By the time we had packed up and taken lots of photographs it was a bit later than we had intended. Our first stop on the road was at the town of Golden. We had a wander round and crossed the river back and forth by the impressive covered, wooden bridge of which the townsfolk are justifiably proud. We joined Canada Day celebrations , wandering through the little stalls in the closed off roads and admiring the collection of classic cars which lined the street. It was a very hot and sunny day and we had some lunch, a great steak sandwich, on the Riverside Terrace before continuing our journey.

Many, many miles down the road we stopped at Revelstoke - a hot, dry place famous for railways and skiing, on the banks of the Columbia River - for coffee and cake and to get some petrol. It was at this point that we realised we didn't know if the car took petrol or diesel, and nobody else knew either! We gave up and carried on. It was a long, long day on the road, very hot and tiring. At one point we changed time zone back into Pacific Time zone which gave us an extra hour to play with. We drove for a very long time down beside the Shuswap Lake which is huge. We passed through Socamous with its marina, and eventually we stopped at a place called Salmon Arm for a drink. It is quite a big place compared with many we have passed through and seems to be a centre for boating on the lake amongst other things.

The road went on and on, and we drew near to Kamloops, remembered as our first night’s stop on the Rocky Mountaineer. We still had some way to go before our stop for the night. In fact it was still MUCH further to go! Past Kamloops, away up the road, onto old Highway 5, and still another 30 pus kilometres after that, along empty forest roads, before we reached Sun Peaks. This is such a surprise when you eventually reach it. It is like coming across a Swiss Alpine village, all newly built with traditional buildings, bell towers and typical restaurants. All very tidy and nice!

We dumped our bags and rushed out to get something to eat as it was getting late and restaurants close very early here. We went into the Bella Italia restaurant which was still open and had a really great Italian meal, with good wine and wonderful service. A lovely end to an exhausting day.