"Few such moments of exhilaration can come as that which stands at the threshold of wild travel. The gates of the enclosed garden are thrown open...with a wary glance to the right and left you step forth, and behold. The immeasurable world." Gertrude Bell, The Desert and the Sown (1907)

It has taken a while to up date these pages. When we arrived, jet lagged in Vancouver 21 days ago we found internet access that cost 75p for an hour. We sent off a couple 'arrived safely' messages, but then in the backcountry refused to pay more for access. We found out later that Vancouver has the cheapest internet access in British Columbia. Never mind.

So a 'brief' summary for those who a geographically minded / those familiar with Canada. We travelled out of Vancouver to Hope, and then on to Cache Creek and Kamloops, avoiding the motorway that costs $10. We stopped off in Clearwater, and then north up to Jasper past Mount Robson - the highest peak in the Rockies. We really wanted to look at the northern area of the Rockies first, and winter was rapidly approaching. From Jasper to Lake Louise down the Icefields Parkway, to Banff. We then quickly visited Kootenay National Park, a short walk in Yoho , and then went south west to enjoy the free ferries south of Revelstoke. From Nelson to Salmon Arm, inevitably though Kamloops again, and then winding back towards Vancouver through the Mount Currie and Whistler areas.

There have been so many highlights of the journey so far - and I am lucky to have a few hours to consider the small area of Canada that we have been able to see before moving on to the USA.

We have done some very nice walks, particularly in the Rockies. Had we picked a different season to visit we would have missed the autumn colours, but it would have been warm enough for us to consider doing multi day treks in the back country. At one point we found we were doing a lot of woodland walking, which although pleasant, it does make you want to see more of a view at times. One day a fresh snow fall forced us out of our tent, and the following night we stayed in Mosquito Creek Youth Hostel, to escape the -10 conditions. It was the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving, and we met Pat, Colleen and their 2 daughters who were planning a walk the following day near Lake Louise. It was by far the best walk we did with great views and a short rocky ridge at the end. We also learnt alot about the Canadian environment from them. As a family they live in Calgary, so the Rockies is their play ground. During the winter they do cross country skiing, and cover similar routes to the walk they shared with us. We found Grizzly Diggings, where a bear has just turned over a large piece of ground with its claws searching for roots and gohers. We identified bear and marmot 'scat' some of the bear was rather fresh and definately fruity. (Bears eat red berries in autumn to help themselves bulk out before finding a cave over winter.)           We were also joined on our walk by Matthew, also staying at the hostel. I mention him as he cropped up later on future travels.

Have I mentionned the people yet? Everyone has been very friendly. We sometimes don't expect the locals to be bothered with tourist and travellers, but they always go out of their way to help...we popped into an news agent late one evening to ask for directions to a hostel. It had poured down the prievious night, the tent was still soaked, and we were in desperate need of showers! The lady news agent whipped out her yellow pages, looked up 'hostels'. Because of the bloc system she was then able to accurately gave directions to 2 of them, along with a warning. The previous week she'd had a customer looking for Benadryl. The girl had stayed at one particular hostel, had been mauled by fleas in the night and was suffering a severe reaction. We thanked the lady, and stayed at the other hostel!

The wildlife has been amazing. We bought a book to help us identify the creatures that we were seeing. At first we were obsessed with the idea of being confronted by a bear, black or grizzly, but as we started to see, and identify the other very special and important creatures of the Rockies, the bear become less of a focus. There was an abundance of Elk in Jasper, a Martin (related to the Scottish Pine Martin) on a campsite in Banff, a moose near Maligne Lake, near where we stayed for 2 nights in a beautiful rustic hostel. (No running water in the kitchen of the toilets...) We were very excited to see a wolf one evening, but later met a local - and of course it was a Coyote. But still, that was exciting. We went on to see 3 more - one with a small raven in its mouth. There were 4 types of squirrels, stripped chip monks and of course, the salmon. I was far more excited about the salmon than Jim, but after having seen them swimming up the North Thompson River in early October I was keen to see their spawning grounds. In the Adams River conditions are perfect, and by chance we were there on a dominant year - more there than usual. The Sockeye salmon have by now turned into their famous bright red mating colours, and hundreds of couples could be seen in the clear waters, with the flourescent pink eggs, and the male aims over them....it was amazing. Later on in a river near Mount Currie, and Native American (First Nations) lands we caught glimpses of Coho salmon in more silty water. Of course where there are salmon mating there are also other animals benefitting from the death of the salmon. The locals again talk about bears. We were scanning the mud flats, and then, the most enormous bird...its a bird of prey...wing span well over a metre...WELL over a metre. We had plenty of time to identify it as we also saw its partner and several juniors. We were joined during the spectacle by a Native Canadian, Boxca, who just happened to be passing on his bike. He worked collecting wild mushrooms for a local store, but told us he was looking forward to the Winter Olympics 2010, as they would provide great opportunites for him. He lived during the later summer / autunm near the lake and pointed towards his mates who were smoking salmon under a tarpalin about 400m away on a pebble beach. We were invited to join him in the evening, but we parted company that afternoon, secure in the knowledge that we'd just spent 45 minutes observing a family of Golden Eagles. WOW.

It is also fun never knowing what is around the next corner. Neither of us was expecting Mount Robson to come looming so suddenly as we were driving towards the Rockies, we were surprised by Helmcken Falls in Grey Wells Provincial Park, all 137m of them as we stood teatering on an over hanging cliff. We only realized how far the cliff was over hanging later from a view from the other side. Some moments have also caused a little concern. So far the most worrying have been connected in some way to the car we hired. Did you know, cars now have systems bordering on artifical (un)intelligence. They do simple things which you think are a good idea, for example, as you drive off, all the doors automatically lock to prevent traffic light thieves, or people jumping into the car as you slow down. Great idea! Until you find an additional feature of the system. You park the car very briefly. The sun is going down, the forest is teaming with wildlife (just seen a coyote which you think is a wolf) and you pop out of the car to take a quick photo of the sunset. Click. Engine still running, run back to the car. Can't get in. My door is locked. Is yours? Artifcial intelligence? Now very scared. Just seen a wolf. Bears must be near by. Plan to buy bear spray tomorrow. Well it would be in the car anyway. I was ready to smash the window, but 'Jim fixed it'. He'd seen the sign to a hostel just before we'd turned off to the view point. He ran to phone and within 30 minutes a mechanic come car breaker came out, broke in leaving no damage and no evidence, except for a little dent in our wallets. The other little incident played out rather like a computer game. We were driving on a main 'A' type road at about 90kpm, and about 100m ahead there was something strange on the carriage way. 2 shapes. Black. Bouncing. A lorry was also coming towards us on the other carriage way. 25m away. 2 huge tyres. They split one was going towards the left, where was the other going? A quick intake of breath, Jim predicted correctly, and we just kept going. So did the tyres. The lorry driver must have had some explaining to do when he reached his destination, that he was 2 tyres short of a full set.

Anyway, must go, we have a very early start tomorrow... passports at the ready!