Ian Rambles
.. and off we go. A revised itinerary, as Fiona explains below, which is a little disappointing as we have said to so many people that we were headed north of the Arctic circle on this leg.

The RV is pleasing to drive. The view from the front seats is mostly good - though the overhanging upper bunk cuts the tops off closer mountains. From the back the view is more restricted - the floor is a bit higher and it is only possible to see ahead by slouching down.

Barkerville is well done and it was interesting to see the variety of methods of construction of log cabins.

Fiona's Journal
Monday July 7th
Today is Sarah's Birthday and also the first day of the next leg of our travels. We have had to revise our original ambitious itinerary considerably, partly because of the week's delay while Ian was in UK and partly because Keith has been quite unwell recently and will not want really long days of driving.

We will not now be going to Alaska or even the more Northerly regions of BC but instead we will just do a big loop through the Rocky Mountains heading North from Kamlops to Prince George, then East and South through Jasper National Park and Alberta as far as Crowsnest before returning North and West to Kamloops.

Sarah and Keith took the lead in their elderly VW camper affectionately known as the “Love Bug”. She was not difficult to follow being painted egg-yolk yellow and chocolate brown which stands out well amongst the uniformity of the modern large, boxy, white, plastic RV's.

At our first stop for dogs and humans to have a pee and admire the view we noticed a small dribble of oil developing beneath the VW. We pressed on to Cache Creek where we had brunch and when we emerged from the restaurant there was a pool of oil underneath that could not be ignored. There was a repair garage just across the road so we hung about while Keith took the VW over there and a mechanic duly put her up on a ramp and had a look. Diagnosis – a leaking seal between the gear box and the engine, not serious, just keep topping up the oil and get it sorted on our return. We bought a lot of oil and went merrily on our way.

During the afternoon we stopped at a roadside shop and got a really good cup of coffee and some delicious fudge and managed get Sarah out the way just long enough to buy the most wonderful, cartoonish, metal cat garden ornament and smuggle it back to the RV unnoticed. I also stopped and picked a bouquet of beautiful wayside wild flowers for her.

We stopped for the night at a campsite just a kilometre outside Barkeville.

There we had our first (of many I am sure) barbecued suppers and gave Sarah her cards and presents and flowers. She loved the cat as I knew she would and has named him Obviously after our cat at home.. The Whiskey flowed and the camp fire crackled and so ended the first day of our Canadian adventure, contentedly.

Tuesday July 8th
Today we cycled into Barkeville and took a step back in time.

Barkerville was once an important gold mining town and it has been preserved and rebuilt as it was in the 1870's and populated with staff in period costume and “actors” playing out little scenes in amongst the throngs of tourists. It was actually much more civilised than I had imagined a gold rush town to be but I suppose we were looking at the town as it was, once the mining was well established and the miners' families had come out to join them and sort them out! In addition to the saloons and poker rooms I had imagined there were two churches, a school, a bank, a doctor, a pharmacy and two Chinese laundries.

Ian and I attended a talk on the workings of the “newly installed” and “very modern” water wheel at the head of the deep mine shaft. This was delivered as a sort of double act between the young lady who had just inherited the mine from a deceased uncle and her experienced and enthusiastic but less articulate mine captain. They were actually very funny and, as a result, I will remember more than I ever need to know about the uses of water wheels in mining. In particular, the words “gription” and “sliptivity” have been added to my vocabulary and I intend to use them without apology or explanation!

Wednesday July 9th
A day of driving and housewifery today but enlivened by some pretty spectacular mountain scenery. Our first stop after leaving the Barkerville RV site was at Quisnel where we had breakfast and then went to Canadian Tire, which does sell a few tyres but also sells almost everything else you can imagine apart from food! We bought Walkie Talkies because mobiles (cell phones for American and Canadian readers if we have any) are a waste of space up here in the mountains and we would like to be able to communicate between the two vehicles. We also bought a frisbee, with multicoloured flashing lights around its rim, so we can play in the dark!

Ian and I went up the road to an RV dealership to get a new adapter for our mains power lead as we have fried the one supplied. They are called “Chemo RV” which amazed me – the word chemo has only one connotation in the UK and that is chemotherapy ie cancer, so no business would ever use that as a name. I presume it doesn't have the same resonance in Canada.

Next stop is Prince George, Northernmost point of our revised itinerary and a town with a bit of a reputation. We stock up with food and drink provisions here and then head East. We finally stop in a little village called McBride at the RV site “Beaver Lake View”. This seems meant for us since Sarah and Keith's first Newfoundland dog was called Beaver, their house in Brockham, Surrey was called The Beavers and their cabin on lake Paul is called Beavers Rest. What is more the English couple who own the site turn out to have lived in Henley on Thames for a while, at Swiss Farm, before coming out to British Columbia – small world! Anyway, we have two lovely pitches tucked in under the trees and alongside the Fraser river. We intend to stay put for two nights.

Arthur's Log:
7th
Its Sarah's birthday today, We bought her a model cat made out of junk metal with glass eyes, Its one of those things that make you chuckle when you look down at it.

The last few days I have done **** all and know im trying to catchup on typing and writing while enjoying Canada.

We ended up at a swamp like camp site with signs everywere saying “hide your food from the bears” which makes it sound like a theme park attraction.

Went for a walk and found hundred apon hundred of very old empty cans. They were 100% made of rust so i wonderd how old they are but I guess I will never know.

8th
Spent the day in Barkerville, a historic town with actors in full dress ( ouch ). The schoolteacher actor was very good - I hated him!

9th
We drove all day, barely stopping but enjoying the scenery.

George's Musings
We bought Sarah a funny cat.