Day 43 - Saturday 22nd June -

Prince George to Tete Jaune Cache / Valemount

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Today was pretty much a driving day again..... starting off through well forested areas. Prince George is very much a crossroads place, with roads going North to Alaska, South to Vancouver, West to Prince Rupert and East to Jasper, and the rest of Canada! Although a well established place, there seemed little of historical interest. Not far out and we were on a very quiet road leading East..... through well forested countryside. We had spotted on the map a small Provincial Park with lake, and turned off the road to have a look. As with so many of these small Parks, there is camping, boating and other recreational activities..... and very few people! It was quite pretty though.

Next on our stop list was the Ancient Forest...... the lady in Prince George tourist centre told us we should stop there. It is another small Provincial Park, also with a very unpronounceable Native name - Chun T’oh Whudujut. This Park was only established in 2016, and protects a piece of the worlds only inland temperate rainforest, and the thousand year old western red cedars and other plants.

There is a shortish boardwalk, and a longer trail, all on boards, but with steps as well. It is very well done , with the trail clear to follow and interpretive signs along the way. We did the loop trail, also taking in the outshoot to the waterfall, getting back to the car just before the rain!

There weren’t really any other places to stop along the route, but from McBride on the scenery changed. We were in a wide valley, quite agricultural, but with a string of mountains, many of them snow capped running along both sides. It was a really scenic route, the rain came and went a bit, as did the cloud on the mountain tops. And of course the highlight was spotting another black bear on the roadside.

We aren’t actually staying in Tete Jaune Cache, just as well as there didn’t seem to be anything there, but in Valemount, another 20km on. This from the sign looks to be a summer and winter destination .... half sun and half snowflake. We got here in time to pop into the visitor centre and were told of a couple of places to add to tomorrow’s stops.... and buy our National Park Pass as well, for Jasper and Banff.

No of Miles Driven - 185

No of steps walked today.... 6986

Day 44 - Sunday - 23rd June -

Valemount to Sunwapta Falls near Jasper.

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So, we have finally reached The Rockies! We left Valemount this morning, and our first stop, not far along the Yellowhead Highway, was the Rearguard Falls. We walked down to these Falls, in time to see a raft being lowered into the river, and two kayakers and three rafters set off down the river. This is the Fraser river, the longest in BC, and at this point is very fast flowing, with the falls and some rapids below that.

Next stop was the Mount Robson Provincial Park......at 3,954 metres, Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. Although the weather was ok..... there were still clouds down on the peak, and although this cleared a little while we were there we never saw the top. We looked around the visitor centre and at the lookout point. We drove a little way towards the mountain to the end parking lot, where trails started, and ambled a little way up the trail, before deciding we needed to move on if we were to see other things today!

Just a short way on from here, we stopped for the next lot of Falls, Overlander Falls, another short trail down to the Falls. These were very pretty, but quite different to the ones we saw this morning.

Not too long after this, we crossed the border from BC to Alberta, and entered the Jasper National Park. We thought we had booked accommodation in Jasper, but when checking yesterday, discovered we were a little way out, down the Icefield Parkway, at Sunwapta Falls.  We went into Jasper first, checked out the Visitor centre and had an ice cream......then set off down the road to our base for the next three nights. The weather kept changing, the mountains kept appearing as we turned corners, and it was really scenic, following the river. It will be good to explore more over the next few days.

No of Miles Driven - 122

No of steps walked today.... 9239

Day 45 - Monday 24th June - Sunwapta Falls near Jasper.

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So, checking the weather forecast last night, it appeared that today would be better than tomorrow....so, we booked up to go on a boat on Maligne Lake. We set off, back up the Icefield Parkway to Jasper, and then headed out on the Maligne Lake Road. This valley seems to run parallel with where we are staying, but with a large mountain range in between, hence the 2 hour trip to get there!

We stopped off for some photos on route, first some elk, then Medicine Lake, where there is a large Eagles nest, in use! We saw one of the eagles on guard in a nearby tree. Medicine Lake is most unusual in that it completely disappears during the Autumn and Winter. It fills in the Spring with glacial melt water, sometimes even overflows...... then drains out as Summer progresses, with what little water is left draining through underground channels and reappearing in the Maligne Canyon further down the valley.

We carried on to the end of the road at Maligne Lake......getting just a glimpse of a mother bear and two cubs in a deep ditch beside the road..... unable to stop and take photos. We were able to stop for the baby moose in the river...... Mum was hiding in the trees on the bank.

Our boat trip was booked for 1:30.... so we were off on this.... lovely views of the mountains on both sides of the lake. Maligne Lake is 22km long, and ends in a box Canyon, mountains all around it. Spirit Island is located about two thirds of the way down the lake, and that is the destination of the trip. It is not really an island, but is a very well photographed place! The whole trip was very scenic.

We docked near Spirit Island and had about 20 minutes to walk up to the lookout and get lots of photos! Then it was back down the lake. We had really good commentary all the way there and some on the way back. A very picturesque spot.

Leaving the Lake behind we started to make our way back down the valley. We stopped off at the Maligne Canyon, and walked down as far as the fourth bridge across..... there are two more, but they are much further - down and up! The canyon was quite spectacular...... the power of the water in places quite deafening. As we were leaving we saw a couple of white tailed deer standing proud on the car park / road edge.

The last stops on our way back to Jasper were at Edith and Annette Lakes, quite small and obviously well used for recreation. We also saw some more Elk around here. Then, just on our way into Jasper we saw another bear, brown in colour - quite large, but we were told it was a black bear, not a grizzly. It was on a section of grass/shrub/trees between the main highway and the railway tracks, and while we were watching an extremely long freight train came along, which didn’t seem to bother it too much at all!

After a quick bite to eat in Jasper, we headed up to Patricia and Pyramid Lakes....again smallish and used for recreational purposes. Back in the town we thought we would get a few photos of some of the older places - the Railway Station and visitor centre - which is the oldest building in Jasper. While we were doing this we heard the distinctive clanging of a train bell...... and the Rocky Mountaineer was just pulling into the station..... so we went over to have a look.

It was getting quite late by now so we set off back down the Icefield Parkway... getting some lovely views of the mountains, late evening sun on some. We saw a male Elk....with lovely antlers and another white tailed deer. So a wonderful day again.... lots of sights and wildlife. The mountain tops are white as last week in this area they had quite a fall of snow.....

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

No of Miles Driven - 145

No of steps walked today.... 11308

Day 46 - Tuesday 25th June - Sunwapta Falls near Jasper.

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Well the weather forecast was right!.......woke to a rainy and grey, low cloud morning. Just as well we did lots of mountain top viewing yesterday. Today we were going to explore waterfalls, and maybe some lakes. Staying at Sunwapta Falls, we decided to look at the Falls here first. It was quite wet, but that didn’t detract from the scene, in fact it probably enhanced it a bit with extra water! The first lot of Falls was just a very short walk from where we  parked, and we decided to go down to the lower falls...it was worth it - very scenic and not too bad a path - a bit muddy in places.

This is the Athabaska River, which winds its way along the Icefields Parkway, and next on our list was the Athabaska Falls. By this time the rain had eased, and we enjoyed walking down to the various viewpoints for these Falls.... equally as impressive as the ones this morning. In fact both lots were more scenic than the Maligne Canyon yesterday, as you could see the waterfalls so much better, and experience the force of the water, with the spray coming up around you.

We were now on the older highway as a side road and continued on this and turned up to Mount Edith Cavell and the Angel Glacier. The road winds it’s way up for 9 miles, with several switchbacks. When we finally reached the top of the road, into the newly renovated car park - this area was closed last year for renovation works - we were pleasantly surprised that we could see more of the mountain than expected, as the cloud finally seemed to be lifting. We walked the trail up towards the Glacier...... there is also a trail to Cavell meadows, but that is only open in July and August due to snow. The trail we were on, also recently renovated, finishes with a good view of the Glacier, and a lake below - which is still mainly frozen at the moment. It was worth the trek up.

Back down on the old highway, we were still debating about the Jasper Tramway, as it would be a lot of money to go up and not see much..... but when we got within sight of the mountain it is on - Whistlers- we could see the top tram station, so decided to go for it. It was after 5 by now, so we thought we could get something to eat up there as well - it was a great place to eat with a view, and well worth going up. We had some good views from the top, with the mountain tops coming and going through the clouds.

You could trek up to the summit of the mountain from the top tram station, but the track was quite rough and snowy, and we had taken off our walking boots! Also, although the views were good, we didn’t think they would be any better that further 200+ metres on, so decided just to look around where we were. We had some good food with a great view, at one time looking out of the two windows, thick cloud in front of us to the left and Jasper to our right. From this vantage point we could also see how long the freight trains were.... we saw one go each way while we were there, and they are incredibly long.

By the time we got back down from this, it was time to start making our way back.... giving the small lakes a miss. Coming back down the Icefields Parkway we could see a rainbow most of the way....which we had first spotted when we were up the mountain. So although the weather had cleared up around us, there was one section that still had rain, and when we reached it, obviously had had a lot. We also had another good view of a bear on the way back......another great day.

No of Miles Driven - 92

No of steps walked today.... 14288

Day 47 - Wednesday 26th June -

Sunwapta Falls, Icefields Parkway onto Lake Louise

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Today has been busy and full of changing weather....again! We left Sunwapta Falls and set off south down the Icefields Parkway. We stopped off at a few viewpoints on our way, admiring the mountain peaks. Tangle Falls was a nice waterfall, right beside the road, soon followed by Stutfield Glacier. Next up was the Athabaska Glacier, where we had booked, a long time ago, for the Icefield Adventure.

Thinking we would be coming from Jasper, and allowing ourselves plenty of time, we had booked the 1:30 tour, and duly arrived not long after 11!  A bit early.... and no way of changing our booking, as it was extremely busy and if you hadn’t pre booked you would be in for a very long wait!

So, we had plenty of time to look around the Discovery Centre, watch a short film ‘ice through time’, and get lots of photos of the glacier and surrounding mountains. We had some lunch looking out on the Glacier, and then went for our tour. At this point the clouds rolled in, visibility dropped and it started to hail.

The tour started with a coach from the discovery centre, across the main highway and a short distance to a flat holding bay, where we changed to the Ice Explorer.... a very large snow coach. These machines are huge..... all wheel drive off road buses, with 6 wheels nearly as tall as Phil. They have been especially built for this sort of terrain. The route onto the Icefield involved going down a very steep route, and then up another steep route on the Icefield. The ice explorers are limited at 20 mph. We had a totally nutty driver/guide who didn’t stop talking the entire trip out to the stopping area on the glacier... where we were allowed off to walk around the ‘checked’ area for 20 minutes. By the time we had reached the transport switch area the sun was out, the sky was blue and it was amazing..... so different in just a few minutes.

Walking on this glacier was quite different to the one we did in Iceland....there we had to wear crampons and it was really quite hard work..... here we were in a limited area that had been scraped, and although you had to be careful it was reasonably easy.

After our time on the ice it was back to the ice explorer, return trip and back on a coach. Then we were taken to the Skywalk...A glass bottomed walkway out over the valley. We were almost 1000 feet above the valley floor, about the same depth of the glacier. We saw a mountain goat and kid on the rocky slope beneath us here, as well as lovely views up and down the valley.

By the time we had got a coach back to the discovery centre it was gone 4, and we needed to get a move on to reach Lake Louise. It was a great experience doing the Ice adventure, but a very busy place and it was good to escape again!

Travelling on down the Parkway, we had fantastic views of the river, mountains, around every bend was a different mountain, mainly snow capped. We stopped off for photos at waterfalls, and tried to catch a flavour of the whole area. We did see a couple of black bears but weren’t able to stop. We didn’t really believe what we had read before coming here about seeing bears on the roadside, but it’s true...... we’ve seen at least one bear a day now for about the last week.

A great day, and we still have two more trips on our Package from today.....another Lake cruise and another Gondola ride -  both from Banff. We made it to Lake Louise and found our accommodation, not seen the Lake yet but will explore more tomorrow.

No of Miles Driven - 115

No of steps walked today.... 9948

Day 48 - Thursday 27th June -

Lake Louise inc. Yoho National Park

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We woke today to grey skies and low cloud..... but dry. We were going to explore the Yoho National Park, a small area nestled between the Jasper and Banff Parks, bisected by the Trans Canada Highway 1 and the railway.

When building the railway through this valley, there was the ‘small’ problem of the Kicking Horse Pass, and Big Hill to navigate. Originally a ‘temporary’ line was built over, rather than blasting through the mountain, but the gradient was very steep and there were often runaway trains. Eventually they copied the Swiss and built Spiral tunnels to combat the gradient problem. There are two lookout places where you can see entrances/exits for these tunnels, which we did.... unfortunately no trains going through them. About 25 - 30 freight trains a day go through.... but there is no schedule to follow. The Rocky Mountaineer is the only passenger train to regularly go through.

Next up was Takakkaw Falls.... a very impressive waterfall 830+ feet drop. From a slightly sideways angle you can really see the water billowing out from the cliff face. It was very pretty here. The road there and back contained a couple of good switchbacks!

We then stopped in Field, a small village with a large Visitor Centre. We moved onto the Natural Bridge, worn through the rock by the force of the water. It wasn’t overly large, but a nice waterfall. Further up this road was Emerald Lake, a very pretty spot, and although the sun wasn’t shining, the colours were good. We also saw a couple, or maybe the same one, Bald Eagle flying around here.

Leaving here we intended to continue on the rest of the main road through the Park to Golden, but we hadn’t gone far when the weather deteriorated dramatically..... black skies, pouring rain, thunder and lightning! We had pulled off by the river when this started, with a bit of hail thrown in as well. So we sat it out for a bit, and then decided to return to Lake Louise..... as what was left to see in Yoho was the mountain scenery..... which we couldn’t!

Hopefully tomorrow will be better to look around Lake Louise and area.

No of Miles Drive - 91

No of steps walked today.... 8438

Day 49 - Friday 28th June - Lake Louise

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The guide books don’t lie.....Lake Louise, and Moraine Lake are beautiful! We set our alarm for an early morning, hoping the sun would be out and we would beat the crowds to Moraine Lake. Once the car park is full....which is quite early, the road is shut and you have to get the shuttle bus. However, the cloud was down so we decided to wait and visit later.

We are staying within 5 minutes walk of Lake Louise, so we set off down there....it was already crowded, and the car park already full! So we were glad we were able to walk here! There is a very large, very posh hotel right on the edge ..... originally built by the railways to attract tourists back in the early 20th Century, it has developed over the years to a large complex. Shuttle buses run from Lake Louise Village to both lakes all day and are extremely busy.

We walked right along the one side of the lake as far as you can go, with lovely scenic views, and amazing water colours. It was busy all along the path, but a pleasant walk.

Back to our accommodation to pick up the yellow Jeep, and  follow the one way system through the Lake car park and back towards the village. There are Marshall controlling the traffic at every Junction all along the road, and you have to go with the flow, and not try and cross carriageways.

We then headed up to the Lake Louise Ski Resort and the gondola. This was operating with two open chairs to one closed gondola, so we went for the open chair needless to say! Within minutes of getting to the top it started hailing! So we ate our picnic lunch we had taken with us huddled under a rather convenient gazebo. It soon stopped, and the sun came out and we had some great views of the mountains and Lake Louise. We had a good look around at the top, but didn’t venture out on the trails..... the area we were in was electric fenced around, as this mountain has a high population of bears.

We came back down on an open chair again, it looked like it was going to tip it down,  but luckily we got to the bottom before it started. Back down the lake road, and the turn off to Morraine Lake was still closed.... so we went back to our hotel for a bit. About 5 o’clock we went back, and they were just taking down the bollards.... and we were allowed out. It was worth the wait..... it too was stunning, with the beautiful turquoise water.

Again we walked all along the one side of the lake as far as you can, a much quieter path than this morning..... although there were lots of people at the start. Returning to the car park we decided we had to do the ‘Rockpile’ as well. At this end of the lake there is a huge pile of huge rocks...... with people clambering up them. We didn’t do it that way but took the path....which was still a steep climb up, but the views from the top were worth it.

We really can’t decide which of the two lakes we preferred..... they are both stunning. So a busy day, with lots of walking.

No of Miles Driven - 30

No of steps walked today.... 25001 (nearly 11 miles!)

Day 50 - Saturday 29th June - Lake Louise to Banff

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We left Lake Louise this morning, headed for Banff.... not a long way off - about 35miles. Instead of going down the main Highway 1, we opted for the more scenic 1A.... the Bow Valley Parkway, and was the old road, which had pull outs at viewpoints and was much quieter. The road followed the Bow River and the railway line... and the first stop was to see both - unfortunately no trains. Various stops along the way to admire the mountains across the valley, and also at a commemorative monument at Castle Mountain for those who suffered at an internment camp during World War 1 - where immigrant prisoners from Austria, Hungary, Germany and the Ukraine were held, and then by lunchtime we were in Banff.

This afternoon we decided to go to Mount Norquay and go on another open chair lift for views over Banff. This was great.... saw elk, a bear and some big horn sheep - these were looking a little manky! The bear was tagged, - you can see its collar in some of the photos - but the guy in the car park told us that they do this so they can just be aware where they are around the ski area, which this is.

After a look around we returned down the chairlift and went back down the many switchbacks to the valley bottom, and then along a small road past Vermillion Lakes. There are three small lakes that are in a wetland area that is supposedly a great habitat for birds, although we didn’t actually see any while we were there!

In the evening we went for a bit of a drive around the parts of Banff we won’t get to either on the bus or by foot....... we drove along Tunnel Mountain Drive, which was very nice, with viewpoints off. Tunnel Mountain is so called because the original survey for the railway was to blast a tunnel through it, but when they actually built the railway they found an alternative route,  but the name stuck. We had a great view of the huge Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, a famous hotel, built and owned by the railways.... we also a small group of hoodoos, pillars of rock. This interesting road looped around and came back into town.

No of Miles Driven - 63

No of steps walked today.... 8819

Day 51 - Sunday 30 June – Banff & Lake Minnewanka

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We took the advice of the chap in the Visitor centre yesterday, and used public transport today, getting around by bus. First thing this morning there wasn’t much traffic, but as the day went on the traffic grew, and parking would have been a nightmare! 

Our first thing was a cruise on Lake Minnewanka, another part of the bundle we bought with the Ice Explorer. The bus out was great, we passed a few smaller lakes on the way, and arrived at the larger lake with plenty of time to find the boat. An hours cruise on the lake in wonderful sunshine was lovely....

This was the last part of the package we had booked, and we soon got in line for the trip up. It was extremely busy here. At the top of the mountain you could go for a ‘board walk’..... loads of steps to a slightly different summit, or, as we did, wander around the 4 storey building where we were. The views from here were great, and the weather wonderful. We stayed up for quite some time, having some dinner and a drink with a fantastic view.... and it was nice to sit outside in some warmth.

When we finally came back down, it was to catch a very full bus back to town......but we managed to get a seat. Then it was back to our hotel.

No of Miles Driven - 0 - all by bus

No of steps walked today.... 7915

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Today is Canada Day - Eh..... we decided on another car free day and just walk and see what Banff had to offer. The Parade was due to start at 11:30am, so we left our hotel, and literally out onto the main drag into town, people were already lining up for the Parade. We didn’t realise it started this far out, so we just waited there, and had a great view ...... the Parade - just like a proper old fashioned Carnival - was a good 30 minutes passing us by, with floats from lots of organisations and different ethnic communities - dancers from the Ukraine, Poland, Asia and more. There was also a band and display team from the Calgary Stampede......looks like we will have lots more of this there! It was really good, and there were loads of people out to watch it go by, lots wearing Canada T shirts, waving flags etc.... very patriotic.

There are different things happening all day, children’s events, music, etc, but we just wandered on down the main drag into town, soaking up the atmosphere, and people watching. Banff has a real Swiss Alpine look and feel to it, and we stopped for some lunch at The Grizzly Bear - that specialises in fondue! We hadn’t managed to experience that when we were in Switzerland, but it was good fun - we didn’t have the cheese dipping, just cooking some meat.

This afternoon we looked around the town a bit more, and had a relaxing time.  Then this evening we walked out to the Bow River Falls, a little way out of town, below the Banff Springs Hotel. The falls were good, not as big as some we’ve seen.... but the highlight was seeing an Osprey perched on the tree. We waited around long enough to see it make a catch, which was fantastic.

No of Miles Driven 0

No of steps walked today.... 13931

Day 53 - Tuesday 2nd July - Banff to Revelstoke

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So today we leave The Rockies, and start our journey back towards Vancouver.....we pass through three National Parks, as well as leaving another one, and gain an hour! Just as well, as we have lots of miles to cover.

We left Banff, grey and damp, and head up Highway 1, the route we avoided on our way here. It is dual carriageway, quite busy, and high fenced on both sides with wildlife corridors both over and under the carriageways for the animals to move around.

About half way back towards Lake Louise, we turn off to go through The Kootenay National Park. There were lots of roadworks going on through this Park, and some of the stop offs were closed because of this. Another, where we did stop, for a waterfall, we couldn’t see much as the path was barred as the bridge had been washed away. The cloud was down on the mountain tops and although it was dry, it was still a bit grey. Through here we were following first, the Vermillion River, and then the Kootenay River, along the valley, with a couple of higher passes. We were surrounded by trees, and mountains.

The Park ended at Radium Springs, a town built around the hot springs, with another outdoor pool you could visit. We also saw a large saw mill here, back in British Columbia again. Although the Park was also in BC, we didn’t gain the hour until we started along the next road, as the Park stayed at Alberta time.

We then followed a road up another valley, mountain ranges on both sides, and a very wide flat bottomed valley with a river and lots of pools and marshes. It was quite agricultural here, with fields, cows and horses. Eventually we came to Golden, where we had intended getting to last week through the Yoho Park. Golden has a ski resort, and has lots of railway sidings, and is where the road we were on today meets up with the main Trans Canada Highway 1 - which we stay on for the rest of the day.

This is very busy... with lots of roadworks...... it appears they are trying to make the whole route dual carriageway- a huge undertaking and quite difficult in places. The valleys we go through now are V shaped, much steeper mountains and quite twisty in places.

Our next National Park is Glacier....we stopped off at the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre, not sure we discovered anything! There was a good scale model of the area with the railway on it, showing all the tunnels that it goes through. We had already, on the road, gone through quite a few short tunnels, which were avalanche shields.

Next we stopped at the Hemlock Grove Trail, a short boardwalk through this ancient forest. Then it was not long before we were in Mount Revelstoke National Park, and another boardwalk through the Giant Cedars. These were similar to ones we had done before. The highlight of this Park, is the Meadows in the Sky Parkway....the only place in a Canadian National Park where you can drive to the top of a mountain.

The road zig zags it’s way up 26km, rising some 1600m. There are lots of lookouts on route, with great views of the Columbia River and mountains around. The final part of the road, open only from late June to September, as snow allows, is done by shuttle. We thought we might be too late in the day for this, but managed to get the last shuttle... only giving us a short time at the summit. There was still snow on the ground up there, and the wildflower meadows it is famous for, still quite bare!

Back down again and we find our accommodation in Revelstoke.... which we will look around tomorrow.

No of Miles Driven - 276

No of steps walked today.... 7504

Day 54 - Wednesday 3rd July - Revelstoke to Kamloops

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We started today going into downtown Revelstoke to see what was there. 

There were a few attractions nearby....Railway museum, Forrestry centre, Ghost town of old buildings....... all of which we had seen similar before, so we decided to visit the Hydro Electric Dam.

This was a few km up a valley, with a large dam built in the 1980s to produce electricity. We had not long missed the start of a guided tour, so thought we wouldn’t wait 45 minutes for the next, but wandered around on our own. The exhibits were well laid out, with very informative boards about the construction and workings of the place, and then we could go up a lift in the dam to a viewing platform on top. There was also a film about the transportation of the 5th turbine, made in Brazil and transported to the dam in the early 2000s. It was absolutely massive and took months of planning to be able to manoeuvre it. There is still capacity for one more turbine to be installed. It was very interesting and informative.

When we finished we drove a little way up the side of the resulting reservoir, before making our way back to Highway 1 and our onward journey. The first part, along the Eagle River was still in reasonably mountainous terrain. At Craigellachie we stopped to see the spot where the ‘Last Spike’ of the Canadian Pacific Railway was hammered in. This symbolic place was the final point of a dream to connect both sides of Canada by rail, and was completed on 7 November 1885. The railway was reliant on huge numbersof Chinese workers to make it happen, many lost their lives and they lived and worked in sub standard conditions.

A little further on and we reached the large Shuswap Lake - a sort of three pronged lake. Although the road ran beside the lake for a long way, with the railway as well, there weren’t many times you could actually see it - with the trees. One area - Sicamous - claimed to be the houseboat capital, but we didn’t see any houseboats, except one on land making the claim!

What you could see of the lake was was quite pretty, and we travelled along two ‘arms’ of the lake. Around here, and as we carried on down by the river afterwards, we were in very fertile countryside....... large fields, fruit and crop growing, vineyards and cattle.

And then the scenery changed again as we neared Kamloops..... a much more arid countryside, yellowy scrub, and barren, parched rolling hills. The river runs through the city, as does the railway. We will see what Kamloops has to offer tomorrow.

No of Miles Driven - 147

No of steps walked today.... 6119

Day 55 - Thursday 4th July - Kamloops

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So, What can I say about Kamloops? Well, it’s a large city..... and a bit of a crossroads both for road and rail. It is situated either side of the Thompson River.... where both the North and South Rivers meet. It is one of only two places in all of Canada where both the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways converge.

With not a lot to do until this evening - more later - we had a restful day before the hustle and bustle that will be Calgary and the Stampede. We went downtown and had a look around - there is a lot of Art - and we found some of the many Murals in the downtown area. There is other sculptures and public art in many of the Parks as well...... but the weather wasn’t great and we didn’t explore them.

It is also known as the Tournament Capital of Canada, and hosts many sporting activities. We went onto McArthur Island Park, it is all about sport, of various kinds - football, bowls, baseball and many more

This evening we had booked to go on the Kamloops Heritage Railway - The Spirit of Kamloops, a steam engine from 1912. It was  pulling two open and two closed carriages, and although it was wet, we decided on the open carriage. It was taking you back in time to the early 20th Century, with Saloon girls for entertainment, and masked riders to hold up the train! It was all good fun, and livened up a rather dreary outlook!

No of Miles Driven - 28

No of steps walked today.... 5928

Day 56 - Friday 5th July -

Kamloops to Vancouver - via Spences Bridge

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We left Kamloops in good time this morning.... and set off for Vancouver. It was a bit wet and the cloud was down again...... but it did clear up a bit later. The scenery started to change, we left behind the dry, arid looking countryside, with well watered fields, and passed Kamploops Lake, and then back to the Thompson River. Then we began to go down a more rugged valley, and eventually had trees again! After a while the Thompson River joined the Fraser River, which we had seen before. It was a narrow valley, the river, the road and a railway line on each side. Today was definitely the day for seeing trains! Some days we have followed the track most of the day and hardly seen a train..... today we saw lots! We saw the Rocky Mountaineer going in both directions, and loads of freight trains - all very long

About halfway to Vancouver, we stopped off at Hells Gate - a narrowing of the valley, squeezing the river into a small canyon, and making it very rough. There is an aerial tramway down from the road level to the river level, which we did - great fun. During the building of the railways here, so much rock fell into the canyon that the salmon were unable to get upstream to spawn, so fish ladders were built here.

Then it was on towards Vancouver. This part of the road had quite a few short tunnels to go through. We started off going on the quieter side of the river, but eventually joined the main Highway which was very busy, and a bit slow. As we had time before we had to return the car, we had decided to  see a bit more of Stanley Park...so we drove all the way around, stopping off in various places. We saw three cruise ships starting off, and going under the Lions Gate Bridge, and it brought back great memories of when we did it just over 7 weeks ago! The weather then was much sunnier and hotter!

Then we set off to drop our bags at our hotel, before returning the car. As we got very near our hotel, the roads were extremely busy, as there was a night market on nearby and we had a bit of a struggle to get to the road we wanted......but we made it eventually. Then we set off for the airport to return the car, the yellow jeep, which was great fun.....getting something to eat in the airport  before catching the sky train back to our hotel. A long day, but a great end to this stage of our holiday.

No of Miles Driven - 294

Total driven in Canada - 3602

No of steps walked today.... 7890