Fall is just around the corner.
It isn’t here yet, which means I still get to spend most of my weekend hours in sunshine, but the winds are turning brisk and biting. I was out in Chinatown the other night, and found myself wishing I’d brought a jacket along to ward against the evening chill. But we still have sunshine for the time being, and I’m taking advantage of it as much as I possibly can.
Today’s bike adventure was a 12 mi./20 km. ride along the Central Valley Greenway to Burnaby Lake Park. I’d done most of the CVG last year just after they opened, so I was curious to see whether those unfinished parts of the trail had been completed.
I was disappointed to find that they had not.
What’s most disappointing about the CVG is the “greenway” part of the name. There’s precious little greenery along the trail, and some parts of it pass through some dreadfully ugly industrial areas. If you have a look at some of the photos below, you’ll see me standing in a junkyard – an honest to goodness junkyard – that this so-called “greenway” winds its way through. It smelled terrible. I can only imagine it smelled even worse during the summer’s heatwave.
Because the CVG crosses three different municipal jurisdictions, I can’t imagine it is easy to achieve consensus on the development of the path. The inconsistencies are glaring. The path is mostly paved in Vancouver, while in Burnaby, the path is mostly hard packed gravel (and did I mention the junkyard?) Burnaby places excellent signs that help you gauge distance traveled and distance remaining to major landmarks along the trail. The signs stop as soon as you cross into the Vancouver proper.
Just when we thought we should give up and turn back, we found ourselves near the Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavilion in Burnaby Lake Park. The pavilion was closed, but we spent a few minutes standing on the deck and watched as kayakers paddled across the inlet, and as ducks swam silently through lily pads. It was the one truly green spot on this section of the Central Valley Greenway, and it gave us the mental and physical reset we needed to steel ourselves for the less than stellar ride home.
The CVG has such promise. Maybe with time (and with some prodding from cyclists) the cities will pull together and make the Greenway one of the Lower Mainland’s best amenities. I’ll be keeping my eye on it.
By the way – the lovely blue and fuchsia bike? That belongs to Rik. I don’t think I’ve posted a photo of it before but this bike simply had to be seen to be believed.
