Had a video call with the family which was nice and saw Matilda dressed and ready for the Euros final. Watched the first half before leaving the hotel and then had to go to a supermarket, so a pretty slow start. Great to check the score later to see England had won!

 

Quite a long stretch on Highway 16, where I also saw the first posters and memorials. This is also known as the ‘Highway of Tears’, due to the number of, mostly First Nations, women who’ve gone missing or been murdered on this bit of road. 

 

It was therefore nice to get off the highway and onto a series of forest service roads which would take me to the rec site I’d planned to camp at. It was a nice enough site but the lake was a murky brown colour and not inviting for either swimming or filtering water. 

 

There was also a guy who had set up what looked like a fairly permanent encampment on the lake side, complete with a crucifix and engraving of the Lord’s Prayer on a plank of wood. Slightly intimidated, I decided it was best to be friendly and say hello. He then explained how he just wanted to live a quiet life but had been having trouble with locals who didn’t want him there, stealing his things and messing with his camp. Initially sympathetic, this began to wane when he explained he knew who it was and then suggested he’d ‘put them in the ground’. I wished him a good night and went back to my tent, pretty happy that there was one other guy camping there too.     

 

I think it’s fair to say this stretch across the interior is the ‘gritty heart’ of BC and that I’ll be glad to get to the coastal mountains.