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?