Day 4 More more more ‘till we got to Canmore!

What3words: Joins.salvaging.banish

We took the road north out of Cranbrook anticipating a beautiful drive - but even though we were expecting it, we did not realise how much we were going to see. Every bend you go round reveals more mountains - each prettier than the last. It is almost not worth taking pictures, as you will find something better to capture just round the corner….. I said almost not worth taking pictures - I think we are up to 900 or so now. It is really difficult narrowing them down to include in this blog. Fair warning, anyone who comes to my house in the next 6 months will be forced to look at more pics...

Today has been our first off day with the weather, and even then it has still been lovely. I did not realise how high we were in Cranbrook until we were leaving and driving down into the valley where we were almost level with the clouds. It was as if the landscape had been split into two by the clouds themselves.

The rivers are all in full flood, and it is obvious that the majority of them have broken their banks, but no big drama - probably because the drama was last week when it was actually pouring down.

We had breakfast sitting beside Wasa Lake (what3words: offerings.foreground.trance) - it was very serene, then back to the road.

In Canada, everyone is polite, and they all obey the rules - they all stick to the speed limit (a feat in itself as it seems to change every two minutes) and if you are doing the speed limit, the guy behind will just stay behind you. Now for a Brit, this can be a little disconcerting - we inevitably think 'is he commenting on my driving', 'is he wishing I was going faster'….. to the point that when the same car has been behind you for 10 miles, and you pull in and force him to pass you (no, I was not intimidated, I just wanted to look at the view - that is my story and I am sticking to it) then you pick back up speed and sit behind him for the next 40 miles!

It cracks us up that the SAT NAV will say ‘in 63 miles, turn left’!

We saw ‘Radium Hot Springs’ on the map and decided a dip in a hot natural spring may be just what the doctor ordered, so Emily duly went into the tourist information to ask for directions,,, her conversation went like this (bear in mind Emily is terrified of meeting a bear up close and hungry):

Emily; Hi, I am looking to go to Radium Hot Springs

Lady: Oh perfect, you just wanna take exit 93 at the roundabout and head straight until you reach it.

Emily: Oh, brilliant, thank you - Bears?

Lady: Oh, actually there is massive bear activity today - lots of sightings of a grizzly bear and two cubs. There is actually a 'no stopping' distance between here and here (points to map) today because of the bears, but don’t worry, there are public washrooms and the water is slightly chlorinated, so have a good day!

Picture Emily leaving the information station a little gobsmacked…….

When we got to the hot springs, (what3words: nourishing.overlooking.prom) we almost did not go in, as it looked from the entrance to just be a swimming pool, but we are committed to saying yes to things, so in we went - I am thankful we did, as the hot springs pool was round the back and not visible!

The water was a toastie warm 39 degrees and while we were tootling around, a herd of mountain sheep came down to nibble on the grass next to the pool. Everyone in the pool was rushing over to get a view of them, which tells me that this is not an everyday occurrence - we are so lucky!

There was a tunnel from the carpark to the springs - we thought 'safety conscious' and it was for safty reasons, but actually it was to allow animals to cross the highway safely! Canadians are so thoughtful!

From there we set off across the Kootenay Pass, which I likened to Snaefell Pass yesterday - it was nothing like that! It was steep in parts and it snaked through the mountains, but as with everything here, it was just much bigger than home.

We did have one little scare - no cell phone reception for 140km, which we knew about, but what we did not check was how much fuel was in the tank of our trusty Camry… the fuel warning light came on in the middle of no-where and we had a nervous 45 minutes until we found a petrol station, which was in Banff. We did not go into Banff further than the fuel station, but it already looks very busy - today being Friday, people are here for the weekend.

When we got to Canmore we made our usual stop at the tourist information station and met the most helpful person we have met so far. He took 20 minutes and used 5 different maps to highlight the places we should go - all of them are already on our list, but it was good to have them confirmed as worthy of a visit :).

This is the view from our hotel room in the Mountain View Hotel

We are planning to be up and out at 6am tomorrow, to get to Moraine Lake before they close the road (which they do when the car parks are full) so we had an early dinner in The Drake Inn (what3words: documenting.marketable.planted) and had the most delicious fish and chips I have had for years.

The Barman advised us not to try and get to the lakes tomorrow - he said there are too many weekend warriors and we should wait a couple of days. We are going to give it a go though and we have a back-up destination if we need to switch.

Things I am thankful for today:

1. That most cars in Canada are automatic - changing gear every two minutes would be quite annoying given the twists in the roads here

2. That my sister gifted me a beautiful hoodie before we left Toronto - it has Halliburton on the front of it (where she has a cottage) and it has sparked so many conversations! So many people have been there/are from there/know someone from there - even the bar man in the pub tonight was brought up there! I will probably be wearing it in every photo, it is so comfy.

3. I am really grateful that we did not have to stop in a 'no stopping because of hungry bears' zone because we ran out of gas

PS OK, I admit it, I drove on the wrong side of the road today. It was only for a few seconds, and it was because the SAT NAV told me to use the left lane - so I pulled into the left, only for Emily to calmly point out that I had just crossed the yellow line and was now about to drive into oncoming traffic and would I please mind getting on the right side of the road. And if you believe that she said that in a calm manner.....