Revelstoke

Canada

September 2006
4 days

18th to 22nd September 2006.

We left the big city and drove west starting our return loop back towards Vancouver. The land was totally flat for miles and miles and then you start to see them! The Rockies!

From this vantage point you can see so visibly how the plates of earth moved and clashed at this point creating unimaginable force shunting the earth way way in to the sky! The Rockies create a line from North to South and cut down along the provinces of Bristish Columbia and Alberta (I think!)

We backtracked through Banff and then hopped from one town to the next getting our heads down in any motel that met our basic criteria! TV and no vermin! Canada is so easy to just pull in to a new town and find a clean room for under $80.

For any following our route we basically then went to:

Golden:
Sarah reversed poor Alberta in to another car! Only a minor scratch.

Rogers Pass:
The first trans canada railway went through here to join both sides of the rockies. The guy who found this route was called ... hmmmmm - Roger!

Revelstoke:
A great little town - really really nice, pretty, tidy and pleasant cafes and the best Juice Bar! You can get all your daily portions of fruit and veg in one glass! They have a great public water centre that we made use of and we spent an hour in the educational railway museum.

The highlight was our trip to the Revelstoke Dam. Not as big as the hoover dam but a spectacle none the less. Reading about how it was built followed by a trip inside the hydro-electric belly, and finally an elevator to the top - was a great way to spend a few hours.

Its so so simple for Canada to just make renewal energy from the huge rivers running through it... they have numerous dams strategically placed along the same river and each one can power several towns or a city. No need to burn dirty coal, gas or even to resort to nuclear alternative.. just endless running water! The UK just doesn't have the geography!

Salmon Arm:
Just a stopover where we watched &Quot;The Black Dhalia&Quot; weird movie.

Kelonwa:
Uneventful.

Osoyoos:
Beautiful drive through the wine regions to get here.... orchids a plenty! It was Jewish New year so apple and honey for dinner!

By now we had clocked up a modest 4,000km!

So the next morning we woke up and clocked up some more...