Adventures as we head west

 We left Ottawa on Tuesday 7th, on to Calgary - our luggage decided to stay a bit longer in Ottawa. We collected a car at the airport and drove to Banff with promises that our suitcases would arrive the next day.  We’d decided to stay there for a few days to explore the area. The wide Bow River is a beautiful feature of the town, seen from the bridge below.

We walked along the river to Bow Falls, more a long rapid, but dramatic and powerful.

While we were in Banff we also visited the ‘Cave and Basin’, an area used for millennia by the First Nation people to meet. We had a guide explaining the history of the area and the discovery of this place by 3 railway workers as the area was being opened up by the train. They believed they would become rich by opening a hotel here as there is a hot spring. Below Rachel is re enacting the discovery…

This eventually became the first of Canada’s National Parks, only later with the acknowledgement that the land is an important part of the First Nations culture and a sacred site.

The water is warm and sulphurous, coming out of the ground. No chance of a swim here but after a walk through the woods where we saw a moose lying in the trees and 2 deer grazing, we drove up to the Hot Springs where you pay to enter a crowded swimming pool with 40 degree spring water! Was lovely for a few minutes then too much…

One of the best things about Banff was Touloulou’s restaurant where we managed breakfast twice and dinner too - good place to eat at reasonable price …