More mountains on a clear day.

It was a frosty morning, still -1C when we crawled out of the tent at 7.30 but not a cloud in the sky. The water for tea took extra long to boil this morning. Hot porridge was defiantly required.

We took our time with breakfast and packing up hoping the tents would dry. They were dry on the outside but dripping with condensation inside. Still wet at 10 am we gave up and packed them wet.

It is only 81 km today so we could take our time to see everything there was to be seen. However there was either nothing to see or there was some apathy towards more mountains, lakes and waterfalls. Probably the latter. We have been royally spoilt over the last few days.

We had heard a lot about Banff and so we stopped for a wander around town. It is a town built for tourists with wall to wall tourist traps, but built in awesome surroundings. It is a small, flat area surrounded by huge mountains. Very picturesque and pretty but that’s the best I can say about Banff.

In a shopping mall there was a lot of history of the mountain guides and Olympic skiing.

The price for accommodation in Banff was way out of our price range at this time of year and now that we have seen it, it is easy to understand. All the accommodation is very up market, even the hostel.

Nearly every shop was looking for staff. The problem is so dire that many shops include accommodation as part of the package. Great deal if you are young and single.

Our place for the next two nights is just outside Canmore, about 25 km past Banff. Apparently many workers and business owners in Banff live in Canmore and you can feel that this town has community, totally lacking in Banff. Again it is a cute town surrounded by mountains.

Our accommodation in Canmore. Fortunately there is a strip of grass at the back of the townhouses where we could pitch the tents to dry. Tomorrow we explore.