August 4, 2003

We're now in Revelstoke, a calm and peaceful town between the smoke and fire around Kamloops, and the tourist-filled roads of the Rockies. The air here is much clearer, and we can see the high peaks of the Rockies to our East.

The town is absolutely beautiful - full of wooden houses which have been preserved from day's gone by, and very picturesque. Our hostel is an amazing building, with oak floors everywhere, and cool rooms (that's cool heat-wise). It's nice not to be boiling every single minute of the day and night.

Later today we meet up with our BBC TV Holiday programme crew and head into the Rockies proper, up to Jasper (where a new forest fire has started!), and into mountain territory.

Our plans are being affected by the fires, and our views, but we're perfectly safe - the public advice and information is brilliant on radio, TV and via the Internet. And from later today we'll have a guide with us, plus minders from the tourist offices, so it'll be even safer.

First the BBC director Mat phoned. As a result of the forest fires we were in a different town to the original plan - some 150 miles to the east of where the crew were standing! But we'd warned them already, so while we were able to have a relaxing morning, they had a drive through the smoke area to meet us.

We arranged to meet them at 12:00, and at 11:30 popped around the corner to the local 'drugstore' to get nail varnish for the girls (special treat: alternately coloured toes!). Anyway, those of you without two daughters would have thought that would take less than half-an-hour, but of course it had to be strung out until the veins in my forehead were ready to explode (red/silver/green/purple/metallic /non-metallic/dark/light/gloss etc etc etc. And where do they get all those different names for shades of red from, let alone convincing girls that "cherry red" and "maple red" are actually different colours). Anyway, when we finally wandered back around the corner to the hostel at 12:20, we found the BBC crew, and Mat had his veins popping out of his forehead too! Apparently, the hostel had no idea who the "Fleming family" were, because we were booked in by the researcher, Amanda Egbujo. So the hostel think we're the Egbujo family, and despite us being the only family in the hostel, the Japanese chap behind the desk insists that there's no Fleming family in the hostel. So Mat was just about to explode having a mysterious disappearing family on his hands. It was a good start - nobody has ever been so relieved to see us walking up the street!

Anyway, because they are going to be a feature of our lives for three days, let me introduce you to: Mat (Director and cameraman, who holds the camera about 12 inches from our faces), Steve (Soundman, who holds a huge fluffy microphone on a boom about 24 inches from our faces), and Patsy (Tourist Board guide, who also holds onto Emily when she does a runner mid-shoot!).

We had lunch and a "get to know you", and then jumped into the cars for the five hour drive to Jasper. Sadly, we'd chosen exactly the wrong day to do that - the forest fires had caused lots of traffic to be diverted onto the Trans-Canadian Highway 1 we were on, it was a public holiday ("Heritage weekend"), and it was very, very hot. We finally arrived at the half-way point at 8 o'clock at night, after 6 hours driving. It was an amazing drive, but when we'd driven for 3 hours at 3 kilometres an hour, we'd stopped being wowed by the scenery. The picture on the left is a fire cloud - it grows rapidly above a forest fire, and because of the speed it grows, its quite distinctive. This fire was about 80 kilometres south of us, and had caused one of the road closures. Its really amazing to watch, as well as depressing.

After a dinner stop at the services at Lake Louise town (not to be recommended) we then drove up the 230km of the Icefield Parkway, the world's third most beautiful highway, AT NIGHT! In total darkness, no moon, no glittery starlight. Just total pitch black. DOH! Anyway, we finally arrived at our B&B at 1am. (We had to stay in a B&B because the hostel was full. It's the first time on the trip where the girls are in a separate room, and it's really nice, especially after such a horrible day).

Well, we're now travelling in a different way to normal backpackers - not just because we're doing it with two small children, but also because we've got a camera team with us, working for the BBC Holiday programme. The idea is that they'll follow us for ten days, and at the end of that have enough to make a 8-minute section for the new series of the Holiday programme starting in October.

When we first thought about doing this, it seemed like a bit of fun, which the girls would enjoy, and it wouldn't harm our chances of finding a job when we got home.

But the closer to filming it got, the more nervous we became. What happens if we bicker all the time? What happens if some disaster happens while they're around? Will it really be as much fun as we think? And what will we look like on TV?

We've blown the backpacker credibility already by hiring a car, but when there's four of us, its actually the cheapest way to get around. But the upgraded model makes us totally unlike backpackers (mind you, without air conditioning, we look as sweaty and hot as every other backpacker, except for those on air conditioned buses).

The plans have also been upset by the forest fires - we have had to change some routes and some other plans, and the sky isn't the clear blue that it was before the fires started. However, visibility is starting to return, with the peaks of mountains now becoming clearer. Fingers crossed that'll continue to improve, so that we see the Rockies in their full splendour.