Welcome to our little home on the net. We are Steve & Rosemary and live in Buckinghamshire, UK. This is a blog of our life, sometimes interesting, but mainly boring. It is very picture orientated as Steve loves to take pictures, especially of wildlife. Sometimes he has his arm twisted by Rosemary and takes the odd snap of a weed.
Glastonbury 2025 Music PlayLists
These playlists have been created by Glastopia, a Glastonbury fanatic. They have been created on Spotify, and I have converted them to YouTube Music. There is a complete lineup playlist, and a stage by stage playlist. Check Glastopia’s Blue Sky account for new playlists and updates. The YouTube Music playlists nearly match the Spotify playlists. The are the occasional missing tracks where the software was unable to match the track.
Canoe River Campsite
21st May 2025
Today we left Whistler leaving behind the millions of marmots. I did take some photographs of them, plus some of a duck flying overhead, to show that there are some birds in Canada. Not many though. We headed off to the dump station and dumped our fould water tanks contents. Then into town to fill up with some petrol. Apparently, it is much cheaper here in Alberta than in BC, where extra tax is loaded on.
Headed west to BC, stopping at a few sites on route. We missed stopping at the border, and the time changed by an hour. Thankfully, our phones corrected themselves, but my camera does not, needing a manual adjustment.
We stopped at the eastern end of Moose Lake to take some photographs, A chap passed me a camera to take a photo of himself & his mate, asking if I knew how to use it. It was a film camera! We also met a couple, in a saloon car, who were driving from Ottawa.
Next stop was a café, where we could view Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. Some coffee and a cake.
We stopped at some rapids on the Fraser River. This apparently is the highest point where Salmon come inland on this river. It is 500 miles from the coast. The rapids are used by rafters and kayakers, as was demonstrated to us. R met a man who was carrying a (fully harnessed) tabby cat, down to the river. Cat did not seem happy. Was it our presence or all the noise from the water?
Our route followed the train track from Hinton, through Jasper, to Kamloops. I suppose geography dictates this.
We stopped at a grocery shop in Valemount. Picked up gin in the liquor store, but this one didn’t sell mixers, so it was back to the grocery to buy tonic. (Next door.)
Campsite, Canoe River Campground, was a couple of miles down the road. A very large, wooded ground but spread out. Nice spot. Lit up the log fire. Burgers and asparagus for supper, with several canned ales.
Not many toilets on the site. The men’s loo was being rebuilt. The river runs along one edge of the campsite. They seem to be trying to reclaim some of the land back from the river.
Rainy Day in Jasper
20th May 2025
Today was a pretty miserable day with rain. (This fell as snow on the hills, there was a definite whitening of the slopes.) We tried a morning walk to the other end of the campsite on a footpath which crosses the centre. This failed because at a third of the way across, some of the bridges across swampy land and streams had been burnt out last year by the fire and had yet to be replaced.
Back at the van, it started to rain. After a brief pause in the rain, I went for an afternoon walk along the river. I ended up walking up a 100m high hill, called Old Fort Point and managed more than 7K walking, 17,000 steps and 82 heart points. Total for the day 11K. From the top of the hill I could just see the van. Photo to prove it.
The river I had followed is the Athabasca River, which comes from the Columbia Icefield. This river flows North to the Arctic. An interesting fact was that a drop of water/snow falling on the Columbia Icefield could end up in the Arctic, Pacific or Atlantic Ocean. The river here, is a lovely glacial blue, and is used by kyakers and rafters
As soon as I was back it started to rain quite heavily. Evening came out sunny, so we we were able to eat outside.
Back at the van, we realise we must be careful with water. The grey water was almost flowing into the shower. (I reckon R is a bit gung ho with the washing-up water.)
One of our marmot friends seems to have made a bad decision, digging a new, starter home in the road just where car tracks go.
Tomorrow we move on, a short 90-minute drive, but a few stops along the way.
Jasper National Park Icefield
19th May 2025
The day started off sunny as we drove in the direction of Banff. We were on our way to the Jasper National Park Icefield to see a glacier. It was more than an hour’s drive. We arrived in the nick of time. Not even time to buy a coffee. There was a short coach trip, across the road and up a dirt track to the base of the glacier. Here we transferred to an off-road vehicle, designed for travel on the ice and used in the arctic. We continued a little way up the Glacier Moraine and then down a steep hill to the Glacier. We disembarked to be herded into a small safe area. This is to ensure we do not fall into a crevasse and pop out in a stream at the bottom. You may laugh, but this did happen to an explorer here, and it seems to have happened recently to a skier. After 20 minutes on the Glacier, we returned to the transport, ground our way up the hill, and then onto the coach. Next stop was the Skywalk.
The Jasper Icefield Skywalk is a platform that overhangs the valley complete with a glass floor. It is meant to be scary, but it is not as scary as the Calgary Tower we subsequently visited which also had a piece of glass floor. I think this is because on the Calgary Tower you can see objects below that you can relate to, while on the Skywalk, scale is not so apparent in the rock formations below. There was an attendent there who kept the glass sparkling clean. They apparently change the top “sacrificial” layer of glass every year to maintain a clear view.
Back to the centre’s café for a Starbucks. We watched a film which showed interesting views of the mountain. But they had to wind a story into it of an old man and children who were in the mountains. A lost stone, picked up by the man, placed in the stream and picked up by the children. Why do they do this?
Outside it had started to snow, but thankfully very lightly.
Back we drove to Jasper, parked in a small carpark and bought some food also visiting a liquor store for gin and beer. We went to the campsite’s foul water dump, where we discharged our tanks. All went well.
Sausages for supper. Odd number in a pack. Five.
The campsite looks pretty empty now the weekend holiday is over. The smell of burning seemed more intense.
Some elk in the campsite. Our little furry animals, being sensible creatures, were not out in the cold weather. We had seen them this morning.
Whistler Campsite
18th May 2025
Said our emotional goodbyes and headed on to Whistler. First stop was the Hinton supermarket, Freson Bros, a little like a Waitrose. They also did a good range of coffee cups, with pro Canadian slogans, see the pictures. We also filled with fuel.
We next stopped and admired the river Athabasca / Jasper Lake. One huge plain of wet sand. Next stop was Maligne Canyon, but alas the actual canyon was still sealed off after last year’s fire. Stopped at a viewing spot where we could look over all the burnt trees. Very sad. On the outskirts of Jasper, there were large parks of trailer type accommodation. Not sure if they were for workers trying to tidy up after the fires or for displaced residents.
In Jasper we went to pick up our National Park passes. We should have stopped at the entrance to the park with our temporary pass, but unfortunately, we were confused and slid through in the wrong lane. I am fearful we may have picked up a fine, although nothing has come through yet. I dropped R off up to pick up the pre-ordered passes. I drove around, so that I did not have to pay for parking, nor, more importantly, work out how to do so.
Then we drove to Whistler’s Campsite. It showed the aftermath of the dreadful forest fires. Burnt trunks and ground, with just the odd tree standing. We had an off-grid pitch (for those boring campers who wanted electric hookup, there was a huge area for them as well). I love the basics; not sure R does. Let us see how the van’s solar panel keeps the fridge and lights going for the next few days. Actually, thinking about it, the van was fine for three nights parked in Hinton. There was a toilet and shower block very nearby, which also, to R’s delight (!), had two washing-up sinks. The block caters for around 20-30 pitches. More utility blocks around the campsite cater for other clusters of pitches. The whole site is pretty well-organized.
Come evening everybody seemed to be lighting their fire pits. Pitch fees include firewood, which must be bought at each campsite to avoid disease.
We now started to sleep above the cab, leaving the table erected. The first time, R needed my help & guidance to get into bed, but from then on was very adept at getting up and down. She reckoned she couldn’t have done it before her new hip. The second “step” was higher than her waist, so I suppose using it presented difficulties.
R fell in love with our pitch neighbours. Lots of marmots ( Hoary ones? ), sitting up on their hind legs on look out, squeaking, digging and other such cute activities.
Hinton and around about
17th May 2025
Today, there was no driving for us, Stephen (R’s brother) took us all on a tour of the sites around Hinton. First up was the Solomon Lookout to view the Black Cat Mountain. There were good views of the mountains, and down below the valley. As luck would have it, there was a long goods train passing up the valley.
Why Black Cat Mountain? One mountain side had once been spectacular, but there had been the inevitable forest fire, and when the forest regenerated, the trees were a different colour to the surrounding ones. They created an image which looked like a high backed, scared black cat. Years later, like now, you need a particularly good imagination to see it.
Then on to Switzer Provincial Park, where there is a lake. Some trees showed evidence of claw damage. Here there were some birds flying around. I managed to get a photo of a dark-eyed Junco, an American Tree Sparrow, a Yellow Rumped Warbler and of course a Canada Goose.
Back at Hinton we stopped at a café for coffee, before going on to the Northern Rockies Museum of Culture and Heritage.
Back at Steve & Marilynn’s, we had a chicken BBQ supper. Bit too chilly to sit out on their deck, so we ended up eating indoors, after BIL Steve had braved the elements to be chef-of-the-day.
Hinton and Beaver Boardwalk
16/05/2025
A tour of the house now meant R could picture Steve and Marilynn at home.
Much talking & reminiscing.
A short walk from their home is the Beaver Boardwalk. The very boardwalk which Michael Portillo walked on a few years ago on his Canadian train trip! Since then, the boardwalk had started to fall into disrepair but was now being renewed. We didn’t see any beavers, but did see their home, their dam, and various trees which had been chewed down. Not only is there the boardwalk, but there are miles and miles of tracks through the forest. An incredibly special place.
We discovered the local squirrels chatter rather like a petrol engine starting up. We also discovered that many Canadian squirrels are small & red! (Later we were told by others that Canadian folklore says it is the nasty European grey squirrels who cause problems!)
We sat on their rather splendid deck watching the local birds & squirrels.
Supper out at a local diner, specializing in European foods, including Greek. R had souvlaki, while I ate prawns.
The weather had started out dry but was rather wet when we exited the restaurant. A drive around the town seeing the sights of Hinton after dark.
Driving to Hinton
15/05/2025
Up an out quickly, we decided to head straight on to Hinton, where we were staying three nights visiting R’s brother and sister-in-law. I would have liked to have visited the museum in Rocky Mountain House, and the brewery, but as events turned out, luckily, we did not. I had found an off-the-beaten route to drive to Hinton. It was the shortest route but did not follow the Canadian grid system of main roads.
First off, we stopped at some small shops in Nordegg, one of which was a community shop. R wanted a washing-up sponge for the van, but no luck. She was told perhaps they’d have them later in the year. (The van came with no method of cleaning the crockery or cooking utensils, nor a tea-towel to dry anything with.) There was also a small ‘Shell Fuel’ shop, and that sold them. Next door there was a liquor store, where I popped in and bought some beers, brewed in Rocky Mountain House itself. The beers were displayed in a chilled room, so I was rather quick in buying them, cos it was rather cold wearing just shorts and T-shirt.
Back to the road, we drove another 1000 meters before taking my off-the-beaten route right-hand turn to Hinton. Hinton was signed as being another 170K. But there was something funny about this road; oops, it was a dirt track! Apparently, a forest track and looked to be all dirt. Not only was it dirt but it was also wet dirt after a heavy overnight rainfall. It was quite slippery, so progress was slow. I noticed that no other vehicles were using it. We went this way for about another 5K, where there were signs warning that further on the road was under water. We (ie R) thought better of it (I thought we could have done it, I swear the water didn’t look that deep) and so turned around. Was not going to be a good trip. After this small detour, we found the van (and parts of R who’d directed my U-turn) were caked in mud, 25mm thick, which subsequently baked on with the hot sunshine.
Back on the main road we headed on towards the snowfields and took a right-hand turn onto the 93. Yes, this route was longer at 260K, and not the 170K of the dirt road. Very pretty though. We will be back on that route another day.
Continuing along highway 11 we followed the Abraham Lake, and the North Saskatchewan River. There were many small seven site campsites along the route administered by the Albertan authorities. In my planning I had thought about these camp sites, but I unsure how you paid, and whether they would be full. They were empty and there were even toilets on site (long drop). The views were f especially as we approached the ice road.
As we drew near the Ice Road, we passed through the toll gate for the park. Thankfully we had a season ticket for the park, and duely sailed through with no additional charge. We then headed North on highway 93 (The Ice Road), towards Jasper. On route we stopped at a viewing site, near Panther Falls, this allowed us to see the road we had driven down.
On route we passed the Columbia Icefield, where there was a mobile signal and we were able to phone to give our ETA. We would be visiting here in a few days time. Further on, as we approached Jasper, we passed the campsite we would be staying at in a few days time. Here we could see the burnt out forest from the fires last year. We then headed out from Jasper toward Hinton., arriving at Hinton at 17:40.
Rosmarys borther had not warned us not to take the dirt road, cos nobody would do that.
Picking up our RV in Calgary
14th May 2025
We had a lovely lie-in, and a good breakfast at the Elk + Avenue in Banff. Breakfast was the usual North American affair of eggs benedict (or ‘benny’) etc etc. No toast and marmalade! Most of the staff appeared to be from the (British) Commonwealth. We heard how people starting in life would get work visas for a couple of years, working in these resorts
Our Trailfinders chosen driver picked us up from the hotel at 11.00, very promptly. Drove us to the RV pickup. About a 90 minutes drive. He would point out stuff on route, especially the cattle. As we neared Calgary, the land became flatter.
RV pickup was rather slow and inefficient. Keys didn’t work in some locks on the outside cupboards, and much was glossed/hurried over.
We set off, stopped at a Walmart, where we spent far too long buying far too little. Spent a long time looking for the beers etc. Ha! We needed a Liquor Store. Adventure at the Shell filling station where the payment machine misbehaved. It cost more 153 CAD. (Oh they preauthorised 250 CAD. You can set different limits.)
Arrived at Rocky Mountain House Campsite at 7.ish. Reception was closed, they had closed at 5, not 8, as we’d read. We did walk into the unlocked reception, so the owner came down. She had actually emailed us information, and there was a pass key outside the reception for us. The owner offered us coins for the washing machine and tumble drier, 1 dollar coins, called loonies and 2 dollar coins called toonies. R thought a wash & dry for 7 CAD a bargain.
Loaded the washing machine, then drove to our pitch. Actually made up the bed in the table, banquette area of the van. But never again, far too much hassle and not that good.
Pitched. R went off to the laundry, came back 30 minutes later (having walked around & around) not being able to find.it. I went off to the laundry. Loaded the tumble dryer and waited for its completion. Hour later back at van in the dark, not happy.
Rocky Mountaineer – Day 2
13th May 2025
Picked up at 7ish, and taken to the Rocky Mountaineer.
Today’s trip was much the same as yesterday’s, except we were now eating first. Today we were travelling all the way to Banff, stopping off at Lake Louise, where some new passengers got on or old ones got off. Lake Louise is a prime tourist site, as we were to find out later.
In each carriage we had staff who would serve us our drinks, and a host who gave a commentary about the history of the line, and what to see outside of the windows. Today we were going to go through the underground, spiral tunnels. As a passenger this was not particularity impressive, but from outside you can see something of it. We were asked to guess which way we thought we were turning. Tricky. We visited this several weeks later.
We saw the memorial to the ‘Last Spike’, where the last track spike was fixed to the last sleeper. We later visited here on our road trip (lots of Swallowtail butterflies there).
The commentary we received was sometime interrupted by an excited shout from the host about something spotted on the track side. He was in radio contact with the carriages in front and I assume even the driver. If they spotted something, they would radio the information to all the hosts. The host would then shout, look left or right at two o’clock (or whatever). We were also told to do that if we spotted something. Often this would be a false alarm, and there was nothing. Through this technique we did spot the only bear we saw on holiday, and a Bald Eagle parked in a tree, where we were stopped for a while. It never showed itself completely, and when I was sufficiently bored to put down the camera, it naturally flew off.
Another aspect of the Rocky Mountaineer was the waving. People on the track side would wave, and we would wave back. On route there was a house, where the occupants always waved at the train. How did they know the train was coming? The company sent someone out to find out. It apparently was their dog which could recognize the different sound this train made, so would bark. The residents would rush outside to wave. They were there for us! The company apparently did give them a free holiday on the Rocky Mountaineer.
In our carriage, there was a Canadian couple. A a few years ago, the lady’s mum was on a Rocky Mountaineer trip when a friend of hers had managed to time it correctly, so, from her hometown trackside, she could wave at the mum. This time she would again be trackside, where she was again going to wave but this time, as the daughter went past. The whole of our carriage was told the tale. The driver & the Train Manager were consulted, watches were synchronized. We all waved. Apparently, they both got video of each other waving.
The trip ended, and we were deposited in hotel in Banff, the Elk + Avenue Hotel., which we would meet again.
The Spiral Tunnel
Rocky Mountaineer – Day 1
12th May 2025
We walked to the ‘Wall’, me carrying the heavy bags, pausing a few times on the way, and boarded the coach to take us to the train terminus. The Rocky Mountaineer was long, most of the carriages were double height. Viewing on top and dining below. The single deck carriages appeared to be where the cooking took place, and the onboard staff stayed. There may also have been some Silver Line Guests in there. There was also an external viewing platform for each carriage. This is a must for clear photographs. While on the trip, I hoped to track my location by GPS app. This did not work, the GPS signal was very week, despite the glass roof. I was wondering if there was something in the glass that stopped the signal. This also stopped the location information being added to the camera pictures.
Both days of the trip were logistically the same. Half of the passengers of the carriage would go below for breakfast, followed by the second half a while later. The same happened for lunch. The second day the groups were reversed. Those who dined first, now dined second. No food was offered for the evening. Lunch came with wine,
At the end of the day, arrival times were uncertain, this depended on hold-ups on the route. You would be taken to your hotel, where you could order and buy an evening meal. We didn’t eat an evening meal, breakfast and lunch were filling enough. Next day we would be collected at 7.am. Again, no breakfast in the hotel, it was on the Rocky Mountaineer
While you were watching the scenery outside unfold, drinks would be served, beer, spirits, wine etc.
The trip was generally quite slow, there were occasional long delays, where we were stationary, allowing trains on their way to Vancouver to come by. The track is a single track, with long passing loops, where you would wait for the freight train to come past. The Mountaineer was a second-class vehicle; priority was given to the 200+ wagon goods trains. The operators of the RM were so worried about causing delays from breakdowns, they always had an extra locomotive connected to the train
In the photographs, you will see a train line on the other side of the river. Yes, there are two lines, and they are not running trains in different directions. They are two distinct lines owned by two companies, being Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP). We were travelling on the Canadian National Railway (CN).
These two lines run from Vancouver to Kamloops, operating on different sides of the river valleys. They follow the River Fraser, and then the Thompson River. There is one spot at Viewpoint Bridges on the Thompson River where both lines cross over the river. Yes, two bridges to allow the lines to swap sides. Very Bizarre. You would also think that if the companies came to an agreement, and ran traffic down one line, and up the other, they could increase the capacity of the lines.
On the first day we followed the River Fraser, which started wide and slow flowing. Later we entered the Rockies where the river narrowed and started to flow faster. Here the scenery was becoming startling. We were also privy to some feats of startling engineering. The river Fraser was a brown colour. At a river junction we then followed the Thompson river, here there was a startling change in colour, gone was the mud colour and now we had a blue river. The scenery was also more robust, with snow tipped mountains, and steep escarpments. On route, we looked out for avalanche shelters, bridges and other trains which were on either the CPR line, or on our line as we waited in a loop.
The goods train wagons were varied, containers, coal, gas oil, aggregate. The most carriages we counted was 212. Often these were hauled by an engine in the front, and one in the middle. Sometimes, there might be one locomotive at the back with two in the front as well.
With the twisty track, I managed to get images of our own train entering tunnels, yes, our train was quite long, longer than a standard British train. On the route we saw Ospreys, and a huge Osprey nest.
We arrived into a siding at Kamloops, which is their base for RM train repairs. Here we were picked up and deposited in our hotels. I went for a walk in a nearby park and found several groups of (Yellow bellied) Marmots. (Although the whole Marmot v Ground Squirrel v Gopher etc debate gets a bit fraught.)
