Our last day! We needed to start early today - our flight from Calgary left at 5pm, meaning a 2pm check in. Breakfast before dawn was a very very cold affair and the poor gas stove struggled to make progress in scrambling the eggs! The glacier gradually became visible in the misty grey morning light. We were on the road by 7.30 and heading south along the Icefields parkway. The skies were cloudier thsn yesterday afternoon, but the secondary continued to amaze...

It was a restless night! A two man tent with three occupants! Two Thermarests in a min-rectangular space meant that the person in the middle got to lie on an uneven triangle of mat / cold hard ground and the people on the outside got to lie on two thirds mat and one third cold trough at the edge of the tent! For a start, we dressed, expecting arctic temperatures and imminent death from hypothermia. In fact the tent was so warm with three bodies and a candle insid...

Yet another early start! (And this is a holiday?!) up at six and a glimmer of dawn over the lakes and mountains. We started the day with tea and hot granola, before breaking camp at 7.30 to meet the Skyline shuttle at the Signal mountain trailhead at 9am. We arrived, our bags packed and scrambled on to the shuttle - ready to go! I will admit at this point to some feelings of trepidation, being several leagues outside my comfort zone... The Skyline trail is the ...

Today started early (again) with Chris's Skype meeting at 5am. We used the opportunity tore pack and organise our bags /the van, cook a substantial breakfast and catch up with telephone conversations with the family back home at Elmgrove and Barwood. Chris's meeting went well and our monster breakfast went down s treat. We met Catherine, a medical student seconded to the hospital in Smithers, and a breath of fresh air! So full of enthusiasm and warmth. Today wa...

Another surprisingly comfortable night in the van. We fell asleep last night snuggled up in our sleeping bags and duvets, watching the glowing embers of our fire pit through the open side door... And listening to the loud snoring of the man in the text next door! Van life hit a bit of a low this morning, with repeated fruitless searches for lost belongings in our crowded home and cold water in the ladies shower block. After a full and frank discussion regarding...