day 105 Reunion!

Another damp start to the day, but I'm up and out early from the dorm, I'm meeting up with Joe from the train! 

Picking up a subway for breakfast I'm linking up buses through downtown and Stanley point a wooded country park and over the Lionsgate bridge, crossing the outlet from Vancouver harbour and up into hills, not paying attention I nearly miss the stop I'm after, quickly scurrying off the bus and I'm early arriving at Capilano suspension bridge park, arriving slightly before Joe I chat with one of rangers here who brought tells me 'the slugs are slugging this morning!' quote of the day!

grabbing a pic later in the day with a cheesy grin as ever!!!

Joe was only about ten minutes behind me and we sit waiting to get in, great to be chatting with train family again! 🥰

Into the park and the bridge is bouncing and swaying over a good 100ft drop! 

beautiful view! 

from the bridge to! 

And we're following a trail into the woods huge evergreens

and pretty water features, it brings to mind my imagined version of Rivendell from the hobbit

passing a herb called skunk cabbage due to its odour I'm a bit surprised when squashing a bit that it's rather minty! Pretty sure skunks aren't!

the trail becomes a sky trail up in the trees pretty high! 

it gets you close to lichens hanging from the branches

before passing under an arch of branches.... Rude not to get a photo!

beyond this we meet a ranger ever passed by a few times, not your average park ranger with plastic surgery, black eyes and heavy makeup it's diversity in full effect!

I'll never understand why people do that! 

Still she was friendly and happy that's all that matters. 

Back over the suspension bridge grabbing a fun photo

we now have the cliff walk, none of the previous high level paths have bothered me, but this gets me properly! Deep breathing gets me through...... And a very firm grip of the hand rail!!

views down into the gorge 

are beautiful, but I'm happy to get off that walk! 

A peaceful and calming water feature where people throw coins to make wishes, I flip a loonie (1 dollar) to make a decision I've been prevaricating over for days, I'm at the edge of the Pacific ..... South or west?

The result is west!! 

If this goes horribly wrong I can blame the loonie!!! 

Food time! Grabbing chicken tenders(fingers apparently!) and chips, feeding the local ravens

beautiful birds! 

Next the gift shop picking up a new day sack in Canadian air force style, before we head on to our next attraction.

12 minutes up the road by bus and we're at the foot of mount Grouse with it's precipitous mountain gondola

These really fly up the mountain, swinging and bouncing through the cloud

really good ride up! And we're above the snow line! 

Coffee and view being the first priorities I try my first previously unheard of sweet cortado coffee..... Best coffee ever! 

Wow!!

Through the snow there are signs pointing to the grizzly habitat..... Yep actual grizzly bears!!! These two are both rescue bears in a small enclosure just out of hibernation.... Got lucky with the timing again! 

one is rather playfully rolling in the snow but it's claws are pretty ferocious looking!!!

walking back to the Gondola through the snow, falling on my arse of course! Before damply descending in the now more sunny day!

views showing Vancouver in its best.

We have an attraction back in town that Veronique and Lou had recommended, so land and water bus quickly transform our surroundings from high mountains to high sky scrapers and the bay

the sail like building on the left is Canada place where going for a ride! 

A virtual 3d ride through the wonders of Canada.... twisting like a rollercoaster with mist like spray at appropriate moments we rotate through gorges, mountains, towns and wilderness I've not touched Canada, no way I can in this visit..... I'll Be back!!

This is a highly recommended attraction!!!!

We wander back through downtown in a rather oblique way to Joe's hotel, she has an hour to pack before catching her plane back east and home.... And similarly to me she's got the chance for adventure having taken 18 months pay as a severance check! 

We're in touch I hope to see where her wanders take her. 

Mine surprisingly briefly, my hostel is only about 20 minutes from her hotel, 

And I'm back after the most full and fun day of my travels so far! 

Thank you Joe!

day 104 Tootling!

I was hoping the Campsie pub(the hostel pub) opened early for breakfast been as it sells breakfasts, but no sign of anything at 9am ..... Not particularly early?

Luckily I found a little breakfast bar on the adjacent corner, 5 builders standing outside was always a good sign! Coffee a breakfast sandwich and I head off, I'm not fully committed to what I'm doing today it's a wander with half arsed intent! 

During the train journey I'd decided to buy a musical instrument to learn! Something simple enough and relevant to Canada, searching online gave me a strong hint at what I'd purchase, a flute more precisely a drone flute.... A wooden two tube flute which gives a drone background noise with a melody on top, these are native Canadian/American instruments carved from wood. 

I found a music store a few blocks away in downtown Vancouver Tom Lees, obvious place to start, Vancouver downtown is pretty small and easy enough to navigate, I get there just as the doors open, hopeful! 

Yes they know of these instruments, no we don't currently have any.... They advise to try a place in Granville Island, with nothing else really planned I carry on! 

Walking south through town passing homeless and drugged up people, Canada does indeed have a problem in the major cities! 

But they're harmless enough, and my route takes me to a little sea bus over False creek

this stretch of tidal waters depth fluctuates by about 20foot if the muscles on the harbour structures are anything to go by!

The bus has the shortest route only about 200 meters across to Granville Island a bohemian shopping zone, with anything from boat tours to boots to musical instruments..... Why else would I be here after all .... And yes there on the shelf is one of the smaller drone flutes you can get which with my traveling size is everything, hand made in British Columbia so it's a local piece, not imported from wherever!

nice comfortable holes are easy to locate so I may do ok with this! 

Mission accomplished.... 

I'm hungry, and what boho area doesn't have restaurants, fish chips and clam chowder with a can of germoline..... Sorry root beer!!

The taste is the same as the ointments smell ..... But ok!

This kind of place will always have artistic sights, unusually here some grain/aggregate vats have had the boho treatment

pretty cute tho! 

There's also an active boat yard with repairs, storage and tours operating out of it

wandering around Granville has taken a good amount of the day, avoiding the worst of a pretty damp monday, so back over the creek on the bus and wandering back through town picking up a bit of food for the next few days.

Back to the hostel pub and burger and beer deal for dinner, I've been pretty hungry after the train ..... Food had been pretty slim pickings! 

Back in the dorm there's a chap with rather odd/disturbed views and lots of willingness to try to push his opinion on you, he's harmless but a bit annoying, I just play his game and occasionally trip him up with a bit of logic..... He claims to be an AI software engineer..... If so We're doomed! 😂

Still not a bad day in all it's weird and wonderful ways!

day 103 End of the line!

The day starts with Lou waking me up! 

Again our train family rises to greet the dawn!

We've left the mountains behind us and we're in an industrial canyon with trees blocking the sun, after crossing the Fraser river , passing it's new bridge being constructed.

Eventually with the sun still low we gain our morning glow 

lighting our way into the city

where reach our destination the end of the line Vancouver

Lou has kept track (pun intended) of the time it's taken to cross Canada

95 hours 21 minutes and 44 seconds! I like her style! 

But with arrival this stage of the journey ends and my train family spilt! I'll miss them all! 

it's been so special I won't forget this. 

But with exiting the station

once again alone the cruelty of travel and new experiences means I'll be replacing this with another life, who knows what it holds!

I have a choice ahead, I don't know how that will work out .... You'll know tho. 

For now I'm into the city passing the bay

with the surprise of yet another bald eagle flying overhead!

and a family of Canada geese by my feet I see the

 last of Canada's splendor for today, now it's back to humanity, passing though what must be old Vancouver certainly down town, with it's homeless problems, and it's city art

in all it's forms and ways

totally unfazed by the transition, I'm truly a traveler now! 

Tho I have little ambition today, the sleep in the train has not been close to enough, I reach the hostel

it's above a bar! 

A bloody good feed of ribs and chips and I'm up into room 102 dozing the afternoon away before the night takes the rest of consciousness!

day 102 the Rockies!

We're all crazy!!!

We're up to see the sunrise..... More sleep better surely?

nice image to highlight Fiona tho, she'll be off the train at Jasper! 

The early start does have it's effects tho, like clumsiness! 

for once not me!! 

Lou takes it in her usual stoic way! Joe starts the day serenely!

me? Oh I'm jumping all over the observation deck grabbing photos of the mountains as we draw near

this is beautiful country tho as always we're fighting to grab pictures between the crowding trees.... Those generally get deleted we've lost interest in trees!!!

Deeper into the mountains through the occasional short tunnel, the valley spreads out a little

occasional deer are spotted as the bolt at our approach

you can zoom in on a deer dipping into a furrow just left of the nearest clump of trees, the river in the valley opens up and I get the best photo of the trip...... Love this image so much!!

lots of fire damage asking this section from last year, it must have been pretty dreadful!!

then we're into Jasper, descending from the observation deck we grab a group photo of the 5 of us.....

Fiona will be missed! 

Jasper is a rather beautiful mountain town, tho it's geared towards tourism, Veronique, Lou and I head into town as Joe races after Fiona with a forgotten drinks bottle. 

First stop is grab a pic of a totem pole no idea if it has any cultural accuracy but it looks good!

there's a park of monuments over the road indicating the spiritual importance of the area to the indigenous population, tho it looks largely like a European assemblage of pieces, this one was rather impressive....

we as ever don't have long at each stop but a quick wander around the town picking up provisions and look into the gift shops for Veronique. Back to the train and I realise I've not snapped any pics of the town! 

A few from the observation deck will do! 

diving between the snow capped tops with the high treelines again and the level valley line takes us over the border into British Columbia and along the side of Moose lake 

before heading west passing Mount Robson 

the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies at 3954 meters tall.

The driver mentions a waterfall ahead Pyramid falls it takes a while to get there and nice enough about 300ft tall

nice to see, there haven't been many falls to see going through the jagged peaks they don't gather huge snow deposits like the high lands in Iceland.

The ropey sleeping positions I've attempted over the last three nights haven't been restful!

no regrets but I'm knackered, I curl up sleep for a few hours, and wake up to spring!!! 

crossing the great divide the climate is instantly warmer..... It's so damn nice to see leaves!! It's felt wrong nearly getting to may without a spring to revel in!!

Now back to the food shopping we've done in Jasper...... Lou and Veronique had planned a little party for the last night of our trans continental travel! So our little family got together to eat..... I added dessert of mini doughnuts, Joe bought the drinks! 

A real family effort! 

much chatting and silliness and night comes in, we're all reluctant to call the day done watching the dusk fall I chance a shot of a bird perched in a battered tree by a lake .... It's only a bald eagle!!! 

zoom in you can make out it's white head.... Looking directly at us! 

The night claims all visibility tho

and we settle, Lou and Veronique in their way (photo requested by them!) I've not met family members so loving! Rather beautiful!