We’d stopped briefly at the station for Lake Louise when we were on the Rocky Mountaineer, which seems like months ago now, so eventful have our subsequent days been. Now we’re back to explore it. Husband’s snotty ailment, Covid or not, has subsided to a degree that he’s feeling substantially better- no doubt aided by the excellent bakery products from Laggans- a happy discovery.

It’s time to leave the Post Hotel and go back to Banff for our last couple of nights. But first we’ll go and look at the lake, of course, because that’s why we’re here. Finding it becomes a little confusing though, in spite of our being right in the heart of Lake Louise, the community. Once we’re on the the right track we must negotiate the car parks; and they’re busy. On first sight it looks impossible, but by driving round and up we’re directed to a campervan and motorhome area and we do get a space. It’s all quite regimented and organised. Having bought our ticket, we walk down towards the lakeside. It’s sunny but quite chilly. The weather has been becoming much cooler since we arrived to Vancouver three weeks ago [was it only three weeks?] and layered clothing is necessary.

At the lakeside there are crowds of visitors, so many that here at the start of the path it’s impossible to see or take a photo without someone in it. Most are intent on selfies- the scourge of our age. I’ve written before about the hordes of tourists who love to pout, thrust and drape themselves over iconic sights so that nobody else gets a look, and so it is here. The lakeside beach is covered in stones and small boulders and when I see selfie-takers stumbling over them or balancing precariously for a photo, it is my greatest hope that they’ll tumble into the [undoubtedly freezing], blue waters of the lake. But it doesn’t happen.

We walk on round, past the lake chateau, now yet another Fairmont hotel, although it is vast and picturesque in its setting. The further we go, the thinner the crowd becomes until we’re able to walk unimpeded, the view back towards the Lake Louise Chateau is even better and photography is an option.

Finally we turn back, and back to the van, where we take advantage of the parking spot and have some lunch. From here, it’s not too far to journey on back to Banff for our third and final visit, returning to Tunnel Mountain campsite for our last couple of days. The last day or two of an epic trip place you in a strange limbo. The weather has become decidedly autumnal, the nights cold and the mornings chilly. We’re unwilling to get more groceries in at this stage, instead opting to eke out what we have. But it’s two nights- and what we have does not lend itself to two meals. We also have a number of items we’ve bought to augment the kitchen ‘kit’ we’d hired [which had been lacking several, vital components]. I’m not going to be donating them to the van hire company!

While we’ve had two good looks at Banff already, we decide to spend a bit more time there rather than on the site, and take the shuttle bus to town for our last day. There’s very little left to see, but there’s a pretty park, where the trees are showing some lovely autumn colour and a few streets we hadn’t walked before. After a late afternoon beer we decide to call it a day.

We still have to clean and sort the campervan. There’s a ‘housekeeping’ charge for vans returned in a grubby condition, although I’d have cleaned it anyway. My solution to the surplus items- including the unused bear-spray- is to take everything to the camp kitchen/washing up place and invite others to take what they would like.

A short wander around the environs of the site has revealed a lucky find in the shape of a hostel with a small restaurant offering an evening meal menu as well as beers, meaning that our last evening is catered for.

All that’s left to do is to get the van back to the depot in Calgary tomorrow before midday…

To find novels by Jane Deans, Grace’s alter ego, search Amazon, Waterstones, Goodreads and other book sites. The Year of Familiar Strangers and The Conways at Earthsend are widely available. Visit my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063988575981