So today marked the beginning of my Canadian Rockies Adventure.

An early breakfast marked the start of the day and then we loaded our bags into the trailer and our brand new minibus -no more squeaky brakes like last week!! And took a whistlestop tour around Calgary to see Fort Calgary and the Stampede grounds before driving out of the city towards the Rockies, we were on out way.

It took us about an hour or so to reach the Rockies and we could see them in the distance getting closer as we went.

Our first stop was Canmore were we grabbed some supplies and admired the Three Sisters peaks. We then drove into Banff National Park and took our first hike of the trip. Now I know I haven't been training recently but oh m goodness I am so unfit! I'd like to blame the altitude but as I've been even higher than this for the last two weeks I don't think that will cut it!

So we started on our hike and after walking up the first small hill my calves were killing me and I questioned how I was going to make it to the top. But with perseverance and quite a few photo stops along the way we made it to the top and rewards ourselves with lunch. The pain was definitely worth it (even though it was only just over 4km - gutted) as the views were totally amazing. So after refuelling and getting our breath back, admiring the ground squirrels and obviously taking some photos of the view we started our descent downhill. We wondered why people were smiling and looking so relaxed on their way down when we were walking up but we realised quite quickly that going down was much easier than going up! Apart from when you are too busy talking (obviously this would be news to you that I enjoy a chat!) and realise that you have taken the wrong path and you need to retrace your steps so you can find the right way back. After getting back on track we continued our descent and our chat and finally reached the bottom where I decided that I had definitely earnt an ice cream (which I bought later in town).

After our walk we drove to Banff where we explored, I looked around the town. The park museum was full of lots of stuffed animals so I went through here pretty quickly and then went and looked around the town and at the photography museum which were amazing and I was pretty jealous of a number of the shots.

From here we went to the Whyte Museum where we went on a guided tour of the town and found out all about the history of Banff. Visiting St George's church on one of our stops that had the most amazing stained glass windows. From here we went to the hotel, checked in and got ready for dinner.

We went to dinner at a restaurant named Craft, a local distillery and then went for a drive on the hunt for bears or any other creatures. We didn't see anything but did see some fantastic scenery and saw Lake Minniewanka.

After our drive we drove back to the hotel ready for bed and in preparation for our day in Lake Louise tomorrow.