Our Canadian Roadtrip Adventure: Nelson

We arrived in Nelson on Wednesday afternoon after a drive over from Fernie.

We had read a lot about the town beforehand and were expecting a lot from it.. It was supposed to be cool, chic, trendy, hip, vibey, relaxing, chilled and many more things besides.

First impressions however didn't, for me at least, quite live up to those expectations. As we drove over the orange iron bridge, the drive towards the town was nothing special at all ; a supermarket, a couple of petrol (gas) stations, a number of business and industrial units and certainly nothing to suggest anything other than just another Canadian township.

We parked up outside the Hume hotel and took a wander inside to check in. What a glorious place, full of charm, full of history, tasteful decor and really pleasant people working there who could not do enough for you. We ate there at least once a day, usually for breakfast but also had one evening meal there which was sort of good pub grub, and Fin and Karen had afternoon cakes there once or twice while I was busy either getting my ski boots fixed or out skiing cat style. So I never got to experience the yummy cheesecake.

Anyway, after checking in to the hotel we went for a wander around town to get a feel for the place and to find it's sweet spot. We didn't find it, we didn't get it, it just wasn't there. Maybe it was us, maybe it was the fact it was a damp Wednesday afternoon, maybe this maybe that, but we just couldn't see what all the fuss was about. We needed to get to a good ski boot fitter to do some magic with both mine and Karen's boots and ended up at a store called Gericks where this guy Charles helped us both out He sorted Karen's boots by stretching her troublesome boot and he sorted me out by giving me a brand new pair of Full Tilts. Well, OK, he didn't strictly give them to me, I had to give him some money in exchange, but all the same he was a really nice chap and couldn't have been more helpful if he tried.

And I think that's when it struck my why and how this place is special. People here don't try, they just "do". Everything just ticks, tocks. Ticks, then tocks. Life is slower here, but not sedate. It's just an active community of around 10,000 people going about their business, living life in the most beautiful of settings with the world of adventure on their doorsteps. And so over the course of the next few days we gradually got to feel at home there, starting to understand what it is that makes it so. It's not in your face and it's not false, unlike some other North American places, it is just "something" which you have to experience to get .. and you don't get that when you first drive into the place. I really came to love this place and leaving today was many days too soon.

My one and only negative is regarding the hotel and the fact there was nowhere we could go and sit and relax for a drink together ... the hotel had three "bar" areas, two of which they wouldn't allow children in (under the age of 19) even if accompanied with an adult ... this isn't the case across most of the bars in the area, in fact its the only place we have come across this stupid rule while we've been here. The only one of the three bar areas we could take Fin in to was the restaurant, which really isn't a place for relaxing and having just a drink. So, sorry Hume Hotel, you failed on this one and yes it would stop me from revisiting, despite everything else being absolutely top notch. And I'll be saying so on my trip advisor review!

Anyway, hope the photos below give a sense of the good times we had in Nelson. Fond memories.