Wed. 2nd September ‘26
Thunder and rain woke us at around 6am, not helping us to get over our jetlag and not conducive to cycling. However, we do get a bit more sleep and by the time we have had our tasty breakfast the rain stops and the day improves. We have rented e-bikes, which are due to be delivered to our accommodation at 9:30. On time, Myles from Route 66 checked we were still OK with our plan, given the overcast weather, which was a resounding yes (writing this on Thursday morning in the pouring rain we are grateful we had a dry day for our ride). Myles was very thorough with our introduction to the bikes, as I have not been on an e-bike before.
The plan is sightseeing along the KVR, Kettle Valley Rail Trail this morning and wine tasting this afternoon. After heading downhill into town, we were grateful for the power assist as we headed up to the KVR which runs along the hills some way above town. (See tomorrow’s post for an explanation as to why this is the case!). There is a trade-off between getting the exercise from the exertion of cycling uphill and being lazy letting the bike do most of the work. In the early 20th century, a railway was built to connect remote areas of British Columbia extending some 500km from Midway to Hope. It began to decline in the 1960’s when road transportation became more popular and decommissioned completely in the 1990’s and now a popular tourist destination.
We cycle as far as Little Tunnel along the picturesque gravel KVR track which, although looks flat it is a steady incline which is again enough for us to use the power assist function on our bikes. The Little Tunnel is well named as it is only a few metres long. The guidance to take a warm layer to go through the tunnel is quite unnecessary. It is a popular stopping point for cyclists to spend a minute or two enjoying the view and a group of locals point out a bear in the distance which is no more than a black blob on a shelf resting. No amount of will power or thought control makes the bear move.
The cycle back to Naramata is much easier on the gentle descent to our first Winery of the day. We are starting with a small family run Winery called Deep Roots Winery. A beautiful setting overlooking the lake, where we sit a while trying their tasting flight of five wines. We could stay all day enjoying the view but as Claude has prepared an itinerary with four more tastings before the day is done.
The Patio at Lake Breeze was a great lunch spot and we comment that this is one of the most picturesque wine regions we have visited probably due to the views over the lake. The shared plate of antipasti was devoured before we thought of a photo!! The wines looked tasty but we refrained from a tasting as we were looking forward to a tasting at Moraine Winery. The wind had got up and the cycle to Moraine along the busyish main road was a challenge. The wines there were OK, but the tasting experience was not the best as it was pretty perfunctory. In the past we have found that the larger the winery, the poorer the experience, with the exception of Cloudy Bay in New Zealand. I think this is due to the servers talking at you with fixed spiel, rather than talk with you. Also, all the wines had the winemaker’s individuality stamped on it, which we did not always agree with. For example their GSM was not the traditional mix of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre but had Malbec instead as apparently there is no legal definition of GSM.
Still the penultimate tasting was next to our accommodation so one last cycle back along the KVR which was a much better experience than the main road. Serendipity vineyard lived up to its name and is a small family run Winery and the owner was there for a quick chat. The restaurant menu looked great but sadly shut on Tuesday and Wednesday so we were not able to experience it. Then back to Therapy Inn for our final tasting, which was included in our room rate so it would have been rude to miss out. A great fizz to start followed by the usual two whites and two reds, all very pleasing to end our tasting tour.
In hindsight, I think there are a couple of things we’d do differently – especially given how helpful the e-bikes were. Firstly, instead of doing an out and back along the KVR, I would have taken the road shortcut to the next tunnel (Adra) – not much further by road as the KVR does a big loop. We could then do a longer one-way run (downhill) on the KVR. Secondly, I would miss out on Moraine winery and instead done the tasting at Lake Breeze. No matter, we still had a great day – and we much prefer having an independent trip on bikes rather than a minibus full on a fixed timed itinerary.