Cycling, camping, Canada...

We set off from Vancouver, me eager to try to follow the TransCanada cycle trail; Jimmy patiently following. Almost immediately we crossed a large bridge with a nice cycle lane and life was good. We then had to ask directions to get onto the coastal cycle path on the other side; we followed some of the guy's instructions then nipped down a steep walking track as a short cut. We arrived at a coastal walking/cycling path that was teeming with people. There were water parks with jets of water for the kids; Jimmy cycled through it to cool down. Then someone (and then another) yelled to us "wrong way!". It was then I realised all the cycling traffic (people on tandems; kids on bikes; rollerbladers; everyone) was heading in the opposite direction to us. By this stage we were close to the city so kept cycling against the flow; pretending to be ignorant tourists. We then got lost in the downtown Vancouver trying to follow other bike routes; then found the Adanac (Canada backwards to the observant); a cycle path across Vancouver. It went through the suburbs, past huge homes, with matching Dodge and Crysler 4WD trucks in the drive. I picked up my first bagels of the trip from a factory outlet we passed. I kept stopping to check the map book (Joy used to love that); whne we finally left the suburbs we ended up on a dike path which was nice until we got detoured back to the busy 4-lane highway. We were planning to cross a new bridge to an island to camp for the night; but it seemed the bridge would not take bikes; so we continued on to the ferry - which was no longer runny. Plan B: continue on to the next campground. It was a relief to arrive in Matsqui campground after 95km for the first day. It was a DOC style simple campsite with longdrop toilets and no showers. And cost $21 canadian for a pitch. Ouch. We were just about to set our tents up on a nice grassy patch when the guy next door told us we had to tent on the gravel - the ranger had moved him off his grassy patch. Jimmy had just gotten his tent out and sleeping bag out of it's bag when a lady beside us said "you can't camp here! Don't you know I have paid for this pitch and I have a large trailer arriving?" By this stage you can imagine we were a bit fed-up so we filled up our drink bottles and sloped off 50m down the trail - and freedom-camped for the night. I didn't sleep that well - I couldn't believe how noisy our site was; trains would pass in the night - must have been hundreds as it felt continuous; each blaring their horns.... and then my new insulmat air mattress decided to convert to a self-deflating one, requiring me to blow it up in the night (I had one that did the same thing before - should have learnt) I was a bit bleary-eyed the next day. I was still determined to follow the TransCanada trail so off we set (Jimmy suggested highway 7). We kept losing the trail (same od story) and ended up in a city with busy 4-landed highways and takeaway stores. We were in Abbotsford - totally off our route. By this stage I was fedup too; so we jumped on Highway One - actually the small road parallel to Highway One - and headed towards Chilliwack. After the stops and starts of trying to follow the cycle route it felt good to be on a road and getting somewhere! We stopped off at a warmshower host in Chilliwack; just to say hi as it was too early to stop for the night. I asked about the TransCanada trail from Chilliwack but she advised against it "there is no road! You will be on walking trails". That was all we needed to hear. So we followed her advice and took Highway 7/9 to Hope. The highways are wide, usually 4-laned (2 each way) with wide shoulders for us cyclists. So they are easy to cycle; just not so scenic just yet. But it was magic to arrive in Hope after a 111km day. I was exhausted (should have done some training!) and nearly fainted in the Information Centre. A Dairy Queen hot chocolate sundae soon fixed things. I think this tour will be a tour of Fastfood joints; I'm going to try something from each different one. There is A&Ws, Taco Bell, Boston Pizza, Red Rooster...
From Hope we climbed 1300m to Mannings Pass; a hard day of uphill slog in the heat. We quickly realised (after 13km) we were going to run out of water, with no guarantee of a place to refill. A car was pulled over so I asked for some water. "some what??" "Water" "What??". I had to piont to my water bottle. "oh, water, sure! I filtered it myself". He pulled out a 4L water bottle and started to fil ours. I couldn't help but notice large white floaties coming through "oh, that's lime. I squeeze lime juice in". Phew.
We arrived at the campground at 5pm. Same story as the other public campground - $21 and please camp on the gravel, and no showers. At least there were no trains going past this one. My sleep again wasn't the best - this time I dreamed of bears (we met some cyclists from up north and got all the stories); and my mattress self-deflated slowly overnight.
Today, after a breakfast of tasteless 'cooking 9 grains cereal' we hit the road. After some screaming downhill (punctuated by slogging uphill), we arrived in Princeton, where we are going to a private campground with showers and grass to camp on. Bliss.