Cycling from Williams Lake to Lac la Hache in Canada | Bike Touring Canada

The route from Williams Lake to Lac la Hache in BC Canada was a tough day of cycling due to strong headwinds and hills. I ended up camping behind a fruit and veg shop for the night!

Tough cycling conditions from Williams Lake

(Blog post written: Sep 09 2009)

The day's cycling was, to put it mildly, pretty damned horrible. Endless dips and hills, traffic, broken glass on the side of the road and a monstrous headwind left me doing not much more than 11 kms an hour.

I'm a positive person, but its pretty hard to stay motivated under those circumstances. It was only 66kms from Williams Lake to lac La Hache, but at times it felt twice that!

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Arriving at Lac la Hache

Fortunately, my day changed on reaching Lak la Hache. I pulled over to a fruit shop to buy some snacks, and got talking to the owner Lionel. As the conversation went on, a beer was produced, and a gladly accepted offer to put my tent up behind his shop made.

Originally from South Africa, he emigrated to Canada thirty years ago, so he was interested in the stories I had from when I cycled to Cape Town.

I asked him if he missed South Africa, and my heart went out to him, when he replied honestly – ‘Who would think I have been selling fruit in the middle of nowhere for thirty years? In hindsight, no, its probably not the best decision I made.'

Lionel was a great guy, and it was good to talk the afternoon away over a beer whilst he did the hard work of selling fruit. The gas station/store was mega too, as it had all the cyclists basic food needs at discount prices. Life is giving a lot recently.