Advertisement
Published: October 1st 2009
Edit Blog Post
ARB & DWS Canadian Adventure number 2
Following the departure from Canmore of Rachel and Pippa after lunch on Monday we had a 2 bedroom/bathroom apartment all to ourselves for the rest of the week and plenty to explore. The hot weather continued most of the week, with the odd thunderstorm & slight shower mainly at night. (sorry we can’t send some sunshine to the UK) We walked, swam, smooched around, just enjoying being in this beautiful place with so many helpful locals. When they say ‘you’re welcome’, they really mean it.
So far, we have only met one grumpy Canadian; time yet for more ? At 8am on Friday (before breakfast) we were taken on a ‘power walk’ by a UK girl student from Grange over Sands. A lovely teenager by the name of Olivia, who was working the summer here before returning to Manchester Uni. She went to QES school @ Kirkby Lonsdale & has relatives near Bentham ! (what a small World we live in) Olivia told us of the bear cub she had seen the previous week drinking in the creek. A Chinese tourist in her
group of walkers had charged towards the cub with his camera. Very foolish!
We loved the spa town of Banff so much we spent 2 days there. We climbed a circuitous track up Tunnel mountain with a spectacular view over the town ,lakes & the enormous Banff Springs Hotel. We were well bitten as we did a woods/creek walk; next time we’ll take a repellent.
Both Vancouver and the Canmore claim to have the healthiest population in Canada. They certainly appear to live very healthy lives; there are acres of licra, bicycles everywhere you look, especially parents trailing off spring behind on their bikes. Kids here do not wear uniform & lots of them pedal to school. It appears to be the norm!
We left our apartment and Canmore on Saturday 5th after a lovely hot & sunny week for our 3 day 800 Kms drive back to the west coast and Vancouver, We were due to return our hire car to downtown Vancouver by 3pm on Mondayfor the 50 minute ferry / drive to Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver.
We drove fast & far on the open highways. Even on a bank
holiday weekend traffic was not a problem. The information centre @ Golden was a new ‘state of the art’ wooden building. In the small town (which did not live up to its name!),we visited a new wooden bridge over the Kicking Horse river. It was sturdy & looked as though it would last for ever. Roger’s Pass was another highlight on our journey, another visitor centre & tea stop. Our Sandman hotel at Revelstoke was ok, nice indoor pool but no showers. .
Sunday morning dawned cooler & WET. Showers were off & on all morning. The waitress in our breakfast at Denny’s café told us that her Dad had been a blaster @ the hydro-electric dam up the road. We were disappointed that it was not yet open for the day, but we saw the huge walls of of the dam,175 metres high!
Crazy Creek suspension bridge was a most impressive place. It was free admittance on Sundays as it was the Lord’s Day. All profits made there went to charities, local churches, sponsored kids in various countries & something similar to Water Aid. It was not only scenically beautiful but the whole ethos of the
place was helping other people.
Kamloops was our lunch break; it was an ok-sort of place but we had been so spoiled by other locations. We drove on & on until we reached Hat Creek where we had booked a chalet on a friend’s recommendation. ; unfortunately there was nobody around. . We had pre booked a chalet before we left the UK but the place seemed deserted (or closed ? ) so be it.
We returned to Cache Creek with lots of motel-style accommodation & cheap eats; we motored on & on & then some. When we needed food & bed there was nothing. Lots of RV (recreational vehicle) parks but nothing for us. After about another 69 kms we came to Lytton. This strange little town was celebrating a 2 Rivers Festival this week end. We were lucky to find a chalet-style motel bungalow, but there was only one café open , not much choice; food was ok, nothing more. I was so glad that I hadn‘t put my little black frock on! We would have looked even more out of place. We had breakfast @ an all day café & met a teacher ,Zoe, who
was sitting with her laptop in the café last night. Still with her laptop, in a different café @ 7am! She told us that she taught art to 1st Nations kids @ a nearby school. She just loved Lytton, which we found hard to believe.
Summer appears to be over, strong chilly wind today @ leaves changing colour already. I t looks like it will be a lovely ’Fall’. We had a time limit on our journey into Vancouver but had to stop @ places like Hell’s Gate, a gorge in the Fraser river 180m deep. This is a famous place to watch the salmon runs where they fill the river as they go upstream to spawn .We drove alongside river & rail lines for mile after mile. When a train comes , usually goods, they seem to be at least 500 metres and more long, no kidding !
Rain came & went. We had a sort of snack affair @ the Dairy Queen in a little town of Hope. It is famous for chainsaw carving; unfortunately we are going to miss the world class championship chainsaw carving competition in a few days time. Shame!
Traffic
thickened up as we neared Vancouver, but kept moving. We filled up our Chrysler for the last time (petrol ½ the price of UK) & returned it to the city centre office.
Sheila, our (home exchange) host, met us there & drove us to Horseshoe Bay & the ferry to Langdale. It was a 50 min. sail on a huge ferry similar to the Arran one but 3 times larger. Sheila’s home is on the shore @ Sechelt. Words cannot describe this lovely wooden bungalow facing the ocean; a lovely garden, tasteful comfortable home and a healthy supper provided. We picked late raspberries in her garden & checked out the tomatoes, chard, potatoes, leeks, beetroot, etc all ready to use! This is known as the Sunshine coast but today it is raining; it had to happen. The grass here is dry & brown & there are restrictions on watering just as we used to have in the UK yonks ago. It has a lovely community feel about the place with separate villages, towns along the ocean front. Each weekend there are festivals, music, art, crafts, salmon painting, etc etc. Unfortunately we leave Sat. to go to Pender Island
which involves 3 ferries from various places. Tomorrow, we drive to Earls cove & take the ferry to Saltery Bay as foot passengers to Powell River. A friend & a niece will meet us there.
More of that later. Look out for the next instalment of our Canadian adventure.
PS from AB our 5 days on the Sunshine Coast was NOT long enough this was confirmed from a copy press report published in 1986 we read at our exchange home as follows;-
AN ALMOST PARADISE
The Sunshine Coast is a scenic, 80 kilometers long ocean hugging strip of tiny villages and winding country roads. It is actually no sunnier than Vancouver to the south-- parts of it can be wetter--but no one here really cares about rainfall statistics. They are sure they live in a little corner of paradise :-the sunshine is an article of faith.
That was the opinion of an ex local resident 23 years ago, it would appear that NOTHING has changed except maybe the number of full & part time residents from Vancouver and beyond
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0443s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb