This morning we went to see the high waterfall nearby, Shannon Falls. It is quite close to the car park fortunately and so we didn’t have to walk miles. We walked up the steps and path by the side of it and although I was puffed out, I was pleased I’d made the effort. There were huge old fir trees growing all around, the pine smelt wonderful 

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We then set off up the route 99 towards Whistler. Whistler was the furthest we travelled to 17 years ago and we wanted to revisit. What a disappointment. The 2010 Paralympics had taken place there and the whole town was transformed into a huge ski resort, totally unrecognisable from the picturesque place we’d visited! It was a huge commercial shopping town with restaurants bars and gift shops.

We were on a mission then, we wanted to find the genuine old  Canadian outpost town. So we travelled another 20 miles to Pemberton. This was lovely , it had a small station and local artisan stores. It was in a wide fertile valley stretching towards the mountains away from route 99. Of course we had to explore this road. There were farms with cattle, horses, crops, vegetables and even a farm growing hops. A beautiful river Ryan River flowed along through the valley. We could both live the rest of our lives here we said. We should have emigrated to Canada when Matthew and Alex were toddlers…. It’s a beautiful country. 

   On the way back we stopped at view points and learnt about the First Nations beliefs about the area of Squamish.

Tomorrow we get on the ferry to Victoria Island it’s a 2 hour crossing and we plan to get there early.

We are treating ourselves to dinner tonight. Were being careful with our money as we are retired now hee hee

We have brought the sunny weather with us it is unusually hot this week and 31c today. Xxxx