Whistler, British Columbia
Parched land outside Kamloops
We’re back in Mantles for breakfast the next morning, after a visit to the well-equipped gym. Our waitress is Sarah from Northern Ireland. In Canada to gain experience in catering, she’s sweet if a little strange, but with Coman hiking his accent up 100%, she bestows upon us some takeaway boxes and turns a blind eye as we pile them high from the buffet, saving us the need to buy lunch.
Thankfully our sat nav behaves and guides us out of Sun Peaks towards the town of Kamloops, without taking us down any dirt tracks. However, there’s far more wildfire smoke around today, obscuring hill tops and the road, with the effects of four months of drought and high temperatures starkly evident in the landscape. Parched yellow grass stretches on all sides as we approach the large and charmless Kamloops through a thick haze of smoke, made even less appealing by the traffic and freeways that we have to negotiate to continue onto the scenic route to Whistler we have chosen.
Aftermath of forest fire
Sadly however, the landscapes, lakes and valleys that would ordinarily be stunning become flat and featureless, the foggy pall meaning the distance disappears and all is just yellow-brown. We see enough to know how gorgeous it could be, but can't help but feel disappointed – the dry sunshine meaning in other circumstances we'd be seeing the entire area at its best. When we stop at the mighty Kamloops Lake, a photo on the tourist information board shows a view as gorgeous and dramatic as the biggest Scottish loch, but it is all but hidden from us.
Continuing on, listening to waspishly funny podcasts by the author David Sedaris, we stop for gas and coffee in Cache Creek, queuing with locals buying antifreeze and lottery tickets to be served by Tammi and her hillbilly brother. Everywhere is dusty and arid, desperately in need of rain, and the tinder-dry conditions and wildfire smoke continues as we turn on to Highway 99, purported to be one of the most memorable drives in Canada.
Populated by canyons, small homesteads and astounding beauty it's desolate and dry, with burnt out trees, yellow grass and smoke hanging heavy around us. We stop at Pavilion Lake in Marble Canyon for our packed lunch, with me taking over driving duties from Coman for the somewhat more vertigo-inducing stretch to come between Lillooet and Pemberton.
Kamloops Lake
The drive lives up to its memorable reputation but sadly not for the mind-blowing scenery we’re meant to be seeing. Full of hairpin bends, vertiginous drops and steep climbs and descents it’s a challenging drive, made worse by an elderly driver crawling along ahead of us at a snail’s pace with no opportunities for the ever-growing tailback to overtake. Compounded by the smoke and the deeply disappointment of not being able to see the astounding scenery due to thick smoke, we’re both pretty exhausted when we finally arrive into Whistler around 6pm.
We dump our car with the valet at the very nice Westin Resort Hotel, and check into our room, managing to unpack and make up the sofa bed before Bethan arrives to join us for the next few days. It’s a magnificent reunion, as ever the intervening years and distance between us disappearing in an instant as we catch up with delight and unchanging friendship.
Checking out the veggie options for dinner online we discover a restaurant called Stonesedge and over wine and good food we continue our laughter and news into the night, a glorious full moon, turned orange by the smoke, illuminating us on our walk back to the hotel.
