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Leaving the Island. There were grey seals on the rocks outside
the harbour and bald eagles overhead.
We are heading home, sort of....
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The mountains loom up as we drive into the interior of British
Columbia. We are following a winding road, north of the border
with the US.
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We are entering Hope, a small town.
I was rather hoping for an "Abandon Hope..."
sign on the way out of town but I guess they had heard ALL
the Hope jokes.
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Further inland we are driving along the valley.
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And up mountains with hairpin bends that make passengers want
to close their eyes!
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This is a very pretty town, which shall be nameless, see below,
with a lake, in a very dry area. We didn't stop as the town was
full of tourists.
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Some of the locals seem to feel the same way about crowds of
tourists.
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As well as the hairpin bends, and the several hundred foot drops,
there are also avalanche and falling rock signs all over the place.
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There is a lot of road and railway inspection that goes on every
day in mountainous areas of Canada.
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All across the mountains we have been seeing these road
closure arms, similar to the sort of thing used for railway
crossings. They are used for rock falls, avalanches and
accidents.
At the bottom of this picture you can see the parking lot,
as far as possible from the rock face on the left. You might
be there for a while.
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This is another rock fall precaution. There may be wire mesh
curtains, stakes, mesh fences or, in this case, a wooden fence
to keep debris off the road.
Most of the mountain roads have been blasted out of the side
of the slope.
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This is a rock slide that took place about thirty years ago and
carried away a car and the passengers. The photograph has been
taken from a mile away. The little green dots on the mountain
side are full height trees.
The road was rebuilt further from the base of the slope
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We are staying overnight in Princeton, a valley community that
we like very much.
Chinese Smorgasbord for supper, an expression that is special
to Canada.
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Yesterday
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Tomorrow
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