5 May 2016: There’s gold in them thar hills!

After a very late finish to yesterdays ride we ended up booking into a hotel. We were both frozen to the bone and couldn’t face the idea of sleeping in a tent! By the time we made it into town it was after 10pm. Are we getting a bit soft or what?!

I was up early today and excited about a free breakfast! Chantelle…well not so much. She wanted to sleep in but apparently I was making too much noise!

I stuffed my face with 2 bowls of Fruit Loops. I haven’t had those in years! They were so damn good. Mmm sugary.

Eventually we were packed and on the road. It was quite chilly though and we ended up wearing several layers. We are sure its just going to get colder the further north we go!

Quesnel was 120 km away, about 2 hours, and we just plodded along the highway, moving off the road whenever traffic came up behind us. Eventually we rolled into town as the temperature started to come up a little. It was quite a nice ride really.

From Quesnel we turned off towards Barkerville, a small historical town from the gold rush days. Around 30 km’s out from Quesnel we decided to have a look at a historical house called Cottonwood House. Built in the 1800’s it was used as a halfway type house for those venturing north in search of the yellow stuff. The place was closed for now as it's not quite tourist season, but the caretaker came along and after a chat told us to feel free to wander around where ever we liked.

He was a cowboy in his younger days and would have to be one of the happiest men we have ever met. His whole face glowed with happiness and contentment and his bright blue sparkling eyes told of a youthful happiness within. It was so awesome to chat to him!

After we had a poke around there we continued on to Barkerville. Another 50 km away. There were a few signs out and about warning of grizzly bear activity in the area. So we were feeling nervous about free camping now!

We had a look around Barkerville, unfortunately my camera battery died before we got there so there’s no pics, it was really cool and we enjoyed having a look at the old buildings and were amazed at the tough life those early guys and gals took on out there in the wilderness!

We were hoping to stay in the small town of Wells near here but we were fobbed off by one of the hotels so decided to ride back to Quesnel for the night.

A good day, an easy day, and tomorrow we shall head for Prince George and back into the tent!