A Packed Last Day

What a brilliant last day we have had.  After a great breakfast we headed for Toronto with a bit of concern that the funeral, Blue Jays game and Busker Fair could make the going difficult.  No problems at all, Carolynne breezed down the freeway straight to the car park and we were parked up and at the sightseeing bus in no time.  It was sunny so the top deck was popular but we got the last 4 spots and off we went

The guide told us that the clock was important and he would tell us about it in a minute so I took a photo.  He never did tell us about so here is the picture, perhaps someone at home can give me a clue as to why it is important??

I had to take pictures of the Art Gallery and the College of Art as they are the sort of buildings that an architect comes up with after one too many G&T's and then an engineer has to make possible and they are a CDMC's nightmare.  If you look closely on the second one there is a guy hanging from  rope cleaning the windows...

As we were restricted on the amount of time we had, we decided on two stops that we wanted to do on the bus.  The CN Tower was the first

we at last got a close up with a moose

A view from the top and another down through the glass floor

Back on the bus,

the other stop we wanted to do was the market.  We have been severely restricted with the amount of fresh food we have seen on our trip across Canada.  We are presuming that most of the people we have met in the "outback" catch their own meat and eat very little fruit or veg (no colourful food allowed).  The market was fantastic and I have inclulded a number of pictures just for Paul who went in search of fresh fruit often

The busker fair was on all around the market so the streets were full.  We came across this, which we thought was very apt

 we finished off our day with fish and chips from the market fish stall.  It was great

Thanks very much to Carolynne and Izzy for a great three days, we hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have.

I am writing this sitting in a bar in the airport with about 2 hours before we are due to leave.  Everything looks like it is on time with no problems except the fact that a woman has just walked past with a child in a buggy that can scream for NATO!!  He hasn't stopped now for about 10 minutes solid.  I hope he's not on our flight but she has walked down towards the gate we have to leave from.  Fingers crossed.

Thanks to everyone for being part of my adventure, I truly have had a great time.

xx

Fruit and Wine

During the trip, the group have had a number of conversations about what we thought of Canada and would we live here etc.  Until now, my answer has always been that I have not seen anywhere that I would be prepared to live in.  Today, travelling between Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake, I found a place that I would happily live at.  Beautiful tree lined roads with big individual houses, plenty of land around them, clean and neat.  The vineyards are all around and the sun was shining.

This is my new house

and the neighbours

we've had a great day, stopping at lots of places of interest along route to Niagara on the Lake.  We crossed the Gorge..

ably assisted by 16 year old Alex on the cable car for some great views

we stopped at the school of horticulture clock, the Brock statue and this tiny little wayside chapel

Just to let Paul know that we ate super fresh corn cooked on the grill from the vineyard and there are plenty of these roadside fruit stalls.  Fantastic, picked yesterday, juicy peaches, cherries and soft fruit....... there is colourful food in Canada!!

you just have to be in the right place.

This is a shot of Niagara on the Lake (Lake Otario, I think, Erie flows down Niagara Falls and into Ontario)

Niagara on the Lake is a great little quaint town with some interesting stores and lovely flower displays.  Maybe a few too many people and is a bit touristy purely because it is so nice.

We finished it off with a great meal overlooking Niagara Falls and the fireworks.  The picture below is of a lit Niagara which would have been better if I could keep the camera still but I like it anyway.

Tomorrow we leave here and go into Toronto for the day before heading to the airport to come home.  It is the funeral tomorrow of the Canadian politician so it may mean that our plans have to be alterred slightly but hoping to see the CN Tower at least.  I will update the blog from the airport as long as I can get on line.

The Maid of the Mist

We said goodbye to ourselves out at the front of the hotel at 4am this morning.  The shuttle service was excellent, Gary got checked thoroughly going through the bag check but we think it was just because it was so early they had nothing better to do.  The West Jet flight was very good, on time leaving, only half full but the landing was pretty heavy.

Carolynne and Izzy were at the airport to meet us and we caught a shuttle back to their hotel for a much needed breakfast and then set off for Niagara.  It is incredible the difference to the Canada we have seen so far.  This bit of the country is the civilised Canada.  Four lane highways, people, cars and shops.

Niagara is spectacular, this is one of our first sightings

I can't reproduce the noise though and the spray on your face even a long way from the water.  The picture above is the Canadian Falls, much more spectacular than the American Falls which is shown below

This is Gary and I with Izzy

The sun is out and it is hot.  It feels really good sitting in the spray from the falls.  I reckon it would be pretty good to stand under it and have a shower.  The guides here say there is 154 million litres of water going over the falls every minute.  My guide book says it is 14 million litres per minute.  Whatever it is, it is a lot

The trip on the maid of the mist is a must and was brilliant.  The blue plastic covers have to be done but because it was so hot made us pretty wet anyway because we were sweating so much.  It may have been better without them

you get yellow ones when you go behind the falls

you just feel drawn to standing watching the water.  The closer you get the louder it is and the more mesmerising.  Incredible, brilliant day, thanks to Carolynne and Izzy for sharing it with us

We have finished off the day with a Grand Buffet at the Casino.  The food was great, but why do those people sit for hours putting money in those machines and pressing a button??

Off for a drive tomorrow to look at Niagra on the Lake and the Gorge.

A Day of Goodbyes

I'll start the blog with the promised photos from last nights lobster meal

Today was the last official day of the tour.  We were all meant to be here until today just in case anything went wrong with the cargo plans and we needed to be around to sort out paperwork etc.  Two left yesterday and we lost another 4 today.  Leighton (red leader) left this morning and we all came down to say goodbye

Barbara and Craig came down looking like your typical holiday reps seeing off customers and waiting for the new lot

Those that were left then went off to do their own thing until later this evening, we went with Ian to the Maritime museum and while walking along the waterfront, Gary and Ian stood watching this boat coming in and wishing it was theirs

when it got into dock, they decided it was definitely what they wanted

When they decided they couldn't afford it, they continued on down the harbourfront and met Paul at the micro brewery for a glass or two

we also had a huge ice cream from Cow ice cream, which is meant to have been voted the best ice cream in the world.  It was not a patch on Joes ice cream from Swansea.  If you are in Swansea or the Mumbles you must give it a go. 

This evening John, Marion and Tony left on the airport shuttle which left 7 of us here

Gary and I have also said goodbye to everyone as we will be on the 4am shuttle bus and nobody wants to get up.  we will have to take a self portrait photo as we get on the bus.  Next blog will be from Niagra

Feeling at a Loss

There is something missing but it was very nice this morning to take a leisurely breakfast and wander along the Harbourfront.  Halifax is a lovely place to be.  Very relaxing, the sun is shining and now it is a holiday and not an adventure.

This will be a short entry as we have done little today.  We visited the immigration museum and pottered about a bit.  We went to Sears and bought some additional undergarments as now I don't have to carry everything around on the bike I can have those sort of luxuries.

This is our hotel

this is the restaurant we ate in last night

and this is what I'm probably going to do tomorrow

We have lost Andy and Dave today, they have left for the airport to catch this evenings flight back to the UK.  The rest of us went to the warehouse restaurant for dinner and a very good time was had by all.  Ian ate lobster for the first time and like me had to have lessons in how to get into it.  The photos will follow tomorrow as Gary and I didn't take the camera and I need to get photos from elsewhere.

Saying Goodbye

Today I had to say goodbye to my superb machine.  She has done me proud over the last 5 weeks or so and not missed a beat.  6500 miles, 812 on gravel, longest day of 425 miles and only a few days off over the course of the trip.  Not even a puncture have i had to deal with.  We took a pretty straight route to our meeting point at J7 of the highway just outside Halifax.  It was a very windy trip getting side swiped quite often and it was hard work rather than being able to have fun on our last run.  We asked Ian to take a picture of us leaving the meet point and this is what we got

it was followed with us and John leaving the car park

The cargo handlers were just down the road a few miles and after arriving we all dealt with taking photos and filling in the damage check documentation

we have all been able to keep our on road tyres and they came out of the van for us to secure to our bikes for transport.

a final photo before we have to part

then Ian gave us a briefing on how our bikes got from where they were into the cargo bay (we thought he was joking!)

They are going to bring in a tipper trailer, drop the flatbed, you drive or push your bike up the slope and hold it until we get three bikes on, he'll bring the trailer back up and then reverse it to the cargo bay, you can then drive or push it off ........ got that?

yes John, up there...

it all works like clockwork and once reversed the bikes go straight into the bay

chivalry is not dead, I chickened out which meant that Gary had to go again

got the last two bikes in as it started to rain

so its all over bar the shouting and we retreated to the bar wearing our new tour T shirts

and we have finished the day with our final team meal.  Great restaurant and the table was like being in the Boardroom.

we have two nights here as part of the official tour and then gary and I have added an extra night.  The group will slowly split up over the next couple of days, it will seem very odd not meeting up outside at the bikes each morning.

I will continue the blog to include our time here in Halifax and  our additional days in Niagra and Toronto with Carolynne and Izzy so stay tuned and thanks for logging on