Mountains and suspension bridges

Saturday 31st August

I can't believe how quick the time is going,  but here we are,  one week into my trip and almost at the end of the Vancouver leg.

Today I was on an organised trip across to North Vancouver to see the Capilano suspension bridge and Grouse mountain.

I was picked up at a nearby hotel and it appeared that I was by far the youngest on the bus... Only a small group,  but made up of pensioners that had just docked in Vancouver from their Alaskan cruise! Still,  the tour guide was a younger guy and not too bad on the eye either...

Our first stop was the salmon hatchery,  here they rescue salmon as they're swimming back upstream to lay their eggs.  Many years ago,  changes to the river that included a new dam,  threatened the breeding run of the salmon so the hatchery was set up (and is run by volunteers) to ensure the survival of the fish.  As a result,  they're actually having a better survival rate of the new fish as many normally don't survive. August/September is the peak season for the salmon run upstream,  we were hoping to catch sight of them jumping up the river,  but alas it was a very quiet day.

Our next stop was the suspension bridge that spans the valley above the Capilano river. The original bridge was said to have been made from hemp and was built to allow the native people to cross over the valley to hunt.   Today the bridge is a little more secure and strong and reportedly could take the weight of quite a few elephants. Well I don't know how true that is but my god was it scary walking across. The bridge was very busy and the whole thing was just saying and buckling around... I held on tight the whole way across... Looking down was quite terrifying.

The area of rainforest around here is stunning and it took us maybe only 40 minutes to get there.  It's incredible that in such a short time you can leave the hustle and bustle of downtown and be in rainforests.  Vancouver has it all.. Downtown metropolis for shopping and eating,  the harbour,  beaches and a stones throw from rainforests and some of the best winter ski resorts.

After the bridge,  we went to our final stop,  Grouse mountain.  We took a gondola ride up the mountain... The views were fantastic, looking good right down onto downtown Vancouver in one direction and way north towards whistler in the other. At the top I took in the lumberjack show which was quite entertaining (and visual pleasing), and I also went up higher on a ski lift to the peak of the mountain for even more breathtaking views. I've never been skiing before so the whole process of using a ski lift was new and fun.  Just stand and wait for it to scoop you up and you're off,  up higher and higher with nothing but a flimsy metal pole to hold onto!

Our journey back should have been fairly quick but we had a slight brake malfunction on the coach. Fortunately we weren't going fast or down a mountain but our driver pulled over to check out the burning smell and called through for another coach to pick us up! As a result we got an extra bonus of being able to walk around a lake at Cleveland Dam and soak up a bit more sun.

That evening I decided to treat myself to a nice meal so I took myself off to the Gotham Steakhouse for some meat.  It was delicious, by far the best I've had outside of Argentina. Lovely wine complimented the meal and I waddled back to the apartment a very stuffed but content person.  Bed was calling and boy was I tired....