Ruth: Our ride into Montreal was blissful after our previous day. Most of the route was on bike paths or bike lanes right into Montreal. We are spending three nights with my cousins in Montreal West so we can look around and reconnect. They are both passionate about Montreal and history, so for our first day we requested a historical tour. We started the day at ...
Ruth: We planned on a long day today so that tomorrow's ride into Montreal would be easier. The first 40 Kms were beautiful. The Long Sault Parkway enroute to Cornwall links the chain of islands that were created when the area was flooded for the Saint Laurence Seaway in the late 1950s. Over 6,000 people and their houses and businesses were relocated. Below is a ...
Ruth: I loved Kingston and our visit with Gord's cousin Brittany, her partner Emeric and their new baby Madeline. Kingston certainly has some amazing "Castles." After Kingston we paralleled the Thousand Islands where high water levels threatened many of the islet homes. Gordon: The cycle trip from Toronto to Montreal is generally done from west to east to take advantage of the prevailing winds. We did ...
The three day ride between Port Hope and Kingston was lovely and varied. We spent a lot of the last few days riding by monster houses set on lots that you would need all day with a rider mower to mow, that is, if you actually had to mow your own lawn. This is Loyalist country where the Union Jack is flying in the many ...
Gordon: We have been following the Waterfront Trail east of Toronto. For the first 100 kms we were almost continuously in parkland or housing subdivisions. The trail was well marked and there was frequent access to infrastructure such as picnic tables, washrooms and public beaches. It was very pleasant and quite attractive. About midday today, however, we moved from the suburbs to a more rural ...
Ruth: Much to everyone's surprise this is my first trip to Toronto. With only two days to discover this place we, have narrowed our focus to just a few neighbourhoods. We are staying in Cabbagetown, once a working class neighborhood and still filled with Victorian cottages and row houses. The houses have been largely preserved but the gentrification has forced most of the working class ...
The 150th birthday party has started across the country, and what a time to start a bike trip through the area that was first called Canada. The festivities are already on, even in the places like Vancouver Island where Confederation didn't happen until 1871. One hundred and fifty years ago Canada encompassed a much smaller area, with four provinces including a tiny Quebec and Ontario ...
Ruth: 2016 goes down as one of my very best years ever, but now I am looking forward to heading home. Our bikes are packed and our flight leaves from Bangkok tomorrow. Nothing left for us to do now except enjoy the food. A plate of any of these delicious curries costs CAN$1.20.Now that we are back in the Bangkok area we are hiding in our ...
Gordon: Our second organized foray into the park was as enjoyable as the first. We went for a swim in a clear natural stream, visited an open air market (far from a new experience), and then went to a cave full of bats. The cave itself had some nice formations, and there were dozens of bats hanging and fluttering about. They were quite small, perhaps ...
The blue gaiters are leech socksGordon: Yesterday, on a whim, we took the unusual step of joining an organized tour. I don't generally enjoy being herded around by someone else at great expense, but this full day outing in Khao Yai National Park was actually a great experience. We met eight other travellers from Germany, France, Austria and Italy, and we had a the benefit ...