Tuesday 23 May. Vancouver to Kamloops

 It was an early start today, a 6.50 pickup to take me to the Rocky Mountaineer. The welcoming and pre-boarding was similar to the Ghan but no champagne. They did have a piper and the station staff all stood along the track and waved us off. Fortunately there were some spare seats so the woman who was seated next to me was able to move behind to her own window seat, making both of us more comfortable.

Breakfast was served soon after we set off. It took a long time to get out of Vancouver as we had to wait for a swing bridge to do its thing and then a goods train to go ahead of us. During the day there were a number of stops in sidings to let goods trains go past. I lost count of the number of very long trains we saw.

The day started with fairly lush farmland - lots of blueberry farms. We spent the morning travelling beside the enormous Fraser River and later in the day it was the Thompson. The countryside became quite mountainous and wooded, then later it was dryer and desert-like. There were terrible bushfires here, which wiped out the town of Ashcroft in 2021.  Then it changed again becoming greener as we approached Kamloops.They describe it as a plateau but it still seemed pretty mountainous to me.

They don’t want you to be hungry on this train. Not long after breakfast they came around with a drinks (beverages) trolley and a snack. This was followed soon after by a three course lunch with beverages, which was followed by more beverages and snacks and then the welcome to Kamloops beverages. I mostly stuck to the non alcoholic stuff as I want to survive this trip.

The variety of geography and geology was interesting and unexpected. Gloomy weather wasn’t a problem but the freezing train was. I snuggled under a blanket all day and will be wearing an extra layer tomorrow. A bit like Melbourne suburban trains there is a cold breeze near the window.