WS07 Fernie, B.C. to Coleman, A.B.

Today’s blog starts with last night’s dinner. We had an excellent dinner at the Park Place Motel restaurant, made so much better by our lovely Irish waitress Mary Brennan, shown at right. We noticed she was left-handed so I had to tell her my left-handed witticism, “Everyone is born left-handed. You only change if you sin.”  I told her my sir-name is McManus, my mother was Casey and grand-mother was Ryan from County Tipperary. So Mary called me “Tipperary Sinner”. Mary’s boy-friend is from County Tipperary.  Her enthusiastic personality reminded me why we’ve cycled in Ireland six times.

 

When we woke up, the clouds were low in the sky. Is that new snow in the mountains? But after breakfast we saw a little blue sky, as shown at left. Because of road construction we once again needed a way around it. The solution involves 11 of us taking a local bus to Sparwood, about 20 miles away. Since our route was only 40 miles to begin with, almost half of it is in the  bus. It was cold and cloudy when we got off the bus and route 3’s shoulder is in no better shape than the section we rode yesterday. But three miles later, the road shoulder becomes wide and smooth – and the sun comes out. It is already  a better day.

See route, elevation and click on yellow dots for photos. Note that first part of the route is missing; had to change batteries in the GPS. http://ridewithgps.com/trips/96449

In fact it is a great day. Incredibly beautiful scenery, with sunshine. Cool but not cold weather. The climb to Crowsnest Pass is gentle. And we have a tailwind. Find a great bakery in Coleman.  What a difference a day makes. We enjoyed the day. Enjoy the photos below.