Part-way round I "jumped-off" the Moose tour and headed for Southern Alberta to visit my cousin. It also gave me the opportunity to experience driving on the "wrong" side of the road as I needed to hire a car to take me out there. (For the car people reading this it was a Chrysler PT Cruiser with air con, front & rear electric windows and central locking).

My cousin lives at Bragg Creek, a gateway to Kananaskis Country (a local recreational area) in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. My visit to him did include lots of places far too small to be included in national country guides such as Lonely Planet - Canmore (is!), Cockrane, Elbow Falls (in Kananaskis), Turner Valley, Okotoks & its "famous" Big Rock - a large morraine rock left by a glacier, that has since retreated a lot and Black Diamond - a modern-day wild west town (if you can call it town - Canada's & UK's definitions of this term are seemingly very very different). One of the nights though (probably due to the location) was one of the clearest most starlit nights that I have ever experienced in the Northern Hemisphere. I would have stayed admiring it for longer but it was too cold.

During my stay there I visited Calgary. I was treated to lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top of Calgary Tower. It cost me nearly as much to park in Calgary for the day as it does to have a room in a hostel!!!

The weather was kind - mostly sunny and usually pretty hot, though some cold and snow was also experienced.

Intro | Rocky Mountains | Southern Alberta | Toronto & Niagara | Vancouver to Banff | Vancouver | Vancouver Island | Whistler