Gremlin's Tall Stories

Alarm at 7am. I can’t be arsed getting up, letting Murray get ready (even conned him into taking my bag to the van as well). Took the flak for lying in bed… unfortunate our room was right next to the bikes, but hey, nice short walk unloading the bike.

After much noise (the talking sort… sheesh, some people are trying to sleep) they left at 8am, and I rolled over and went back to sleep. Alarm went again and I took my time getting up. Eventually packed, and pondered ...

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Alarm at 6.30am and all the guys in the bunk room are rattling around getting ready. I’m having none of that, so lie in bed instead, copping flack for doing so. I fully intend on having the complimentary breakfast, which will only be available shortly before 7am. In due course, I chuck on some shorts and a t-shirt and head downstairs with my bag for the van. The others are geared up, ready to go, some grab a bit of breakfast.

I do my best to consume the entire breakfast, but no ...

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6am. God… too early and 5.5 hours sleep. Murray isn’t even up, and I finally beat him for once, rising straight away. Pass him his cereal, breakfast in bed. Heh. Packed and geared up, bike loaded. 7am, blimey the hour went quickly. All the bikes are assembled and we head away just after 7am.

380 odd miles to cover, just over 600km. The roads are much more open, we’re heading over the prairie which is markedly different to the previous forests. A brief stop in Longview ...

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Woke up before the alarm! Ok, so it was only set for 9am. Ken rang at 8.20am to confirm the late morning tour of the Banff Hotel and buffet lunch we were having today. How to meet, bring the dollars, yep, see you outside on the bikes. Rolled over and went back to bed until 9am

Finally got up, read Mark and Gerry’s blog (http://kiwisridefar.blogspot.com/) and generally wasted time until just after 10am, then getting ready and grabbing the necessary little things.

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Why does the alarm ring at stupid times like 7am? I really should stop doing that, but then, I guess I do need to get cracking, see some scenery, ride some roads and check into a new place. No complimentary breakfast today, so into the Inn’s restaurant for a quick brekkie of cereal and orange juice. Typically, having cleaned the bike the previous day, it had rained during the night, so I dried the bike off.

Back in the room, I thought fuck it, it’s still chilly out, I’ll ...

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Today was one of the larger ones, with 380 miles to be covered (around 610km), so the alarm was interrupting my slumber at 6am. Murray was already up, don’t know how he does it.

Took our van bags down to the van and tucked into the complimentary breakfast, which was apricot bran and orange juice. The others were well ahead of me in getting ready, and a chunk of the group left around 7am. I watched them head off, and saw one car pass by the motel completely staring at the gathered ...

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An alarm rang at 5.30am. What bastard set that? Mmm, me. Murray was already up, he must have some weird internal clock. Crawling out of bed, I rapidly packed and geared up. The reason for the early start was a ferry. We were bound for the mainland, north again continuing through the province of British Columbia.

Our bikes were parked across two levels, and as I brought it up (not wearing my gloves) the group was already leaving. Not knowing the ferry location (there was some discussion ...

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The alarm rang as planned at 7am… but I didn’t go anywhere, eventually rising at 7.45am. We had the day to ourselves, only moving on tomorrow morning. Most were visiting gardens and museums… not quite my cup of tea. Murray (my roommate) was planning to have a seaplane tour of Victoria.

I was planning on visiting a small fishing port, Tofino, in the Pacific Rim National Park, a round trip of 650km. A fair distance, estimated to be 10-12 hours all up, as you couldn’t ...

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