Monday 4 June

Up reasonably early again. Breakfast a bit simpler than previously - no apple juice. Probably because the place is very quiet.

On the road about 9.15am and went back into Gunnison to buy stamps at the post office and post our first few postcards. After that we set off on our scenic drive. We went west on the 50 going back past our hotel and stopped a few times alongside the Blue Mesa Reservoir. We carried on stopping at Cimarron for coffee and actually bought a small compressed air cylinder of oxygen which has seemed to help.

From Cimarron we carried on the 50 and then turned up the 347 to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. Unfortunately it turns out that there are no catering facilities in the park so we had to make do a small pack of cheese biscuits for Anne and a breakfast bar for Les. Another slight problem was that by this time it had become very hot even at 7,000ft+. It had been 9c when we left so Les had put trousers on but by now it was around 30c and he’d have preferred to be in shorts.

We spent a few hours in the NP doing the South Rim trail looking at all the different views. This is really spectacular but by the end even a short walk back to an overlook carpark was quite a strain.

We then carried on back down to the 50, turning left on to the 550 at Montrose. The big mistake was to follow the satnav which led us to skirt the town and miss the town centre. This was OK in terms of driving but it meant we didn’t pass anywhere where we could eat. The drive down to Ouray was lengthy but quite attractive - rolling hills and following rivers, etc. A slight worry that from Montrose we kept seeing signs that the 550 was closed to all traffic. Not very helpful because the signs didn’t say where the closure is but eventually we got to Ouray without a problem and discovered that the closure is a long way to the south.

The Comfort Inn motel is newly refurbished and the desk clerk very helpful. He switched us to a ground floor double room which was actually a few dollars cheaper than the king size suite that we’d booked. Not sure why the online booking didn’t show this room as being available as we’d have taken it in the first place.

Downloaded photos and wrote up diary whilst doing laundry.

Bewildering choice of places to eat in the town and we couldn’t decide after looking at all the menus but everything is within walking distance. Nevertheless we drove in order to visit the Cascade Falls which were reached by driving up the street a couple of blocks away. We parked and struggled uphill to the viewpoint and then on again to the base of the falls. Not very far to walk but quite steep and we were struggling in the thin air.

We came back down and parked by a junction with the main street and then walked up and down looking in the various restaurants. Eventually we settled on The Outlaw. This was a very good choice. It seems we were lucky to get in as shortly after they were telling people that there was a wait for tables. The food was very good. Anne had simple pasta and Les had ‘Colorado’ lamb chops which were as nice as he’d had anywhere. Also he was able to have mashed potato which we’ve noticed is suddenly becoming more widespread.

Walking back to the car we found a hardware shop where we were able to buy a small pack of cable ties to sort out the problem with the car keys. Back in the motel we managed to watch the end of the episode of Vera which had frozen last night. We were then able to download and watch Have I Got a Bit More News for You.

A very good night’s sleep - no noise at all.