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Welcome back to those of you who have been following our trip so far. Thank you to everyone who has commented - glad you are enjoying reading what we have been up to and looking at the photos. Even though I am uploading loads of photos this is only a small selection of the thousands I have taken. One of the good things about this blog site is that you get to print a book at the end of it - all the blogs - all the photos - all the comments are included etc etc - that's Shell's Christmas present sorted !!. We have just arrived in Canmore, close to Banff, having left British Columbia and now in Alberta. We confirmed with the Tourism Info folk in Golden that the construction work is still going on just out of Golden on Highway 1 and delays could be 1-3 hours so stuck with our decision to take the long way round to Canmore via Radium Hot Springs. We left Golden this morning and drove non-stop - mainly because there is really nothing along the stretch of road to Radium and (shock horror!!) it's pretty boring - mainly farmland, ranches, river and railtrack. We got to Radium Hot Springs, headed straight for the Tourist Info, bought our National Park Pass, went to the supermarket to stock up our cool-bag with picnic stuff and headed off with our trunks and towels to the "Largest Hot Spring Pool in Canada" which as the name suggests is ever so slightly radioactive, due to small traces of Radon, as well as lots of other minerals. Radium Hot Springs consists of two outdoor pools - one at a constant 39 degrees (thats HOT HOT HOT !!) and one at a more manageable 29 degrees - each sit next to each other in a steep valley. With the sunshine out it was great just to boil slowly until done !! . We then set off through the Kootenay National Park towards Banff and our next destination. As I said in my last blog the views in recent days have gone a bit hazy - today was worse - and the fantastic views of the mountains is getting less and less clear. (On the Calgary news this evening we heard that the poor air quality in Alberta is being caused by BC forest fires). This didn't prevent us from continuing to be awestruck by the scenery. We stopped for a great picnic lunch next to the Kootenay River - we actually braved a walk away from the car to the great outdoors - sitting down I swear the four of us were all looking in four opposing directions on the lookout for bears - Clara was convinced one was going to jump out of the woods behind us once it smelled the Blueberry Strudel - yesterday we learnt that Grizzlies like Blueberries so perhaps not a great choice !!. We survived (or did we - see video). Onwards we headed, stopping at Marble Canyon - some great pictures of emerald blue waters cutting through the rocks, and then at the Great Continental Divide - the watershed between Pacific and Atlantic. And so into Alberta. At our next stop we met Thomas and his Girlfriend. They'd been hiking for 2 days had got back to their car and it wouldn't start. Did we have a number for the AMA (breakdown) - NO , did we have a phone signal - NO ...we then gallantly suggested we take could one of them to Banff and so we had a pleasant 30 mins hearing about the trails, local geology, wildlife from Thomas - born in Southampton but lived in Victoria most of his life, now working in Field - taking people on hikes for a living. After saying goodbye to Thomas in Banff we quickly got to Canmore. Another ex-pat met us at the hotel - "King Neil" from Leicester - who immediately gave us a restaurant recommendation and said "Ask the waitress to tell Wendy that King Neil sent you and you will be well looked after". Maybe tomorrow. King Neil also gave us a heap of tips about driving around Canmore to see Moose and which roads to head off on up to Lake Louise to see Grizzlies. Let's see what tomorrow brings !!!
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