Day 32, August 7th, 54.18km and 509m climb, Marble Canyon campsite to Banff.
We had a little sleep in this morning! Out of bed around 7am rather than 6 which was nice. My Nemo air mattress has sprung a slow leak so a wee job for us to sort in Banff.
First stop this morning was Marble Canyon itself, a deep ravine with a river running through it. Quite spectacular although I wouldn't want to fall in!
From here we climbed up just over 5km stopping regularly to view a number of different sights including the Stanley Glacier. We then crossed the Continental Divide for the first time. It was weird to think the rivers now flow to the Atlantic Ocean not the Pacific!
After a quick lunch we dropped down quickly to join the Bow Valley Parkway. This road wound its way past numerous observation points and had more road cyclists on it than I've ever seen. Must be the Sunday loop we think.
After over a month traversing British Columbia predominantly off road, we still haven't seen a bear, a moose or an elk. Not that we're particularly worried about this, it just seems a little strange! No doubt our time will come!
We arrived into Banff and immediately felt overwhelmed by the traffic, number of people and general busyness of the place. We have a couple of days here. Tomorrow we are taking a bus tour up to Lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway. We are looking forward to being driven around for a day!
We have three nights booked at the Banff International Hostel. Banff is not the cheapest place around but you have to hand it to the scenery, it is spectacular.
We are both tired after 7 days on the road without a break. During this time we have ridden 370.5km and climbed 4773m. Our legs are ready for a rest before we start the next leg of the journey heading south.
To date we have ridden 1378km, climbed 13,172m, ridden 26 days and had 6 rest days.
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I have just caught up on your great blog. Very good bedtime reading, I'm exhausted just reading about your adventures. You must be super super fit by now!
Outstanding, the photos are great. Stunning scenery and you’re fully integrated with it, being on the bikes.
Enjoy.