We headed up to Whistler for a few days with some friends from Andrew’s work and stayed at the Westlunds’ lovely condo not far from town. We had a good couple of days there, climbing up a mountain to admire the view and having a few beers at the top. It was frustrating to be in one of the best ski areas in the world just a few weeks before the resort opens!

We then headed on through the wilderness of British Columbia. We passed some stunning scenery, unfortunately most of it was hidden behind the rain and clouds. It was great to be back on the expedition again. We arrived in Kamloops in the evening after driving through the thickest fog any of us have ever seen.

We tried unsuccessfully to find some accommodation – no-one we met wanted us to sleep on their floor and the people in the hostel scared the hell out of us. So we did as we were used to doing and headed out of town to find a spot to camp. As we’re about to head to bed we heard a wild animal in the bushes. Our torches picked up two eyes staring out at us from the forest. We crept closer, debating whether it was a bear or moose. Roxy’s spotlights eventually identified it as just a regular cow!

It was a chilly night and this morning we had to break the ice off our tents before we could put them away. And it’s only going to get colder as we cross the country. The ride today up high into the Rocky mountains was terrific, following the 50^th fairly closely along Highway 1. Roxy has developed turbo problems once again and she crawls up hills reluctantly – all the more time to enjoy the scenery!

We climbed up over snowy passes and white peaks lined the route for most of the day. The forests and lakes below were beautiful in the autumn light. We arrived in Banff in the early evening and set about finding a place to stay. Even the cheapest hotel in this resort was outside our budget so we started at the most expensive, asking for free room for the night. They couldn’t oblige but offered us a very tempting discount.

We scoured the rest of the hotels for that elusive free room and just when we were about to give up we managed to find it in a very expensive place, thanks to a very kind receptionist. We’re glad not to be camping tonight – it’s supposed to be -6°C outside.

- Spike

Playing on the iPod:  “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver

We’re back on the road at last, after nearly two months of shipping Roxy and getting her fixed.

We went up to the Westlund’s cabin in the mountains last weekend to chop wood for the winter with the family. We had a great weekend staying in a lovely cabin right by the lake. We tried dirt biking, throwing axes, riding quads and ‘log burling’ – the traditional Canadian pastime of running on a log floating on a lake trying to persuade someone else to fall off first.

Our last week in Langley was great. Andrew Westlund owns Sky Helicopters, a new flying school and we were very lucky to get a ride in his helicopter up over the mountains above Vancouver. The view was out of this world as we soared over forests mountainsides and skimmed low over beautiful lakes. We were also able to see the effects of the pine beetle which has devastated areas of the forest and formed an interesting case study… the beetles have been so destructive because of the milder winters recently. If anyone wants to learn to fly in British Columbia these people are the guys for the job.

We did a few days helping out at Andrew’s other company, Apex Communications, clearing out all the random stuff they had hoarded in the basement, effectively giving them two extra rooms! We left our signature chair, desk and cuppa tea set up in each room for when they next go in there, probably in four years time.

We finally picked up Roxy from Richmond Land Rover after some time being repaired. Many thanks to Brian from the dealership for all his help, and John in England for footing the bill.

We had a great time in Vancouver, mostly down to Andrew and his lovely family who were incredibly kind and hospitable. It was hard to leave but we can all imagine ourselves coming back to live in Vancouver one day.

But leave we had to and we headed out on the open road, on the Sea-to-Sky Highway up to Whistler…

- Spike

Playing on the iPod:  Anything by Bryan Adams (who apparently owns a Land Rover!)