Day: July 8, 2012

I thought of going to see great grandfather’s home town/grave in Cranbrook – but this would have added about 150 miles to today’s ride which would have made it a very long day. So I didn’t.

I rode on my own today – and it was nice just to focus on your own thoughts, where you want to stop and go and the speed you want to ride at. All in all a very pleasant days riding.

I like Alberta which at 255,290 sq miles (661,190 km²) to England’s (50,346 sq miles (130,395 km²) is five times the size of England – and we’ve ridden the length of it! Today, once out of the bustling tourist Area of Banff and slightly away from the Rockies (which constantly framed my view as I was riding down their east side in a southerly direction)., I rode through miles and miles of beautiful green, lush prairie with a sprinkling of ‘ranches’ and a lot of ‘steers’. To top it all the sky was blue and the temperature slowly rose to 30c.

The motel I’m in is ‘60s style but well kept and it’s in a beautiful spot just touching the Rockies with a massive lake. It’s in a National park which needless to say is very busy with tourists – but I can live with that. The American border is close by and tomorrow we go into Minnesota.

I should add that I’m going off Americans and Canadians – they keep talking to you regardless of what you’re doing or who you’re talking to, “Hi, where you from; where you going” and so on and so on. Constantly!

Yesterday we enjoyed a great ride along the Canadian Rockies, stopping at a glacier and then getting to Banff (a major ski resort in winter) by mid afternoon. As I rode I couldn’t but help compare the ride to those I’ve done in the Alps. Riding the Alps is a far more dramatic experience, the roads go through and over the mountains (often very twisty) which seem crammed quite tightly together. In the Rockies the road just meanders through the mountains’ valleys (usually next to a river) and the mountains seem more spaced out. Indeed I guess that sums Canada up.

The glacier was interesting, but I which I’d done the guided tour which a couple who rode on their own did. My group all walked to the bottom of the glacier and ogled its very dirty ice and the markers that showed how much it had receded since 1845. The other two caught a coach to the top of the glacier and then descended along it in a sort of ski lift before being dropped off to walk on it.

The hotel in Banff is good and I had a very nice evening yesterday eating, drinking and talking with about five others on subjects that weren’t motorbike focussed – which was a very pleasant change.

I might ride by myself today as there’s about 200 miles to go to our next destination, in Waterton National Park, and some will want to go the difficult way but I’ve decided to go the straight forward way as driving on a main road isn’t like driving on an English motorway where the authorities that be have made sure you can’t see any scenery and your part of one giant slow moving traffic chicane. Over here (remote under populated Canada) I have seen few motorways and there aren’t many cars about plus you’re usually directed through stunning countryside.