British Columbia Canada

A Town Called Salmon 🐟

Last night I had my daily check in with Google maps, found our next destination … Revelstoke, Gateway to the Rockies… 2hour 50 from Lac Le Jeune… then came my favourite bit… finding the day’s stopover… I usually plan this to be half way..ish… and as soon as I spotted ‘A Town Called Salmon’ I zoomed in… and our next destination was right there waiting for us… Canoe Beach on (Noel Edmunds, multi coloured) Schswap Lake! It had to be 😊🛶.

After a visit en route to their new best friend, Tim Horton, 🍩 we continued to eat up the Trans Canada Highway 1… swimming an hour and half upstream to Salmon! Just five minutes off the main Highway at Salmon we followed the tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway Station – apparently one of the oldest surviving stations in BC…searching for a ‘blue tunnel under the tracks’… and just moments before I’d would have to declare my fake confidence in where we were, it appeared!

Canoe Beach was waiting expectantly for us, bathed in glorious sunshine, protected by the fortress that is Mount Bastion. Perfect! The Girl Who Never Knows Where She Is had pulled it out of the bag again – even if I do say so myself! 😉

The paddle board was inflating before we could say Schswap Lake, towels out and a few hours of glorious beach time lay ahead of us! Swimming, paddle boarding, beach volleyball and ice cream (with the usual sprinkling of bickering!) 😂😂

Jack swimming and Tom paddle boarding

Callum set himself the challenge of swimming out to a distant pontoon and Jack and Tom paddled to it… All three so at home in her crystal waters!

Not so sure the boys would have been quite so confident leaping off their boards if they’d known that, at its deepest the lake is 161 m deep! With over 1000km’s of shoreline it was rather appropriate that I found a little corner whose name means ‘lost’ from the Shuswap First Nations people!

Once everyone was settled in I went for my usual explore… rocky shores, rickety cabins and beautiful boats…

Sufficiently toasted we got our sandy selves back on the road… trunks drying on the dashboard and atop the cases in the boot/trunk! We were soon blessed with our first view of the Rockies… standing tall, just as I remembered them… snow capped and enticing!

Then, as quickly as they appeared, they vanished… hidden behind a closer mountain. 😢🏔

We arrived safely in Revelstoke and checked into our motel … The Revelstoke Gateway Inn..A well positioned hotel, great WiFi, a very dodgy looking hot tub but welcoming Chinese hosts who arrange your towels in fanned out birds, provide Jade soap and grow orchids in every patch of dirt possible!

As the sun was still shining and there was light left in the day I managed to persuade the crew to visit the Revelstoke Mountain Resort, just a 10 minute drive to the east of town.

Dinner at Rockfords and then a gondola ride up to The Mountain Pipe Rollercoaster down Revelstoke Mountain! Callum and Tom snuck into their own gondola 🚠 before I’d even managed to get through the first turnstile and were off!

Earlier in the day two bears had been on the tracks but we weren’t quite lucky enough to see them!

Crazy fun! Now… where are our beds???? 💤💤🍁🍁🇨🇦

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Sacha Brakenbury

As mum to three sons (and auntie to ten!) Sacha is kept busy trying to keep the kids alive, safe, fed and watered. Having specialised in Child Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Reading, Sacha went on to complete her Postgraduate Certificate in Education before taking up her first teaching post as Head of Boys Sport and Year 6 teacher. After 6 years, Sacha was fortunate enough to awarded a travelling fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, enabling her to undertake an extensive research project overseas. Sacha has worked with some of the world's top professional sports and educational institutions across Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand - researching ways of engaging young people through the medium of sport and in particular how this can help to reduce drug use and gang membership. After returning to the UK Sacha became Education Director at Ipswich Town Football Club, leading in the government's 'Playing for Success' scheme. She went on to establish three highly respected Study Centres back in the East of England, each of which used sport as a means of motivating children and young people. After successfully completing her National Professional Qualification for Headship in Cambridge, Sacha went on to study for her Masters Degree in Education. With the arrival of her three sons, Sacha decided it was time to 'go it alone.' She set up her own business consultancy, supporting a range of charities and organisations across the UK. Securing funds in excess of £2 million pounds, Sacha was able to 'give wings' to a wide range of charitable causes close to her heart. She continues this today with work specifically for Child First Trust. It was her own kids that were the inspiration behind her establishing Learning Academies (www.learningacademies.co.uk) - a tutoring company that has the simple mission to motivate and encourage its students to become confident and assertive learners who are not afraid to 'take risks' and challenge themselves. As a passionate photographer, Sacha is never more at home than when she's travelling, camera in hand, boys in tow. As a qualified medic with the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, she is able to combine her love the outdoors with her passion for wild animals.

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