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Banff is yet another lovely small skiing resort. The buildings are all well cared for and its obvious the locals take care of their community, which is what I have found everywhere on this trip. I think I might have mentioned this before but the people here are so friendly, polite and kind, I am a fan of the Canadians that's for sure, eh..
Our last full day in Canada and we don't want to waste a minute.
Today sees our final mountain and gondola experience, heading up Sulphur Mountain. I know what you're thinking, not another Mountain, but the problem is, when you get up there and the air is so clear, the view takes your breath away and it's so peaceful, you can't help but be impressed and inspired by it all.
We caught the bus from the main street directly to the station at the foot of the mountain, ticket bought for the gondola and we had half an hour to wait for our slot. This has been the busiest gondola, there are many more people milling around, but it's organised and we are soon on our slot heading for the summit. Kate, as normal is clutching on for dear life and looking at the floor! We got to the summit to be greeted by yet another view of a lifetime. There are three mountains in this range that are particularly popular. Mount Rundle is the biggest at 3000m above sea level, Sulphur is next at 2800m and Tunnel at a mere 1700m is the baby! The natives call this mountain sleeping buffalo as they think it outlines the shape of one...
You get a 360degree walk round the cable station, but there is also the open air observation point and a further 1km walk to the Sanson Peak. This is a meteorological weather station and is a national heritage building. The temperature up there was down to 2degrees and the wind was howling round you. Kate was very scared again as the walkway was open and the drops to the side sheer! I did all the areas and while I was on the observation deck I had my photograph taken showing London is North East from here and 7112km, 4119miles home! That's quite a journey back. We saw there was a trail to walk up or down the mountain, so we decided to walk back. Kate made a huge sigh of relief, no more cable cars! The walk was lovely, plenty of others walking too. Half way down there was a tiny waterfall, trickling down, I'm sure at some point of the year it's much faster than that. At the bottom, time for coffee, then a five minute walk to Banff outdoor hot springs. The water temperature is a pleasing 40 degrees. At last, a sit down! It was so nice to slip into the water and just chill. The Sulpher smell was hardly evident at all, thank goodness! The water travels from the Rundle down to meet Sulpher and into the springs. The earths crust heats the water to the temperature and it's gorgeous... After laying for about an hour, we got out like two prunes and walked over to the prestigious Rimrock hotel. Very nice, but not a patch on my Fairmont hotels, so we took a trail down to that very hotel for a peruse. Unbelievably we yet again bumped into Scott, who is clearly staying at every Fairmont in the Rockies! It was so beautiful inside, classic elegance, with hints of the Scottish ancestry there too. Tired out, we walked back into Banff to decide what our last evening will look like. Back to the hotel to get ready and out again for food and hopefully a mojitoe or two!
Ciao for now x
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