The Lake

Having gone to bed with just one man in our room, we awoke with another - who looked a bit crusty!!  We had breakfast in the hostel cafe, Emma having a giant bowl of porridge - enough for the 3 bears and Goldilocks, Diane had local speciality - pancakes with maple syrup. 

We drove out to Lake Louise.  First thing we saw was Chateaux Lake Louise, a monstrosity of a hotel that most definitely would not get planning permission now.  We walked up to the lake and it was indeed beautiful.  The lake is turquiose, the mountains sheer, the glaciers vast; the whole ensemble is utter natural perfection.  We decided to do a trail walk that took us up through the pine forest and took us first to a small lake called Mirror Lake.

  The trail continued upwards (always uphill!) to Lake Agnes.  The views from here over the forested valley and across to the distant peaks were breathtaking.  By the lake was a little wooden chalet style tea house (!) where we shared a pot of earl grey - apparently they don't do PG tips.  Outside we saw some wildlife - finally - a chipmunk!  After spending a little time exploring around the lake we headed back down to Lake Louise.  It now looked much more turquoise with the midday sun shining on it. 

We had decided to have tea out tonight.  The hostel has a little cafe attached to it - Bill Peyto's.  We even indulged in a bottle of wine.  Emma had one of the local delicacies - bison chilli.