Blog

Shopping this morning. Usual Brit moan about how expensive things are at home so mental note to selves…next trip out we’re bringing hand luggage only, buying clothes as we need them, & luggage to ship it all home in. Banff is a weird mix of tourist tat (100 different sizes of novelty maple syrup bottles & scary cardigans with a moose on the back) & outdoor clothing shops covering hiking & camping to snow sports & mountain biking.
We stayed out of the bike shops on purpose coz that would have made me weep… with clothing approaching half price, we just couldn’t risk finding out how cheap the bikes are (would only cost $40 excess baggage to ship home…hmmmmmm!)

Figured we should go & do something touristy, so went to the Cave & Basin. This the original hot spring that was discovered & led to the formation of Canada’s first National Park. And it stinks. Water filters down through the mountain where it picks up minerals (especially sulphur) then it heats up & escapes up into springs…you can only spend so much time down there because it reeks! The cafe was empty & its not surprising…not a place to fire the appetite that’s for sure.

Got a rare treat whilst walking around the site…some wild deer had got into the compound & were literally feet away from us…managed some snaps before the rangers came & frightened them off. Obviously they don’t want to risk us feeding them burgers & stuff, but its mainly due to their size & the fact that they will quite happily jump the fences there & send any poor tourist flying who gets in the way. These things are about 2 x the size of deer in the UK…. they even do deer better in Canada!

In the evening, took a trip out on Lake Minnewanka (pronounced Minner-wonka before the giggles start)…decent round trip finished off with a “Wildlife Tour”. Lots of Lonhorn sheep, but no bears….boooo! The Banff photo album is updated with some other pics…..