Canada is BIG, Very BIG – 7,121.78 kms 102 days to get across, 75 cycling days and 27 rest days.

In a nutshell Canada is big, the people are quite reserved, but on the whole friendly. The roads in the western Provinces are good and have wide shoulders. In Ontario the roads are not very good with narrow or non-existent shoulders. Quebec has the best cycling infrastructure in the whole country. New Brunswick is trying to implement a similar cycling infrastructure and encourage cyclists and tourism. PEI is a lovely province to cycle, if you like trails. It has one of the most comprehensive trail systems, utilizing the old rail lines. If you choose to go onto the roads be prepared for rolling hills. Nova Scotia had some nice secondary roads to ride on.

We didn’t notice any abject poverty other than in Vancouver where there is a whole neighbourhood of homeless people living on the streets.

I have written about each Province rather than generalize about the Country, it is very diverse.

What disappointed us the most was the amount of garbage on the roadsides. Coffee cups, beer bottles and cans and even diapers. Come on Canada you can do better than this.

British Columbia (BC)

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful British Columbia. “Beautiful British Columbia” is on the license plate of the cars in British Columbia – definitely agree with that statement. British Columbia is a stunningly beautiful province with mountains, rivers and nice cities and towns. There appears to be a lot of money in BC, house prices are expensive and so is the general cost of living. We loved the mountains but in some Towns, Nelson, Fernie etc the mountains surrounded the Town and felt almost suffocating they dominated the landscape so much. The majority of the residents of these mountain regions came for the outdoor lifestyle and are very active and fit. Cycling appears to be their summer passion, and all winter sports are their winter passion.

In BC we stayed at campsites or warmshowers, the private campsites were reasonably priced (about $25 – $30.00) and some had biker rates, or gave us a discount because we were cycling across Canada.

For the most part the vehicles gave us plenty of room, the shoulders on the road were well paved. Most of the Towns and cities had designated cycle lanes.

Initially we noticed that a lot of the Canadians were a little reserved. If I was waiting outside of supermarket with the bikes, not many people would talk to me. After a few days cycling further away from Vancouver more people responded to my smile and cheerful greetings.

Unfortunately, we did see a fair amount of roadside garbage, the discerning drunk driver in BC drinks Kokanee Beer.

Alberta

We were only in Alberta for a short while. The route we had chosen out of BC took us through the bottom end of Alberta – the prairie part. Almost as soon as we got out of the mountains of BC we were on relatively flat roads. Alberta’s roads are well paved with a wide shoulder but the drivers didn’t give us much room at all. In the major towns and cities we went through there were very few designated cycle lanes. The transport drivers although still giving us room, didn’t slow down at all, I definitely felt the draft from their vehicles too often.

This part of Alberta is farming and along with farming goes big pick-up trucks. The pick-up trucks don’t give cyclists much room, they often forget that their big mirrors stick out a long way.

We camped in Alberta and only had one warmshowers host. We found the camp-sites were more expensive, we were charged the same as a trailer that needed electric and water hook-up when all we got was a grass pitch with few facilities and no discounts for cyclists. Although there was one really good municipal campsite in Medicine Hat.

Albertans were quite reserved, we were more often stared at as if we were some strange alien coming into their quiet Town. Then occasionally we were surprised by an offer to stay overnight (Lethbridge).

While we have been cycling through the US we were unaware of what the oil prices had been doing, we knew the dollar had dropped but didn’t connect the two together. In Alberta oil is the main industry and we noticed what the low oil price means to this Province. House prices are dropping and the economy is struggling, even though we are along way from the oil-fields in the north.

The discerning drunk driver in Alberta also drinks Kokanee Beer.

Saskatchewan

The scenery in Sasakatchewan was farming, miles upon miles of fields of corn, canola and occasionally cattle. Saskatachewan is a prairie province. The roads were good with wide paved shoulders. The cars and transports gave us lots of room. We were surprised that in the bigger Towns, there were designated cycle lanes. We had the best tail-winds in Saskatchewan, it would have been brutal if we had headwinds.

Most of the Towns we cycled through were small and getting smaller, young people do not want to farm and have moved to the city. However, the medical facilities in these rural towns were better than we had in Barrie. There was a politician who promised to provide hospitals to all rural communities. He fulfilled his promise, because he was reportedly paid a back-hander. A lot of the bigger hospitals were never fully funded by the Province, but most of the smaller clinics were funded and still have a Doctor, Nurse Practitioner and other medical staff. Often these clinics provide services to less than 3,000 people.!

We camped and used ‘warmshowers’ throughout Saskatchewan, the residents were very kind and friendly. We were often approached and people were very interested in what we were doing.

Saskatchewan felt as if it was better off financially than Alberta. They have oil exploration in the south and are doing quite well with oil and farming.

Saskatchewan is a Province that I thought we could live in, however, their winters are brutally cold. Although Saskatchewan is not flat, as reported, there are not the challenging hills and mountains that we need to keep our interest in cycling, the roads are dead straight. A lot of the side roads in Saskatchewan are gravel roads, therefore the cycling is limited.

Again, we were surprised about the amount of garbage along the roadside. The discerning drunk driver in Saskatchewan drinks Coors Light.

Manitoba

Again Manitoba, is a prairie province, which means more farm fields and flat roads, although there was some bends in the roads. The scenery could never be called stunning in Manitoba. The roads had wide shoulders but there was a lot of construction on the TransCanada. However, for the most part the car drivers gave us enough room.

In the bigger town and cities (Winnipeg) there were cycle lanes.

Again a lot of the small Towns are disappearing, there are big corporate farms and the smaller family farms are barely surviving.

We stayed primarily in campsites and ‘warmshowers’. The campsites were quite expensive, for little facilities. The people were friendly.

The discerning drunk driver drinks Coors Light.

Northern Ontario

We left Winnipeg and headed towards Northern Ontario with a little trepidation. We had been told that this stretch of the cross-Canada trip is the most dangerous due to the narrow roads and fast moving trucks. In Kenora we were advised to head south into the US and take the southern route to Sault Ste. Marie. We opted to continue through Canada. The TransCanada Highway going through Northern Ontario was narrow with no paved shoulders. Often there was only six inches of pavement after the white line and then we were on soft gravel.

There are a lot of major road works in Northern Ontario. However, they are not adding wider paved shoulders. Both Ralf and I were ashamed of the infrastructure in Northern Ontario, this is supposed to be the Trans Canada Highway not a rural road.

The distance between Towns and cities are great – Northern Ontarians often drive two hours to get their groceries from a major centre like Kenora, Dryden etc. Most of the Towns and Cities are one-industry towns and mining towns which fly their staff in and out as needed. Consequently a lot of the Towns are dying.

Northern Ontario was also one of the dirtiest areas in Canada, a lot of graffiti on beautiful rock outcroppings, garbage in the gutters and roadside. Although the North has very beautiful scenery, it is a desolate place to live, harsh winters and short summers.

Bud and Coors are the discerning drunk drivers drink of choice.

Southern Ontario

Normally I would not split Provinces/States into north and south or east and west but Ontario is so big and the north is very different from the south. The southern Ontario is more diverse with farming, industry, retail and towns and cities that are much closer together. We were surprised at the friendliness of the people both in the north and the south. We were expecting southern Ontario not to be as friendly, but were really pleased at the openness and generosity of the people. We were invited to stay with people we had just met more in southern Ontario than anywhere else in Canada. We stayed with friends, warmshowers and a couple of motels which made it very economical.

Quebec

Cycling in Quebec was everything we had hoped it to be, based on what other cyclists had told us throughout our travels. Quebec has a series of cycle routes called the Route Verte – Green Route. They are well signed and take you on quiet country roads, crushed gravel rail trails, and paved trails. The country roads can get busy. However, we saw one sign that said “If you are in a hurry, take the Highway” Love it.

The cities, of course, are busy with traffic, and we had to be careful, but we found the car drivers to be very considerate. The roads in Montreal were appalling, one pothole after another. Ralf at one point said to me “No need to point out the holes, point out the good sections of road”

While cycling through Quebec it felt as if we were back in Europe. We only had one instance of rudeness from a Quebecoir, and he was a police officer. Ralf asked politely in French, if he spoke English and he responded in French “That this is Quebec and we speak French here”. Then switched to English to answer Ralf’s request of how to get through the road blocks to the ferry terminal. He made us go the long-way around, even though we could have easily allowed us to slip through the road-block.

The campsites were mainly for trailers and campers, although they did have a few spots for tents. They were reasonably priced and people were friendly and chatted to us about our trip.

There were also more hostels in Quebec than in any other province, Montreal, Quebec city, Riviere du Loup, Rimouski etc.

One of the things we did notice about Quebec is that it was the cleanest of Provinces. Not much garbage in the ditches and we hardly saw evidence of any drink-driving, there were more plastic water bottles than beer bottles.

New Brunswick

We only spent a few days in New Brunswick but we both really enjoyed the time there. The scenery was nice other than the major city of Edmundston which was a big industrial pulp and paper mill city. The people were really friendly. At our first stop in Edmundston, we were checking the map and within a couple of minutes a couple asked if we needed directions. The same thing happened almost every time we stopped to check the map.

The roads we took through New Brunswick were rural roads, and often paralleled the Highway. New Brunswick is hilly but very nice, the car drivers gave us plenty of room. New Brunswick is hoping to emulate Quebec with cycling routes, although they are calling their routes the “Blue Route”. I hope they succeed in building a sustainable cycling infrastructure through New Brunswick, it is a really nice province to cycle through.

In the rural areas New Brunswick is very poor. There were a lot of run-down farmhouses and little in the way of employment. There used to be a large forestry industry and like many other areas that relied on natural resources it appears to be struggling.

The campsite we stayed at was quite expensive, but it did have a covered gazebo on most tent sites. I really liked New Brunswick, especially Fredericton.

Prince Edward Island (PEI)

PEI is famous for its Anne of Green Gables stories. For Canadians, it is also the province where confederation was signed.

Surprisingly PEI is quite hilly, although we did cycle on the rail trail which was fairly flat. The rails were taken up in PEI in the mid 1980’s and the rail trail network was implemented fairly shortly after. The advantage of the rail trail is it keeps you of the roads, it is well signed and when you come close to a Town there are signs that direct you in to the Town and where to find services – lunch etc. The rail trail was well maintained, we passed several work crews cutting the hedges and this was at the end of the tourist season.

We only spent two days on PEI, one day at a campsite, which was reasonably priced (even the cabin) was reasonable and two nights in Charlottetown at the Hostel, which was also reasonably priced. Hotels in PEI are quite expensive, due to it being a very touristy place.

Farming and tourism are the two main industries on PEI.

Unfortunately like many other provinces the road side was littered with garbage.

We didn’t get chance to speak to Islanders, we chatted to other tourists at the hostel and we didn’t need directions when we were in Charlottetown or on the road.

Nova Scotia

Again we only spent a few days in Nova Scotia. It was hilly and the weather was very changeable. According to our friends, it is often windy in Nova Scotia. The major TransCanada Highway had little to no shoulder, but there were some back roads that we could take that kept us away from the TCH and the traffic. Unfortunately, for the average cyclist these are not well advertised, we found them by accident. We came off the TCH at one point and found this wonderful parallel cycle route (the Blue Route).

The weather turned really nasty after we had got to Dartmouth with the tail-end of a hurricane coming through the area. Again our friends told us this was not uncommon.

Nova Scotia seemed to be one of the poorer maritime provinces. Houses that were run-down were more common than the nicely maintained properties that we had seen in PEI.

Unfortunately again Nova Scotia also had a lot of garbage in the ditches. Beer of choice for the drunk driver was Molsons.

Due to another impending hurricane we cut short our cycling in Nova Scotia and headed back to Barrie by train.

We enjoyed the challenge of cycling across this great country. The diversity from Province to Province was amazing – mountains to prairies to the Canadian Shield, lakes and trees. It is a beautiful country and we finished the Adventure with a great train ride back to Ontario.

If we were going to move to a different Province we would probably move to Vancouver Island (Sydney), the cycling was varied – hills and flats, the weather is milder and access to Vancouver is relatively easy for flights.  Second choice for me would be Fredricton New Brunswick, although the winters can be bad.  We will be staying in Barrie for the foreseeable future, we have friends and it is a nice area, varied cycling and weather.

Sunday October 4, 2015

We were ready to head up to the Tim Hortons on Steeles Street, when Ralf suggested we have breakfast at the hotel, it would cost about the same, but the breakfast at the hotel would probably take us further.

We eventually headed out at 9:30, dressed for the cool weather, leggings, heavier jacket, gloves and a my hat inside my helmet. Brr it was cold.

We quickly warmed up as we went up and down the hills on Weston Road and then followed County Road 27 all the way to Barrie and back to my friend Melinda’s house. The roads out of Toronto were quiet as it is Sunday.

A mix of emotions as we headed north to Barrie. The rolling hills imitated my feelings, my emotions were going up and down as we went up and down the hills. I was sad that this would be the last ride of the Grand Adventure (Part One). However, I am looking forward to sleeping in the same bed for more than a couple of nights, I am looking forward to actually unpacking my panniers and eating something other than pasta and tuna for a while.

We have had an amazing trip, met some wonderful people and seen beautiful scenery.

The leaves haven’t changed colour completely. Hopefully we will be able to get out for a ride in the next few days although we have a lot to get organized.

We had a lovely ride, a tail-wind for most of the way. What a way to end the trip.

After we had unpacked our panniers and did a load of washing we settled down to our last meal of the trip. Maybe other people have done this on the last night of a trip and that is to eat whatever is left in the grocery pannier. We had one freeze-dried meal and a package of rice! The freeze-dried meal was “Kathmandu Curry”, it looked disgusting, but it tasted o.k.

Tomorrow we will go shopping for real food.

Over the next few days, I will post our thoughts on Canada and a summary of our trip and what we have planned for the upcoming months and the continuation of the Grand Adventure.

Saturday October 3, 2015

We both had a reasonably good sleep in our little bunk beds. I was awake early and watched the sunrise over frosted fields as we clickity clacked over the rails into Quebec.

We had a good breakfast in the dining car and enjoyed the company of an elderly lady from Niagara. She had crossed the country by train and was heading home.

The train arrived early in Montreal. The connector train to Toronto was late leaving, but at least the bikes are on-board the train, that is all that matters.

We arrived in Toronto at 4:00 p.m. instead of 3:10 p.m., we had to wait twice in sidings for the “money trains” (the freight trains) to go through. We managed to get our bikes from the baggage car and our bags from baggage return with no help from the Via Rail staff. My bar end shifter was moved inwards slightly, but apart from that both bikes appeared not to have been damaged. Maybe the plastic bags are a better idea.

We put the panniers on the bikes and headed out into the mayhem of traffic that is Toronto. Garmin, did a really good job of directing us to the Best Western hotel we had reserved. We had free points and had a very nice room, we ate in the restaurant and had an early night.

It’s going to be a cold ride up to Barrie tomorrow, hopefully the rain will hold off.

Friday October 2, 2015

It rained all day on Thursday, we stayed in the trailer for a while updating the blog and checking on condos.

Later we were drooled on by Shaun and Marsha\’s two Newfoundland dogs.

We were up early and headed to the train station by 9:30. We arrived at the train station about 10:15 and proceeded with boxing our panniers and bagging the bikes. We had asked about bike boxes when we bought the train tickets, Via Rail use plastic bags for bikes.

There are two thoughts on bags versus boxes – the first is that the handlers can see they are bikes and are more gentle with them, the argument against bags is the handlers really don’t care what is in the bag and will not handle them any better. The argument for boxes is that the box will give some level of protection to the bike, but the handler may stack other luggage on the box, therefore damaging the bike. I guess we will see what happens to the bikes and whether plastic is better than box.

We had booked a cabin which included meals.  Our steward (Francois) introduced himself, and gave us a quick rundown on the route, trip and meal service etc.

Francois asked us about our trip, noticing that we had bikes. Shortly after the train departed we headed to the dining car for lunch. Francois was there and told the waiter about our trip, the waiter said we needed to celebrate and bought us a complementary glass of wine!

We had a very nice lunch and then headed to the dome car for an afternoon of looking at the scenery and chatting to our fellow passengers.

It would appear our bikes were the talk of the train and when people discovered we were the cyclists, they wanted to know if we had cycled across Canada. When we told them what we had done, we “held court” for about an hour.  The same questions we have been asked many times before.  How many miles per day, How long did it take you, Good days and bad days – and are you going to write a book.

During the afternoon we had a complementary wine tasting of Nova Scotian wines and some lovely smoked cheese also from Nova Scotia. Zach (the guy in black) told us where the wines were grown and he also gave us information about the different areas the train was going through.  He would make an excellent tour guide.

At 6:15 we headed down to the dining car, bouncing from one side of the corridor to the other, occasionally getting hit by a door handle..

One of the things Dad and I enjoyed when we did the Cross-Canada trip together were the meals in the dining car. The food was good, and we met some really interesting people. The same happened tonight for us, we were seated with a couple from Quebec who were competitive Bridge players. We were both a little “shy” to start a conversation as their English and our French was equally bad. However, Michelene’s English improved as the meal progressed. She thanked Ralf for speaking slowly so that she could understand him.

They have three grown children, however, we were shown photos of their dog and not the children or grandchildren!

After dinner we bounced back to the dome car and then back to our humble cabin that had been made up into bunk beds.  Ralf got the top bunk, as usual.  This is what it looked like during the day.  Ralf couldn\’t get a photo of the \”night-time\” set up, there was not enough room – a cosy room.

Wednesday September 30, 2015

A really good nights sleep. After breakfast, we headed over the river to Halifax and booked the train to Toronto. We got a discount because we are HI members, and opted to book a cabin on the train instead of going cheap. If we had booked flights it would have been slightly cheaper initially, but then we would have had to add on the cost of the bikes, and extra bags, it would have worked out to be about the same price. Now we get a chance to have a nice train trip and one last bike ride from Toronto to Barrie on Sunday.

We went out for a nice lunch with Shaun. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to change for the worse, rain, rain and more rain.  Glad we will not be riding in it.

Tuesday September 29, 2015

Another windy day but not as windy as yesterday. It was a nice ride, very scenic. Once again Garmin took us on a short tour of the Town, before heading out on Highway 2.

The road into this Town had hanging baskets on every post, and they were all sponsored by someone, or some organization.  What a great idea to beautify your Town.

We cycled on Highway 118 towards Waverley which took us along a very pretty road along side lakes.

We are staying with Shaun and Marsha for a few days, they live in Dartmouth, across the river from Halifax. They live at the top of a couple of big hills.

We arrived at 3:15 p.m. and waited for Shaun and Marsha to get home. Ralf suggested that we cycle to the Tim Horton’s. I didn’t think that was a good idea as, I really didn’t want to cycle back up the hills!

We are staying in their trailer, which is a huge trailer, that has everything in it but a washer and dryer!

After dinner we chatted with Shaun and Marsha for a while, and then headed to the trailer for the night.

Monday September 28, 2015

A lovely start to the day. We had a nice breakfast with a very friendly bunch of people at the B&B. The owners introduced everyone at the table, which broke the ice and we all chatted about our trips and why we were in Nova Scotia/the Maritimes. It was very nice, however, it did delay our start we eventually left the B&B at about 9:30 a.m.

Into the wind we went. It was a brutal, brutal wind, not cold which is something to be thankful for, but even so what with the hills and the wind it was a tough slog of a day.

We didn’t get a break all day from the wind, the gusts almost stopped us in our tracks. Leaving Pictou we were on Hwy 4 which had a nice shoulder.

We then headed on to the TransCanada Highway 104, but the shoulder deteriorated to about 18 inches, my panniers make me at least 36 inches wide. The speed limit on the highway was 110 kph and I hated every second of being on it. As soon as we found the next exit, we came of and discovered there was a cycle route (the Blue Route) along highway 4 which took us all the way into Truro and for the majority of the way paralleled the TCH. Much safer and a much nicer route. If it hadn’t been for the wind it would have been a very nice ride.

We arrived in Truro at 3:00 p.m. and stopped to get a sandwich and Timmies, then headed to a motel.

Sunday September 27, 2015

We had stereo snorers in our room last night, nowadays it is referred to as surround sound! I must have been tired because I managed to sleep until 6:30, Ralf said he didn’t get much sleep.

After a light breakfast at the hostel we set of for the ferry at just after 9:00 am. We headed off into the wind, sometimes it was a great tail-wind and other times it was a blasting side wind, which knocked us sideways.

The route we took was hilly but as we went through the wooded areas it kept us away from the wind a little.

We hit the 30,000 kms milestone today.

Another ribbon road.

We arrived at the ferry earlier than I thought we would. We were able to get on the 1:30 p.m. ferry and arrived in Pictou at 3:00 p.m.

We found a nice B&B and then headed down town for a nice walk around.

Pictou is either for sale or closed for the season. It is a nice place, but it is the end of the season and there wasn’t very much open.

However, the Hector Heritage Museum was open and was very interesting. The Hector is a replica ship that took ten years to rebuild, it was started in 1990 and was launched in 2000.

The Hector was the ship that bought over 189 Scottish immigrants to Nova Scotia in 1793.

This used to be the old Post Office and was bought by a couple from Florida, they did some renovations, then ran out of money. It is now on the market for $115,000.00. I am guessing it will take a lot of money to be able to run it as a B&B or hotel. The pigeons were flying in and out of the upstairs windows.

As we are in a B&B we could not cook in the room, so we ate in a Chinese restaurant, it made a nice change and the food was good.

We tried to stay awake for the lunar eclipse, but by 10:15 when we still hadn’t seen any change in the moon, we went to sleep.

Saturday September 26, 2015

I woke up feeling very sad today. Last night Ralf and I decided to head straight down to Halifax instead of cycling to Sydney, Nova Scotia, the funds are running low and we want to end the trip on a high not thinking about whether we can afford a motel or have to sleep in a ditch (it hasn’t come to that really). This means that the Grand Adventure, Part One is almost over. I feel as if I have come to an abrupt stop on a moving sidewalk.

Breakfast is served at 8:00, we would have had a nice lie-in but for the first time in a very long time we are sharing the dorm room with a man that snores and boy can he snore. Sylvan, a young French guy we were talking to is on the bunk above him and he said that the bunk was vibrating!

We had a nice relaxing morning after breakfast. Then we wandered around the historic downtown of Charlottetown. It seems smaller than we remembered from last time we were here.

Charlottetown in 1864 the founding fathers got together and created Canada.

One of the odd things about the men who gathered in PEI at this time, two of them had exactly the same name – John Hamilton Gray.

The Confederation Building is undergoing renovations.

Eckhart the little bronze frog is part of a “scavenger hunt” for kids that takes them around the important land marks in Charlottetown.

There are a number of large churches ranging from Catholic, Anglican to United.

This building was converted to a bonding warehouse.  It was probably the most secure building in Charlottetown in its day.  PEI was the first Province to impose prohibition, but still allowed alcohol to be moved through PEI. This building was where the alcohol was kept. All the shutters are metal.

We got back to the hostel at about 3:00 and spent a couple of hours trying to find flights or the train back to Barrie. It looks as though we may be taking the train, but it is always difficult to find how much it costs with the bikes. We will finalize the bookings when we get into Halifax.

We are spending a couple of days with Shaun and Marsha in Dartmouth while we make the final arrangements.

After dinner, we chatted to other backpackers in the lounge about their trips. We had a nice relaxing day in Charlottetown.

Friday September 25, 2015

We left the campsite at 8:30 this morning and joined the Confederation Trail right from the campsite.

The Confederation Trail consists of a number of trails that follow the old rail lines in PEI. There is a 470 km rail trail system going from one side of the Province to the other and top to bottom.

The trail is relatively flat with hills ranging in grade up to 2%. The route goes through farmland and valleys, it is a very nice route.

We arrived at the hostel at 2:00 ish, and were able to check in straight away. The place is very clean and very close to downtown Charlottetown. The rest of the afternoon was spend doing the boring stuff as usual, washing, shopping and researching the route to Halifax.