds and head out for the party. We sample mead, eat gourmet snacks, and listen to a guitarist – a very lovely way to spend a warm summer evening. 

The gardens are beautiful!

I meet some interesting folks from the area and retire to my little house around 9. The mead was delicious – I sampled 3 dry and one off-dry version and liked them all. Such an interesting place.