OK, so we missed out the middle bit by flying Ottawa to Calgary where we picked up another hire car and spent the night in a sleazy motel. In beautiful Banff (the self-styled capital of the Canadian Rockies) by 10am Sunday and did a few short hikes in good weather.
Next day climbed the snow-covered trail (5.5km along and 700m of up!) to Sulphur Mountain. A clear blue sky and fantastic views from the top. Lots of people take the cable-car up and we took it for the descent as the trail was quite icy in places.
We headed north towards Jasper, stopping for a walk alongside Lake Louise which all the brochures show as turquoise but was still frozen white. Then 230km along the stunning Icefields Parkway, surrounded by huge mountains and glaciers, all the while in glorious sunshine.
Passed
a black bear feeding by the roadside. Found our stay in Jasper (the
Seldom In, highly recommended) and went for a beer in T-shirts as it was
really warm.
Our one full day in Jasper we spent doing a series of short walks in lovely places including Maligne Canyon, then lunch at Medicine Lake which sits on top of a vast cave system which takes all the water when things freeze in the winter, so was empty. Maligne Lake 30km away was still frozen
and we walked a snow-covered trail up to Moose Lake. Really like Jasper, more country than Banff.
Drove Jasper to Calgary stopping to watch a black bear and her cub (who was up a tree). Up early next day to catch the Greyhound bus across the Rockies to Vancouver which was long (15hrs including lots of stops) but super scenery. Mostly mountains and snow until we hit Vancouver where all was green and flowers were out for spring.
It's May holiday weekend in Canada and start of their holiday season so quite busy, but we caught bus-ferry-bus to Victoria at the south end of Vancouver Island. It's a very pretty ferry ride through the islands. Did some sight-seeing and watched some super street-theatre. Victoria is quite laid-back and pretty, flowers are out and the sun shining.
Sunday morning and Victoria was full of music as Monday is the big Victoria Day parade and all the bands were practising - brass bands, marching bands, jazz bands and a jazz choir - and the sun still shone. Then back to Vancouver which is a surprisingly long way!
Three nights in Van-city, which would probably have been better to spend one more in Victoria and one less here. But an interesting walk around along the very informative harbour front, then via Gastown to Chinatown and a replica Chinese garden which was superb. Vancouver has a great setting like many major ports but the mountains at the back make a difference.
And then disaster - Icelandair cancelled our flight from Vancouver to Paris with less than 48 hours to go! Opodo only work UK hours, so we spent the morning rescheduling transport, fortunately there was a flight available only a day later. Trying to call Opodo the next morning was a nightmare, so after hanging on for 15 minutes we gave up. Won't book through them again. So an extra day here, then home. An exciting end to the trip.
Yes, it was good, scenery superb, accommodation expensive and we finally found some reasonably priced wine. Favourite places were Quebec, Jasper and Victoria - but we'll probably never come back: too many other interesting places we haven't been yet!
We preferred Ottawa to Montreal, cleaner and a bit more character with capital city buildings, a cross between french chateau and scottish castle! An impressive position at the narrowing of the river where the explorers had to portage around the falls and rapids.
Chris enjoyed the conference while Judy did the tourist bit although we both made the superb Museum of History, half devoted to the native Americans (First Nations) and the other half a life-size walk-through of Canadian history.
Picked up our hire car (brand new) and headed to Quebec city pausing to eat our picnic at Trois Rivieres where parking meters seemed to be the main thing growing in the streets.
We really like Quebec, loads of character, clean, very French. Shame about the cold and drizzle. Stayed in the old town which is big and very interesting with a mix of small and huge historic buildings.
Headed east then south across New Brunswick stopping to eat lunch by a still-frozen lake then stopping overnight at Grand Falls, which they were!
Headed south through New Brunswick past the town claiming the world's biggest axe (there are lots of trees, a mix of firs and birches) then the Potato World Museum (apparently NB produces huge amounts of spuds, with McCains potato processing plants). Lunched in Frederickton then on to a hostel in Moncton for the night.
Crossed the border into Nova Scotia and turned right along small roads to Parrsboro and then Five Islands where we walked a bit then picnicked in the sun while watching a Bay of Fundy tide flood in.
On to Halifax where it was raining.
Cold and wet next day but nice and warm in the excellent Maritime Museum. Halifax doesn't seem very interesting, so time to move on.
A couple of things about Canada: it's not really open until mid-May; accommodation is expensive; food and petrol cheap.
Headed south from Halifax stopping at Peggy's Cove, a tiny harbour in a bare rock landscape.
Coffee at Mahone Bay where there were more churches than people and picnic at Lunenburg, an 18-19th century town with well-preserved buildings. Got told about a coast walk between Green Bay and Broad Cove which was very pleasant then off to Caledonia for the night.
May 7th seemed like the first day if spring! Spent it at Kejimkujik National Park which is lakes and forests and the Mersey River.
Saw deer, porcupine, snakes (3) which we were told were rare, a solitary squirrel and watched a woodpecker hard at work. Ended at Digby, the scallop fishing capital.
Drove up the Annapolis Valley stopping at Annapolis Royal, founded by the French in 1604 and the most fought over bit of land in Canada. The Annapolis valley is very fertile and we drove through orchards but still no blossom!
Really like Nova Scotia (minus Halifax). Now two days driving back to Ottawa, then flight to Calgary and the Rockies.
