Thursday, 25 May. Banff

A very relaxed and slow-paced morning in Banff as I didn’t have to be anywhere until 12.30. Walked up and then down the Main Street, stopping for a coffee at a promising-looking cafe. It was terrible. I knew I should stick to tea. Had tea at another cafe and that was fine. The part of Banff that I’m in is mainly hotels, tourist shops and restaurants. Whatever direction I turned while  on my peregrinations there was a mountain looming in the distance. On a sunny day I probably wouldn’t have used the word “looming”. Banff gets lots of points for its novel street signs (on three intersections)

At 12.30 I was picked up by a tour bus which took us to Lake Louise, stopping along the way for a couple of good views of Castle Mountain and a river and mountains across the train line I was on yesterday.

Lake Louise was pretty amazing. It would be difficult to design a more idyllic scene. The lake is a blue green colour and behind this were mountains, one with a good amount of snow. I followed a path part of the way around the lake and was able to look back at the famous Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. There were some quite good mountain reflections in the water. Did not bother to spend a fortune on coffee at the Fairmont. That would probably have tasted like dishwater too.

On the way back our driver stopped to give us a look at the Vermillion Lakes, just the sort of place you’d expect to see a moose or two, all swampy and full of delicious plants. But no luck. We did see some deer and a couple of ground squirrels. These squirrels don’t have fluffy tails and can’t climb trees. They are burrowers. They don’t stop still for photos either. One of the interesting things pointed out was an overpass for animals to save them being squished on the Trans Canada Highway. The highway is all fenced off as there have been some terrible accidents with animals on the road so the overpasses and some underpasses allow them to move around.

Another great day in Canada and although cloudy, it didn’t rain. Nor was there any smoke from the bushfires. I hear that we’ve sent some of our people to help fight them.