And into British Columbia!

Well, that was the most testing and hairiest drive of my life. While still in Alberta we met Tony & Theresa  who hail from Glasgow but have been in Canada some forty years. I was telling them about my tyre change the day before and he asked about what pressure I had the trailer tyres at. Never thought to test them? Anyway, he suggested it might be a good idea as the road to BC would be something of a challenge without a tyre blowout. He came over with a compressor only to discover all the trailer tyres were seriously under inflated by as much as half. We pumped them all to the stated 80 psi (!). Whilst pumping air I became aware of a female voice screaming something alarming, there was a brown bear sauntering through the campsite so we all had to hide away indoors for a minute or two. By the time I got a camera he had disappeared into the river and was heading for the hills. I was surprised how fast the bugger could move, luckily in a different direction to me, although at one point I was 20 feet from his jaws and paws.

We left Alberta through the mountain pass stopping for lunch at Banff sulphur springs, too bleddy hot for more than 10 minutes, about 40c. On arrival I blindly followed Michelles words of direction through the medium of satnav, she sent me up to the springs but failed to mention it might be a dead end with no turning space for a fifth wheel measuring almost 50 feet! When I was a copper I was top student in reversing at Hendon driving school, but I might have made my instructor mighty proud backing this roadtrain back down the hill for half a kilometer and two bends into oncoming traffic having made the same mistake. I will trust twatnav in future.

From where we were at the hot springs is a chair lift affair to the mountain top, for the life of me I couldn't see the end of it, bleddy miles up, stuff that I thought. I relish flying a small plane to the limits til it spins and falls from the sky but that thing was ridiculous. I've never been on a rollercoaster either, must be a control thing?

Oh yes, back to the drive. Just outside the town of Golden, the approach is made via 10 mile hill which I doubt Clarkson & co would attempt unflustered. All the way down the side of a mountain, one lane in either direction with a sheer drop to the right. 30kph limit and still the 100 foot trucks attempt to overtake on blind corners. After 30 years Mrs Thomas's language left me open mouthed, but we survived to find a very quiet and beautiful campsite at the golf club of Golden, we even booked the driving range for tomorrow evening. So Im sitting outside, eaten a sandwich, downed a few beers, listening to the singing birds and the always present freight trains. 8.30pm and still very hot and sticky. Almost at destinations end and my boy Archie in Vernon BC. I hope hes ready for some serious dad hugging!