Category Archives: Canada

August 27th: A Day in Jasper

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We had a slightly lazier day – starting with breakfast in town, then headed for the Tramway – a cable car up Whistler mountain, to nearly the top, leaving just a 1.4 km hike with a 150 m climb to the top. Though sunny, there was a strong wind, but the views were stunning! We could just about make out the Columbia Icefield due south of us, though it was difficult, both due to the direction of the sun, and the clouds. To the North, though, the view was much clearer.

We came down just as the rain came down – so headed back to the hotel for a chill – then dinner at the Raven again.

August 26th: Icefields Parkway

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A fabulous day! We started out by nipping back to Lake Louise – the crowds were much diminished at 8am, and wonderfully clear weather gave us some great reflections. Then, headed North. The Icefields Parkway more or less follows the Great Divide – running roughly due North from Banff to Jasper, for some 230 km. The Parkway (aka Highway 93) is stunning. It’s in the National Parks so HGVs are banned. We made several stops as we headed North, starting with lakes full of reflections, distant glaciers, wonderful views etc. Unfortunately, there were no bears crossing the road as others we met told us about. Roughly the mid point is where the main visitor centre is, and, more to the point, where the Columbia Icefield is near enough to the road for people to get to and walk on, without major hiking. We, however, missed that, going instead for the Glacier Skywalk. I’d thought that it went over the glacier, it didn’t, but it did give a great view, and made the glass floor of the Spinnaker Tower seem fairly tame. By the time we’d done that, it was getting late – and the cloud was building up, so we just headed for Jasper, only stopping just outside the town, for a final photo. We found a rather splendid restaurant, the Raven Bistro, which had a good range of both veggie & non-veggie dishes.

25th August: Lake Louise

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We headed for Lake Louise – the shortest day’s travel so far (well, other than those days when we’d not travelled at all!), initially by heading for the Cave and Basin museum on the edge of Banff, where some CPR workers taking time off from Railway building “discovered” hot springs. It was also the first National park in Canada, so they’d got a display about the development of National Parks in Canada, moving from areas where First Nations people were completely banned from hunting to today when they’re closely involved with the development & maintenance of them.

Next stop off Highway 1a (the old highway, a much more pleasant drive than the main Highway) was Johnston Canyon, we walked up it as far as the lower falls. I’m fairly sure that was the same place as I’d been to when we came in Winter & it was frozen – and a location for an Ice Walk.

Then, it was heading up to Lake Louise itself. Pretty packed to say the least, though once we’d left the lake front, and headed up towards Lake Agnes Tea house, it got a lot less busy! It was a 3.4 km hike – with a height gain of 368m, so the afternoon tea was very welcome. Less welcome were the local critters, Ground Squirrels and Grey Jays, who clearly didn’t agree with the notices pleading with humans not to feed them – so resorted to stealing. They

were pretty nippy – take your eyes off your food for a nanosecond and they swoop. We lost half a scone to a Jay, the women on the next table lost the same to a squirrel.

By the time we’d got back to the lake, the crowds had diminished slightly, but the clouds had lifted, so giving a much better view. Our hotel was a small, heritage lodge immediately behind the Chateau, so an easy stroll for our post dinner Cosmopolitan.

24th August: A lazy Sunday

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We had a nice slow start – meeting up with a friend of mine from Calgary, for a very impressive Sunday brunch in Banff, followed by a wander round the town, down to the Bow River, up to the Chateau – and finally a very welcome cup of tea.

After a brief respite in the hotel, we headed first for dinner (in the same place as we’d had brunch), then to the Hot Springs. A very restful day!

23rd August: National parks, here we come!

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The real stuff started today! We went into the first of the National parks of the trip – Revelstoke. Almost as soon as we’d entered, we headed up the Meadows in the Sky parkway, which took  us most of the way to the top of Mt. Revelstoke, a short walk taking us the rest of the way. The first real views from the tops of mountains, of lakes, valleys and promises of more mountains to come.

Next was Glacier national park, which we went through fairly quickly, though stopping at Rodgers Pass, the highest point on the road. Finally, it was Yoho, though that was an even quicker pass through – before arriving in Banff; where we’d been upgraded to a (vast!) loft suite.

22nd August: Towards the mountains.

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First off, we hit the pool before breakfast, then the main drag (and, more to the point, its second hand bookshop), before heading to Kelowna to get another car … (this one has far more storage etc & is generally a better car). First stop was Oyama on Lake Woods in the Lake Country. We’d over ordered in the sushi bar, so a pleasant lunch, before heading to Revelstoke; for some reason, whenever it’s my turn to drive, there are cloud bursts …

Revelstoke itself isn’t that great, though once the rain had cleared, we realised it’s got a very impressive mountain next to it.

21st August: On the road!

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As usual, there was a bit of a wait to pick up the car, but not too bad, really. The car itself was a Fiat 500, though luckily somewhat larger than a UK Fiat 500 … it really wasn’t too bad leaving Vancouver, the roads are fairly empty, and then headed up the Trans Canada to Hope. It was only the first day of driving, but we discovered that it’s not easy to get lunch enroute … ended up with a rather dodgy pasta salad. However, the views made up for it! There were two options from Hope, one was the Crowsnest highway – a scenic route, the other a multilane highway. No prizes for guessing which we picked. Just before Penticton, our destination, we’d decided to detour to Okanagan Falls. Shame that the falls were all of 3” high …

There were multitudinous fruit stalls by the roadside, as well as wineries, but time and weather confined us to the inside of the car. Penticton itself was partially closed, due to an Iron Man (and woman) contest, which was headquartered in our hotel. There was a great view of the lake from the room.

After an evening pottering round town, finding somewhere to eat, seeing a little of the band playing in the central park, (perhaps the rather small crowds were indicative of the fact that that your average Ironman athlete would actually want to party all night before the event), we returned to the hotel … and discovered someone had damaged the front of the car. Whoops. Luckily, the guy who’d done it admitted responsibility – turned out to be a very nice guy (albeit one with a temperamental boat trailer)

20th August: Downtown Vancouver

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After a typically (well, in my experience) North American breakfast (bagels & coffee), we headed downtown. Luckily, as our hotel was more or less there, it didn’t take long to get to the area round the art gallery (not that we went in, though we did see a new interactive feature … )

Then it was down to the waterfront, where, among other things, a large open air yoga class was just starting, though we headed on towards Gastown, one of the oldest bits of town (via a bookshop that seemed almost as old).

Next to Stanley park, where by now the sun had come out, so a gentle potter before heading back to the hotel, then experiencing the bus system (very efficient!) to get to English bay, for a lovely stroll.

19th August: Canada here we come!

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It’s a long way to Western Canada; I’d made it a longer, though probably less tiring time, by getting to Heathrow the night before & having a night in an airport hotel; changing planes in Iceland also gave time for a leg stretch, (and, thanks to Icelandair, I’ve discovered a new Mini-series, Political Animals!) Views out of the window were stunning, though on arrival, there was really only time & energy for pizza over the road!