Canada - Whistler and Revelstoke

After saying goodbye to the "Big Four" National Parks we headed East, along the still scenic Trans-Canada Highway. First stop was Revelstoke, famed for its flower meadows that spring up in the summer months... We went a bit mad with flower photos here, but they were just beautiful and so many different colours and I wanted plenty to show my Mum!!

Some of the best flowers were actually found by the road on the way up the hill to the meadows! 

The cute little fire tower that sits on the top of Mount Revelstoke

Feel like I should have been skipping?!

Finally a well-earned breakfast after all that flower photography! 

Lunch and a swim further along the Highway...

One of many amazing motels along the route, unfortunately we didn't stay here but I loved the turrets! 

Cooling off in Cache Creek - a stop for a healthy dinner of Coke and Ice Cream :-) 

It didn't last long! 

The dusty open roads just keep on coming...

The Highway eventually took us into Whistler. I assumed this would be another faceless crowded ski town, but I was pleasantly surprised! It was actually really pretty, with flowers everywhere and little rivers and fountains everywhere and immaculately kept. It was pedestrianised for the most part too, meaning it was actually a really nice place to wander around! Whistler in the summer is renowned for its mountain biking, with the ski lifts open to bikers wanting steep gnarly downhill. Steep and gnarly isn't really my thing so we stayed safely in the town, but it was fun to watch and try and get some gnarly photos instead!

The squeaky clean and pretty Olympic Village at Whistler 

The cheesy but obligatory ring photo! 

Ali tries his hand at extreme sport photography... Not a bad result! Note me on the balcony below trying to signal the approach of the bikers! 

Yes, that really is a knitted lampost cover! 

The impressive Brandywine Falls - it literally appears from no-where, the river above is fairly flat, calm and innocuous 

Canada - Trainspotting!

I never thought I'd be including trainspotting on a holiday itinerary, let alone a honeymoon(!), but the stunning scenery and incredible situations of the Canadian Railroads are a world away from my usual train experiences at Reading Station! The stories behind the railroads in the Rockies are pretty fascinating too, from the initial exploration to the engineering feats required to navigate through the huge mountains! Here are a few train snaps from all over the  Rockies - not a grey anorak and weak lemon drink in sight!

A huge freight train leaving Banff... 

The quintessential Rockies scene... 

The trains are LONG!!!! I failed miserably to count the cars/carriages, I lost concentration after about 50!

Jasper Train Station, where the famous "Rocky Mountaineer" had just pulled in

The viewing car of the Rocky Mountaineer, complete with glazed roof! 

The incredible spiral tunnels, built so trains can get down the hill safely. However, the trains are so long they can be seen emerging from one tunnel before they've entered the other (this is all one long train spiralling inside the mountain and back out again!). Quite a spectacle.

The rusty ruins of an abandoned runaway train - the slightly disappointing endpoint of a railway history trail...

But the trail took us across the live line, where we saw this beast! Note the three locomotives and a chap at the front telling me to watch out....

Because another train was coming in the opposite direction... oops!

Canada - Yoho

Yoho is the smallest of the "Big Four" National Parks but still packed with spectacular scenery. Our main objective here was hiking around Lake O'Hara, an "alpine circuit" which our guidebook raved about, rating it as one of the most beautiful hikes in the Rockies, with exposed paths cut into the rock cirques above the lake and constant views... So it would have been rude not to do it! However, access to the lake (via a 12 km track) is strictly controlled, with only 40 bus places per day which book out 3 months in advance (within an hour of each day's release!). However, there are no restrictions on people walking in, so it was up at 4 am to slog up the forest road! 

It was still very early as we hit the lake and began the climb up...

Slogging up to the Wiwaxy Gap, an exposed col with excellent views and lots of marmots!

The Huber Ledges, an exposed path cut into the rock cirque above the lake

The icy cold Lake Oesa (2300m)

Heading around to the Yukness Ledges 

The lake becomes a more and more vivid blue as the sun climbs

Cool paths! 

Back down to the lake after completing the high "alpine circuit"

Crystal clear waters and looking back to where we'd just walked 

A final few shots of the beautiful lake before getting the bus back down... oops did I just admit we took the bus?!

Natural Rock Arch...

The banks of which served as a pretty cool picnic spot... 

The pretty little boat house at Emerald Lake 

A pleasant stroll around the lake, it was very photogenic!

Next stop was another "must do" from our guidebook - the Iceline Summit Trail, billed as another "outstanding" hike amongst glacial moraine, lakes and glaciers... Again our trusty guidebook did not let us down!

We started early to beat the crowds and heat, not seeing another soul all the way to the summit 

One for the geologists - glacially scoured limestone slabs...

More textbook geological formations... wavy Lasagne layers...

The view from the summit

The miracle of nature - how on earth do flowers survive up here?

Takakkaw Falls and its glacial source in the background 

White water rafters launching into the river - looked pretty scary to me! 

You can just about see the different colours meeting, the grey is beating the blue at the moment though!

Our final trip here was to the Hoodoos, some strange rock formations perched on the side of a steep valley...

Freaky hoodoo rock formations... What are they? That's my confused and pensive pose...

Why are the boulders on the top?

The burnt out trees on the path up added to the weird  X-files feel to the place!