Golden and the spiral tunnels

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I moved houses a couple of weeks ago into a nicer place with a cool couple called Al and Jamie. Al is such a Canadian and he certainly makes me giggle. Al has lived in Banff for 17 years and he used to plough the roads in the area. You probably couldn'e get a better tour guide for the day! We went for a boys day out in his huge Dodge Hemi. First we went to Lake Louise chateaux and its still frozen lake. A very impressive hotel on the lake which is highly regarded as one of the best places to stay in North America.

Then we moved onto the Spiral Tunnels which I think is one of the most amazing pieces of engineering I have ever seen. The Trans Canadain Highway people decided to save time in the late 1800's so they built a track through this huge valley with a very steep descent. Obviously trains were derailing so an alternative was sought after. They built a series of spiraling tunnels in the mountains to control the trains rate of descent in 1909. These tunnels were huge and they got it right to 5 cm's of error. We sawa a train come through and you could see the train in four tunnels entrances and exits!

We moved onto the Natutal Bridge and then Golden which is a bit of a hillbilly town in Britich Columbia. Then came the awesome drive back through the Radium Hot Springs. All in all a bloody good day out.

Well this is the end of Banff pretty much. Next week comes Toronto, then Montreal before heading back to Vancouver. Then I'll be whizzing down the west US Coast and heading for Arizona for more skydiving. Then I'm thinking surfing in Central America before heading to South America. Can't wait!

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