It's all over. After almost six months in Canada we're finally back home in the UK.

Dawson, Alice, Claude and I went out for a final supper on Sunday 27th, to a restaurant recently voted the best in Whistler for the 5th consecutive year, Araxi. Late spring is the quietest time in the village, when there's not enough snow to attract many skiers but still too much for the mountain bikers, and Araxi, like many restaurants, was offering a locals' special. The food was great, though I think the Rim Rock probably retained it's place as the best food I'd eaten in Whistler.

Monday 28th was my last day on the snow. I was up fairly early to carry on with packing, clearing up the house, and trying to arrange an SUV to drive down to Vancouver in the evening. The last of these tasks proved to be the hardest, and by the time Dawson and I set off for the slopes it was becoming clear that I was gong to have to stay another night in the village.

Blackcomb closed for the summer on Monday, so we no choice but to head up Whistler.

The day began with a warm-up down the hit-run, then we took Peak up and set off down Frontier Pass. We rode down through Bagel Bowl then took Red back up and returned to Peak, heading for Piccolo.

I'd been hoping for ages that Piccolo might be in a fit state for a hike on my final day, and wasn't to be disappointed. Dawson and I took Peak up again then rode down towards the Saddle, but turned off the piste before we reached the junction. We followed a new cross-country route to the start of the Piccolo hike, then picked up our boards and set off.

The weather was amazing, so we stopped on the way up and at the top to take some pictures. When we eventually began our descent, we took the more usual route, riding down to the boundary fence and then along it back to Burnt Stew Trail, rather than dropping into Boundary Bowl. Although the snow was slightly slushy, it was soft and untracked, so the ride down was excellent. Dawson was especially pleased with his first ascent of Piccolo and we decided to give it another go.

Unfortunately the warm temperature meant that the snow on the cat-track back to Harmony was particularly slow and very hard work. Even when we got back to the chair the work was not over, as Harmony had switched to summer mode, where it only operates at weekends. We skated on towards Sidewinder and eventually reached Emerald, having decided that it was all too much effort to bother with another ascent of Piccolo.

From the top of Emerald we did a final run down Ego Bowl and carried on down to Olympic Station, where we downloaded.

We had a very late lunch down at the Dubh Linn Gate then organised an SUV for the following morning. Back at the Palace we sat on the deck in the glorious sun having a drink, then got back to the task of clearing up.

Tuesday 29th began with a trip into the village to post my old boots back to Burton and pick up the SUV. When I reached the rental office they told me I'd been upgraded, and I left at the wheel of a 5.4l Ford Expedition XLT, with a massive grin on my face.

I loaded the truck with 2 suitcases, several large back-packs, 6 snowboards, a pair of skis, numerous boots and bin-liners, and it still looked empty.

After saying goodbye to Dawson and Alice, who were driving up to Pemberton, I drove out of Balsam Way for the final time, with Fat Boy Slim blaring out of the CD player. I stopped on Blueberry Hill and in Creekside to take some last pictures of the mountains, then drove down to Vancouver, making the most of the truck's power.

My first stop in Vancouver was the Arc'Teryx factory shop, then I picked Ingrid up at her house and we joined up with a group of friends (including the recently-returned Andy) at Tanpopo, for the famous all-you-can-eat sushi.

We spent the afternoon at the aquarium in Stanley Park. After months of Otter Madness it was great to finally see some real otters - they were definitely the stars of the show, holding paws as they floated around on their backs.

Having dropped the truck off at Ingrid's, we all met up again in Bourbon, where we caught the end of the hockey game then settled in for our last evening in Canada. We had a lovely night, with a massive group of friends from both Whistler and Vancouver turning up to say goodbye.

When the bar closed we moved on to Adam's house, then popped into Dom's. Unfortunately we all fell asleep there, and I woke at 04:00 in a mild state of panic.

Dave drove Ingrid and me back to her house, where they went to bed briefly and I had a very welcome shower, then we picked up Bob and Meg and set off for the airport. Driving my massive truck made the journey more fun than it would otherwise have been, and I was heartbroken to have to say goodbye to it!

After some tearful farewells we waved goodbye to Emilie, Ingrid and Meg, checked in and had a BK breakfast.

The journey home was fairly uneventful, punctuated with small amounts of sleep and the odd game of cards. Shortly before 09:00 we began our final approach to Gatwick, but aborted at about 200m because of heavy rain. Our second attempt, 20 minutes later, was more successful, and the Riders of Justice touched down safely on English soil.