There was a beautiful sunset last night, and we’ve loved over looking the bay with all its activity, but it was time to move onto the main event.

An ultra early morning start saw us ready to roll on the first leg of our Rocky Mountaineer trip. First impressions were great, with a super smart and modern coach, and an excellent crew. Leaving Vancouver was very slow, numerous stops for freight trains, which have priority, along with the trackside industry and urban sprawl. However the countryside soon appeared as we entered the Fraser Valley and its varied agriculture, which seemed mainly blueberries by their acreage.

We were then called to breakfast (each GoldLeaf coach having 2 sittings), which also saw our transition into a canyon, and the impressive Hells Gate. This is an extremely narrow part, with water forced thru, especially with all the snowmelt at the moment. I’ll get some pictures on the way back, as we travel this section twice and it was hard to get up and down from the table seating. The weather closed in for a while, with the clouds swirling amongst the peaks.

After Skuzzy creek and Cisco crossing the landscape dried out with numerous rock falls evident, tunnels and rock shelters protect the tracks either side of the river. It was also time for lunch….I don’t think we’re going to starve this trip ! Half the fun is meeting people and it was good to share our table with a newly married couple from the Eastern Seaboard of the States, and an English couple for breakfast.

By now we were following the Thompson River with its lunar look of different coloured rocks in the cuttings, and numerous twists and turns revealing different portions of the train, road or rail track on the other side of the river. Some of the freight trains were enormous, with diesel engines either end and the middle.

We’ve started seeing some wildlife, mainly Eagles and Ospreys, with their nests perched on power poles or bridges. After some more wine and cheese, “ just a snack” we started rolling into Kamloops, our first nightly stop. We’ve had an excellent first day, living up to all expectations, and some more.