BCAA

The Communal TablE Flavour Burst Dessert arrives, a damson plum and elderberry tart topped with delicate golden raspberries. I raise a glass to Paul Gardner, owner of nearby Pentage Winery and maker of the robust, fruity Pinot Noir we are drinking. The moon rises against a pincushion sky . . . it doesn���t get any better than this. ��� ���Brennan Clarke defying the law of gravity. Stopping for a water break at Trestle No. 6, the longest and highest of the bunch, I ponder the grit and sheer audacity that went into building a railway across this landscape. For Andrew McCulloch, however, the legendary engineer who built the KVR, Myra Canyon was merely a practical solution: a way to avoid the challenges of an impossibly steep descent into Kelowna and back up the mountain. A century later, his trestles remain one of the greatest feats of railway engineering in Canadian history, marked by a national historic site designation in 2003. A few months later, raging wildfires consumed 12 of the original wooden structures and sparked a five-year, $17-million restoration effort. ��� ���Brennan Clarke Kel o by a steep driveway cut into towering clay banks, the Corsican-style villa is defined by odd angles, curiously-shaped rooms ��� including a ���roofless��� aerie with muslin-wreathed canopy bed and 180-degree lake views ��� and an abundance of antiques that lends an eccentric elegance to the owners��� ���beyond casual��� approach. a/Penti wn on ct SKAHA LAKE, PENTICTON Somewhere between the coq au vin with wild chanterelles and the roasted pears with crispy cured ham, I slip into a state of bliss ��� buoyed by the summer breeze, stellar wine and conversation with a fascinating assortment of 20 total strangers. On a flagstone terrace, surrounded by vineyards high above Skaha Lake, this weekly al fresco event under the stars just south of Penticton is, I wager, as close as one gets to Tuscany without leaving Canada. With close to 60 boutique wineries in the South Okanagan alone, a wealth of fine wines can be found paired with the region���s equally fine 100mile fare in numerous, tempting permutations. But the communal table and old-world ambience of God���s Mountain Estate has an indefinable, spellcasting charm that sets it apart. Cut off from the outside world The History Ride the Rails MYRA CANYON, JUST OUTSIDE KELOWNA It���s a crisp spring morning, calm and quiet but for the crunch of gravel on the trail as we pedal a precarious stretch of rail bed carved into the jagged cliff of Myra Canyon, high above the orchards of southeast Kelowna. Within minutes, solid ground gives way to rough-hewn wooden planks and we cross the first of 18 historic railway trestles that define this spectacular 8.5-kilometre stretch of the Kettle Valley Railway. Far across the deep, narrow gorge, the final series of trestles��� cross-braced timbers are bolted together and wedged between gaps in the canyon walls, openly (top) Ellen Ho/Joy Road catering, (KVR) Gary Nylander p18-27_The List.indd 25 START HERE For guided or transport/gear only cycle tours of the trestles: monasheeadventuretours.com Tickets for God���s Mountain communal dinners al fresco: joyroadcatering.com; godsmountain.ca By the Numbers 1914 The year the Myra Canyon trestles were completed. 1972 The year the last train chugged over the trestles: a steam engine used during filming of CBC���s TV mini-series The National Dream. 26 The number of men who died building the trestles. 1,274 Height in metres of the KVR���s highest point, between Trestles 11 and 12. 220 Span in metres of longest trestle. 114 Length in metres of tunnel blasted through solid rock. l l l l l l W estw o r ld >> S p r i n g 2 0 1 3 25 13-01-28 10:30 AM

• Cover