Saturday 21 February 2009

Buntzen Lake


It was a beautiful Saturday today - sunny and crisp - and I felt like going for a local scoot. The temperature was pretty good for a day in February - around 12° C. - but I didn't feel like a long trek.

After coffee at a relative's house in Port Coquitlam, I headed towards my destination, Buntzen Lake. Buntzen lake holds many warm summer memories with my side of the family as we often meet there near the end of summer and catch up on vacation highlights.

I turned off the Lougheed Highway and went up Ioco Road and then towards the community of Anmore. It was quite a steep climb up the hill and a fairly twisty road. On the map above, it's the red route. Parts of the road in Anmore were very rough and bumpy and I had to slow down considerably.


I went through Anmore (basically a residential area) and continued onto Buntzen Lake. At the entrance of the park was a sign that read "Caution - Extremely Slippery Road". At this point I thought, hmm, maybe the fact that I'm on a scooter means I'm a bit of risk taker in the first place so perhaps I will carefully try this road. Also, the temperature was warmish and the sun was out so I carefully went down the road.

I did notice a fair bit of snow on the sides of the road but there were no near death experiences on the road or, for that matter, during the entire ride.


I arrived at the lake to a beautiful vista. I snapped a few photos, noticing that the people that were there to have a picnic had the whole beach for themselves! I would have stayed longer but I smelled hot dogs cooking over a over a barbecue and realized I had missed lunch.

I went a different way back, through Belcarra and Ioco. The road was much better as were the opportunities for photos.


I first stopped in Ioco and took this picture looking at Burrard Inlet. It was very bright out at this point which is why the photo is a bit washed out. Still, I liked the sparkling water from this viewpoint.


On my way down the hill, I also saw this church/religious centre. I liked the look of this old house and how it was being used.

I ended up in Newport Village (where Ioco Road meets the Lougheed Highway) and had a latté and a prosciutto and bocconcini sandwich at an Italian café before heading home - feeling warm and content despite the crispness in the air.

7 comments:

Heinz N Frenchie said...

What a beautiful ride! Thanks for the pictures. That area has to be a paradise in the spring and summer. With the LX50 do you ever feel like the cages are tailgating you on the road? We ride A1A in South Florida and the top speed limit is 35, 25 in some areas, and lots of no passing signs. We still have people who tailgate us and then fly by when the coast is clear. We even had a Harley Week End Warrior pass us and yell at us that we were not going 35 mph. The nerve of him. Most motorcycle riders are very nice to us, but he was the exception.

Unknown said...

Looks like you had a good ride, perhaps on the cooler side judging by all that left over snow. I had friends who lived in Anmore so I used to scoot there after work on a warm summers day, taking Ioco road then up that long hill, but they recently moved out of town so I haven't been there lately. Nice pictures

Dave Dixon said...

Heinz and Frenchie
You're right - the area is beautiful in the Spring and Summer - but there is usually a ton of rain during the other times...

Yes, people passing have, on accoasion, been a problem. Usually, if I'm going a fair distance, I try to find a route that has 2 lanes each way. Otherwise, I make sure that I pull over if I have too many people behind me. On my trip to Seattle last summer, I ended up on a lot of roads with only one lane each way but the shoulders were nice and big so I was able to pull over and let people pass.

That said, the number of times I've had people pass around me because they were impatient is a pretty small number. I do get that prickling feeling at the back of my neck, however, when I'm going up a steep hill with cars behind me and nowhere to pull off...

Dave Dixon said...

bobskoot

Anmore is a nice area to be in - seems so quiet for a place so close to the rest of the lower mainland. Nice ride, too!

Baron's Life said...

Great post and pictures. Looks like you really enjoyed this ride.
Hey...Love the new look you gave your blog.
Thanks for sharing

Dave Dixon said...

Baron
It was a nice ride, thanks.

Hey, glad you like the changes - thought the place needed some freshening up.

Ric said...

What a good blog, really nice to read about your adventures riding such a cool scoot!

Your country is very, very beautiful too.

I've just ordered my LX 50 (still waiting delivery) and was wondering if the LX 50 would be able to go 20 km non-stop to my school, (where I teach) specially as I'm bit big guy?!

I guess your blog just says it all!

Thanks for the post.

Cheers,
Ricardo from Portugal.