Train 1,Toronto to Vancouver- Car115,CabinB.

It was such a relief to get on this train last night and have the chance to lie flat after sitting for 8 hours in cramped airline seats.

The fact that the car attendant had made up the bunks and that there was just enough room left in the cabin for his Lordship and I to engage in some balletic movements to do the simplest things, meant that we retired more or less immediately, but not before availing ourselves of the complimentary champagne and canapés in the observation lounge.

Finding the station at all proved an experience straight out of a comedy. The taxi driver at the airport had obviously just got off the plane from Delhi and could hardly speak English far less know the whereabouts of the main Union Station in Toronto. He even found it hard to find the correct English alphabet to put the name into his Sat Nav. However by dint of perseverance, speaking very slowly and loudly and forcing him to ask directions from other taxi drivers, we got there in the end.

This morning we raised the blinds to discover a lake outside the window, its waters still, with the mist rising above them, hovering like a loose fleece, while the birch trees fringing the edges stood bare and a stark in the early sun.

We ate breakfast as we rolled through a magical landscape of woods and water, and saw the front of the train disappearing in the distance as we rounded bends.
The bunks in the cabin have now been stowed and we have two comfortable chairs and enough room to negotiate round each other while we enjoy the views.