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!

day 101 Beasties and besties!!!

It's not every morning you wake up to a beautiful sunrise

it's even rarer to wake up and shout 'I can see Bison!!!' 

a full herd in the plain!

that's how you start a day..... Well give it a second start! Early morning the lovely Vicky was getting off the train beautiful old girl and one it was so easy to make a friend! She'll be missed! 

with the excitement of the Bison wearing off breakfast on the train did it's usual little to maintain excitement!

breakfast microwave bap and yoghurt! nom? 

Not really but it does the job in keeping me going! 

More nutritious was the view we're out onto the great plains of Canada leaving the province of Manitoba and entering Saskatchewan expensive views were a delight, I love trees and boulders but the last two days had been pretty constant and unchanging! 

The view flying into Canada had given the same impression of the Canadian shield! 

But it does cover half of Canada! Gods only know how many square miles!

We reach our first stop at Saskatoon 

Pleasant looking place but we get the joys of the train yard! 

a chance to grab a few pics of the train and pose at the rear with Louise and her mum! 

while at the front Fiona and Joe model the latest engines! 😄

crossing into Alberta province the progress is slow! More often stopped than moving it felt! 

You get a bit reflective in times like these......

Sitting in the observation deck it's nice just watching the plains roll slowly by , horses, cows, Canada geese, ducks, areas of wetlands, farmsteads, huge flour mills. The rock of the carriages, the tooting of the engines horn at every track, road, and rail track! With once again Barry singing the blues in the lounge coach!

a sense of peace, and being at one with this land is so natural, to have the expansive views again after the Canadian shield is a joy under the blue sky. 

Our easy progress west a sharp contrast to the progress of the pioneers heading the same way, tho a sense of kinship exists as our time runs slowly through the afternoon! 

A road runs parallel with us, dark spots in the haze of the engines exhaust coalesce into automobiles and freight trucks, our dust mingles and settles again with our brief encounters.

.......I've needed to try and put the emotion of this journey into words, hopefully I've conveyed a little here!

Onwards and often halting the journey goes through curvaceous lands, not what you expect from plains, but the land is very sandy..... Makes you think of ancient dunes! With passage through Unity with it's salt mines not so long ago it's a possibility?

Passing oil wells to..... Does that add to this possibility? I don't know!

The slow progress distracts , stopping at Viking to let one lad off and sunset sneaks up on us

lulling the wildlife into a sense of security the Moose come out of hiding in the half light to drink

so pleased to catch this image! 

Wildlife has been scarce in the entire three and half months of travelling!! Now we're seeing deer in the dusky fields too!

Before finally entering Edmonton for a late night stop!

which I intend to sleep through!

Day 100 happy Anniversary!

The day of the Canadians 70th anniversary! 

I can't say I've slept well but I've slept in good bursts! 

In this my via train nest! glad I could steal the other seat, sharing this small area would be horrible!!!

I may have nearly seen a large wild cat, not the animal but fresh closely paced round prints in the snow?

Do they even have big cats up here????

Our first brief stop in Armstrong rail yard We're not allowed far from the train but it was worth grabbing a pic of this little church/chapel. 

The natural surroundings for most of the day yet again are silver birch, pine and the Canadian shield, with more frozen lakes, in the middle of one a coyote was seen..... Not by me! Here's a frozen lake tho....a few hours into the journey we pass the sister train Canadian number 2 , we're in number 1 ! before we reach the town of Sioux Lookout named for a peak where the local indigenous kept an eye out for Sioux raiders!,I fail to capture an image of the peak, relevant image missed again!!

We're allowed a short time to wander into the village/small town , long enough to go to the gas station shop for additional nibbles, before we disembark even in economy they bring us sparkling wine and canapes to celebrate the anniversary😊Clinking plastic glasses with Fiona from the UK who I met in Toronto station and we've been chatting ever since!

Onwards from sioux lookout and the terrain maintains the trees and rock look but everything is just getting larger! it's like we getting towards the mountains but that's not possible! 

Barry the Blues Rodeo is playing again in the lounge carriage, rude to miss it out! 

We're joined by French Louise and her mum, Louise took delight in my lack of ability to take complements, as I took on a healthy blush as she said I have a very positive energy, that I don't realise how much it affects people!!  And that it's pretty....... Pretty???? I'll take the complement under complicated protest!she certainly is! Hence most of my reaction....

The terrain becomes more lived in passing a small airport in the hills with propeller planes and wrecks by the trackas we listen to Barry, joined by polish Alex one of the passengers playing his clarinet! This does not happen in the UK!!! Does make me wish I had something resembling a musical skill!!! I don't.... I've failed to get any skill in that style in 55 years!!

In a flash the landscape alters completely!! 

The hills and trees are gone not fading away but cut off sheer!,  becoming the great plains! It's quite a reveal getting distant views again! were soon crossing the red river and into Winnipeg!

Here we aren't so much let off the train but kicked off for a few hours! 

Leaving the station the museum of human justice rears it's 'modern' head I'll leave you to make your own opinion on this! 

Into the local food hall it's a pleasure to be able to enjoy decent fast food, food on the train is at best fending off Hunger! 

Alex, Fiona and Joe are my company over dinner with Louise and her mum, I'll introduce the others as the trip progresses!, but conversation is good, food is filling and time is consumed! We're soon back to rejoin the train showing boarding cards to gain re-entry.

The sun sinks and night eats the sky, it's late enough to doze off and I soon do!