Almost there

Having watched the sun setting over Goose Bay in Labrador, we have now made it as far as the transit lounge in Terminal 2 at Heathrow waiting for our flight home to Shannon. Our overnight flight from Toronto was as good as can be expected – the breakfast bacon and egg muffin was a particular treat.

Having flown in all the large long haul aircraft over a good number of years, the upper deck of a 747-400 is definitely my favourite place to sit. I have decided that I will try to avoid the A380 if I can, because there are just too many people.

I still do not understand why airport designers and operators are unable to devise a boarding layout which avoids the usual scrum at the boarding gate. We have had the same experience in terminals 3 and 5 at Heathrow as we have had in Schiphol, Toronto, and Cape Town to name just a few. I think they could probably learn some lessons from Ryanair and the set up at Gatwick South terminal.

Our Canadian trip has been very enjoyable and has helped us avoid a fairly wet June at home. We have also avoided most of the fuss leading up to the EU referendum in the UK although we will probably be dealing with the consequences for a few years to come. It beggars belief that David Cameron and his advisors could have got their campaign so wrong. From everything I have read since the result was announced it seems clear that it was not so much a win for the leave campaign as an outright loss by the Remain team.

Braeden's decision to support Iceland at Euro 2016 was obviously justified - pity he didn't put some money on them as well - there must have been a good profit to have been made. So Ireland, N. Ireland and England have all gone home and left Wales to carry the flag - all par for the course I guess.

Looking forward to getting home - Thanks again to Andi & Stan and Jim and Suzanne and everyone else along the way who helped us have such a good time.

Another airport - another glass of fizz!

Sitting at Toronto Pearson waiting to board our BA flight home after a great stay with Jim and Suzanne in Mississauga. The sun shone for most of the time and we enjoyed having time to sit by or in the pool and catch up on all the news while sharing a glass or two.

Our Canadian trip has been a great adventure - some amazing sights in the Rockies, very drinkable wines in the Okanagan and two family visits as well.

However it is time to get back to Moyhill to see if the tomatoes and the other veg have ripened. There should be some new potatoes ready to pull and perhaps even a courgette or two. As a result of the warm wet weather there should be enough grass on the paddock to keep the ponies fed for a month or two and to keep me busy with the lawnmower for a few days.

Kingston

A weekend trip to Kingston Ontario to see Kaitlyn gave us a chance to see the town and enjoy the farmers market along with an ice cream and a few of the local ales.

We had a good dinner at Olivea, and checked out the local nightlife but decided to retire early and prepare for a bit of sightseeing after we had breakfast at Morrison's.

We caught the traffic on the way home but were still able to get in the pool before the sun went down.

 

5 star all-inclusive Resort

As soon as we arrived from the airport we were changed and out by the pool with a cooling libation and a chance to catch up on all the news with Jim and Suzanne.

with three days of hot sunny weather ahead of us, we settled into life by the pool - even having to search out the shade when the temperature got above 30C

Of course the garden maintenance takes a bit of time but even the gardener seemed quite chilled!

Our last stop

Leaving the Rockies behind as we headed for Calgary and our WestJet flight to Toronto, the sun shone and the temperature climbed back into the low 20's.

The hosts at our B&B in Calgary must have thought that we had come from a different planet in the way that they compulsively explained every aspect of their very comfortable home - from how to uncover the hot tub, to how to check the water temperature before entering the shower.

After Terri's 'gourmet breakfast' of cheese pancakes with fruit compote on Thursday morning, we made it safely to the airport and an uneventful journey to Toronto where Jim was waiting to collect us in the new Audi Q5 which has replaced the BMW - the pressures of small children growing into full sized adults.

Didn't immediately recognise the flags which were flying from the car windows but then realised that Braeden - as ever standing up for the underdog - had decided to support Iceland in Euro 2016.

Icefields

While our choice of Field as a base for our stay in the Rockies may have been more luck than judgement, it has proved to the ideal place. We are away from the hordes of tourists in places like Lake Louise and Banff but still within easy access to all the main attractions.

This morning we decided to check out the Alberta Icefields and heading up Highway 93 towards Jasper, we stopped off at the Icefields Centre at the Columbia Icefield - about 130km from Lake Louise.

We had read that it was a popular destination but figured that it was a good point to get information from the Parks Canada staff and after 2 hours on the road also a good coffee stop.

Luckily the 'cash only' coffee bar didn't appeal to the coach parties who had left their Calgary hotels at 6.15 am and were looking for something more substantial. With the exception of the Parks Canada Information desk and basement gallery the place felt more like a cross channel ferry terminal on a bank holiday weekend - a temple of Mammon with only one god - Brewster Travel.

Thankfully we were able to get a good view of the Icefields and make a plan for a couple of stops on our way south.

 Along the way we came upon a Black Bear ambling along the roadside trying to get away from the traffic jam that had stopped to photograph him, and continued first to the Waterfowl lakes

and then  to the Bow Summit - 2135m above sea level - and the Peyto Lake.

where it wasn't as warm as it looked - a cool breeze blowing across all those icefields made Linda very grateful for her new jacket.

While we have seen lots of mountains, lakes and snowfields over the last few days, like trains for me and RVs for Linda (more on this later) you can never get enough of them, this was our last view before we headed home after another great day in the Rockies.

Wines from British Columbia

With a few days of self-catering ahead of us, we picked up a bottle or two as we were transported round the Okanagan Falls wineries last week. Since we are just about to consign the last empty bottle to the recycling bin, there are a few of them which are worth mention if any of you are travelling in this part of the world - probably outside Jimmy C's budget but not all of us are .......

The Drier Riesling from Syncromesh wineries was one of Linda's favourites - they had an eclectic selection of single vineyard Rieslings which were all interesting but we settled for the Drier because it suited our taste.

Kraze Legz winery had some great wines and we enjoyed a few of their products but their 2011 All That Jazz red was a great drinking wine.

Liquidity Wines - owned by Iain MacDonald (no guesses as to his ancestry) - was a class act - both in terms of the winery and the bistro but also the art displayed in the winery. We enjoyed a couple of their wines but special mention for their 2014 Estate Chardonnay.

There are something like 300 wineries in the Okanagan Valley and we only scratched the surface in one small area - which is a very good reason to return sometime soon. However if you see BC wines on sale in your local bottle shop then give them a try - they may not be great but they are sure to be very drinkable.