14th July 2016 - Edmonton AB - Kms to date 4643

Kms today 473


We left Glacier View Inn "bright" and early as we didn't fancy the breakfast. The weather was overcast, drizzly and 4C!!!! We had everything on and I had my grip warmers on flatstick. We were warned that the surface of the road was a bit ordinary and they weren't  wrong. It was like riding on a roller-coaster. Even with the low cloud and drizzle the scenery was quite spectacular as we rode along the valley beside the Athabaska river. When I visited this place with my sister Barbara in 1984 the weather was perfect and the outlook magic. We stopped just before Jasper at the Athabaska Falls. There were more tourist buses than you could shake a big stick at but we were still able to get close and take a few photos.

Colin posing in front of the Athabaska Falls.

More of the Athabaska Falls.

We got to Jasper about 9.30am and had breakfast at a cafe the size of a broom cupboard. It was a bit trendy and the local latte set were in for their morning fix so it was pretty busy. The breakfast was orgasmic but tasted quite nice!!
The weather looked quite threatening as we left Jasper for Edmonton. Luckily our route took us away from it. Along the way we came up against a huge traffic jam a couple of times. They were caused by people stopping to take photos of Caribou and Mountain Sheep. It was quite dangerous as the traffic would stop in front of you for no apparent reason. We had lunch in Evansborough at a quaint little cafe run by a woman and her husband. She asked us to sign her visitors book, so I guess she didn't get many non local customers. The ride into Edmonton was along a straight and boring highway
 and we made good time arriving at our hotel at 4pm.

Kenneth relaxing in our room with the janitor.

Our cousin Kenneth came to the hotel and we went out for a few beers and dinner at a local restaurant that had a discount if you were staying at our hotel so we availed ourselves of it. The three of us had a good old yarn about the bad old days in Belfast. Unfortunately Ken's wife Pat couldn't make it as she was not well because of ongoing medical treatment. The weather in Edmonton was very pleasant 23C and sunny. This could be the start of  summer???