We have spent the last few days trying to sell Fred, the tow hitch, the bicycle rack and bikes. It has been a bit stressful getting lots of messages of interest, sometimes stings of questions and answers and then radio silence or a no show for a viewing. People are weird, or at least all very different.
The bike rack set the record and was bought and collected by an English guy within an hour and a half of posting the advert!
While waiting for all this negotiating we have been really lucky to stay at Lucy and Dale’s place. They have made us so welcome and opened their house to us which has been lovely. Even their landlord let us use all his tools to free off the tow hitch. Pete gave his bike (no claims for broken forks) to their lovely new French house mate, Amoury, who has only just arrived in Canada and needed some transport.
Before handing Pete’s bike over, we had one last cycle on them. We cycled across Lion’s Gate Bridge and did a loop of Stanley Park.
Three years ago we had rented bikes and did the same but this time felt more special. We came to Stanley Park in April, at the start of the trip in Fred, when the cherry blossom was out. Now we were revisiting in Autumn, right at the end of the trip, and it was poignant.
We have had such a fab time in Canada, seen some amazing places, encountered fantastic wildlife and loved meeting some genuinely kind and interesting people. And as if to mark the occasion, as we drove North on the Sea to Sky Highway, out of Vancouver for our last time, we were blessed with the most beautiful sunset that lasted so long. We couldn’t really stop to take photos and when we did they didn’t really do it justice, but the memory of those changing colours in the sky and the bright orange as the sun finally set will be with us forever.
The stars that night at the Chek Recreation Area just north of Squamish were pretty stunning too!
