Cruise across Canada - May 2010 www.drivecanada.blogspot.com

September 6th 2009 - London

2010-07-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again starting another blog! This time for our drive across Canada in late spring 2010.

The site is in its infancy and the map above only shows the provisional route. Apart from the obvious places we want to visit such as Banff, Calgary, Ottowa, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec, we haven't decided on the other overnight stops. One not so obvious place we plan to visit is Mackinac Island, across the border in the USA on Lake Huron. I'll post more on this later.

I thought we would start the photos on the blog with the two trusty Landcruisers parked up in Anchorage awaiting shipping back to the US mainland.

There are lots of things to do before we start our Canadian 'cruise'. In fact there might be more than just the two Toyotas. We are hoping one or two of our friends from the HERO events might join us.

January 14th 2010 - Latest News

2010-07-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Several things have happened since my last posting in September.

Firstly, following a meeting just before Christmas with Bob and Thelma to discuss the route, we made some minor changes to incorporate places that have been recommended to us by friends and family. The map above shows the latest route. A stop has been added for a two night stay in the Algonquin National Park in Ontario and, after we leave Quebec, we are taking the road that runs along the north shore of the St.Lawrence River. We then take a two hour ferry across the river to Matane, Quebec Province, for the final two days across New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, to Halifax.

Secondly, Kenny and DeeAnne from El Paso, Texas will be joining us. They are very good friends who we met on the HERO Great Tour of China event. We stayed with them on our drive across the States in 2007. They will most likely rent a car in Vancouver and do a one-way rental, dropping the car off in Halifax.

Finally, we have decided on the leaving date from Salt Spring Island which will be May 2nd. If everything goes to plan we should arrive in Halifax on May 31st.

April 14th - London

2010-07-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

It's nearly three months since I last posted to the blog and it's time for an update.

On April 29th, BA strikes permitting, we fly from Heathrow to Vancouver. Because of the uncertainity over the BA situation we have taken the precaution of booking on Air Canada as well. We paid for fully flexible fares and can cancel them and get a full refund. If we can fly with BA we will arrive late in the afternoon and then we have to take a chartered sea plane to Salt Spring Island, as we will miss the last ferry sailing.

We are meeting up with Bob & Thelma tomorrow evening to make final adjustments to the route as well as deciding on some of the hotels, especially those for the first few nights.

Kenny & DeeAnne will be joining us in Whistler, in their rental car, having flown up from their home in El Paso, Texas.

Finally, we have just heard that the ro-ro service out of Halifax goes twice a week, so shipping the car back to the UK should not be difficult.

April 23rd - London

2010-07-24T05:13:00.000-07:00

Well, after all the upheavals due to the Icelandic volcano and flights being cancelled across Europe, it is looking more hopeful by the day that we will be able to get away next Thursday.

We took the precaution of booking back-up flights on Air Canada because of the BA strike situation, never thinking that Mother Nature might intervene! We'll make the final decision about which airline to use in the middle of next week once we know for certain if BA are flying. If they do, then it's first class to Vancouver, if not we are in the back of the bus on Air Canada.

On the basis that we are able to fly with BA, our flight arrives too late in the evening to catch the ferries across to Victoria and then on to Salt Spring Island, so we have laid on a chartered seaplane to take us directly to Salt Spring. The only problem will be if our flight is delayed because the seaplane cannot fly in the dark. If we arrive too late we will stay the night at the airport and then catch the regular seaplane service at 8.45am in the morning.

I will do one final posting before we fly out next week.

April 30th - Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

2010-07-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are at the beginning of another great adventure! We arrived yesterday afternoon after a very smooth and uneventful BA flight from Heathrow. After a short cab ride from Vancouver airport to the seaplane terminal we saw our our chartered seaplane waiting at the dock. It was a twenty minute hop across to Salt Spring Island, on a gloriously sunny evening. What a way to arrive!

My cousin, Basil, met us at the seaplane dock in Ganges, the main town in Salt Spring Island and took us the 13 miles to his house at Isabella Point at the southern end of the island.

As usual for me the effects of an 8 hour time difference took their toll and I woke at 2am!! I managed a fitful night and got up at 6am to have breakfast and then set to work on getting the Landcruiser ready for the trip. At lunchtime we heard from Bob & Thelma that they had just arrived on the Air Canada flight at Vancouver and would be taking the seaplane to Ganges. Wendy and I drove down to Ganges to meet the seaplane and arrived as it was landing.

Thelma climbing down from the seaplane onto the landing dock, being greeted and helped by myself.

After we had loaded up their bags into the back of my Landcruiser, we took them to the B&B that Basil had booked for them.

The afternoon was spent getting Bob's Landcruiser ready, which included inflating several tyres that were badly deflated. We will have to see if they have slow punctures or perhaps they were let down by the shipping company that moved the cars from Anchorage to Seattle last year.

Both cars parked up at Basil's house.

Tomorrow we have a relaxing day here on Salt Spring which is 'a little bit of paradise'. How lucky Basil and Margaret are to live here. Just look at the view below from their patio.!!

May 1st - Salt Spring Island

2010-07-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

A much better night's sleep, having gone to bed last night at 7pm!! I obviously needed the sleep.

Whilst having breakfast I watched the hummingbirds feeding on the feeder hanging outside the dining room window and managed to take this photo of an Anna hummingbird.

We agreed to meet Bob and Thelma at the Saturday market in Ganges, so headed off at about 10am. On the way we came across this deer watching us from the side of the road.

Salt Spring Island is a haven for wildlife with many different species of birds and mammals, including orcas, that Bob & Thelma saw yesterday on their way across to Salt Spring from the seaplane

We enjoyed our brief walk around the market and bought some jewelery made by local artisans. The view from the gardens across the bay from Ganges.

We drove back to the house and were greeted by one of Basil's two peacocks putting on a fabulous display for us.

We then had a great meal cooked by Basil & Margaret's son Ian. After lunch we went through our route across Canada with Basil who gave us some ideas of places to visit and also some alternative routes to take. It is such a vast country that we are spoilt for choice and hopefully we will be able to see most of the major sights. We have just seen newsreel from Calgary where a blizzard hit the city yesterday. Scenes of chaos on the roads do not bode well for us! Let's hope that by the time we get there in just over a week the weather has improved.

Tonight we are going to Hastings House in Ganges, a local hotel and restaurant, for a farewell meal with Basil, Margaret and Ian. A small way for us to thank them for all their help and kindness.

Tomorrow we leave at 9am for the short drive to the ferry that takes us from Salt Spring Island to Vancouver Island and then we board a second ferry from Nanaimo to Horsehoe Bay, Vancouver. From there it is a two hour drive up to Whistler, where we will meet up with our Texan friends, Kenny and DeeAnne. The adventure really starts then!!

May 2nd - Salt Spring Island to Whistler

2010-07-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

After months, no years of planning (we first thought of doing this trip in 2008), we are off!

We said a very sad farewell to my cousin Basil and his wonderful wife Margaret. How will we ever be able to repay their kindness and hospitality? We promise to return before too long.

We left their house at 9am for the short drive to Vesuvius, where we took the ferry across to Vancouver Island. On the way to the dock we met up with Bob & Thelma who had driven down to the main road from their B&B. The ferry crossing to Crofton was about twenty minutes and then followed a 30 mile drive north to Nanaimo where we were to catch the 12.30pm ferry to Horseshoe Bay, just north of Vancouver.

The weather has changed from the sunny days we had on Salt Spring and now we drove under cloudy skies and through light rain. Not too cold though at 12 degrees.

It was fortunate that we had made a reservation on the ferry as it was fully loaded when we departed.

Leaving Departure Bay

The crossing lasted about 90 minutes and was across a flat calm sea. No need for sea sickness pills! We kept an eye out for whales but once again we were unlucky and our first sightings will have to wait till our next visit to Vancouver.

We arrived at Horseshoe Bay at 2.15pm and drove the 60 miles north to Whistler in about an hour and a half. The road has been significantly upgraded since we were last here in August, principally for the Olympics.

On the road to Whistler.

We got to Whistler before 4pm and shortly after we arrived Kenny and DeeAnne booked in to the hotel. It is great to see them again after such a long time - over three years! They have hired a Jeep from Thrifty on a one-way rental which will end in Boston.

Bob is in the middle of doing a building development in Whistler and we met his business partner at his realtor's office. Maggi, will be handling the sale of the properties. We were treated with wonderful hospitality by her, for which we were all most grateful.

In the evening we went to the Rimrock restaurant where we had a meal when we were here last August. Steve took this group photo, which shows us enjoying ourselves!

As we left the restaurant the rain had now turned to sleet and snow. With us heading north and up into the mountains on the road to Kamloups, it's not looking too good.

May 3rd - Whistler to Kamloops

2010-07-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day!!

We woke to a dreary wet and cold morning with low cloud and snow on the mountain sides just above the village. I had looked on the BC driving conditions web cams and seen that there was quite heavy snow on the mountain passes north of Whistler on the road we would be taking to Kamloops.

It appeared the roads were open and so at 10.30am we headed off. Bob and Thelma took Kenny and DeeAnne to see their building plots just above Whistler whilst we drove about 20 miles north to the town of Pemberton where I fueled the car up. What pleasant surprise to see that diesel here in Canada is about 40p per litre cheaper than in the UK!!

As I finished filling the car Bob and Kenny drove up and so all three cars drove north on highway 99 heading for the town of Lilloet about 100kms away. The road rose quite quickly in a series of hairpin bends and as we gained altitude the snow started to fall, Quite soon we were driving through a landscape blanketed in deep snow. Fortunately the road was kept clear by snowploughs and gritting.

We reached the summit at just over 4,000ft and descended through some truly magnificent scenery of high mountains and ice covered lakes.

We stopped by one lake where we took these photos of the cars and me throwing snow balls. Oh, to be young again!!

Shortly after we reached Lillooet, a small mining town, and then the landscape changed from one of dense pine forests to a quite dry and arid cattle ranching area.The drive continued through areas that had been quite severely burnt by forest fires.

Bob, who was driving in front, pulled over to the side of the road and pointed towards a dead tree and there, at the very top, was this magnificent bald eagle.

The remainder of the 300km drive to Kamloops was in wide open countryside with little traffic. It was all on wonderful roads. Driving through the town of Cache Creek we saw this unusual looking motel.

We reached Kamloops at about 3pm. Our hotel, the Plaza Heritage, was built in the early 1920's. It makes a real change to the rather sterile atmosphere of many modern hotels.

Walking around Kamloops.

The weather here is quite nice. The temperature is 12 degrees and the sky is clear. Gone are the clouds and rain of Whistler. Let's hope it stays like this for our drive north to Jasper in Alberta.

May 4th - Kamloops to Jasper, Alberta

2010-07-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

We left our hotel, the Plaza Heritage at about 10am for the 290 mile drive to Jasper. Kenny & DeeAnne had decided to leave an hour earlier and we agreed to meet them at our hotel in Jasper this afternoon.

The Plaza Hotel, Kamloops

As we drove out of Kamloops we went past the railway yards where this enormous snowplough was parked in a siding. It had to be 15ft tall!!

Bob & Thelma left with us driving north on Highway 5. The road ran alongside the Thompson River up a broad fertile valley. All the farms we drove past had enormous sprinkler systems watering vast acres of land.

The road wound its way up the valley for nearly 150 miles. The river changed from a wide meandering body of water to a fast flowing torrent through the narrowing valley.

I had been leading Bob & Thelma for quite some time when I noticed that they were no longer behind us. We carried on for a few miles until we found a lay-by where we waited for them. About ten minutes later they turned up having re-fueled. Bob stopped by our car and showed us a photo he had just taken of a black bear that had been foraging by the side of the road. He turned round and led us back to the spot where the bear had been. When we got there, to our great excitement, it was still there and we pulled over to the side of the road and watched as it walked by us, no more than five yards away. What an incredible moment!

Shortly after, we drove past another black bear, this time a much smaller one than the first and quite clearly a young bear.

Bob took an amazing close-up of the first bear which I'll post to the site tomorrow.

The mountains on either side of the highway were covered with snow and as we reached the junction with Highway 16, the road to Jasper, we had our first impressive views of Mount Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies at nearly 4,000 metres.

The remainder of the journey to Jasper was through wonderful mountain scenery and made a fitting end to a great drive through the Canadian Rockies.

We reached Jasper at 3pm and had time to drive the short distance to the Jasper Tramway, a cable car to the top of Mount Whistler. The cable car reaches a height of 2,265 metres, a rise of over 1,000 metres. We had fantastic views of all the surrounding peaks and the town of Jasper far below us.

After we returned by cable car to the station at the bottom of the mountain I took this photo. The question is, which one is Bob??

May 5th - Jasper to Lake Louise

2010-07-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

Our drive today was down one of the great roads of the world, Highway 93, the Icefields Parkway.

Knowing how much there was to see on this wonderful road we had an early breakfast and left the Best Western at just after 9am.

As we drove through Jasper we had to give way to this gentleman being pushed in his wheelchair.

Our first stop on Highway 93, going south towards Lake Louise, was at the Athabasca Falls. The Athabasca River cascades down through a narrow gorge and has, over millennia, sculptured the rock into giant pot holes.

We stood by the falls and took this group photo.

We left the falls after about half an hour and continued the drive south. The scenery was simply breathtaking. On both sides of the road snow covered mountains towered above us, with their summits often hidden in clouds. Each bend brought more mountains into view. Here we are following Bob & Thelma, with Kenny and DeeAnne behind us.

At the highest point on the road, the Sunwapta Pass, 2,000 metres, we stopped to take photos and saw these sheep, or are they goats, walking along a ledge thousands of feet above the valley floor.

I then took this photo of Kenny & DeeAnne, which I hope their family back in Texas like!

Only joking, here they are enjoying themselves!

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Our drive then took us through more and more fantastic mountain scenery until we came to the Columbia Icefields where we took a snow bus up onto the glacier. It was a great thing to do and everyone enjoyed being able to walk on the ice. We had a good driver/guide who showed us how the glacier has receded over the past 150 years. It is now shrinking at the rate of 30 metres a year!

We had a bite to eat at the Icefields centre and then drove about 70kms south to Peyto Lake. It was a fifteen minute walk across the snow to the view point high above the lake. The view of the lake far below was well worth the walk.

We left Peyto and drove the 20 miles to Lake Louise and our hotel, The Chateau Lake Louise. We are staying here for two nights so I'll post photos of the hotel and lake tomorrow.

One day I'll make a list of my top ten drives and I know the Icefields Parkway will be in that list!

May 6th - Lake Louise

2010-07-17T06:13:00.000-07:00

This post is being written at 7am on May 7th just before we head for Banff and then on to tonight's stop in Calgary.

Yesterday was our first rest day of the drive and because of the UK election the afternoon was spent glued to my laptop watching the election coverage on BBC. We finally got to bed around midnight, 7am in the UK, and I then realised I hadn't done my normal daily post!

I haven't time now to give a full report, including photos of our stay here at the Chateau Lake Louise, I'll be doing that this evening after we have arrived in Calgary. All I will do is post the beautiful photo that Bob took of the black bear we saw on the road to Jasper.

Apologies for the delay in posting about our rest day in Lake Louise. Here goes.

We woke early to discover it was snowing and the renowned view of the lake was hidden in a 'mist' of fine falling snow. The lake was totally frozen and the vivid blue you see in photos is only there during the summer months. Still, the scenery is truly incredible with high mountains ringing the lake.

The Chateau Lake Louise, built by the Canadian Pacific railway, is at the head of the lake looking towards the mountains that ring the lake on three sides.

We decided to take a 2 kms walk to the end of the lake and the photo above shows the Chateau with the frozen lake in the foreground.

The mountains rising above the end of the lake.

We hurried back to the hotel so that we could watch the results coming in after the polling stations closed at 10pm, but first we drove down to the village of Lake Louise to buy some wine and snacks to have whilst we watched the election results. We watched for an hour and then went down for a traditional afternoon tea of scones, cream, and sandwiches in the hotel lounge. The skies had cleared and now you could see the mountains at the far end of the lake.

By the time we returned to our room the results were starting to confirm the initial prediction of a hung parliament. We finally went to bed just before midnight.

May 7th - Lake Louise to Calgary

2010-07-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

We really have been very fortunate with the weather on this trip. Today has been another perfect day for sightseeing and driving. Long may it last!

We woke up early and switched on my laptop to see the final result of the election. The Conservatives were 20 seats short of an overall majority, so the haggling will now start to see if they can join with the Lib Dems to form a government.

Our drive today was a comparatively short one of about 150 kms. Our first stop was in Banff to visit the Banff Springs Hotel. This is another Canadian Pacific built hotel and is a very impressive building.

Not sure I like the architecture which is a bit stark for my liking, but the inside was quite different. I hope this photo does justice to the enormous lobby.

We had morning tea in the hotel and then went out on to the terrace to take in the wonderful views. Just below us was an open air swimming pool that is heated by water from the nearby hot springs.

We left Banff after about an hour and took the short loop off the main road that goes to Lake Minnewanka. On the way to the lake we saw these Rocky Mountain Longhorn sheep sitting by the side of the road.

We drove on and stopped by the side of the lake which was half covered in ice and half unfrozen. With the backdrop of the surrounding mountains, it was some view!

We noticed this little chipmunk scurrying about on the bank of the highway.

As we were driving back to the main road we went past this war memorial to soldiers who had died in the First World War. It was so unexpected to find such a monument in the middle of nowhere.

The drive to Calgary took us out of the Rockies. We both felt a tinge of sadness leaving behind such magnificent scenery, especially as we reached the start of the flat prairie plains that we will have to drive over as we head east out of Alberta.

We arrived in Calgary at about 2pm. We checked into our hotel, the Fairmont Palliser, which is right next door to the Calgary Tower. The tower is over 500 feet tall.

We decided to go up the tower and from the top you get the most wonderful views of Calgary. In the far distance you can just see the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains.

Far below us was the Saddledome, the home of the Calgary Flames ice hockey team.

There was one interesting aspect to the tower and that was the glass floor you could stand on that projected out over the edge of the viewing platform. It was a weird experience to stand there looking down over 500ft to the street directly below!

We left the tower and walked the short distance to the Glenbow Museum which has a very interesting series of exhibits on the history of Alberta and specifically on the First Nations, particularly the Blackfoot.

This evening we are eating in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Calgary Tower. Tomorrow we drive nearly 400 miles across Alberta and Saskatchewan to our overnight stop in Saskatoon.

May 8th - Calgary, Alberta to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

2010-07-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

Just one night in Calgary is nowhere near long enough to see and appreciate all that this rapidly growing city has to offer, but then these short stays are part of our long distance drives and you get used to saying goodbye to a city so soon after saying hello!

Today was the longest distance drive of the trip, just over 400 miles. We left Calgary at 9am and headed more or less due east onto the Canadian prairie. The weather was gloriously sunny and the temperature a cool 4 degrees. As soon as we turned off the freeway on to the Albertan country roads that cross mile after mile of wheat fields, we saw for the first time the incredible size of Canada's agriculture. In all directions, as far as you could see, were fields of stubble from last year's harvest. They haven't yet started to plough and sow this year's crop. The patterns created by the harvesters make a wonderful photo.

There are grain storage silos everywhere you look. They make a great photo subject as this photo of Wendy's will confirm .

Almost immediately Bob had to stop because his second spare wheel, mounted on his roof rack, had come loose. He climbed up and spent five minutes re-tying it down.

About one hour into the drive we came across Horseshoe Canyon created by catastrophic flood erosion at the end of the last ice age.

One of the great things about doing these drives is that almost everyday you come across something that is totally unexpected. Today, it was the dinosaur museum in Drumheller. Wendy was reading the AAA guide and noticed that the next town we were coming to, Drumheller, was renowned for its dinosaurs. Alberta is one of the best places in the world for finding dinosaur fossils. These were first found in the early part of the last century. A truly wonderful museum, the Royal Tyrrell Museum has the most comprehensive and informative display of dinosaurs you are ever likely to see.

Outside the museum, three dinosaurs!!

As we drove on across the never ending flat lands of wheat fields we had wonderful views of the prairie with fluffy white clouds above. It was a wonderful sight.

Following Kenny and Bob on the long and endlessly straight Albertan roads.

The journey took about seven hours, with us arriving in Saskatoon at 4pm. Our hotel, the Bessborough, overlooks the South Saskatchewan river. A great place to stay and see this large city.

We have now travelled just over 2,000 kms and we are not one third across this vast country! Tomorrow we head 250 kms north-east to the small town of Nipawin, where Kenny is going to fish for our supper. I hope he has success and I can then post some photos of his catch.

May 9th - Saskatoon - Nipawin

2010-07-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

As today's drive was relatively short at just under 300kms Wendy and I decided to have a look at Saskatoon before heading north-east to Nipawin. Kenny and DeeAnne left early so that he could go fishing. Apparently, Nipawin is famous for its Northern Pike. We joined Bob and Thelma at breakfast and they left shortly after, leaving us to go for a walk along the river and downtown.

Outside the hotel there was a London Transport double-decker bus which had been converted into a hot-dog stand. We couldn't believe it when Bob told us that he knew this particular bus, as he recognised the registration number as one of the fleet of buses owned by a bus company he had worked for in the 1960's.

We walked down through a small park to the river walkway and went past this memorial to the 3,598 Canadian soldiers who died at the battle of Vimy Ridge in the First World War.

From the river bank you can look up at the impressive Bessborough Hotel. It was built at the beginning of the 1930's but because of the Great Depression it wasn't opened until 1935.

One of the surprising facts we learnt about Saskatoon was that there is a large Ukrainian community and just a few hundred yards from the hotel there is the Ukrainian Museum. We were to see further evidence of the Ukrainian influence on Canadian society later in the day.

We went back to our hotel to pack up our bags, but before we left I went online to see how Chelsea were doing in their final league game against Wigan. As most will now know, Chelsea won 8:0 and with the win became Premiership Champions!! As we say at Stamford Bridge, 'Up the Blues'!!!

We drove out of Saskatoon heading north. Shortly after we turned on to the minor roads heading for the town of Melfort and we came across this wonderful church. It was standing all on its own in the middle of thousands of acres of wheat fields. It was called the Ukrainian Catholic church. Wendy took these photos of the Landcruiser and the church.

The next 'port of call' was the town of Wakaw, where we saw the tiny law office of John Diefenbaker who was Canadian Prime Minister between 1957 - 63.

We drove on through wide open farmland and saw this amazing trestle bridge. Apparently, it was an abandoned railway bridge. Quite a sight standing there at the side of the highway.

We reached Melfort around 2pm. As we drove into the town we saw that it called itself the Northern Lights Capital. When I stopped to fill up with diesel I asked the attendant about the Northern Lights and he said that they could be seen if you were lucky, though they were no longer a regular sight. As we are driving further north I wondered if we would be lucky, especially as the weather is fine with not too much cloud to obscure the sky.

The remainder of the drive, about 100kms to Nipawin was uneventful and we arrived at our the motel to be told that both Kenny and DeeAnne and Bob and Thelma had arrived. When we went to our room we found out that they were not in the motel and presumed they had gone off fishing.

We decided to unload our bags and drive about 30 kms north to Tobin Lake, where we thought we might find the others. The lake is about 45 kms long and was created when they dammed the Saskatchewan River.

We had a snack parked by the side of the lake and then drove back to Nipawin to see the old Nipawin Bridge that crosses the Saskatchewan River. It is a wonderful looking bridge which takes cars on a single track road under a railway line that is still used by the Canadian Railways.

After we drove to and fro across the bridge I did my 'Stand by Me' bit (for those who remember the film) when I walked along the railway track. It was quite an experience looking along the track with the river flowing under the bridge and at any moment I expected the train to appear!!

Shortly after we got back to the motel the others arrived. Kenny showed us this photo he took of the fish that he caught.

I'll report more about this tomorrow!

All in all another great day. Tomorrow we drive about 280kms to the small town of The Pas in northern Manitoba, the most northern point of our trip.

May 10th - Nipawin - Viewing photos on the blog

2010-07-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to mention for some time that by clicking on a photo you can enlarge it in a new window.You then need to use the browser 'back' button to return to the blog.

It's raining here as we go for breakfast and then leave around 10am for The Pas.

I have just noticed that I have been misspelling Nipawin! I've now changed all the Nipiwans to Nipawin!

May 10th - Nipawin to The Pas, Manitoba

2010-07-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

Before I describe today's drive and the places we visited, I must mention the avid reader of this blog who lives in one of the colonies. He noticed the news about British Airways striking again and asked if this would affect our return to the UK at the end of the trip. The answer is yes, and we have already booked on Air Canada out of Halifax, as an insurance policy. So, thank you for your concern, it is most appreciated.

We rose this morning to see steady rain falling. Such a contrast to yesterday. As has been the pattern of the last few days, Kenny left first, then Bob, with us taking up the rear. Yesterday I noticed the Landcruiser was smoking rather badly so I bought some injector cleaning fluid and added it to the diesel in the tank in the hope this might cure the problem. Well, as we drove out of Nipawin we both could see clouds of black smoke coming out of the exhaust as we accelerated. It didn't look good!

The road going due east from Nipawin was dead straight for 68kms before we came to the first bend.

Shortly after, we came to the beginning of 100kms of good gravel taking us into the Northern Provincial Forest.

After 10kms of the gravel section, who should we see coming in the opposite direction but Kenny and DeeAnne! We stopped and they pulled up alongside us to tell us that Kenny had left his camera in the motel and they were driving back to pick it up. We drove on along the gravel road throwing up clouds of dust so reminiscent of the roads we have driven along in many third world countries.

The drive through the forest was great driving with virtually no traffic, but when a car did go past we were blinded by the clouds of dust.

I noticed a truck coming up behind me and I pulled over to let it pass. The truck then stopped and the driver waved me down. Slightly concerned I pulled up by him and he said he had noticed our car and the stickers of past drives and he was interested in what we were doing driving along such an out-of-the-way road. It turned out he was a First Nation Cree and lived in a village called Red Earth which was not far away. We had a very enjoyable five minutes talking to him and exchanged names, website and e-mail addresses. His name was Dearld Whitecap and he worked in education. He proudly told us that his granddaughter's name was Princess Diana! She was called this by his daughter because she so admired the charitable work of Princess Diana. We asked him about black bears in the area and he told us that last Saturday he had shot a bear that had come into the village and was a threat to the children!! Wendy took a photo of Dearld and me in front of his pickup truck. Another very special moment in a wonderful trip across Canada.

Not long after we had met Dearld we crossed the border from Saskatchewan into Manitoba, the fourth Canadian province of the trip so far.

The remainder of the drive was about 50kms into The Pas. Once again we crossed the Saskatchewan River, this time in the centre of The Pas.

Our motel, the Kikiwak Inn is located just to the north of the river. The Pas is a small town where the main industry is a large paper mill, though tourism is increasingly important. In the centre of the town is the Sam Waller Museum that houses the collection of Sam Waller, a resident of The Pas. The building is the oldest brick building in northern Manitoba and used to be the court house and in the basement are the original gaols for the female prisoners.

Over many years, Waller had built up the collection which includes many fascinating items such as a large collection of trophy heads but it also had some real oddities such as this extraordinary two headed calf that was born in The Pas in the 1970's. Apparently, it only survived a short time.

We then decided to drive out to The Pas Airport to see if we could find some black bears that scavenge at the local trash dump. Cutting a long story short we never found the dump, so we never saw any bears. The airport is beside Clearwater Lake, a beautiful, crystal clear lake which had a few remaining patches of ice and snow on the shore.

By now it appeared that the smoking from the Landcruiser's exhaust had more or less gone. This was confirmed by Kenny who had been following me for some time. It seems the Winns injector fluid really does work!

We headed back to our motel where we are going to have our evening meal. Tomorrow we head due south to the small town of Dauphin which is located near the western shores of Lake Manitoba. Hopefully the weather will improve, though the rain has nearly stopped as I write this. Perhaps we might even get a glimpse of the Northern Lights this evening. Now that would really be 'the icing on the cake'!

May 11th - Update on Kenny's fishing expedition in Nipawin

2010-07-11T06:05:00.000-07:00

Wendy has just reminded me that I haven't explained what happened with Kenny's fishing at Nipawin. Well, here's the photo that Kenny gave me of the fish again. Look closely, (I didn't!) and you might see that the fisherman is NOT Kenny.

Apparently, the fishing season up here hasn't started yet, so Kenny had a frustrating day driving around these wonderful lakes and rivers and not being able to fish. He went into a bar where there was a photo of a fisherman holding his prize catch. In typical Texan fashion he took a photo of the picture and claimed the fish was his!!!

There's still a long way to go and many places we will be visiting are fishing areas. So, with a bit of luck, we WILL get our fresh fish meal care of Mr.Croucher. Here's hoping!

May 11th - The Pas to Dauphin

2010-07-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

The Kikiwak Inn, owned and run by First Nation Cree, was a great success. Good rooms, a reasonable dining room for dinner and breakfast and reasonably priced, especially when compared with hotels like Chateau Lake Louise!

Our drive today was about 400kms down Highway 10 and then using minor roads for the last 150kms into Dauphin. As we left The Pas we went past the railway yards. One of the lasting impressions we will take from this Canadian drive will be the Canadian railways. We have never seen such enormous trains that are often made up of more than a hundred wagons. When you pass one on the road they seem to go on for ever!

The engines we saw in The Pas railway yards were typical of the type used all over Canada and are huge in comparison to European engines.

The road south was virtually empty and we saw very few cars or trucks heading north and only came up behind two cars in over 250kms!!

With the risk of being boring here are two more photos of typical Canadian long straight roads that disappear into the distance.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have roads like this in England??

As you can see from the second photo the weather was not perfect and we drove through one shower after another, some quite heavy. As we drove over one bridge I glanced to the river below and saw a flock of white pelicans. It was such an unexpected sight.

Shortly afterwards we turned off Highway 10 and drove about 100kms to the shores of Lake Winnipegosis. The weather had changed and we parked up at a small beach in bright sunshine. We had a snack lunch and took this photo of Bob and Thelma in front of their Landcruiser.

Just behind Bob and Thelma towards the top left of the photo there was a colony of pelicans and cormorants. We walked over and took some photos. The pelicans are really beautiful birds.

The remainder of the drive was due south to our overnight stop in Dauphin. As we drove in to the motel we were greeted by Kenny and DeeAnne, who had driven a slightly different route to our one and gave us the news that David Cameron was Prime Minister!! This was a real surprise as the last news we had heard was that Labour and the Lib Dems were trying to form a coalition.

We will celebrate this evening with a good bottle, or two, of wine!!

We have now driven just under two thousand miles and we are not yet halfway across Canada. It is an enormous country and a great one with wonderfully friendly people. We have loads more to look forward to as we head for Winnipeg, where we stay two nights, and then on to Ontario province.

May 12th - Dauphin to Winnipeg

2010-07-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

Before I describe our drive from Dauphin to Winnipeg I must mention the 'Comment' that I have just posted to the blog for May 10th, the drive from Nipawin to The Pas. The 'Comment' was from Dearld Whitecap and I want to say how delighted we are that our chance meeting with him should result in him reading the blog. It's great to know that our wonderful experiences are shared by others.

To Dearld we say that we will be back! We both want to visit Manitoba again, especially The Pas and then take the train up to Churchill to see Hudson Bay and the polar bears.

Today we decided to take a different route to the others. They were taking a road south of Dauphin to visit the Riding Mountain Provincial Park. We, on the other hand, were driving east to Lake Manitoba and then to Lake Winnipeg, before driving about 80kms south to Winnipeg.

Leaving our motel, the Canway Inn and Suites in Dauphin.

The weather remained overcast and raining for the first couple of hours as we crossed two forks of Lake Manitoba at The Narrows. This photo is of the one bridge across the lake that links the two fingers of land that extend into the lake.

Not long after we left Lake Manitoba the weather improved and the sun started to shine. A welcome change after two days of indifferent weather. Then, in a field on the right hand side of the road, we saw a very unusual sight a flock of storks, or are they herons, feeding. I've never seen so many storks/herons in one place, there must have been at least fifty.

We reached Lake Winnipeg at about noon, and what a wonderful sight it was! Glorious sunshine on a 'sea', with small waves washing up on a sandy beach.

We drove south along the western shore of this vast lake, apparently the 11th largest freshwater lake in the world. Fascinatingly, we learnt that the average depth of the lake is only 12 metres.

We drove past this small church with an interesting bell tower. The tower was built in 1938. The area has been settled by Icelandic settlers and their names can be seen on many roads and houses. It was called the Church of St.Benedict. I couldn't tell if the church was of Icelandic in origin.

We drove another 30kms down the lake to the town of Gimli, where we stopped for lunch. Near to the restaurant was this interesting bird nesting tower that had been built by the Manitoba Purple Martin Club. Birds were flying in and out of the nesting boxes and you could see the nests being built.

Gimli had another slightly strange 'exhibit' a jet fighter mounted on a pedestal. We never found out why it was there!

The town had a small fishing harbour and along the harbour wall was a long mural that had been painted by the Gimli Arts Club. It reminded us of the murals we had seen in Vicksburg on our drive across the USA.

The animal mural showed the animals that live in the 'Interlake Region', the area between Lakes Manitoba and Winnipeg.

We left Gimli and drove the final 80kms, of the 430kms total drive, into Winnipeg, arriving at our hotel early in the afternoon. We are here for two nights so I will post photos and describe Winnipeg in tomorrow's posting.

May 12th - Winnipeg, Manitoba

2010-07-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

Just a quick posting early in the morning before we explore the city.

Last night I showed the photo we took of the stork/heron to our resident ornithologist, DeeAnne, and she said it was a Sandhill crane. These birds migrate south in winter to the southern United States. We must have seen the birds on their way back north after the winter.

I hasten to add the photo above of a Sandhill crane was NOT taken by me!

May 13th - Winnipeg

2010-07-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

The morning was spent walking around Winnipeg and then after lunch we took the car for a short car ride across the Red River to see the French Quarter.

Being 'a day off' we were in no particular hurry to leave the hotel. We had breakfast with Bob, Thelma and DeeAnne, while Kenny used the exercise room on the 21st floor. I had the best Eggs Benedict for breakfast that I have ever had!

Wendy, as usual when we visit a major city, had planned a walk to see some of the major sights in Winnipeg. First port of call was the Manitoba Museum which has very impressive displays of Manitoban wildlife, geology, and history. As you enter the first hall in front of you are a group of bison being hunted. Unfortunately, my photo does not show the hunter on horseback, who is just out of picture to the left!

We spent about an hour walking through the museum and if anyone is thinking of coming to Winnipeg it is well worth a visit.

The centre of Winnipeg has only one or two architecturally pleasing skyscrapers. Here are two views of the one we liked the most.

Our walk then took us past the Winnipeg Art Gallery, or WAG.

The initials brought to mind an old school chum of mine (he will know who I mean) who for many years has worked for the UN. It was therefore quite a coincidence to see in the park next to the WAG this monument to Manitobans who had died in the service of the UN.

Next to the monument was a very simple, but emotive statue to all the women from the Commonwealth who had given their lives in the two World Wars.

These monuments stood in front of the Legislative Building, a very imposing and grand structure, with a rather sombre statue of Queen Victoria in front of it.

On top of the dome is a statue of a boy covered in 24 carat gold leaf. The statue was made in a French foundry and put on a ship to be sent to Winnipeg, but the First World War intervened and the ship was commandeered for war duties. The boy remained on board and was finally sent to Winnipeg when the boat was no longer required for war duties.

As we walked round the Legislative Building we saw a group of painted polar bear statues. I particularly liked this one which had night skies and Northern Lights painted across the bear's back. It made me think what a shame it was that when we had the chance of seeing the aurora, it was always too cloudy.

Our walk took us along the bank of the Assiniboine River. Large parts of the river banks had been washed away by the winter flood water and most of the river path was cordoned off.

We reached the area known as The Forks, where the Red River and the Assiniboine River join and had a good snack lunch outside in the sunshine.

After lunch we walked back to the hotel via the railway station, another grand building designed by the same architect who built Grand Central Station in New York. It had a huge domed entrance hall.

After we returned to the hotel we took the car to see the French Quarter just across the Red River. We stopped at the ruins of Saint Boniface Cathedral. The facade is all that remains and it reminded us very much of the iconic ruined church in Macau.

In the grounds were many graves of French settlers including the tomb of Louis Riel who was the first President of the Provisional Government in 1869. Next to his tomb was this rather sad headstone to Chief One Arrow, whose last words to the Government of Canada were 'Do not mistreat my people'.

We then drove back to our hotel. This evening we are going back to the French Quarter to have a meal at a French restaurant located in a converted bus garage. Apparently at 9.30pm they have live music and this evening it's going to be soul music. It should be fun.

Tomorrow we are driving directly to Thunder Bay, rather than stopping at Fort Frances. It means we will have a long day, over 400 miles, but the day we gain will mean we can have more time driving around Lake Superior on our way to the US and Mackinac Island.

May 14th - Winnipeg, Manitoba to Thunder Bay, Ontario

2010-07-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

Today we drove the greatest mileage of the tour in one day, just over 430 miles. We have now entered our fifth province, Ontario and our third time zone, Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5).

Having decided to drive directly to Thunder Bay in one day rather than the originally planned two day trip via Fort Frances, we left Winnipeg a bit earlier than usual, at 8.15am. It was gloriously sunny and the first 100kms was on wide dual carriageway across flat farming land.

We entered the area known as the Lake of the Woods. Thousands of beautiful lakes with islands. The region is a favourite place for fishing and hiking.

We went through two reasonably large towns. The first Kenora and then Dryden which had a colossal paper mill in the centre of the town.

The drive continued on single carriageway road for the remainder of the road to Thunder Bay. As there was so little traffic it was never a problem to overtake the occasional truck that we came upon, even when they were heavily laden with logs.

Before anyone asks, no I didn't attempt to overtake until the oncoming truck had passed!

About two hours after crossing into Ontario we came to the 90th Longitude, the beginning of Eastern Standard Time and we had to put our clocks forward an hour.

There were many signs warning you of animals crossing the road and this one we thought was particularly apt.

We arrived in Thunder Bay at about 5pm, an eight hour drive from Winnipeg. Our hotel the Prince Albert Waterfront overlooks Lake Superior.

We unpacked and then went on a short drive around the city. Thunder Bay is a major port on the lake and not far from our hotel is huge grain terminal where the grain from the Canadian prairies is loaded onto ships.

We drove up to Hillcrest Park from where we had wonderful views down over the city and the lake. Offshore is an island known as the Sleeping Giant because it has the shape of a reclining giant.

In the park was this monument to those who had served in The Lake Superior Regiment (Motor) and had died in World War II. I have never seen such strange tracked vehicle with a machine gun mounted at the front. It was far too small to accommodate anyone inside it and anyone riding on top of it would be a 'sitting duck'!

We ended the day by eating in our hotel and talked about the next two days of driving around Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world

May 15th - Thunder Bay to Wawa

2010-07-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

We left our hotel at 10.30am and as we were driving out of Thunder Bay we saw these rapids below a large weir, with water pouring out of the right hand sluice gate.

A short distance further on we came to the memorial to Terry Fox. Readers of the blog might remember that when we were in the Rockies we stopped at a viewing point overlooking Mount Terry Fox. The mountain had been named after Terry who had died while attempting to run across Canada raising money for cancer care. Terry had lost one leg to cancer and became a celebrity for his incredible courage running the equivalent of a marathon every day. He started in Newfoundland and hoped to reach Vancouver but sadly he only managed to get to Thunder Bay, where his cancer forced him to stop and he died soon after at the age of 23.

The memorial to him overlooks Thunder Bay and the statue of him faces west, his ultimate aim. It was a very moving tribute to a courageous Canadian.

The cars parked at the Terry Fox memorial gardens, with the statue just visible between the trees behind Kenny's Jeep.

The drive today took us along the northern shores of Lake Superior. It was another great drive. Great vistas at each and every bend as we had the lake on our right and the forests and smaller lakes on our left. Below are a selection of photos from the first 200kms of our drive until we reached the town of Marathon.

Above Marathon was a very strange building with a large flat roof that looked like a gigantic helipad. We learnt this evening from the owner of the restaurant where we had our evening meal that it is a satellite communication station.

We continued our drive in bright sunshine when we saw our third black bear on the left hand side of the road. It was a baby bear and as we stopped it ran back into the woods so we weren't able to get a photo. Such a shame!

Ever since we have been in Ontario we have seen these signs warning drivers about speeding. This one shows the fines for exceeding the limit of 90kph by 20, 30 and 40kph. Another sign warns that if you exceed the limit by 50kph you will be fined $10,000 and your car confiscated!!!!

We reached our overnight stop of Wawa at about 4pm, after a drive of just under 500kms. The owner of the motel gave us a map of the area and told us about two waterfalls about 10kms south of us. The road leading to the falls was on 'good fast gravel'. I took this photo of Bob's Landcruiser on the gravel in front of us.

We then drove down to Sandy Beach on Lake Superior. What a great place it was. It reminded me of West Beach, Littlehampton, Sussex where the sand dunes are being saved from erosion in exactly the same way they are doing here, by planting marran grass!

Here I am with one of my many girl friends!!

At the beach was an information display which included this list of facts about Lake Superior. Just click on the photo and it will enlarge and enable you to read it. Lake Superior is 'superior' in every sense of the word!!

We reached the first falls, Silver Falls where I took this photo.

We drove on to the second falls but because the dam on the river above the falls was closed, there was no water flowing! A big disappointment to us all.

We then went to 'downtown' Wawa. The name comes from the native word for 'wild goose'. As you drive in to the town there is this giant Canada Goose statue. Not sure I would have a statue to the Canada Goose that is such a pest in the UK!

This evening we are eating in a local restaurant run by a couple who come from the Caribbean and tomorrow we continue our drive down the eastern shores of the lake and then cross the border into the US at Sault Ste. Marie.

May 15th - Thunder Bay

2010-07-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

Just received a 'Comment' from our dear friends from Holland, Maria and Toine de Hullu.The Comment is now posted to the May 10th posting.

In answer to them, I am driving in Canada, on the right hand side of the road and I obey their laws, so overtaking the truck on the right would not have been the thing to do!! Now I know the Dutch don't take much notice of road laws as we saw in China and Africa!!!!!

May 16th - The Northern Lights Motel, Wawa

2010-07-02T05:05:00.000-07:00

I failed to mention yesterday's fishing exploits of our intrepid Texan, Kenny. Ever since we have reached the fishing areas of Canada, Kenny has been wanting to go fishing. The first opportunity was in Nipawin, but the Gods were against him when we discovered that the fishing season had not started. The same in The Pas. So, when we arrived on Lake Superior, the sight of cars towing fishing boats really got him excited (not much else does). When we arrived here yesterday afternoon, off he went with his rods (poles in Texas). We on the other hand went sightseeing. Four hours later he returned, empty handed. Not a single fish!! Perhaps his lack of success was due to the fact that Canadian fish have an aversion for Texans!

Maybe he will have better luck today when we cross the border into Michigan for two nights.

Yesterday's evening meal at the Kinniwabi Pines restaurant was a great success. First class food served by very friendly staff. It's the first time any of us have been served by an owner of a restaurant who works part time as an accountant in a gold mine! Apparently, there are several gold mines in the area and with the price of gold over $1,000 per ounce it seems the mining is booming. The demise of paper making in this area of Ontario, which has resulted in the closure of a mill and the loss of a large number of jobs, has meant mining is increasingly important to the local economy.

May 16th - Wawa to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, USA

2010-07-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

If anyone ever wants to stay in the very best motel you could ever want, then look no further than the Northern Lights. Maureen and John have made the Northern Lights into something very special indeed. From the moment we checked in, to the time we said goodbye, we have seen Canadian hospitality at its very best.

We headed south on Highway 17 through the Lake Superior Provincial Park, a 100kms of superb scenery and empty roads. We stopped at a bay called the Old Woman Bay because the rock face at the entrance to the bay is meant to resemble an old woman.

The bay was another example of the stunningly beautiful Lake Superior coastline. A wide sandy beach, with not a soul on it, and crystal clear blue water.

Virtually every bend on the highway brought another view of the lake, this one with beautiful blossoming trees.

A bit further on we pulled over into a lay-by where Bob and Thelma had parked. They were talking to a young couple and we discovered that the man came from Brentwood in Essex!

Again, I'll post a few photos of the views we had on the journey, including one of the sign for 'Kenny Lake'. Maybe he could have more success fishing here!!

Up to now we had not seen a single moose, then Wendy shouted to me that she thought she had seen one standing at the side of the road near the woods. I stopped and turned round and sure enough there was a large male moose looking at us from the edge of the woods. Unfortunately, as we approached it ran off and we didn't have time to take any photos! To make up for our lack or wildlife photographic skills, here is a photo Wendy took of a moose statue outside a store!

Shortly before we reached the border, we reached 5,000 kms since we left Salt Spring Island on May 2nd.

After two and half hours we reached the twin border towns of Sault Ste.Marie where the locks on the St. Mary River allow ships to pass from Lake Huron into Lake Superior. On the north side is Canada and the south is the US.

We drove across the bridge above the river and the locks to the US border.

Contrary to our experiences at US airports the customs officials could not have been more helpful and we were asked on several occasions which countries were our favourites of all the places we had visited. We said India and Thelma and Bob said Tibet and Vietnam.

Entering the US.

The drive to our hotel was no more than five minutes from the border and it overlooks the locks.

We discovered in the visitor centre that the next ship coming through would be at 4.45pm. This gave me time to go to a local shopping mall and buy some trousers as I had left several pairs behind in London by mistake. With the temperature now a very warm 70 degrees, I needed something lighter than the cold weather trousers I have been wearing up to now.

We returned to the hotel just in time to see the Robert S Pierson freighter moving through the lock. At over 600 feet long it filled the lock. It was very impressive to see how the ship was handled in such a tight space.

We are only in the United States for two days, one night here in Sault Ste. Marie and then one night on Mackinac Island, staying at the Grand Hotel. This was the location for the Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour movie, Somewhere in Time. Thelma loves the film and has always wanted to visit the island and so it became an integral part of our route planning.

May 17th - Sault Ste.Marie to Mackinac Island

2010-06-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

The shortest day's drive of the tour, just 60 miles from our hotel by the locks in Sault Ste.Marie to the ferry dock at St.Ignace, meant we could spend an hour looking at the Valley Camp Ship Museum near the hotel before driving south.

The museum is a converted 1917 Great Lakes steamer, the Valley Camp. A view looking down the ship along the hatches towards the stern.

It was a very informative visit giving a detailed history of the opening up of the Great Lakes to the outside world by the construction of the locks along the St.Lawrence Seaway and within the Great lakes. They called it The Fourth Seacoast.

It was also very interesting to see how the sailors lived and worked on the steamer. Down below decks you could walk into the engine room, with its giant steam boilers, and see the vast hold of the ship where cargo such as coal and grain were stored.

We left Sault Ste.Marie at around 11am and drove along Highway 75 to St.Ignace, where the Star ferry leaves for Mackinac Island. The terminal is just north of the Mackinac Bridge, a five mile long bridge that crosses the straits between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

No cars are allowed on Mackinac Island, so we left the cars at the ferry terminal and boarded the jet boat to the island. We only had a few other passengers with us including two Americans with their four Norwegian Elkhound dogs. The dogs were being taken to a dog competition.

A fifteen minute crossing, on a beautifully calm sea with the Mackinac Bridge behind us, brought us to the island. The jet boat threw up a huge plume of spray.

Mackinac Bridge behind us.

As we approached the island we got our first views of the Grand Hotel, and what a hotel it is!! Even though we had seen photos of the hotel, they do not do justice to this impressive white building. It was built in 1887 by the railroad companies and stands on the side of the hill overlooking Lake Huron.

We disembarked and asked the Grand Hotel porter to take a group photo of us at the dock.

We then took a horse drawn carriage up to the hotel through the streets of Mackinac City.

It really is an extraordinary place and aspects of it reminded me of Portmeirion and The Prisoner! All the buildings are almost perfect in every respect. The lack of cars gives the place a slightly surreal feeling and at any moment I expected a great white balloon to come down the street!!

We checked into the hotel and because the only room that was ready was Bob and Thelma's 'honeymoon suite', we all went up to see their room. Bob had promised Thelma a suite as a birthday present. Bob, as usual, rose to the occasion and posed for us on the bed!!

We then went and had a buffet lunch, followed by a walk around the hotel grounds and down to the shores of the lake. Here are a few photos, which I hope give some idea of how unusual but special Mackinac Island is, starting with the verandah at the Grand Hotel.

This evening we are eating in the hotel and the dress code of jacket and tie meant I had to buy a tie, as I had left mine in the car!

Tomorrow we leave the US and head back in to Canada for the second half of our great Canadian adventure.

May 18th - Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, Michigan

2010-06-28T05:39:00.000-07:00

Thought I would post a few photos of this amazing hotel and the surrounding grounds. So here goes, starting with a couple of photos from our suite. The first is of one of the two four poster beds we have in our room.

Next, how's this for a bathroom cabinet!

A close up of the wonderful facade.

..and the wonderful flower beds in front of the hotel.

This seemed rather out of place!!

Looking up at the hotel across the gardens with, in the centre, a long bed of magnificent red and yellow tulips.

The woods in the grounds carpeted in daffodils and narcissi.

May 18th - Mackinac Island, Michigan to Sudbury, Ontario

2010-06-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

We left Mackinac Island feeling sad that we had only stayed for less than 24 hours. It has been the most wonderful break away from the cars.

We boarded the Star ferry at 11.30am for the 15 minute ride back to St.Ignace where we had parked the cars yesterday afternoon. Looking back at Mackinac.

Wendy took this cheery photo of me, Bob and Thelma as we sped across Lake Huron at 40 knots.

Another photo of the plume of water being thrown up by the jet engine.

We reached St.Ignace and collected the cars from the car park and loaded up our bags and drove the 60 miles north to the border.

Crossing the bridge to the Canadian border control.

The Soo locks under the bridge on the US side of the border.

As soon as you cross the bridge you come to the Canadian border control and we rather liked this understated welcome to Canada.

We went through Canadian border control in just a few minutes and without any problems at all. The drive from the border to Sudbury was about 200 miles and as soon as we left Sault Ste. Marie we were in farming country very reminiscent of the English countryside.

Wendy took this photo of a house that could easily have been owned by Norman Bates!!

By now we had been travelling for about two hours so we decided to find a place to have a short break. The road was running along the north shore of lake Huron and at the first convenient spot we turned down a small track to the lake side. What a beautiful spot it was with the lake, a shimmering blue in the bright sunshine and a broad sandy beach. The temperature was a very warm 27 degrees with lovely shade from the trees. We saw Bob and Thelma drive past and called them on their mobile. They turned round and joined us by the lake.

Whilst we sat there eating our cheese and crackers Wendy pointed out a small black squirrel. We had never seen a black squirrel before. It was quite tame and Wendy was able to get a good photo of it.

After spending about three quarters of an hour we drove on and went past this Monument to Logging. I hope the two loggers manhandling the logs are visible. If not just click on the photo to enlarge it.

The remainder of the drive to Sudbury was uneventful. As we approached the town we saw for the first time the gigantic chimney stack built in 1975 for the nickel processing plant. The stack, known as the Inco Superstack, is 1257ft tall. Sudbury is the nickel capital of the world.

After we arrived at our hotel in Sudbury, the Best Western, we went for an Indian meal at the Indian restaurant next door. Our waitress told us that there is a strike going on at the plant which has been ongoing for over eight months. I haven't yet checked the current situation on the web.

May 19th - Sudbury to Algonquin Park

2010-06-25T04:34:00.000-07:00

We left Sudbury at about 9.30am and drove a few miles south to the renowned science museum, Science North.

Science North is a museum built on 4 floors and specialises in interactive displays. It is ideal for young children. As we went in we were greeted by a group of life size animated dinosaurs, that were very realistic.

Further on in the museum on the third floor was this effective demonstration to show how weight can be distributed. Here I am on a bed of nails being raised up by four inch nails!

There was a very interesting display of animals and insects. Here is Bob 'enjoying the moment' when he held a Chilean Rose Hair tarantula!!

A close up of Bob's 'little furry friend'.

We spent about an hour at Science North and then started our 250 kms drive due south to the Algonquin Park. The weather today has been wonderful and we drove along good dual carriageway and then single track roads in sunshine.Around 1pm we decided to stop for a snack lunch at Parry Sound, a small town on the shore of Georgian Bay, on the eastern edge of Lake Huron.

We had a good bowl of New England clam chowder at the Bay Street Cafe, sitting on the outside porch overlooking the water and the float planes coming into the landing dock. It was a lovely way to spend half an hour.

As we drove out of Parry Sound I saw a self serve car wash and, as the car hadn't been washed once since the beginning of the trip, I decided to 'give it a go'. Here is a photo Wendy took to prove I did!.

The remainder of the drive to the Algonquin Lakeside Inn was through very pretty wooded country with one vivid blue lake after another.

We arrived at the motel around 3pm. It is on the banks of the Oxtongue Lake. Our room is just off the left hand edge of this photo.

The motel is about 7 kms from the park entrance and after unpacking we drove a short way in to the park to see if we could see any animals. The park has moose, beaver, wolves, black bears and many species of birds. The only road that runs through the park, Highway 60, is just inside the park on its southern edge. The rest of this huge park is a true wilderness with a few trails and miles and miles of rivers and streams that are used for kayaking and fishing. The park is 7,630 sq.kms, which is bigger than the State of Delaware. It was established in 1893 and has 2,456 lakes.

We were unlucky not to see any moose, as they are often seen near the road at this time of year licking the salt that was used during the winter to keep the road clear.. In fact, when we got back, Bob and Thelma showed us their close-up photos of a bull moose that they had seen as they drove through the park. I'll post Bob's photos in the next posting.

We stopped at Ragged Falls car park and took the short walk to the falls. Apart from being bitten by swarms of mosquitoes it was a lovely place to see and take photos. The first is looking up at the falls from below. The second the river above the falls and the third looking down from the top.

We drove back to our motel and met the others and then went to a local restaurant for very good meal. We learnt from two locals, eating at the next table, that in June the G8 Summit is being held at a resort very near to our motel, Deerhurst.. Apparently huge numbers of security people have been preparing the resort for the summit and we were told of extraordinary security measures being taken. Having stayed here, will give us an 'added dimension' when we see the news reports of the summit in June.

Tomorrow we have a day in the park, whilst Kenny, Bob and Thelma go fishing on one of the lakes just outside the park. Hopefully, I'll be able to post some photos of their success!

May 20th - Algonquin, a day in the park

2010-06-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

The group split in half today with Kenny, Bob and Thelma going fishing in a rented boat and myself, Wendy and DeeAnne going into the park to find as much wildlife as we could. As I write this the fishing group have not yet returned, so I am unable to report on their success. We have had the most wonderful day of driving through the park and then taking a lovely walk around Peck Lake. I thought rather than going into too much detail I would just post photos each with a brief explanation.

Outside our motel in the garden was this pretty little squirrel.

We had to come to a halt to let this wild turkey walk, then run, across the road...

We had stopped to look at this beaver's den when Wendy saw this swallowtail butterfly on the road.

...and then we saw our first beaver, swimming towards another den.

Our walk around Peck Lake gave us our first chance to see the Common Loon. It is the most beautiful bird. The two we saw on the lake seemed always to be too far away to photo, but then they came a bit closer and we took this long range photo.

Peck Lake, yet another beautiful unspoiled lake in Ontario!

After Peck Lake we took a gravel road down to Arowhon Lake. The road went through some stunningly beautiful woods and we drove past this large beaver dam. Beavers are the most incredible builders!

As we approached the main highway again we saw some cars parked by the road and people looking across the road at this moose. We couldn't get any closer to take photos. The first picture is Wendy's and mine is the moose's rear end as it ran off into the wood!!

I noticed the Satnav was showing another milestone as we drove back to our motel.

Tomorrow we leave Algonquin and drive about 250 kms more or less due south to Toronto. On the way we intend to look at Deerhurst Resort where the G8 Summit will be held.

May 21st - Algonquin Park - Toronto

2010-06-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

Wendy persuaded me to drive back into the park in a final attempt to see a bull moose before we left for Toronto. So, at 8.30am we drove about 15 kms into the park. Her desire to take a photo of a bull moose paid off almost immediately. There, on the verge of the highway, was this magnificent bull moose. We pulled over and were about to take some close-up photos when two trucks came towards us and caused the moose to run across the road. Wendy snapped this photo, which made me think that here was the Canadian equivalent of a zebra crossing: a 'moose crossing'!!

Before going any further I must mention what a great place to stay the Algonquin Lakeside Inn has been. Gary and Tina Schulz are the best hosts you could ask for.

As I have already mentioned the G8 Summit will be held at Deerhurst Resort near Huntsville. We made a two km detour off Highway 60 to see the place where the 8 leaders will come in June. It is a resort complex surrounded by a golf course. Ideal, I suppose for President Obama, who loves golf, but I'm not so sure about the other leaders.

The drive south to Toronto was on Highway 11 a typical Canadian four lane freeway. We were lucky to be heading into Toronto as the traffic was comparatively light, whereas the traffic leaving Toronto for the holiday weekend was very heavy. The drive into Toronto took about an hour and a half and we entered the suburbs at around 12.30pm.

We then had our first good view of the CN Tower, that dominates the Toronto skyline.

As we drove towards downtown Toronto we stopped at some traffic lights and I noticed this reflection of the car in the mirror of a bus stopped alongside us.

Toronto is a very busy and prosperous looking city as these photos of downtown hopefully show.

We reached our hotel, the Fairmont Royal York, on Front Street at about 1.30pm and directly opposite is Union Station, a very imposing classical looking building.

As we were taking our bags out of the car, who should we see but our great friends, Jim and Leejun Taylor, who had driven across from their home in New York State to meet us. Jim was driving one of his latest acquisitions, a rare Ferrari 599. I'll try and post a photo of it before he leaves on Sunday.

Once we had checked in to the hotel we all went to have a bite to eat on the waterfront overlooking Lake Ontario. As we walked to the lake we went past the railway museum with several magnificent engines on display.

After lunch we went to the CN Tower. It is over 1,800 feet tall, with the observation tower at nearly 1,500ft.

The views from the top are simply awesome. Apparently the tower can sway up to 2 metres in high winds!

Here is our hotel, the Fairmont, from high above.

The home of the Blue Jays baseball team, Rogers Stadium.

Downtown Toronto with our hotel in the lower centre.

In the observation tower. From left to right: Leejun, DeeAnne, myself and Kenny.

After about an hour we walked back to the hotel. Wendy noticed this poster for a Queen Victoria lookalike competition being held next Monday, Victoria Day, the day after we leave, which is a shame as I would have tried my hardest to persuade the girls to take part!!

Tomorrow we have the day to explore this great city. Then, on Sunday, we drive for a one night stay in Ottawa.

May 22nd - Toronto - Catch of the Day!!!!

2010-06-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

Apologies to my two intrepid fishermen, as well as my readers, for not posting these photos earlier of their success when fishing in a lake near to Algonquin Park.

The fish are northern pike and the one Kenny is holding weighed about 12lbs. For those who might be wondering, all the fish were returned to the lake.

May 22nd - Toronto

2010-06-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

Our day started with a group breakfast in the hotel where we were joined by Bob and Thelma's son, Michael and his wife, Courtney and their two children. Michael had driven up from Washington, where he lives and works for the British Government.

As we left the hotel we met up with the others all looking at Jim's magnificent Ferrari.

Jim next to his car.

Jim and Leejun.

Bob and his granddaughter. He's enjoying himself, not so sure about her!

We then started our day of city sightseeing. Unfortunately, the weather had changed and it was raining as we left the hotel to take the subway.

We were on our way to see the Royal Ontario Museum which has a very interesting addition of starkly contrasting architecture by Daniel Libeskind. It is called the Michael Lee-Chin crystal.

We walked south through the university area with halls of residence.

We walked alongside Queens Park, where we saw another memorial to the Canadians who fell in the First World War.

As we walked to the City Hall Wendy took this photo of two Toronto trams.

We stopped at the Toronto City Hall, a gargantuan building with fountains in front, that wouldn't win any design prizes if I was a judge!

In the grounds in front of City Hall was a statue to Winston Churchill. The seagull on his head seemed somewhat disrespectful!

Next to City Hall is the Court House.

We next walked to the Art Gallery of Ontario, AGO, which has next door to it the most amazing structure that houses the Ontario College of Art and Design.

The Henry Moore bronzes outside the Art Gallery of Ontario.

This London double decker bus went past us as we were leaving the gallery.

We then took the subway back to our hotel in time for me to watch some of the Champion's League Final from Madrid.

This evening we are all having a meal at a local restaurant and being joined by Bob's son and daughter-in-law.

May 22nd - Toronto - Happy Times!!

2010-06-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Leejun here are some group photos she took yesterday morning at our hotel and then in the evening at dinner in the Beer Markt, Downtown, Toronto.

May 23rd - Toronto to Ottawa

2010-06-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

We left Toronto at 8.30am having had a farewell breakfast with Jim and Leejun and we said our goodbyes outside the Fairmont Hotel. Jim and Leejun were driving back to their home in New York State while we were driving 250 miles to Ottawa, Canada's capital.

A group photo of our wonderful American friends.

Which car would you rather have????

Our route out of Toronto took us through the suburbs, rather than using the expressways. I think you get a much better 'feel' for a city by doing this.

Shortly after we joined up with the main highway to Ottawa we saw this incredible Toyota dealership showroom. You could see it from miles away!

We turned off the main highway to take the less busy highway 7 to Ottawa. We finally managed to get a photo of this particular Ontario speeding notice. Seems a bit draconian to me!!

On the way we had arranged to have lunch with our friends, Derek and Francoise Munro who we met on our Alaskan drive last August. They live about an hour from Ottawa. We reached their house at 12.30pm. It was great to meet up with them again and talk about the Alaskan trip as well as the drive across Canada. We had a lovely lunch and then looked at their beautiful house and garden, which has a river frontage. We could see a beaver lodge on the far side of the bank and as Wendy and Francoise reached the river, a blue heron flew away. An idyllic spot.

Wendy and Francoise walking back up to the house from the river.

As we were leaving Derek took this photo of us all. It is a great memento to a special moment in our trip: meeting up with friends.

We left Derek and Francoise and drove at first through lovely farming and wooded countryside. This shot is looking back through the car's wing mirror.

We reached Ottawa at about 4.30pm and here are a couple of photos driving into Ottawa and the third was our first view of the Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel.

We checked in to the hotel and then went for a walk and take our first look of Ottawa. Right next to the hotel is the Rideau Canal with this wonderful flight of locks. The canal was built in the early 19th century and is now an historical monument.

A view looking up the locks with the magnificent Chateau Laurier on the left in the background. Our room overlooks the canal and then one of me standing on the lock gates, about to take the same photo of the locks and the hotel.

We then walked across the road from the hotel to the War Memorial which is a very impressive and moving tribute to all the Canadians who died in the World Wars and the Korean War. In front of the memorial is the Tomb to the Unknown Soldier.

Our 'next ports of call' were the Parliament buildings which overlook the Ottawa River.

It's been another fun-filled and action-packed day of the trip. Long may they last!!

May 24th - Bob's 'close encounter of the moose kind'!

2010-06-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Bob has just given me the memory stick from his camera to download the moose photos he took whilst driving through the Algonquin Park. Another great moment from this wonderful drive across Canada.

May 25th - Montreal

2010-06-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't mentioned the incredibly hot weather we have had over the past couple of days and today was the hottest, 34 degrees Celsius!! So, our desire to climb up to the top of Mont Royal and see Montreal from above was tempered somewhat by the heat.

We left the hotel at about 10am and walked up the street opposite the hotel. We had seen, from the 18th floor of the hotel in a square opposite, what looked like flowers arranged in a pattern. Howvere, when we walked up to them, they turned out to be bras!!. Literally tons of bras had been piled up to form the logo of a charity for breast cancer awareness. It was quite a strange sight!

We walked on and came across this rather weird statue, called the Illuminated Crowd, done by an English sculptor, Raymond Mason

By now we realised that the walk to the top of Mont Royal would be quite a feat in the scorching heat, so we hailed a cab and took the ten minute drive up into the park to the summit. The views from the top of Montreal are superb.

This is the Olympic stadium.

We then walked to the southern side of the park. The walk through the woods was a real delight, especially in the shade of the trees.

We reached the view point and took these photos looking down on the business district and the St. Lawrence River.

We missed the tulips in Toronto and Ottawa, where there had been a tulip festival so, when Wendy saw these tulips still in flower she had to take a photo.

We then took the walk down back into the city where we caught another cab to take us to Vieux Montreal to see the Basilica of Notre Dame.

The rather beautiful interior.

By now we needed a break and stopped at the waterfront to have a snack lunch. Next door to the bar was the ticket office for a cruise line that does a short tour of the St.Lawrence River. We bought the tickets and rushed to catch the 2pm sailing. Here are a selection of photos from the cruise.

The old locks, now only used by pleasure craft.

The avant garde housing development from Expo 67.

Heading up the St.Lawrence River.

Passing an enormous roller coaster that reminded me of a serpent.

The entrance to the commercial locks is through the arch in the centre of the bridge.

Our cruise boat after we had docked.

We then walked along the dockside through this lovely shady avenue of trees to the old town.

The cobbled streets with lovely old buildings reminded me of France.

We then took a cab back to the hotel. This evening we are having a farewell dinner with Kenny and DeeAnne, who tomorrow will be driving due south from Montreal to deliver their rental car back to the rental company in Boston. It will be a very sad moment for us all.

May 24th - Ottawa to Montreal

2010-06-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

If anyone ever tells you that Ottawa is not worth visiting, then do not believe them!!

One night in the capital city simply was nowhere near long enough for us to take in everything that this great city has to offer. Stunning architecture, wonderful scenery and history, combine to make this a truly impressive place that we have high on our list of places we MUST come back to. Rather than give a detailed description of our day, I thought a photo album of our day touring the city would be the best way to show Ottawa at her best. So here goes, starting with the Reconciliation Monument with the silver spires of the Basilica of Notre Dame behind.

The Basilica of Notre Dame

The National Gallery with the giant spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois

The monumental architecture of the interior of the National Gallery....

....and then a complete contrast in an interior atrium, a haven of quiet and solitude.

On the opposite bank of the Ottawa River from the Parliament Buildings is the stunning Museum of Civilization.

Looking across to the Parliament buildings with the museum main building on the right.

What great views!!

More views showing the amazing architecture of the museum. The stonework reminded us of the travertine stone used on the Getty Centre in Los Angeles.

Two views of the vast interior. The first an exhibition hall showing a collection of totem poles and the second a display in the entrance hall of a dog sledge team.

With time getting on we left the museum at around 3pm for the 200 kms drive to Montreal. As we left Ottawa we promised ourselves that we would return to this great city.

We reached Montreal at around 5pm having driven on the main freeway that runs from Ottawa. As we were driving into the city I noticed that we have now driven just 20 kms short of 7,000 kms. It's looking likely that we will exceed 8,000 kms (5,000 miles) for the whole journey by the time we reach Halifax. We were greeted by Kenny and DeeAnne who had arrived about an hour earlier. Shortly after, Bob and Thelma checked in to the hotel having taken the 'back' roads, which included a ferry across the Ottawa River.

We stay here for two nights and then head north-east to Quebec City.

May 26th - Montreal to Quebec City

2010-06-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

We had a chance at breakfast to say our final farewells to Kenny and DeeAnne. It was a very sad parting of the ways. They were driving back to the States while we made the comparatively short journey from Montreal to Quebec City.

Before we left, we went and looked at the Montreal underground city, La Ville Souterraine. This is a vast network of passageways and shopping areas beneath the streets and buildings of Montreal. Apparently it connects over 60 buildings and has a total length of over 20 miles. During the winter using La Ville Souterraine is a way of life for many who live in the city.

One of the many passageways linking buildings, the subway, shops and the railway station.

We left the underground city and went back to our hotel to check out. We had decided to avoid the main highway to Quebec and go on Route 138 which runs close to the western shore of the St.Lawrence River. One of our last views of downtown Montreal as we left the city.

Due to my lack of orientation we actually crossed the St. Lawrence using the Champlain Bridge which took us to the southern side of the river! The bridge, which is 6 kms long, carries 160,000 vehicles a day and is, according to Wikipedia, the busiest bridge in Canada.

Once we had crossed the bridge we looked at the map and saw that we could cross back to the northern side of the river at Sorel-Tracy about 60 kms along route 30.

When we arrived at Sorel-Tracy we discovered that the crossing was by a ferry and luckily for us the next ferry left in 5 minutes. We paid the $9 fare and boarded the ferry for the fifteen minute crossing to St Ignace de Loyola.

Looking back towards Sorel-Tracy.

Two magnificent gleaming Harley Davidson motorbikes on the ferry.

Approaching the dock at St.Ignace de Loyola.

Our drive then took us through wonderful farming country so reminiscent of Europe.

After 60 kms of wonderful driving up Highway 138 we came to Trois Rivieres a fairly large town that had huge industrial sites. It was such a contrast to the beautiful country we had just been driving through. Here is a photo of the town centre.

Once through the town we came back into lovely country with small towns and villages along the highway. We saw numerous churches all built in a similar style, with silver spires and gleaming roofs.

We were driving close to the river and turned off Hwy 138 down a short road to a quay where we parked and took a few minutes to take in the beautiful scenery, including another gleaming church close by.

The small towns we drove through were very pretty with small white wooden buildings and always the gleaming church!

The lilac trees were in full bloom and some. like this were ablaze with colour.

The road ran close to the banks of the river for many miles and always added a great view to the journey.

We came across a small bar and restaurant close to the river and stopped for a drink and a snack lunch. The terrace of the restaurant had open sides and a cool breeze blew in from the river. It was an idyllic way to have a break.

Shortly after we left the restaurant we came across these two immaculate classic Fords parked in a drive by the side of the road. It was so unexpected!

Bob and me admiring one of the cars.

We were now about 50 kms from Quebec and the road continued to follow close to the river. At one point we stopped and saw this container ship heading upstream. It appeared to struggle against the current as its progress was painfully slow.

We reached the outskirts of Quebec at about 5pm and immediately hit very heavy traffic. In an attempt to avoid a major traffic jam near the old town I turned off and had to drive up this very steep side road.

The detour didn't help as we immediately were confronted by another jam! We eventually drove into the old town through this gate.

We arrived at our hotel a few minutes later.

We will have a whole day to see the major sights tomorrow and hopefully the weather will hold, although the forecast is for it to be much cooler.

May 27th - Quebec City

2010-06-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

This is our last 'rest day' before we get to Halifax on the 30th. Though, the description 'rest day' does not accurately describe the five previous days we have stayed somewhere for two nights. The same goes for our rest day in the wonderful city of Quebec. We have been 'on the go' ever since we had breakfast.

Our hotel, the Hotel Champlain, is privately run and situated in the centre of the Haute Ville. The building won't win any prizes for architecture, but we have a very comfortable and large room

Our walk took us through typical Quebec streets with lovely old houses and plenty of trees.

We walked to see the Chateau Frontenac hotel which dominates the skyline of the Haute Ville and on the way we were passed by one of the electrically powered free shuttle buses that run in the city.

We went in to the Notre Dame Cathedral and saw the amazing golden ceiling inside the dome of the altar.

When we reached the Frontenac, in front was the statue of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain. He founded the city in 1608.

We walked along the Terrasse Dufferin and looked back at the monumental structure of the Chateau Frontenac.

We were walking towards the Plains of Abraham and went around the Citadel using the Promenade des Governeurs opened in 1960 by John Diefenbaker, Canadian Prime Minister. The promenade climbs by 350 steps to the Battlefields Park, with wonderful views of the St.Lawrence.

We walked across the Battlefields Park to the Joan of Arc statue in the Joan of Arc gardens which had lovely carpets of flowers.

A little further on in the park is the memorial to General Wolfe who died in the battle for Quebec. The stone memorial is on the exact spot where he died.

We walked back to the Haute Ville by way of the Citadel with its impressive fortifications.

There is a funicular you can take to the Basse Ville.

At the lower level we entered the Basse Ville with its very pretty streets and squares.

Our walk then took us back up to the Haute Ville through more lovely quiet streets.

At the top of the ramparts were these two canon.

Finally, we walked up to the main arch leading through the ramparts before returning to our hotel

On their walk Bob and Thelma had seen a restaurant called Toast! that had a particularly interesting menu, so he booked a table for us to eat there this evening. The food was quite the very best we have had on our trip across Canada. Haute cuisine from beginning to end. The chef and owner, Christian Lemelin, came to introduce himself at our table. He was from Quebec and had been trained and worked at various restaurants including the world famous French Laundry in California. As we worked our way through our second bottle of wine we raised our glasses to Kenny and DeeAnne, saying how much we missed them They should, by now, either be home in El Paso or nearly there.

We all agreed it was a wonderful way to finish our day in this fantastic city. Tomorrow we leave Quebec to drive nearly 400 kms along the north shore of the St.Lawrence River to Baie Comeau where we catch a ferry at 5pm to cross the St.Lawrence. The crossing takes about 2 hours. Once again we will see how huge this river is!

May 28th - Quebec City to Matane

2010-06-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

We left Quebec City at about 8am to make sure we had plenty of time to drive the 420 kms to catch the ferry at 5pm that was sailing from Baie Comeau, on the north side of the St.Lawrence, to Matane on the south side.

As we left Quebec City we drove past the hugely impressive Montmorency Falls. The water was simply cascading over the falls which are about 275 feet high.

Our route along the north side of the St.Lawrence river, all the way to the ferry terminal at Baie Comeau, was on Highway 138. For much of the drive the road was next to the river. What a mighty river it is!

Highway 138 is a truly wonderful road. It follows the river for hundreds of miles through beautiful scenery. As the drive progressed we knew this would be another road to remember.

After about 100 kms we came to the small town of Baie St.Paul, famous for its artist colony. We drove off the main road and down the main street with its very pretty houses.

All along Highway 138 are a string of small villages with very pretty houses. They made a delightful addition to the stunning scenery of the river and the lush green countryside.

As we continued along the road, driving more or less due east, the river became ever wider. It was a really impressive sight.

After 200kms we came to the Saguenay River where we had to take a ferry to cross to the eastern side. It was only a 15 minute journey and to our surprise it was free!!

Looking up the Saguenay Fjord as we crossed on the ferry.

200 kms further on we arrived at Baie Comeau. The journey had taken us 5 hours in all, so as we had plenty of time before the ferry left, we had a snack lunch in a Greek restaurant.

We checked in to the ferry at 3.30pm and then loaded on to the ferry an hour later. The journey took over two hours to cross the estuary which is over 50 kms wide at this point. We were hoping we might see whales, which are common here, but we were unlucky.

Here we are leaving Baie Comeau.

We reached Matane at 7.30pm and drove the 500 yards to our hotel, the Quality Inn.

I noticed that we have now driven over 4,800 miles, so tomorrow when we drive on south through part of the Gaspesie Peninsular, we will go over 5,000 miles for the trip.

We have just two days to go before we reach our final destination, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our incredible Canadian Cruise, is coming to an end.

May 29th - Matane, Quebec to Miramichi, New Brunswick

2010-06-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

Here I am writing my last but one blog for this great drive across Canada, in our hotel in Miramichi, New Brunswick. This is the seventh province we have visited and when we drive to Halifax tomorrow we will cross into, our eighth, Nova Scotia,

We decided last night to take a 200 kms eastern detour through part of the Gaspesie Peninsular, rather than just heading due south. The drive took us for 90 kms along the St.Lawrence River to the town of St.Anne des Monts. What a beautiful coastline it is!.

About 50 kms after we left Matane we came across an enormous wind farm on the hills above the road. There were dozens of gigantic turbines revolving in the wind.

We then saw this strange looking 'mast', which did not look like a wind turbine at all, but we saw a sign that said this was the highest 'eoline' in the world. We wondered if it generated electricity, but as it was not revolving or doing anything discernible we could only guess. Does anyone have an answer?

When we reached the town of St.Anne des Monts we turned inland and had our last look at the St.Lawrence in our wing mirror. It was sad to leave this great river as we have followed it all the way from its source in Lake Ontario.

We now had the most beautiful drive imaginable through Gaspesie Park. The scenery was stunning with wooded mountains rising above the road. At times we could see snow on the peaks. We stopped at an off road parking site to see the St.Anne River and Wendy took a photo of myself, Bob and Thelma.

We continued on through the park when we came across a car stopped by the side of the road and the driver waving at us to slow down. On the side of the road was a baby moose. It looked very frightened and ran down the road as we approached. We stopped and watched as it came right up to Bob's car. We never saw its mother and could only presume it was lost. We stayed about five minutes taking photos and then drove on as other people were there who could warn traffic.

The next sighting was of a black bear and her two cubs. Bob, who was in front, saw the bears run in to the undergrowth. We stopped and could just see the mother in the bushes and one of the cubs climbing up a tree. We weren't able to take any clear pictures.

After 140 kms of wonderful driving we reached the southern shore of the peninsular. As we drove about 80 kms due west to the town of Campbellton, we reached another milestone in the trip 8,000 kms or 5,000 miles.

Campbellton is just inside New Brunswick and we crossed the border driving over a large bridge.

New Brunswick is on Atlantic Time, the fourth time zone of the drive and we are now 4 hours behind UK time.

The remainder of the drive was on good empty roads to our overnight stop in Miramichi. We travelled a total over 505 kms.

Tomorrow is our last day and we will be saying goodbye to Bob and Thelma who are flying back to London on the midnight Air Canada flight from Halifax. We will be staying on a couple of nights so we can see some of the sights of Nova Scotia as well as making a visit to Prince Edward Island our final province of the trip.

May 30th - Miramichi, New Brunswick to Halifax, Nova Scotia

2010-06-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

We have finished!!!!

I am writing this in my hotel room at the Marriott on the waterfront in Halifax. Our journey across Canada is over. What a marvellous adventure it has been.

So, this is the last posting to Cruise across Canada, now that we have arrived in Halifax. Our day started at 9.15am when we left our hotel in Miramichi. The hotel was great and in a wonderful position on the river, with the bridge just a few hundred metres away and visible from our room.

Our drive today was about 400 kms, and because we needed to be in Halifax to see the shipping agent just after lunch to hand over Bob's car, we didn't aim to stop anywhere on the way.

The drive was on good fast roads with virtually no traffic. We saw several interesting signs on the highway. The first was this one about Bonar Law, born in New Brunswick He is the only foreign born prime minister of Britain and the shortest serving prime minister (223 days) of the 20th century.

The next sign was this one advertising an amusement park called Crystal Palace!

Wendy, who always reads up everything about our route and points of interest, noticed that a short detour off the main highway would take us along a gravel track alongside the Bay of Fundy. The bay is famous for being the place that has the highest tides in the world, reaching up to 53 feet!!

We drove for about 15 kms along the track to the bay. The tide was out and the sea was hidden by mist. All we could see was sand. The mist made the place quite eerie.

As we waited the sun started to clear the mist and we soon could see how far the sea was from the land. Apparently when the tide comes in it can rise between 6 and 8 feet in an hour!!

We were all taken in by the beauty of the place and Bob was especially pleased to be there as he remembered from his school days geography masters saying the the Bay of Fundy had the greatest tides of all.

Shortly after we left the bay we crossed the border into our eighth province, Nova Scotia, or Nova Scot according to Wendy's photo!

Our next sign was a strange one. How many people bring honey bees into Nova Scotia I wonder for this sign to be necessary??

At around 2pm we reached Halifax and crossed over one of the toll bridges to downtown Halifax and our hotel.

The hotel is on the waterfront so we have a great view of the harbour and the boats.

Bob made contact with the shipping company to arrange delivery of his car. I followed him to the shipping company's depot. The two cars will be loaded into a 40 ft container after I deliver mine on Wednesday.

Bob's car parked up at the depot.

We drove the 10 kms back to the hotel and then we all went to the Maritime Museum to see two exhibits in particular. The first recorded the terrible events of December 1917 when Halifax was virtually destroyed by the largest non-nuclear explosion ever to occur. An ammunition carrying boat, the Mont Blanc, collided with another boat in the harbour. It caught fire and then exploded. The explosion was so great it was heard over 200 miles away and more than 2,000 people were killed.

The second exhibit recorded the events of 1912, when Halifax was the receiving point for the victims of the Titanic disaster. More than 400 bodies were brought to Halifax and many are buried here. We were given a very interesting talk about it by one of the museum guides. There are many artifacts on show that were recovered by boats sent out after the sinking to recover the victims, including this Titanic deck-chair, the only one in existence.

We went back to our hotel to get ready for our farewell meal with Bob and Thelma. We booked at a restaurant next to the hotel on the waterfront. We had a great table overlooking the harbour. The meal was a fitting way to end our journey and Bob finished, as he had started, in fine style!!

The waiter took this photo of us all raising our glasses full of fine champagne. What a way to end our trip!

For those who might be interested, we covered a total distance of 8.650 kms or 5,406 miles in 29 days. If you take out the six 'rest days' the average mileage for each day of driving was 376 kms or 235 miles.

When I return to London I will do my final posting to thank all those who have helped us, those we have met and especially those who have been with us - Bob, Thelma, Kenny and DeeAnne.

May 31st - Halifax - query answered!!

2010-06-10T02:46:00.000-07:00

I said I had finished posting, but having received an e-mail from our friends Derek and Francoise, who we called on when we were near Ottawa, telling us the strange mast I had called an 'eoline', is in fact a Darrieus wind turbine. It is named after its French inventor, Georges Darrieus, who patented his invention in 1931.

I Googled it and discovered that the one we saw is the largest in the world at 100 metres in height and 60 metres in width! It is called Eole after the Greco-Roman wind god Aeolos.

May 31st - Prince Edward Island (PEI)

2010-06-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

After saying the blog was finished, apart from a summing up when we return to London, I felt it would have been wrong not to have written about our day-trip to PEI.

We had two days to chill out in Halifax at the end of the drive before we were due to fly back to London so Wendy, as usual, put her investigative hat on and started looking at all the places we could see and high on the list was the place where Canada was founded at the beginning of the 17th century, Prince Edward Island.

PEI is situated off the coast of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Up to 1997 the only way to get to the island was by ferry, then the island was linked to the mainland by the Confederation Bridge.

You can also get to the island by ferry from Caribou, Nova Scotia. We decided to do a round trip using the ferry and then returning by the bridge. So, we made the decision to get up early and drive to the ferry terminal at Caribou on the north-eastern end of the Nova Scotia peninsular. The weather, fair at the start, turned progressively more ominous with high winds and showers. The drive to the ferry was about 150 kms and took just under two hours. When we drove into the terminal the wind was blowing a gale and I wondered if the sailing might be delayed. The ferry in this shot was not the one we took, which arrived about 30 minutes later.

My fears were unfounded as we loaded on to the ferry and we departed right on time.

Heading out into the Northumberland Straits.

The crossing was about 75 minutes and, contrary to my fears, was relatively smooth. Arriving on PEI.

As we started the drive to the capital, Charlottetown, a distance of about 50 kms, we were both struck by the incredible greenness of the countryside. It was almost unreal!

PEI is famous for its potatoes and the contrast of the red earth of the ploughed fields was quite something.

The colour of the earth was incredible and some of the ploughing had to be seen to be believed.

We reached Charlottetown and stopped for a quick look at the centre and had a good snack lunch at a small restaurant. Here is the main street.

We parked next to the 'obligatory' war memorial to the fallen in the two World Wars and the Korean War.

Whilst we were driving around the town we came to this military museum and its tank parked outside.

We then drove to the north shore of the island to Cavendish to visit the house written about by L.M.Montgomery in Anne of Green Gables. The site is now owned by the Province and has been immaculately restored and furnished in the late 19th century style. The house was owned by her grandmother's cousin and she lived nearby.

Inside the house.

Her grave is in a cemetery close to the house.

Our drive then took us across the island to the amazing Confederation Bridge. The bridge is 12.9 kms long and is claimed to be the longest bridge in the world over ice covered water! It reminded us of the Chesapeake Bay and Key West Bridges. A wonderful feat of engineering.

When we reached the end of the bridge we stopped at the visitor centre and climbed their viewing tower and looked back at the bridge.

We headed south once more, this time along the coast through some truly wonderful New Brunswick countryside with small villages and a beautiful coastline looking east to PEI.

We then came to the most wonderful road, Highway 4. For over 50 kms we drove on this wide, three lane road, with almost no traffic at all. We never came up behind a single vehicle and the number of cars coming the other way could be counted on the fingers of one hand! Oh, how I'll miss these roads when we return to the UK!

On our own. Not a car to be seen!

We then rejoined the main highway into Halifax for the remaining 100kms of a 600 kms day. It had been a long drive but another one to remember.

June 1st - Halifax

2010-06-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

On our last full day we had the worst weather of the whole trip. Torrential rain for most of the day. Undaunted we made the short trip by car to see two memorable places in Halifax. The first, the monument to victims of the dreadful Halifax explosion of December 1917. The monument is sited in Fort Needham Memorial Park which is directly above the Narrows and Pier 6 where the ship collided and then exploded.

I can't say it is the most beautiful monument I have seen, but its location within a few hundred yards of the Narrows makes for a very poignant memorial to over 2,000 dead.

There are ten renovated bells in the monument taken from a church that was destroyed in the explosion.

In the pouring rain we then drove a few kilometres to the Fairview Lawn Cemetery where over a hundred of the Titanic victims are buried. It was a very moving moment for us when we stood in front of the grave stones looking at the names of both passengers and crew who had died in the disaster.

Each stone has the name, where known and a number. The number indicates the order in which the bodies were recovered from the sea by the ships sent from Halifax after the sinking.

Some were particularly tragic like this one to Alma Paulson and her four children.

This one was erected by Bruce Ismay the chairman of the White Star Line, who survived the sinking, in memory of Earnest Edward Samuel a steward on the Titanic and apparently one of Ismay's favourites.The inscription Ismay put on the stone speaks volumes for a man who was accused of putting himself before his passengers and crew.

Another stone had this card placed on it only last October, 97 years after the disaster

It was a very moving moment for both of us to stand there in front of the graves of so many who had died on that cold April night in 1912.

We left Fairlawn Cemetery and drove a short distance to the hill that overlooks Halifax, The Citadel Hill (Fort George) where the British built their fort in the mid 18th century. With the rain teaming down we drove up and around the fort briefly looking at the clock that Queen Victoria's father, Prince Edward, donated to Halifax at the beginning of the 19th century.

The entrance to the fort.

We left the Citadel Hill and headed down to Pier 21 which has been turned into a museum dedicated to the history of Halifax as the principal entry point into Canada of over one million immigrants between the 1920's and the early 1970's. One exhibit I found of particular interest was this postcard of the MS Maasdam. The card had been sent from the ship by one of the immigrants when they had arrived in Canada. My interest was because I sailed on the Maasdam from Southampton to New York in 1960 with my mother, sister and brother.

With the weather remaining bad we went back to our hotel and spent the rest of the day organising our luggage so we could leave some bags in the car and bring the rest back with us on the plane.

We had our final meal in Halifax in the bar of Salty's where we had our final meal with Bob & Thelma a couple of nights ago. Our great adventure had nearly ended.

June 2nd - Halifax

2010-06-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

The weather on our final day had improved considerably and we decided to take another trip to visit the Titanic graves and the memorial to the Halifax explosion victims and then drive the few kilometres to deliver the car to the shipper.

It was sad to say goodbye to the Landcruiser that will have circumnavigated the globe by the time it returns to the UK.

We returned to the hotel and as the weather was so nice, decided to walk up to the Citadel Hill and watch the Noon Day gun being fired. This is a tradition that is enacted every day of the year except Christmas Day.

On the way up to the hill we passed the Clock Tower and took a much better photo than yesterday in the pouring rain.

At the fort entrance stood a guard, resplendent in his kilted uniform.

It was nearly noon and we stood and waited for the gun to be fired. The noise of the canon was deafening and reverberated across the city. The smoke wafted down from the fort ramparts just above us.

A short walk down the hill brought us to the centre of the city and we went into St. Paul's church in one of the squares. A church volunteer showed us a piece of metal, sticking out of the wall, that had come from the Halifax explosion in 1917. It had been left as a reminder of that terrible day.

We returned to our hotel and picked up our bags and took a taxi to Halifax airport. We were very fortunate that BA were flying, so I was able to cancel my Air Canada flights from Halifax to Heathrow. This meant we reverted to our original flights of a short flight on Air Canada to Montreal and then the evening flight on BA to London.

Our ninth long distance drive had ended. Each time we say it can't be possible to match, let alone beat, the previous drives, but somehow we always do! What an amazing country Canada is. From the western to the eastern seaboard we have seen wonderful sights and met such generous and friendly people. As we have said many times before, we can't wait to return!!

June 8th - London

2010-06-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

We arrived back into Heathrow last Thursday morning at 9.30am and the past few days have been spent trying to get back to normality again!

I said I would do a final posting thanking all those who have helped to make the drive such a success. So here goes, starting with those in the west and ending in the east.

To Basil, Margaret and Ian our thanks for all you did to help us with the cars when they came across from the States and then your wonderful hospitality before we headed east on May 2nd. We will be back!

One of the great joys of the long distance drives we do is the unexpected is always around the corner and our meeting, on the gravel road to The Pas, Manitoba with Dearld Whitecap of the Red Earth Cree Nation, falls into that category perfectly. We wish him well and maybe one day we will meet again.

Whilst we were in The Pas we went to the Sam Waller Museum and we want to thank the young lady who showed us around. She was so knowledgeable and friendly. I don't know her name but should she read this, she will know who I am referring to.

Our stay at the Northern Lights Motel in Wawa was special because of the owner, Mo. She made us so welcome and all the little details in the room were something else!!

Next we want to thank the owners of the Algonquin Lakeside Inn, Gary, Tina and Shirley. They made our stay something special.

We can't leave out the US immigration officer at Saulte-Ste. Marie. He was the most helpful and friendly immigration officer we have ever met. It was a pleasure to enter the US.

A special thanks to Thelma for suggesting we stay at Mackinac Island. It was a wonderful place to visit and we were all sorry our stay lasted only one night. It was far too short!!

Next must be thanks to Leejun & Jim Taylor for driving up to see us in Toronto. It was wonderful to meet up with them after such a long time. Let's hope it isn't so long before we see you both again.

To Derek and Francoise, who we met last year on the boat going through the Inside Passage to Juneau, Alaska, it was so much fun to see you again, albeit briefly, at your lovely home near Ottawa.

We can't do these drives without the advice and help of our shipping agents, so thanks go to Gaby and Mike in Canada and Jeremy in the UK.

To Kenny & DeeAnne who ended their drive in Montreal it was so much fun having you guys around. I don't think either of us have ever laughed as much and for so long, as we did with you. There must be something in the Texan water, or is it the beer? We can't wait for you to join us on our next adventure.

Next, it's thanks to our great friends, Bob and Thelma. Their constant enthusiasm for everything about these drives is fantastic. Bob's humour, at times, makes me cringe, but the good jokes outweigh the bad ones!!

Finally, it's a huge thank you to all the Canadians we have met on this 5,200 mile drive across their great country. At all times we have been welcomed and not once have we had cause to be concerned. When driving for a month that is some record!

Next are some statistics. The longest day was between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, 477 miles. The coldest was in the Rockies when it fell to minus 3 degrees and the hottest in Montreal of 34 degrees. Quite a variance! The furthest north was in The Pas, the furthest west in Salt Spring, the furthest south in Toronto and the furthest east on the Gaspesie Peninsular.

Now it's all over we are starting the planning for our next drive: a circuit of the Baltic in May 2011, starting and finishing in London.