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So we arrived in Skagway, Alaska and the ship had actually gone back on itself from yesterdays port of Juneau.

We took the fifteen minute walk into the town of Skagway and it really did feel like the towns you grew up with from TV shows such as Bonanza and any wild west film that you can think of.

The town itself had wooden decked sidewalks with wooden verandahs over and the posts that you would expect to tie your trusty horse to and walk into the nearest saloon bar through the swing doors. This is Yukon gold country and Skagway was the place that all the gold rush pioneers would have headed to for some rest and respite. The town was originally full of showbars and saloons and houses of

ill repute but these had all now been replaced by tourist tat shops selling more of the same of what we had seen in every town since arriving in Alaska. We really did feel like we should have spurs on our cowboy boots and levis with suede chaps over them, this is indian country.

After a full walk around the town (it did not take that long as the town is really only two streets and the real town must be somewhere over the canyon that Skagway sits in as there was not a supermarket or McDonalds to be seen!) we headed off for coffee and sandwiches as we were due to board the White Pass Summit train at 1245.

This train that was made up of old wooden rolling stock but the once steam powered engine had been replaced by a sturdy diesel number which was to take us 3000 feet above Skagway and actually cross the boarder out of Alaska and the USA and into British Columbia Canada.

The train line had been built following the need to get supplies into Skagway at the time of the gold rush era. Prior to the rail line being in place the journey was perilous over snow covered mountains and wild rivers that have still not been safely navigated today. Many people and horse carriage trains perished on the Yukon Trail as it is called so the railways became a real need. Vast wealths were being mined in gold from all the surrounding hills and mountains of Skagway and they needed a way to get it all out. The railway finally opened in 1898.

I think even us English folk have all heard of the great Klondike gold rush well this is where it all took place.

The journey itself took around and hour and a half to reach the summit and it stuck to a path just wide enough for the train that was cut through the rain forests of pine trees and blasted through granite mountains. If we were being honest the first forty minutes of the journey did not reveal much of the country side that we were travelling through as the path way so narrow. We were literally just off the surface of the rock face on one side of the train and on the other you could almost touch the trees.

As the train climbed we crossed fantastic engineering feats, wooden bridges that rose up from the valley floors still carrying the train today in the age of iron and steel. These gave spectacular views into the largest Fjord in Alaska. A Fjord is created by a glacier that has completely melted away and it was this fjord that these wooden bridges needed to cross.

The one thing that you did get a real sense of on the train was the density of the surrounding pine forests. They were so thick with vegetation that I am sure that you would think that it was night time if you were in the middle of the wood. With all the trees reaching up to the sunlight the forrest floors all looked so dark and foreboding..

Higher and higher went the train and now snow was all around us. Its actually quite odd as it was the most beautiful sunny day here and the grasses were full of dandelions (apparently the bears love to eat them) but here was the snow. As we crossed into Canada and reached the summit we were faced with a frozen lake on either side of the train tracks, again something we both thought that we would never see.

We were in the front carriage of the train so when we reached the top the engines in front of us uncoupled and went up to the other end. The great thing about this was that we now had uninterrupted views all the way down from the very narrow and shaky viewing platform to try and get some photographs to capture this journey and those amazing bridges.

Back in Skagway we walked back to the boat and Jonathan went off to the gym and Trevor went for a swim and a hot tub, yes the sun had been shining all day in Alaska and people were lounging on the sun loungers on the pool deck actually getting burnt in this apparently freakish warm weather week. We were just glad we were here now rather than in the usual rain.

We went down to the theatre show, a guy who had once played with Liberace and it showed! All sequins on his shoes and jacket, it was quite hard sitting through an hour of crazy piano playing as talented as he was. Next it was dinner then a few cocktails back in our favourite, the champagne bar then bed.

Tomorrow we will be in Icy Straits and to be honest we are not expecting that much based on what we can find out about it but still, every time you look out of a window or walk the decks you have to pinch yourself as you are always faced by snow capped mountains and beautiful pine forests. Problem is, we are both starting to take them for granted.

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