Things have significantly heated up in Montana, the hottest it's been here for a few years we hear, and our bodies are struggling to adjust. Train horns and water sprinklers have kept us up at night, alpacas have been all around and we've seen the worlds largest Larch tree... Once more, all in a week's cycle as we approach Glacier National Park and the end of our time on the great divide cycle route.

We finished last week off in the safe, hospitable hands of Bernadette, but we were about to enter the wild once more and it was to get the better of us. Although it was hard to leave, there is nothing quite like feeling at home, we finally managed it late in the morning and cycled the easy miles in the relative cool. However once Mother Nature had preheated the oven up to 11 we found ourselves at the intimidating base of a monstrous mound of a hill. As we always do, we took it step by step but Ruth's health was slowly deteriorating with each turn of the pedals until, suddenly, her guts exploded in a show of defiance! We were on a little used dirt track without the guys we'd been cycling with, who were themselves scattered about the countryside, and a little worried about what to do. The road crossed a railway track up ahead, however during the time Ruth had been struggling to stay alive a massive train had parked over where we had to cross the tracks and would stubbornly remain there for the next few hours, leaving us with little option but set up camp right there with the sun going down and Ruth falling asleep between spews. So I got to work and made Ruth a bed for the night (puncturing my sleeping pad on a barbed wire fence in the process) and we tried to get to sleep. But we were soon interrupted by some of team who had also struggled with the hill and made it to us at about 10pm. The interruptions didn't stop until we'd cycled a few miles the next day as the trains were required to blast their horns on approaching the level crossing we had made home... You can imagine the number of times we jumped out of our skins!

After the horrors of the night before we promised ourselves that we'd find a place to camp and just recover. It was about 20 miles to a camping spot we'd heard a lot about, where the owners let great divide cyclists camp for free and even offer sandwiches and beer! So there we headed, and there we made it. To meet up with the team once more. With the little energy we had left in us the memories of the place faded rapidly between siestas but the free beer stuck in our minds! It, along with free sandwiches, other foods and wine, was offered on the promise of "paying it forward". That is to say, be just as generous to others when we make it make to our normal lives. The Coronavirus was limiting what they could offer but they had a cabin free (although they were having to leave them empty for a few days after being occupied to let potential viruses die out) which we made fantastic use of to sleep in and really loved how they had made it so comfortable given its diminutive size.

We were to make good on our promise to recover. Lazing around the house we chatted to Barbara and John, learning about their lives and philosophy, all the while their pet alpacas were lounging about in the field minding their own business. I also waved goodbye to a pair of walking boots I'd had with me for the last decade, after many a repair job it was time my friends... As the evening approached I was made aware that my birthday was dawning across the Atlantic and the guys, including D-Wack's recently arrived sister and her boyfriend, surprised me with a "cake" of ice cream adorned with candles and in no time the spoons of six or seven hungry cyclists! Thanks a lot team :) And coming up with a present for lightweight cyclist isn't easy but they did a fantastic job by giving me an all American pair of socks as a gift, I'm really fitting into republican Montana now. We closed out the night with some beer and wine to finish off the recovery process.

It was my birthday! And to make the most of it we were up at 05:30 eating pancakes in our little cabin ready to cycle to the town of Lincoln in the cool of the morning, as we didn't want any repeats of what happened a couple of days previously... It was a lovely cycle, one of the largest hills we had tackled in a single day, and we indulged in the views from the top before a lovely smooth decent into town where we pitched up in the park and tucked into some Montana wine and a massive sub. The only sad news of the day was that we were to say our goodbyes to our cycling team for a little while as they were to head further up the road by car. But we were in a celebratory mood and had heard from a few other cyclists in the day that there was happy hour at a nearby bar. $1 G&Ts can't be ignored! And it was here we did some route planning and chatted to the locals, particularly a biker in town called Mike who was a fun character, although someone else in the bar had a bone to pick with him for some unknown reason. He reved up his Harley for us before leaving after his Mrs, so we hit another bar for food, table football, pool and beers. I must say I felt a little worse for wear after all this but enjoyed it immensely!

It was a tricky morning but eventually the sun heated the tent enough to trigger movement, but not enough to make us productive. That would take a few hours in the oppressive heat. A podcast recording and editing was all we could manage before the late afternoon gave us a little respite from the sun and we could finally get on the road and cycle to the next town of Ovando where we arrived with the sun setting and little clue where to spend the night. But the town park looked comfortable... At least until the sprinklers started in the dead of night and pounded the tent every 30 seconds for hours on end. Memories of train horns came flooding back!

After the sprinkler experience it was once more a struggle to wake up, this feeling was getting far too familiar. We packed up quick and headed onto the dirt roads towards Seeley Lake, our next stop, and enjoyed the beautiful lakes on the way as well as skipping over a closed off bridge blocking our way! Once we got to the lake I was overheating and could manage little more than moan about life for a few hours until once more the arrival of late afternoon slapped some sense into me. At this point we headed for a campsite to spend the night, not missing the local tourist attraction of "Gus", the worlds largest Lurch tree on the way, and given it was the weekend all the campsites were full. So we had to ask some ladies who were in a spot that look a little too large for them if we could squeeze in. They were happy for us to but wanted to warn that they "may be smoking a bit of pot and getting pretty drunk" so expect a little noise. In the end they were chilled out, only their dog had a thing against blokes and would bark at me a lot, and we rested happily together after a chat and helping them start a small campfire to smoke their hash next to.

The end of the week didn't bring any break from the heat and we left a little too late after entertaining ourselves talking to our camping friends in the morning. So not long after setting out we had to seek refuge in a little launderette, but Ruth's patience wore out fast and we got back to cycling far too soon. So once again we didn't take long to seek more refuge, this time under a tree, and wait the heat of the day out reading. Hopefully we will learn our lesson in the not to distant future! So, again cycling with the sun setting we found a little bar and decided to treat ourselves to a meal out. Although the local beer was very nice the food wasn't the greatest, however this was made up by the arrival of Steve into our lives, a dude who'd spent his youth in London (and loved Arsenal... poor taste hehe) and now worked from home in these beautiful hills. It was this home that he offered us for the night, well better said the garden (better still the "yard"), and his son met us there to the tune of "Yeah, my Dad has a thing about inviting people to camp in our garden..." as he looked a little ashamed of the mess while leading us round the back to a little spot for the night. We were very happy to have someone safe to stay! And even felt our food was protected from bears by the netting surrounding the trampoline he had there. Thanks Steve!