Well, it's been a strange week since leaving Moose Jaw. It started with a couple of really slow days in the heat. I was finding it pretty hard with a full pack when a cyclist pulled up next to me flying a Union Jack on the back of his bike and stopped for a chat. Craig Jones was a lad from Nottingham out for a pleasure trip from coast to coast over a 5/6 month stretch. And, fortunately for me, as it was a holiday for him he has been able to slow his pace down and walk with me for the last few days. The both of us had been finding it a bit lonely out on the praries on our own so the company has been good for both of us........ if only the weather could have been as kind to us- the coldest weather Saskatchewan has seen at this time of year for over a century!!!! And to be honest, it's not really that it's that cold- it's been typical British grey clouds everywhere with a strong combination of cross and head winds with a load of sharp cold rain thrown in for good measure. But the quick change from the 30 degrees to this has messed everyone up. My boots are also having a really hard time keeping the weather out, the holes have exposed the sponge layer of thermal insulation that holds the water long enough for my socks to absorb it all, then the holes let in the cold wind to make life the little more difficult. And as a result of all this, i now have trench foot- NICE!
After 3 days of shite weather we came into Indian Head to have a rest day and stock up on food. We both decided that we'd earned the right to sit in a cafe for an hour and sip on a hot chocolate just to try and feel like humans again, which turned out to be the best decision we'd made. we got chatting with Alison who works in the cafe and made us VERY VERY nice hot chocolates and had moved here with her husband Richard 18 months ago from Northern Ireland. After we gave her out sob story about camping in the rain i think she took pity on us and offered to put us up for the night. She even fed us and let us wash our clothes, and was just generally fantastic to us. This morning, after she'd filled us with bacon, sausages, and eggs (SOOOOOOOOO GOOD) she took us into town to meet Dixie and pretty much told her that she was going to look after us tonight! I did feel bad at first but she seemed perfectly happy about the situation so i figured when in Rome! I'm So happy we stopped in town here as everyone we've met has been so amazingly helpful and kind to us that it's a shame we've got to leave tomorrow (everyone with the exception of the tourist info people but hey).
But Manitoba is calling and i'd better get stocked up for the journey so i'm off! take it easy