When you start a big trip like this one it is incredibly difficult to know if all your plans have been enough and if its all going to work out, if you did enough planning, read enough books and saved enough money but at the same time didn’t over plan and spoil the trip. Before I left Ottawa I began to worry that I was cramming far too many stops into this tiny short month and that instead of seeing everything I would see nothing. I can safely say I think we did pretty well.
Travelling buy train is a perfect way to see and understand the vastness and diversity of this country. We started on the damp and cloudy east coast where we smelt the salty tang of the fresh Atlantic air. Then before we knew it we were in French speaking Quebec surrounded buy good food and winding streets. Then onto the big city of super-urban Toronto with its baseball and skyscrapers. Except these places weren’t reached in the blink of and eye and the roar of a jet engine but by the slow craw of a train snaking across the landscape. The feeling of travel that a train gives you and the way you can watch the landscape develop is where the magic of train travel lies for me.
After Toronto came the slow crawl across the never ending flat expanse that is the Prairie Provinces. We passed mile after mile of nothing, nothing that stretched out so far you can see the curve of the earth’s surface on the horizon. This incredible monotony only broken by the odd deserted road winding gently beside the train tracks and the odd blip on the horizon that grain elevators allow. Of course we have stopped in many of the prairie cities and one thing is for sure they are strange places, like islands in this vast sea of emptiness. Each of these had there one special charm, Saskatoon with is beautiful river and slightly insane shop assistants, Edmonton with the worlds largest mall and Calgary with its surprisingly good shopping and tantalising glimpse of the Rocky Mountains. Only Winnipeg was a disappointment to me because although the deserted and derelict industrial areas had a certain sad charm to them, it was essentially a dirty, run down and poor city which I ultimately found depressing.
So when we finally boarded the train to the city of Jasper deep in the Rocky Mountains I couldn’t wait for the change of scenery. It is a spectacular sight to see the huge snow covered mountains rise over the horizon until they seam impossibly vast. They also bring a huge sense of relief as you leave the intense flatness and are suddenly bombarded with everything, trees and lakes and elk and eagles and even a couple of black bears! The Rockies are beautiful a snowy wonderland of awe inspiring views, lush forest and crisp fresh air. I love the Rockies because of the beauty and freedom of them but I also can’t wait to board that train again and move on because that’s the draw of the railway, that need to board that train again to watch more of this amazing country slip by the window unstill we can stumble out into our next dazzling location. Next stop Vancouver and the Pacific Ocean!
