The day dawned fine, so I decided to do some sightseeing in the morning and then spend the afternoon and evening at the computer. I won't bore you with the computer time!

I only had to walk about 15 minutes to take my choice of about five bike hire places near the edge of Stanley Park - the jewel in Vancouver's crown. I went to the first one that opened and hired a Norco City Bike for three hours. It was a nice bike, well maintained. Norco. Sounds like it should have been delivering milk! There is a picture in the album. After yesterday's washouts, I went on line and discovered an iPhone app that provides maps linked to GPS with audio and written commentary on major sites. You obviously download it online, but don't need to be online to use it. It's just called CityWalks. I got one for Stanley Park and one for Gas Town. They are pretty good value. I used one on the bike and one on foot.

The cycle trail runs along the sea wall, built over many years to protect the shoreline of the Park. The land originally belonged to the Squamish people. It is still quite forested. The sea wall path has beautifully separated trails - one for pedestrians, and one for roller-bladers and cyclists. This is really true of the city at large - with bikes generally well separated, including physical barriers as can be seen in the pictures.

If you want to know the details about Stanley Park, go to this page . Suffice it to say that on an early autumn day the colours just hinting that they might turn soon, and gentle sunshine on my face, it was a joy to be out. The highlight was seeing what I thought at first were seals, but which could be otters - help anyone? - on a rock close to shore. There is a video loaded up - I hope.

Having circled the park, I then followed the cycle trail all the way along the waterfront towards False Creek and then Granville Island - where I had been yesterday. The wonderful bike paths continued, and took me past marina after marina, and the 2010 athletes' village for the Commonwealth games. Seaplanes came and went, tiny little ferries zipped to and fro, and the paths were in heavy use by cyclists, walkers and roller bladers. Vancouver must have tens of thousands of people in waterfront property! You can see a map of the seaside path by following the link here.

After I returned the bike to the Iranian shopowner with a cousin in Australia (Maybe Sydney/maybe Adelaide?) I had lunch at one of the myriad street carts - Mexican - then used the iPhone app for Gastown. It's very similar in feel to the Rocks in Sydney.

I finally made it to Timmy's (Tim Horton's - a Canadian Coffee and Donut chain - nay institution) and pigged out on two glazed donuts - thereby cancelling out the day's exercise! I made the mistake of ordering a latte. It was bland and only just warm. Note to self - when in Timmy's ..... drink the brewed coffee!

Very early rise tomorrow - plane leaves just after 6am, and I eventually get to London Ontario about 10. Early to bed, I guess.