4 May 2016: It might be closed. Or maybe not…
After a great sleep last night we woke to sunshine streaming in through the windows and the smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen! Not a bad way to have to greet the day!
Silvia and Frans were cooking up a storm and Stefan was on hand to deliver hot, fresh made coffee. I could live like this all the time!
Over breakfast we chatted about where we were hoping to get to today. Plus there was the offer for us to stay another night! As much as we would have loved to, we also want to keep making moves northwards. We realised this morning, while looking at our little map, just how far we have yet to travel!
After breakfast Frans suggested some routes we might enjoy between Horsefly and Likely and then from there through the mountains to Barkerville. Easy! The only issue being that the road from Likely to Barkerville may still be impassable. But we would ask the locals when we got to Likely.
We packed our bikes and said our farewells. It was our pleasure to have met you guys and we cant thank you enough for having us at your beautiful property. Maybe we will see you in Australia in a few years?!!!
We left under rapidly greying skies and after a refuel in Horsefly we set off along the Ditch Road to Likely. We meandered alongside a fast flowing river and climbed steadily until we were just over 1000mts above sea level. The riding was superb. The road was in fairly good condition and just seemed to flow effortlessly.
Once we made Likely we started to ask around about the 147km back road to Barkerville. We had everything from “No it’s definitely not been open, but maybe it is now” to “yeah it should be open. A friend of mine went out there last week.Maybe” In the end we basically decided that we would just have a go and see how we went. One guy told us that his mate had to turn back at the 40km mark as the snow was too thick.
The road soon turned to smooth gravel and we cruised along. I kept an eye on the trip meter and once we had passed 45 km’s without any issues I deemed us clean and hosed! We would go all the way today!
Or not as it turned out. At around the 85 km mark we hit some snow. We rode through it, squealing and laughing. So much fun. Mabel was ploughing on, cutting a path for Chantelle and Rosie. Good on you Mabel! Your such an awesome bike!
Which all came to a halt once the snow became knee deep.
With me revving her and pushing at her bars and Chantelle pushing her from behind, we managed to get Mabel another 300 mt to some exposed gravel road. Maybe we would make it after all! I decided to walk on a bit and have a look at what lay ahead. Another hill covered in deep soft snow greeted me. The white covered road stretching off into the distance and around the corner.
Bloody hell. It had taken us an hour to push her 300 meters We gave up and turned Mabel around. It was after 6pm and we were a long way from anywhere. So back we went. While the heavens opened up and drenched us to the bone.
On the way back we did see two black bears though. Oh and we saw 2 moose. Those things are huge!
We made a beeline for Williams Lake as it was the closest place with a hotel. We were both frozen to the core and just wanted to thaw out. Which meant we ended up 65 kms from where we left today. It took us 9 hours and 300 kms to get there though! It was so much fun!!!
Tomorrow we head for Barkerville via the highway.