Day 5 April 24 Kamloops to Banff



osprey & chick on nest

Another clear, bright sunny

calm,still lake

but early day dawned for us.  Our alarm went at 0500 as we were due to be picked up from the hotel at 0645.  As dawn arrived the weather looked perfect with no wind but slightly cooler than average UK weather.  We were soon on the way and it was not long before we were out amongst the 

mountains from train

beautiful, dramatic scenery and shortly our delicious breakfast was served.  As the

part of the original track - now replaced

morning went on and we travelled towards the heart of the Rockies it was apparent that this would be a day of mountains, lakes and rivers in remarkable natural settings.  The photos do not do justice to what we witnessed but I hope they give a sense of our journey which I would recommend to 

frozen lake, beginning to thaw

anyone.  The railway line (and now the roads) followed by the side of 

mountains beyond frozen lake

rivers as we gradually increased our altitude.  There were lakes, settlements and mountain ranges continuously along our route which made for good viewing from the observer carriage.  More snow appeared as we went on and eventually it was lying by the tracks but we were still travelling in glorious sunshine with hardly a cloud.


"castle" mountain

Eventually, after going through a couple of spiral 

another lovely lake

tunnels, we came to the continental divide and we started going downhill with the rivers flowing in the same direction as us.

I will add more photos of mountains to give further tasters. After more food we arrived at Banff station and were transferred to Banff Fairmont hotel which looks rather splendid and hopefully I will show it in tomorrow's blog.  We left the Rocky Mountaineer for now and were tired when we arrived about 1900 and after sorting ourselves out and having a coffee, I found I could not get onto the wifi and so will have to post this tomorrow.