The good thing about getting to the top is that it is then all downhill! Following the previous days exersions, it was a great pleasure to cycle without once having to go up a hill, or even a flat stretch - for 30 miles! When we arrived at Revelstoke, this marked the unofficial end of the Rockies mountain range - and we continued cycling west on fairly flat ground for a day or two before encountering other mountain ranges of British Columbia.
Without any contour maps (they don't have Ordnance Survey here!), it was an ongoing frustration that, from day-to-day, we didn't have much of an idea as to how difficult or easy the cycling would be. Thus, unwittingly, we encountered perhaps our toughest day's cycling after a place called Kamloops. We set off from the town centre and immediately started climbing a huge steep hill (about 1 in 7) which lasted for about 4 miles - not really what you want to ease yourselves into a day in the saddle! Some time later we passed a farm ominously named 'Six Mile Hill Farm' and you can guess why! This hill seemed to go on for ages. We stopped occassionally to catch breath and, towards the end, got off the bike and walked it the final few hundred yards. While we were resting at the top, a couple of other cyclists came breezing up the hill as if it wasn't there and then joined us for a chat. It transpired that one of the guys had just competed in a local "Iron Man" competition (2.5mile swim, then 112 miles bike ride followed by a marathon) and was now taking a couple of weeks cycling holiday - doing about 100 miles a day!! It made us feel a little small!
As we continued west, the change in the scenery was quite dramatic. Over the course of a few days we went from rugged mountains, snow and ice, through very green alpine forests and then we found ourselves in virtual desert - around Cache Creek - known as the Arizona of Canada.
At this point we turned due south and set out for the next town along the route which was over 50 miles away. Having had good weather for almost all of our trip to date - today it failed us! The wind blew directly from the south and was strong enough, on occassions, to stop us from cycling forward. There was no respite - our route was south all the way. It was a constant aggravation - even on downhill stretches, it held us back. We had heard a motto before we left the UK - "the wind is the cyclists enemy" Now we knew what that meant! After 30 miles we stopped for lunch and we phoned our respective homes to be dumbstruck that England had just beaten Germany 5-1. The joy of the result was just tinged slightly with having missed watching it! (although Caroline didn't think so!)
The rest of the day was worse than the morning. The wind got stronger, we got more tired, Caroline's knee started hurting and the miles went by VERY slowly. At one point the wind blew dust and gravel from the hillside such that Caroline resorted to wearing her bandana as a face mask! We finally arrived at our destination, Lytton, at 4.30 having set off at 7.30 and went straight to the beer shop, before it shut, to get our provisions for the next day or so - we weren't cycling in that wind tomorrow! However, by the time we got back the Motel owners had already dropped off a couple of beers in the room - they thought we needed them!
Despite having a day off, the wind persisted and had to do another 30 difficult miles to get to our next stop. The following day was much calmer and the only hazards we had to contend with were sheer sided drops into the Fraser Canyon and tunnels dug through the rock which didn't have a shoulder to cycle on. However, a pick up truck suddenly stopped in front of us - it was the Motel owner from Lytton - he was going towards Vancouver and did we want a lift?? Serious cyclists would obviously have declined, but we didn't hesitate to take up the offer and before lunchtime we were 80 miles nearer Vancouver with only 100 miles left to go. We ended the day in a super B&B, tucked into take away pizza and relaxed in the jacuzzi in the garden and looked forward to our final days cycling across Canada.