Fort St John BC to Muncho Lake BC

This stage of the trip saw the Arctic Highway starting to show its character and beauty, as I went further north, into higher and more challenging country. Although I have been asked several times what brings me to ‘the North’, the area is much more remote than it is northerly. Fort St John is in fact only as far north as Edinburgh.

My hotel last night was a real disappointment. Although I had booked at a rate which included breakfast, it turned out that the Fort St John Motor Inn Another breakfasthad no breakfast facilities. The manager blustered and obfuscated – there was no way that he was going to agree to offer me even the smallest refund. Goodwill lost, and I left my first ever really negative review on booking.com. I got rid of the metaphorical bad taste in my mouth with a splendid healthy breakfast at the splendid Whole Wheat and Honey café. A good breakfast with nice coffee is a remarkable spirit lifter.

The morning’s travel took me just under 400km to Fort Nelson. I had planned to lunch here, but a first run through the town was not inspiring – yielding only a Subway, a couple of burger places, and a ‘pub’ with dubious food. I resorted to TripAdvisor using multiple attempts on the suddenly unreliable mobile phone signal. It seemed that there was a vegetarian/health food café with excellent reviews – but I had to drive up and down the listed road four times before I spotted it. And what a find! I got a really warm welcome, and a brilliant vegetarian lunch. The fact that such an establishment is thriving in a small community such as Fort Nelson challenges some of my preconceptions.

From Fort Nelson to Muncho Lake, my destination for the night, is under 240km, but the terrain is much more steep and the road builders has to overcome many challenges. Now I am entering the Rockies – and specifically the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area. Though I had never heard of it, this “globally significant area of wilderness, wildlife and cultures, to be maintained in perpetuity” is the size of Ireland. Although I am passing through too briefly to see anything of the cultures, I am starting to experience at least a glimpse of the wilderness and the wildlife.

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