Day 356
Picked up for a second time
We had had one last walk around Waterton, finally spotting big-horned sheep, not roaming the hills but window stopping in town. They led us to Pat’s Store who kindly donated a Canadian flag for my bike. The following morning, we lingered long over breakfast, wanting to delay leaving this magical place. Eventually though we had to go. When I went to the reception to check out, a clearly distressed lady was at the desk. She turned and looked at Tom and I with our bike kit on and was quite frankly horrified. She explained that she had just been blown over in the car park, the wind had been so fierce that her glasses had been whipped off her face and lost. She urged us to take care.
The receptionist helpfully told us the wind speed was 50mph now, and was building through the day. This area holds the honour of being the windiest place in Canada. We didn’t feel too worried, we had experienced 45mph gusts in Wyoming, and the wind would be blowing mainly from behind us, so we felt pretty confident we were in for an easy day. The first 5 miles were on a sheltered bike path, it was fantastic, we were soon happily riding along at 18 miles an hour without any real effort, we just love a decent tail wind.
Then the bike path ended and we turned left onto the main road. Within a few minutes we realised we were in for a difficult ride. The wind speed began to increase, and it started to blow from the side as well as behind. I struggled to stay upright on my bike. It tried to whip my glasses off too! At one point I was speeding uphill at nearly 30 miles an hour, without pedalling. It sounds great, but take it from me it wasn’t. High-sided trucks blasted by struggling to drive in a straight line. After the wind blew me off-course yet again, and feeling close to tears, I stopped. I simply couldn’t continue. This was when I realised just how bad the wind was, I could barely stand upright. We later learned the wind speed was around 90mph!
We pulled off the road and lay in a ditch in a vain attempt to get out of the wind whilst we decided what to do. Just then 2 motorcyclists came towards us, they were clearly in trouble, weaving all over the place. Just then, horrified, we saw them both blown clean over onto their sides and across the road into the opposite lane.
Tom rushed to help and by the time the road was cleared Tom had got an offer of a lift to a campsite a few miles along the road. Our saviours Robert Kerr and partner Shelly (hope I’ve got the names correct) were fantastic. I realised I was in shock and Shelly calmed me down. By the time we reached the campsite we were away from the fiercest wind and though now it was a headwind, we decided to continue. Our destination was Lundbreck Falls, and a small state campsite by said falls. We stopped to chat to a fellow tourer, Keith who recommended we have a pint at the local brewery first, just what we needed after such a stressful day. Tom was so impressed he emptied his water bottles and had them filled with the brewery’s finest ale. We could get all the water we needed at the campsite.
Our first experience of camping in Canada was not what we were used too. In the US we pull in, if the office is closed, we simply pop the small fee in an envelope and pick a spot in the hiker-biker area. Ideal for non-car drivers who cannot be certain when or where their day will end. The camp host will usually then pop along, full of advice re the facilities, especially the bear boxes and check we are OK. Here there was none of that. We had to pre-book to stay. A very stressful hour followed whilst we tried to get enough internet signal to pay the $40 fee. No flushing toilets, no showers, no bear boxes, just lots of signs to put all food etc. in ‘our’ car, and unfortunately no running water! Beer bath for us then! Not a great start. I made friends with our new neighbours Shannon and Daryl who kindly agreed to store our food in their van and provide hot drinks. The waterfalls were awesome, we got the water filter out for only the third time of the trip and filled up from the river, then finally relaxed with a beer!
