Saturday May 30th

2:00pm

This morning we walked out on “The Fenland” trail which was not that far away – just behind where we were staying. It was just a couple of miles loop trail, but as the walk was ending my legs were really hurting – my brand new trousers were rubbing on my legs! It was irritating and very painful – it felt like they were bleeding, but they weren’t.

We walked back to the B&B via the Supermarkets where we bought some moisturiser. It really stung at first but it soon passed and I put my actual walking trousers on. We went off to do the “Bow Valley and Hoodoos” trail after getting into the car to start at one of the car parks.
The walk was fine with the exception of the “ascent” which didn’t seem much when in writing but in actual fact was short and steep. I grumbled and grumbled but I managed it eventually. I’m not cut out for walking long distance as every time I try, I reach a point where I start to find it really difficult. I’m not the greatest walker at the best of times, and at altitude its worse – it’s noticeably different for me at least, as I knew I was out of breath much quicker than usual. I had to remind myself I was much higher than I would be if I was at home. By the end of the trail, despite the grumbling, my feet weren’t feeling too bad and Mathew pointed out where we had started. I felt reasonably impressed with myself and hoped it had shifted a couple of lbs.

Now, these “hoodoos” are absolutely NOTHING compared to Bryce Canyon in America. Seriously – but you do get a good view at the end. When we got there, Mathew said he would make his way back along the same trail, get the car and come to this car park to pick me up. It was far too long a trail for me to do it twice. I thought it would be a good idea to sit under a nice shady tree and write in my journal whilst admiring the view and watching over our bags.
These mountains are very pretty but I think the view was too much for my mind to comprehend. Yes, the mountains were there and yes they are huge. But I wasn’t saying “wow” nor was I disappointed. It was a good idea for me to sit down and take it all in, the size especially. When I saw Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon I was very impressed, and was in awe of them. Maybe that’s because they are Canyons which you can look down into and I always have the urge to go down into the Canyon (which you can in some places). I like to feel the sides looming high way up above me. Its then, that I usually realise how large these things are. So I guess I would have liked to stand at the foot of these mountains, then I might have been able to grasp the scale a little more.

Whilst taking in the view, I spoke to a guy from Calgary who told me he had seen a black bear on the Bow Valley Parkway yesterday. He also informed me that the Ice fields are more spectacular than Banff, and Jasper has plenty of bears....! Here’s hoping!


After a short while I thought I may have just started to realise how big those mountains are. I was glad I wasn’t on a coach tour where we would likely have about 15 minutes here before zooming off elsewhere. It was nice to sit and admire the view and take it all in – I think I needed to stay there a while and just look at it for as long as possible. So I did.

10:45 pm

I felt very tired after getting back to the B&B and having a shower. I dozed for a short while before we set out to browse some of the shops and go for dinner. I looked at lots of t-shirts and started to grow incredibly frustrated at there being more men’s than ladies fitted t-shirts. The patterns on all the ladies t-shirts were flowery with “Banff” scrolled across them. What’s so Canadian about that? What's wrong with maple leaves and bears or moose? Tomorrow I thought I might try on some small and large men’s t-shirts to see how they fit. I was irritated already at the t-shirts being so long and mostly for men. The men also seemed to have a wider range, a bigger selection of really nice things on them too. I did, however, buy a bear-shaped cookie cutter which came with a gingerbread recipe which I shall try when I get home.
For dinner we ate at the “Maple Leaf” which ended up being more expensive than we expected....but it was definitely worth it. I ordered Buffalo tenderloin and was persuaded by our waiter to have it done “medium” at the most. Otherwise, if I’d have asked for “well done” I would have been paying $35 for a hockey puck. He was very friendly and chatty and spent most of the night dropping cutlery about the place! Anyway, I took his advice. . . and MAN was it delicious! It was SO soft and tasted like the most expensive and best quality (and probably was!) beef I have ever eaten. It was the nicest cut of meat I had ever eaten. Plus, for dessert I had a Lindt Chocolate and ground almond cake which was served with raspberry puree and crème fraiche.


Divine.