Canada '22

 Saurday May 28th

Megabus from Cardiff, they have changed the stop. 4.45 arrival so a long wait  but OK

I did not enjoy the flight the 737max is a tube with only one aisle and it was crowded, queues for the loo were normal. My headphones were trapped in the overhead, so no movie, but I managed to sleep, though the legroom seemed less than usual.Not a nice flight!

Well, I got let in, with cookies, but it took a long time. Guy was waiting once I got out of immigration and customs. Drive was two and a half hours, weather was terrible, pouring rain, not nice at all. Looked around the town, visited the yacht club and saw the sailing centre. Chowder at local restaurant. Met Olly and Will as they came back from their track meet.

Sunday, weather was beautiful, sun and warm.

Toured the coast, inlets and and towns, only 40 odd photos. Schooner vanished, looking for Bluenose. Ont to Sandy Point and then back for supper, now watching Captains Courageous.

Monday, weather beautiful again

Visited Lockeport and walked the Bay, Harbour and Back Harbour. Called in at Allendale Electronics, which producs the Fizzwizz. It employs around 16 people and has another technician coming out from England very shortly. Walked around Shelburn and got over 10 miles 

Guy tells me that this is all due to his experience with the Oxford & District Schol Sailing Association (ODSSA). He was awarded a 420, as part of a Race Training Scheme. ODSSA then took him on as part of the Youth Training Scheme after he left school with basically no qualifications. Part of this scheme involved working with local Boatbuilder Tony Thresher. This led to his instructing at the Island Cruising Club at Salcomde.

With this experience he went back to College doing a BTEC First Certificate, and BTEC National Cert. Since then he has been in electronics, describing himself as a Technology developer He specialises in Front End Sensor Design. He has worked in Canada and the USA and a bit in Europe.

Tuesday,

Sabrina reurned from selling her house last night, but was out to work by 7.30am, so I didn't see much of her.

Drove up to Halifax via Peggy's Cove. Checked into the student accommodatin and walked around the
town. Up to the Citadel and then on to the explosion memorial before coming down onto the boardwalk. It was windy. The museum of the Atlantic had late night opening and was free, great exhibition on the explosion, and some dinghies. Finished up being treated to dinner at The Old Triangle and enjoying the Whiskeys.

Wednesday - June 1st

Breakfast at Tim Hortons and a ferry trip to Dartmouth. Walked the path between the ferry terminals. Back around 10.30 so time to kill. Bought a really thin fridge magnet, another coffee/hot chocolate and walked to the train. Great footroom and a really pleasant trip to Moncton. Moe tel found I went for a walk, saw a McDonalds sign and got caught out again by the scale of things, it must have been 2 miles and then it was closed. However, the walk was along the river boardwalk, and I got some more socks as well as getting my 10miles in, And I had Poutine, so the Canada experience was complete.  - Thanks Guy.

Thursday

Internet slow but pictures uploaded and I checked out. Sobeys was close so had a visit got a wrap for breakfast and cookies and brownies for the trip. Collected car - Toyota Carrola - and got lost a little, but the main problem was finding out how the cruise control worked.

The New Brunswick Rail Museum was closed - didn't look very interesting. 

Hopewell Rocks were open and almost empty in terms of usual capacity. Turns out the range here is 14m on springs, and given the scale of things not as impressive as Barry. The guide at Hopewell said turn left so I did, it was a dead end but with a covered bridge. Turned left again and had to pay $9 to use the coast road, very scenic. Weather beautiful, flat clam.

Getting into St John's was a long way and very industrial, found EconoLodge.

Friday

Got to the Reversing Falls and was very impressed. They were really roaring and big. Video might show them but will inevitably flatten them.  Watch VideoThe problem was what to do in ordr to see the reverse.

Visited the Martello Tower - also closed and went on to Irvine Nature Park. Got the scale wrong again - it was only 5miles to walk around the peninsula, However, saw squirrels which are smaller than the UK version and quite noisy, well they have an alarm call. Lunch, apple and cookies on the beach.

It killed the time but I got back to the Reversing Falls as they should have been filling but it was much less impressive. Had a coffee and went shopping but it didn't get any better. 

Saturday

What to do today was the question. In the end I tried playing Clint Eastwood by taking pictires of Covered Bridges. Got the Darling Island and Bloomfield Bridges. Gave up when the road ended and I couldn't get to the Moosehorn, made do with a couple of uncovered bridges!

That done it was on to playing Michael Portillo - quite a drive to Fort Laurence, totally failed to find it. Wikipedia said there should have been remains of the canal/ship railway but tourist office said No. Go to north end, but when I got there I couldn't find anything apart from an old bridge. At least I saw why it was so attractive, land was low lying.

Drove back to Moncton along the coast, lots of widely spaced houses all the way along there. No real centre, small town America.

Sunday

Filled up car, (guess I saved 10$). Returned it, no one there, could have held on to it. Walked Moncton. Subways breakfast, McDonalds was just a little further which I did to get to the Riverside Trail. No hot chocolate there. Surprised to find train station open. Wander, wander, It did rain but not very heavily. Found hot Chocolate at Tim Horton's not 50yds from the B&B. Got down to the river about half an hour early, which is just as well since The Bore was 20 mins early. Not very spectacular. Filled up with goodies at Sobeys Supermarket. Had to walk twice round the block to get in my 10miles of walking.

Train was cosy. Dinner booked for 8pm and got joined by some guy who let me prattle on about myself. Great to hear that the clocks went back an hour so the arrival time was not as bad as expected. Problem was, while the phone displayed the right time the alarm failed to take notice and woke me an hour early.

Monday - Quebec

A taxi took us from Sainte-Foy into town (on the train ticket). Very early, nothing open except McDonalds. Wandered around the Citadel etc. Got a 10.30 countryside tour, mainly to be in a position to compare waterfalls. It included a visit to the Montmorency Falls which were just outside town and could have been done by local bus. Nice waterfall Watch Video. I don't like visiting churches. Got into Hotel. Ferry across the St Lawrence and back to hotel to process photos. Cookies have totally disintegrated and have had to be put in a cup, luckily I have an elastic band.

Tuesday - Montreal

Gettting out of the hotel was more difficult than getting in. I was swiping the wrong fob, so the device was not doing anything (hotel is unmanned). McDonalds or breakfast, and onto train. Thoroughly confused it took 3/4hrs to get to Sainte-Foy and then carried on across the St Lawrence, the way we had come in from Moncton! 

All good and arrived at 11.25am. The hotel was a long walk, got the scale wrong again! However, I got some fridge magnets at a reasonable price. Hotel check in was not until 4pm but they took the bags. 

Wandered around the town, found tourist information and admired the architecture. There is a real mix of modern and old. There is also an extensive underground network, I guess it gets cold in the winter, but it was hard to find things.

Wednesday

Got lost trying to find the Subway I had noted for breakfast, so I deserved the footlong when I found it and braved the construction work which wasw hiding it.

Purchased a 24hr travel pass and got on the subway to the back of Mt Royal and walked up the hill, getting lost yet again in the cemetary but getting great views of the city and the surrounding land which is FLAT! Until you get to the mountains which are probably a long way away.

Took the blue and green line south to Del'Eglise intending to walk alongside the water back towards the hotel, found a Tim Horton for chocolate and a supermarket but the wrong bit of water so came back to hotel, collected a carrier bag and went back to stock up on cookies and brownies, also bought some fruit. In for the night.

Thursday - Toronto

The travel pass was still valid, so off to catch the train to Toronto by subway, which was just as well as it was raining. The trains keep trying to emulate airlines. Train was delayed, but they had everyone standing in a line waiting to board. I sat down and waited.

Train was great but scenery is not good for most of the trip, as the land is so flat, first sight of the Great Lakes. Got my geography wrong as we passed through Kingston on our way to Toronto. At least we rode through the rain belt and the weather was good.

Toronto is the big city of Canada - modern skyscrapers and old preserved buildings with bustling cars and pedestrians. I think it is great! Found the CN Tower and the Railway Museum. There are great walks but finding the guides online is not easy. Niagra trip booked for Saturday, and Germany for August!

Friday

City walk, did downtown and uptown, they seem very proud of their parks. The architecture barticularly late 19th and early 20th century stuff. Redevelopment of Union Station is ongoing. I have been using the food court but there is a whole area of shops due to open. They are also developing a network of underground walking links, just like Montreal. The stuff of Science Fiction.

Saturday

Niagra Falls, Go train cost $10 return, as a weekend excursion and it was a 2hr ride to get there.

It is well worth the visit, (Watch Video) and I should have got the pass and done behind the fall as well as The Cruise. I like the way Canadians get red panchos and USA get Blue. On return to Toronto did a short wander round the harbourfront but didn't manage 10mls. Have run out of cookies and brownies for tomorrow.

Sunday

Stocked up on Grapes and a packet of chocolate biccies at a local market, probably the most expensive grapes and biccies anywhere. Usual breakfast at McDonalds (forgetting to collect the sticker) and onto The Canadian. Lunch began at 11am, McDonalds rather spoilt it. Dinner at 5pm was also a bit early. 

Trees, lakes, trees,meadows, trees and more trees. However, this is a very civilised way of hiking through some beautiful country. Sunset was stunning and the reflections of moon and trees in lakes and ponds during the night was something else. Also had Yes on the bluetooth headphones. Luxury, but weird dreams during fitful sleep.

Monday

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner on the train. Edited the footage of Niagra Falls (now a 1.6Gb file) so there are three YouTube things to be uploaded as well as the usual photos and this. Only problem is we are running late and instead of getting into Winnipeg at 7.30 it is now oing to be around 11pm. Google giving a pretty good estimate of the distance even without a phone signal. I think I sent the hotel a note saying I was arriving on The Canadian, at least I hope I did.

At least I have seen a Moose, Beaver and Black Bear. Difficult to say how the scenery has changed, certainly no sign of the flat praries and cultivation, yet, but we are still 55mls out so probably another one and a half hours, now 21.07 but we are stopping to let another freight train pass, but no. Stopped on a crossing enabling me to get my photo of the road going off into the distance in a totally straight line.  

And with that the sceney changed and we had some very large and very flat fields, but still some wetlands with woodland/forest?   However, the going got slower the nearer we got to Winnipeg, even in the station it was 10 mins before the doors opened, officially arrived at 11.39.

Tuesday

Civilisation ie an internet connection. Still waking up at 6.30am, jet lag or habit? All things done breakfast was in a gloriously decorated, but fadedly, grand room, learning what eggs sunny side up means.

It was raining, but not too bad, worst seemed a few blocks away but I was wet getting to the stations. The only station I have been to where there was NO information on the Trains. 25 mins in a line tried to be adventurous but it was still raining, so stayed in the station. Now on the train - no meals on this one! Recommendation is to go shopping in Thompson. Nice sunset pictures

Wednesday

All day on train. Weather had cleared up. It's a pretty slow train, max speed is about 30mph and it is frequently much slower, as the track is not good. Waiting for other trains declined as we got further north. Thompson turned out to be too short a stop to get to the shops, it's a 20 min hike and we were only stopping for half an hour being behind schedule (should have been an hour). McDonalds sign alluringly in the distance. Even better sunset shots. Trees seemed to be getting shorter.

Thursday

Ice floes on the beach

Shower and ready for Curchill, only I wasn't it was freezing, blowing a gale and raining. Red Dog plastic poncho was useless. The girl in North Shore Tours had tipped me off about the Canteen in the Hospital, attached to the community centre. Sheltered in there, reading all I could and had coleslaw salad for lunch by which time the rain had stopped. Wandered round a bit, came back fro dessert and more shelter, wandered around some more - problem being that the anti-bear advice suggested not going out of town, and it is a pretty small town. In fact there are stop, don't go further signs - so wandering is not encouraged without a local guide.

Back on the train.

Friday

This is a slow train! We were doing 15mph last night, the maximum is 30mph, and often we are much slower. But the pleasure of watching the scenery drift past is immense. We were on time into Thompson, an hour and a half break, leaving at 2pm. So I had time to visit McDonalds and Walmart. There goes the diet. 

We have a scheduled 3hr layover at The Pas and the girl is not optimistic about gettng into Winnipeg on time. Apparently it is very hot now so there will be speed restrictions. Last trip they got in at 3am (schedule is 5pm)

Saturday

1600 and we are at GrandView, and you have to agree with that. Back into farming country but you can see for what must be 100miles. I will swear that there was a dirt road that went straight all the way to the horizon! You could see it as it climbed the hills in the distance. Have had one wait of nearly an hour for a tanker train to come past, part of that seemed to be uncertainty about the points. With only about 4/5 passengers the opportunities to wander are good. I suspect The Canadian will come this way, but it will be nighttime then.

2020 and 20 miles out of Portage la Prarie and the train is doing 60mph, guess the engineer doesn't want to be too late. The estimate is that we will get into Winnipeg around 10pm. Only 5hrs late 16.45 was the scheduled arrival time. Has me worried about catching The Canadian on Monday.

Sunday

A pretty good day in Winipeg. Visited the information centre at The Forks, they couldn't figure the Transit Pass. Walked to the Fireman's Museum which is in a pretty run down area, opposite the old Canadian Pacific Terminal. It was air conditioned, outside temp might be hitting 40C. Subway for lunch and the Manitober Museum, didn't get to see all but the Nonsuch was interesting as was getting giddy in the Planetarium.

Evening was at the cinema - Top Gun Maverick, fun movie. Walk along the Red River to get my 10 miles in.

Monday

Got my 24hr transit pass. The hotel held bags and I went and visited the Flight Museum. Transit directions took me to the old location, so a bit of a hike. Back downtown by bus, courtesy of Google. The Human Rights Museum is closed on Mondays so off to the Zoo. Never feel comfortable at a zoo. Wild animals just resent being caged. Moved bags to Station and went in search of Subway. Long wait, poor service. Wait in station, train only 2hrs late but then they get everyone in a line and make them wait. Problem with air conditioning, so I get moved to a different cabin.

Tuesday

We are still running 2hrs late which suits me, as I could get breakfast before Jasper. On the praries some long views over flat country and straight dirt roads to the horizon.

Wednesday

Up at 5.30am. Shower and up in the Observation Dome for the views of the Rockies, even got breakfast! Arrived at Jasper and had a wander around, back spasming - need to get back into exercising. Now on board  the aceconomy section at the front of the train. Almost steerage - the premier plus seem to have the back. Visibility currently dropping.

EARLY into Kamloops (meeting of North and South Thompson Rivers) Been following the river since entering British Columbia. Nice but not exceptional scenery, I found the praries more interesting. One more night and we could arrive as early as 5am but won't be let off train until 6am. That would be interesting!

Kamloops lake 27km long 1.5km wide - the Lake District on steroids! Canadian Pacific line on the other side of the lake, racing a freight train. All rapids washed out by high water but evil undertows and breakers in the river.

Thurday

Well, we got in at around 6am and the station had just opened. Found McDonalds, had breakfast and e-mailed Don. I waited outside the station while they waited inside the station. I had even seen them park, but as they atempted to pay I assumed they had business in the station. Sorted in the end!

Friday

We went out in Don's boat. Up False Creek and around for lunch at a RVYC 'outstation' On way back came across the Canadian Masters Champs being sailed in English Bay. Nice day.

Saturday

Don and Annabel were off to sail a regatta. I walked along the beach to the Museum of Vancouver - interesting. Walked False Creek to a Skytrain station and got a one day pass. Waterfront and a ferry trip, icecream and a dumpster fire to add interest. Took a round trip on the skytrain and then back on a trolleybus. 

Sunday 

Accompanied Don and Annabel to Richmond and the Model Boating. Also looked at the Historic Boatyard. Dinner at Royal Vancouver YC, as a thank you to Don and Annabel

Monday

Got my miles in by walking to Wreck Bay and back through the University of British Columbia and parts of Pacific Spirit Park.

Hosts insisted on driving me to the Airport. My seat reservation had not changed so I was stuck in the middle of a packed aircraft.

Tuesday 

Landed at 13.30. Megabus to Cardiff. No96 bus to Barry. Cold and wet. The adventure is over.