Our most successful day.

The aim of this blog is to keep you fully informed of the workings and whereabouts of the two travelling Tugwells so today we were headed for Banff. First stop: a ‘gas’ station. It took Chester three attempts to align the fuel tank with the pump by which time Kate had crawled into the glove compartment. Next stop: the world’s longest free car ferry trip across Kootenay Lake. The queue was short, the little ferry was already boarding, we hopped on. Ten minutes later we reached the other side. Realising our mistake we turned around to join the queue returning back to the other side to find the bigger ferry. This we did ten minutes after the bigger ferry had left, leaving us the luxury of an hour and a half to spend in a greasy spoon café where Kate experienced the toughest bacon on the rubberiest pancakes in all of Canada, but the maple syrup helped (thanks for the recommend David & Carrie, I’ll try others!). On finally reaching the other side of the highway, the light was so fabulous we stopped many times for photos before heading for Fort Steele, a well restored heritage town which closes at 5pm. The time was now 5.30. We booked our grottiest accommodation yet – a $45 motel room in Wasa - and then travelled 60kms to find our most expensive meal yet – Bavarian wiener schnitzel (ick!). What country are we in?

Paws for thought…

Forgetting life on the road with its perpetual threat of bear attacks for a moment we would like to send a few good wishes across the pond:
Happy Birthday to Cathy on the 15th and Jane on 21st Sept and George on 1st Oct; Ruth & Greg – hope you’re enjoying your 1st Wedding Anniversary in the Lake District and congrats to Adrian & Madeleine for getting married at the weekend (assuming you did)!!

Bearly made it!

Instead of four hours it took us four days to get to Nelson as we headed over the valley into the Kootenays. We drove alongside and crossed lakes so long that free ferry rides form part of the highway. As the mountains got higher and the temperatures got lower we found time slipping pleasantly away as we stumbled across ghost towns left over from the booming gold and silver mining days of the 1890s, historic steamboats, museums, art shops, coffee shops, spa resorts built around hot thermal springs and big mounds of bear poo!! Here Chester is ascertaining how fresh this specimen is and therefore how fast we may need to skedaddle.

Weekend - Canadian Style!

After a day of painting doors and power tools, helping Scott and Vanessa with their house renovations, Chester became even more of a man by learning the art of fishing. We joined their friends Keith and Lisa on some of their land on the banks of the Shuswap River, driving off road for miles into wilderness until finally spotting the campfire. As night fell and the owl started hooting, the only thing Chester caught was a slight chill from standing in the water so long. Fortunately our hosts had the foresight to bring hot dogs and marshmallows to roast in the absence of fresh salmon. As we put out the fire the black night sky was punctuated with lightening flashes and then rain, the first rain we have seen since leaving Blighty, and the Tugwells had chosen to spend the night camping!

Willie Royal

The last time we were in Penticton we ate at a gypsy style restaurant called Dream Cafe. By chatting to the proprietor, who sported a moustache the size of an Indian canoe, he wangled free tickets for a 'sold out' gig the following Thursday night. So never to look a gifthorse in the mouth we enjoyed (and dozed a little) through a rather unique blend of folk, middle-eastern, gypsy music. We told him we'd come all the way over from England to see him and as a result have a signed copy if anyone would like to start bidding!

Oliver

The view from our tent in Oliver - a beautiful spot under willow trees on the shores of Tuc-el-Nuit Lake. This is a huge wine growing region and Canadian wines are pretty tasty, we discovered! We enjoyed sampling a few with our neighbours around the beach fire-pits a couple of evenings. Met some great people (again EVERYONE is SO friendly): we borrowed mountain bikes off Paul and Debbie and hope to meet them for drinks later in Vancouver; ate marshmallow sandwiches toasted by Dave and Heather and their two little girls who have invited us to stay with them in Calgary. We loved this area, the wine tasting at the vineyards, fresh fruit stalls by the roadside, hot sunshine, canoeing on the lake, the sounds of coyotes at night, walking the hills and reading by the lakes. Very relaxing.

Things Kate currently misses about England...

Winston (aka Buster) our cat; decent loo paper; a higher voltage to power a hair dryer (it currently takes me six and a half hours to dry my hair!); cheap calls to family and friends (of course).

Things Kate most definately is not missing about England...
Grey cloudy skies; rain; damp cold evenings that make you head indoors; the traffic; indifference and apathy often encountered from shopkeepers, waiters, bank staff etc (why is it that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, we have met so far is SO helpful and SO pleasant?); did I mention the weather?

Monday 15th - Rattlesnakes and Gopher snakes

Drove south towards the the US border today continuing our tour of the wine region. Osoyoos is the last town before you hit the border and its highlight is probably a snake conservation park. Two of the park wardens here were giving a talk on the 7 different snakes that can be found in this region of Canada and produced a rattlesnake and Gopher snake for demonstration purposes. We were then invited to walk a trail though the park and were told to expect to come across the odd rattler - Kate was glad we didn't. This would never happen in England - firstly because we don't get Rattlesnakes and secondly this would send H&S completely off the radar. Found a campsite in a little town called Oliver near by - pitched the tent near the shoreline of yet another beautiful lake and watched the sun set and moon rise.

Penticton: Saturday 13th - Sunday 14th

Here starts our exploration of Canada's wine region. The long deep blue strip of Okanagan Lake runs from Vernon in the north to Penticton with Highway 97 tracing its shores through Kelowna, Peachland and Summerland. As the names suggest, this region boasts 2000 hours of sunshine a year with orchards and vineyards everywhere, peaches the size of houses and the wine ain't running short either. We based our camp (yes, the Tugwells do proper camping, albeit with hot showers nearby and not the sort Ian does) in Penticton: a town with a bit more of a vibe and nestled between two lakes. There's an 'historic' steamer on the north beach, an (uninspiring) arts centre and some great restaurants but the best bit is the drive up the eastern side through the arty winelands. This is our favourite place so far: the weather was hot, the wine was yummy and the little beaches to land on and sober up were gorgeous!

Chester's a Cowboy!

Arrived back at Scott's house to pick up some camping gear. Scott all of a sudden noticed that his cows were missing! Kate stayed back home to fix up some grub whilst cowboys Chester and Scott rode bareback (well OK on a truck) down through the valley looking for cow poo on the road. Several days later they returned with 2000 cattle in tow (actually there are just 20 cows and they had just walked down a track and Scott's dog did all the hard work).

Salmon Arm 10th - 13th September

Salmon Arm is north of Vernon on Shuswap Lake - a fairly nonedescript American looking town with the main drag littered with McDonalds, Wendy's and other national drive-thru nasties. The first night we treated ourselves to a lux-u-ary (!) hotel room in a Best Western but fell asleep pretty much right away so the additional perks were wasted on us. The following night we booked ourselves into a sweet little log cabin just outside Salmon Arm where one of the campsite residents photographed a bear near their RV - eeeekkkk!!!!!


On Thursday we explored the malls of the town - which really are a "cultural delight"! Then soaked up the sun of the sandy shores of Lake Shuswap: a tranquil experience looking over the lake to Bastion Mt interrupted only by the mile long trains that pass very slowly every half an hour just metres back from the shoreline.

Friday took to some hiking trails including a short one to Margaret Falls and another longer trail along some beautiful lakeside beaches and up through pine forests with great views of the lake.

Scott and Vanessa's Farm

On Tuesday we took a walk around Scott's land and this is the heighest point, looking down on his farm. The little girl is Faith, one of Scott and Vanessa's daughters

Chester's toes get nibbled here in Mabel Lake

Hired a car and headed north on unsurfaced roads towards Salmon Arm taking a few detours on the way to check out the odd lake or two. Took a paddle at the water's edge and dozens of little fish decided Chester's feet were quite tasty! They weren't bothered about mine: I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Pictures are of Mabel Lake, where the toe-eating fish live!!!

Ian stop calling and texting us

I would like to say to everyone that Ian Wedd is bombarding us with annoying and pathetic text messages. Please Ian get over it, you had your chance to come with us and now it's too late. Paulo sends his love.

Big thanks to Ruth!

Thanks to Ruth we got upgraded to Club Class on our flight to Vancouver and were greeted with champagne and "We hear you are on a trip round the world". Great start to the holiday. Landed in a sunny and warm Vancouver - surrounded by beautiful mountains. Picked up by Scott and began our 6 hour journey to Lumby. Have spent a day looking around the immediate area - lakes and mountains abound. Hiring a car tommorow and venturing further afield and then eventually on to Banff and Jasper.

Kate's Packing Update

Kate is in a severe state of panic.