A Dirty Weekend Away - Part 5 - the clean bit

Once we leave rural bliss with the smell of dog, the fury floor, the choke chains and bridles hanging from the walls we drive to Fort Langley and eat fish and chips before taking the Albion ferry across the Fraser River as the sun is setting. What is it about a trip on a ferry that really makes you feel like you’re travelling? We have to wait for 4 ferries to make the crossing before we got on there but it is fun, making stunted progress along the road, remembering you’re saving a huge round trip, and it reminds me of the Kylesku ferry to Ardgour in Scotland.

La montagne

(c) Andy

Flats

(c) Andy

Evening blush

(c) Andy

1 hour later we are in Harrison Hot Springs public baths. We wallow for an hour in 100F (38C) natural sulphur water, staring at the white tile walls, wooden roof and Japanese screen-style window lights that are actually made of glass-fibre instead of paper. We discuss bunking off work to get more holidays this year.

Feeling healed and revitalised we drive on towards home, eating left-over Greek pizza. Eventually the cloud clears and the moonlight is shining on the mountains as we pass back through Hope. I see the most amazing mountain scenery I have ever encountered. The moonbeams are doing very strange things to the perspective and the cliffs are more vertical than usual, the trees magnified to 10 times normal height so that you can’t quite tell if you’re looking at a clump of fir trees or a towering boulderfield.

Hubby can drive on and on through the darkness – and he did. Meanwhile, I drifted in and out of sleep and eventually climbed into the back to lie down and roll around with the new gear box. He was gentle and didn’t flip me off my perch once.

Back home at midnight we finally slid into bed to dream of ferns and rainforests and smallholdings, of light spattering between tree branches and barns full of goodies. See you soon Rover Landers.