Leaving Beaverfoot and the last journey West

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It's 10.39 on the 3rd of July. Today, if I get this written and uploaded, I will have finally caught up with my blogs and I will go back to the usual one every 3 days. So, today's blog will be about the last day at Beaverfoot, our day in Vancouver and our arrival in Victoria.
We agreed on Sunday morning with Raph that we would work a half day instead of a full day. For some reason he seemed to think we would be very pleased with this even though we were supposed to have the whole day off. Anyway, we had breakfast then got to work. The heat had reached a boiling climax that day, so everyone moved sluggishly around and, really, not a lot of work was done. Rosie, Kate and I headed down to the pavilion and finished the painting on the deck, which was tiring work in the full beat of the sun and llwith one crusty roller to share between us.
We headed, then, back up the field to the lodge where we found Denise, Georgie, Matt, Natalie and Rico. By this time it was maybe 12 noon so we finished the working day by heading down to the wagons and checking them all for rubbish and sheets, then called it a day. We had lunch then got ourselves ready to head down to the river. Everyone had that afternoon off as it was so hot. We walked down, and almost immediately jumped in to the glacier water, the sharp cold such a relief from the relentless sun.
And so that was how we spent the next 4 hours or so, out in the sun talking, some people playing guitars, then when we got too hot we dived into the river for a few minutes to cool down. It was nothing short of idyllic, with the mountains always looming above us. By 6pm we grudgingly got up, packed up, and walked up the dusty trail to the lodge to help with dinner or get showered. I headed up to the mountain house to get packed.
When I came back down Rosie found me and told me that we had 2 options for the bus the next day, one at 2am and one at 5pm. We were going straight to Vancouver as our next host had not replied to any of my messages, and Rosie's second cousins Donna and Bob had very kindly agreed to put us up at their home on Vancouver Island for an extra week. Neither times were ideal, but we finally decided to book the 2am bus that night as we would have nearly a whole day extra in Vancouver. So we ate out back, everyone was dancing around Raph that night as he was in a particularly bad mood, and then headed into the kitchen to do the washing up.
It was gone 11 by the time we finished, and so we first headed down to camp the cabin where Dan was staying with his 6 dogs to say goodbye. Our arrival stirred the dogs up into something of a frenzy which took Dan several minutes to quell, after which we stood for maybe 15 minutes saying thank you and out find goodbyes while making a fuss of the dogs. Time was pushing on, so we finally left and headed up to the lodge to say goodbye to everyone else. It was sad enough to leave Dan, but to say farewell to 15 now very good friends was really tough. We all stood out in the dark car park outside the lodge for a little while, swapping hugs and sad smiles and promises to stay in touch before reluctantly loading our kit into the car with Rico and Natalie, who were to drop us off in Golden.
We drove, talking a little, up the logging road, until we were stopped by a freight train that took at least 10 minutes to cross our path. I stood, leaning against the bonnet with Rico and watching the huge metal body only a couple metres away rush relentlessly on, coloured red by the blinking warning lights. Nothing seemed more incongruous with the mountains and trees that framed it.
The trains passed and we hit the highway and came to Golden, Rico dropping us off by the McDonalds just by the bus stop. We all got out and stood for a second, not really wanting to have to say goodbye. I gave Natalie a hug first and wished her luck for her travels, then came to Rico. I told him what a genuine pleasure it had been to know him for the last couple of weeks, and to let me know if he ever came to the UK. Rico then produced 4 leather wristbands he'd made from the leather in the horse shed and gave one to each of us to remember our time at Beaverfoot by. We said our final goodbye, and watched them drive back onto the highway, and out of sight.
We walked round to the McDonalds hatch and ordered some food, then sat eating in the warmth of the night out on the patio talking about everyone back at the lodge. Matt had arranged for Felix, who was still in Golden at this point to come and meet us so he could pick up the hiking boots he had left at Beaveerfoot. Before long he arrived, and we asked him how he was and what his plans were, before saying goodbye to him too.
As it approached our departure time of 2.30 we headed to the bus stop and boarded. It was already nearly full so we were all sitting separately. For the next 4 and a half hours I sat uncomfortably close to the person next to me, and didn't get a wink of sleep. It wasn't all bad however, as the sun rose it revealed a landscaped of gentler rolling hills and huge, sprawling rivers, their banks dotted with the twinkling lights of what I supposed were small fishing communities.
Eventually we pulled into Kamloops at 6.30, where we quickly found a Starbucks to grab a well-needed coffee and some breakfast. The stop over was 2 hours so we got a good chance to stretch our legs before boarding a different bus to Vancouver. We made sure we were pretty far up in the queue for boarding so we were sitting together. The remaining 5 or so hours of the journey passed as a combination of light sleep and watching out of the window, until we arrived at the depot just out of downtown Vancouver.
It was a hot day, and the train ride & walk through the busy streets was sweaty and a little uncomfortable carrying our packs. We arrived at the Vancouver HI hostel, which was incredibly central, booked a room, and collapsed into bed for several hours.
We woke up fully about 7pm. We'd seen as we'd come in that night that there was a bar crawl at 8.30 that evening, so we quickly popped to the pizza place across the road to grab some dinner (here you could get a huge slice for $2 so I ate there every meal...) and met the group for the crawl in the foyer. There was quite a few of us, and we all left for the first stop, an Irish pub, that was actually next door to the hostel. The first 30 minutes or so of such things always I'd taken up by trying to find people you actually want to talk to, so includes some forced and/or dull conversations as an inevitability.
By the time, however, we'd moved on to the next bar, a lively karaoke bar the other side of the hostel, we'd found two guys and a girl we liked. There was Chris, an Irish guy of 26 and Dakota, 22, who was originally from Winnipeg (when we said that we immediately apologised for such an unfortunate place of birth) and who we called Winnipeg the rest of the evening because we already had a Dakota back at MSF. I hope he didn't mind. The girl was from Brazil - I can't remember her name and she didn't say much, but seemed lovely none-the-less. Before long the guy running the bar crawl left and we thanked him for showing us the two closest pubs to the hostel, and shortly after the Brazilian girl left too.
The 6 of us sat drinking and chatting and laughing at the people doing karaoke, then decided to see what other bars were around. We wandered into one of the neighbouring districts, Gastown, which had pretty cobbled streets and lights hanging from the trees alongside the docks. We had a drink in a pub there and asked the bartender where was good to go on a Monday night in Vancouver, who directed us back to the street we'd came from. So after a while we wandered back, enjoying new company and the warmth of the evening. Kate and Rosie went into the hostel once we were back, while Matt, Chris, Winnipeg and I went back into the bar which was really pretty lively now. We had maybe a couple more pints before grabbing a slice of pizza and heading back to the hostel. It was probably 3am by the time we were in bed, having thanked the two guys for a really fun evening.
We woke up at about 10.30 on Tuesday morning relieved we were neither hungover not had spent too much money, checked out and dumped out bags in the hold on the hostel while we went out into the city. We had a few hours to buy things we hadn't had the chance to buy when at Beaverfoot, as well as a chance to explore the city a little bit.
The city was big, busy and very young feeling. It is, of course, impossible to sum up a sense of a city, but it was how I would expect a Canadian LA to feel.
Once we were restocked and refuelled we picked up our bags and headed to the train station. We caught a train out of the city to the south, then a bus across a long spit to the ferry terminal. We were travelling for maybe an hour, and it only cost us $4. Once at the terminal we bought our tickets for the 5pm ferry, which was already docked. They ferry felt as big as some of the channel ferries, with a very similar layout. We found a spot up on the deck and waited for departure.
The trip took about an hour and a half, and for most of the way we passed through the small islands that lay between Vancouver and the East side of The Island. The sea was calm and the temperature cooled slightly by the sea breeze, so altogether the trip was very pleasant. Before we knew it we were approaching the dock at Schwartz Bay, Victoria. Bob was to pick us up from the port, and as we headed out to collect our baggage we found each other almost immediately.
We got all of our stuff in the boot, and drove the 20 minutes or so to the suburb in which Donna and Bob lived. Bob is a such a great guy, always with a story or a joke, and incredibly generous. We arrived at the house, and were welcomed at the door by Donna, who had the same welcoming, friendly energy. She showed us to our rooms where we had two double beds, as well as towels, toothpaste, water bottles and anything else we could ask for laid out.
Then we met Chelsea and Wembley, the two pugs. They ran excitedly into the room, jumping on the beds and having their bellies runs before dashing out as if the excitement was just too much, before coming back again 10 seconds later for more attention. Terry, a neighbour and good friend of Donna and Bob was round, and we all sat around on their beautiful deck eating barbecued kebabs and new potatoes with salad. We were, however, completely wiped by this point so, after talking a little after dinner, we thanked them for putting us up at such short notice and in such a welcoming way, and turned in for the night.
And now we are on the West Coast, and the last stretch.

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