The town of Page, Arizona, did not exist before the Glen Canyon dam was built. It grew from the work camp that was set up for the construction of the dam. It was (is) in the middle of the desert and many miles from any major settlement. It is now a town of 10,000 people.

We stayed there last night and had a tour of the dam this morning. Interesting place! This enormous lake is surrounded by desert on all sides, as far as the eye can see. And yet, it provides water for up to 300 million people, throughout the south west of the US and large areas of Mexico. It also supplies electricity, through the associated hydro-electric plant. Good tour. Great guide.

We drove a few miles along the lake shore, to a large marina. Here, about 500 boats sit, tied up for the winter. For “boats”, read “very large lake cruisers”. All tied up. Almost no one around. On a day that in Ireland, would be considered the best day of summer, not a boat was heading out on the water. They demand high standards in their weather in these parts.

A couple of hours drive took us through one of those areas, where you can see the road for miles ahead, with flat desert all around and red cliffed mountains in the distance. Then, about 5.30pm, we arrived at the Grand Canyon. It was about to get dark, as we pulled over for our first look. First impressions are pretty good. We’ll stay here for a few days.