MONDAY - STANLEY PARK AND LYNN CANYON PARK

Another adventurous day today but, instead of ziplining, we went bike riding. The view above is the Downtown Vancouver skyline looking back at it from Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is a large area of relatively untouched forest immediately to the north west of Vancouver city. It has a seawall approximately 10 klms in length as the border of most of it with the water which is a very popular area for walking and bike riding. We hired bikes from the seaplane terminal and rode along a well set out bikeway from the city to, around and through the park. Trish was very nervous but soon regained her childhood bike riding skills.

We passed the patrolled beach where some hardy souls were swimming but there was nothing inviting about it. The beach was littered with abandoned logs which had presumably been washed ashore and had been rearranged for use as beach furniture.

This afternoon, we put our recently acquired knowledge of the public transport system to good use and went across the Burrard Inlet by Sea Bus and then by local bus to Lynn Canyon Park. It’s very similar to Capilano in that it has a suspension bridge and a network of tracks following a very picturesque river but costs nothing and is nowhere near as crowded. We couldn’t bear to watch four young foolhardy men who were working their way down the river, sliding and jumping down waterfalls as they went. The water looked fantastic but they looked like accidents waiting to happen.

We didn’t see the bear the sign warned us about but we did experience a rather peculiar incident at the kiosk when, for no apparent reason, everybody started coughing. The ranger told us that somebody had sprayed some “bear spray”, a close relative of pepper spray apparently used as a defence against aggressive bears, and advised us to leave the area. We couldn’t smell anything but there was no denying that a spontaneous outbreak of coughing occurred. We subsequently saw an ambulance heading for the canyon but don’t know whether that was related.

Tonight we found the Tedder Avenue of Vancouver, an area known as Yaletown where former industrial buildings have been rejuvenated and occupied by very trendy restaurants. Fortunately, from both a dietary and financial perspective, we will soon be organizing our own catering.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Downtown Vancouver so we will be checking out a few of those parts we haven’t yet seen before collecting our motorhome on Wednesday and heading to Whistler and the Rockies.

I have absolutely no idea why the font in this post has spontaneously changed itself twice. Sorry about that.