Day 4 On the Rocky Mountaineer train to Banff

The swimming pool fell silent at around 9pm which was fortunate as we had a 5.15am wake up call to look forward too! 

After a good nights sleep we took the coach back to the train station and boarder our  train for Banff.

Todays journey would cover 310 miles, initially following the Thompson river

and the Thompson plateau

Past Shuswap lake, where the water reaches a balmy 26C in the summer.

Waving to Doris, who apparently waves at every Rocky Mountaineer train and managed to get a free ride for her efforts, as we continued through beautiful scenery

On towards the Columbia mountains

Past Kicking Horse river and ski runs

Through the lower and upper spiral tunnels, a Swiss invention which allows the train to ascend and decend safely on less of a gradient. 

Then on into the Rocky Mountains at last...

By the time we had stopped at Lake Louise and arrived in Banff, the clocks had gone forward one hour and it was 9pm.14 hours in total and probably walked only about 300 steps!

Arrived at our Airbnb for the next 4 nights, made a quick trip to the supermarket for a sandwich, then put our feet up for an hour or so before bed. A very enjoyable experience. Looking forward to exploring Banff and the surrounding area over the next few days.