Full Map of Our Trip

Hi, again:
We've been getting our lives back to normal since the weekend. I'm trying to get maps of our travels onto this blog before everybody forgets about it.

This map shows our track all the way across (note the piece of Ontario that we took the train across). The red line is our track. The scale is bad, so it doesn't show up well.

The next post shows sections of the trip that are easier to see. They also include flags with the names of the places we stayed. Click on any image to enlarge it.

Greg

Maps of our travels

BC - We spent a lot of time in BC and did a lot of extra touring when compared to the shortest route across Canada, but I think we all enjoyed the section from Cranbrook to Jasper, which also had some of the most spectacular scenery.The prairies - our track had a nice north to south tendency. This route kept us off the Trans Canada Highway and away from most of the big cities.Ontario and Quebec - These are two really big provinces, so we only saw a bit of them.New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia - We only skirted the northern side of New Brunswick and didn't get all the way down Nova Scotia. There are lots of places in all the provinces that we missed.Newfoundland - We were going to cycle all the way up the Northern Peninsula to St. Anthony's but bad weather and cancelled bus service caused us to come to our senses and rent a car for the ride up and back.

Around St. John's

We've spent the last few days in St. John's, mainly being tourists.

Tuesday evening was a highlight when we had dinner with Peter & Barbara Clarke and their son Michael. Peter is my 1st cousin once removed (mother's side), and this was the first time we met. We had a great dinner and a wonderful visit. Thanks very much for the hospitality.

We're flying home tomorrow. Since I have some time before our 4 ayem getup (yawn), here are some photos from around town.

On the left is a photo of part of old St. John's, at the east end of town, just below Signal Hill.

Laura and I pedalled out to Cape Spear (most easterly point of North America). The image on the right is of the original lighthouse there, since restored and replaced by a new one (to the right, not in the picture).

This is Petty Harbour, south of Cape Spear. I dropped by there on the way back from the Cape.

These buildings are in downtown St. John's, on Military Road. Our B&B, "The Roses," are the first two buildings on the left. As always, we were treated very well by the hosts, and had a great stay there.

Here is the cruise ship Aurora, entering the harbour today. They just fit through the narrows. If you look carefully, above the pilot boat to the left of the Aurora there is a rock with a light on it, which further constricts the opening. Those guys certainly know how to drive those things. (Janice - this is the boat your friends are on, I believe?).

And, the last photo for today is of Middle Cove, where I pedalled to today, after we visited the "Rooms" museum. It's a pretty spot, with imposing cliffs on either side of a small gravel beach.

So, that pretty much finishes our trip. It's all over but for the credit card bills (and sorting mail, and getting caught up, and, and and...)

I guess that's about it for the blog as well. I'll get around to assembling more of the photos and some maps with the GPS tracks of our trip. I'll put the maps up on the blog later, if anybody is interested.

Talk to you soon, Greg

PS - does anybody know how to extract a blog off the net and save a hard copy (HTML?) version of it? I wouldn't want to lose this.

Sept 15 - Brigus to St. John's - 87 km

WE DID IT! 109 days and 7817 km of pedalling later, we are in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Today's ride was along the coast of the Avalon penninsula and then over the top into St. John's. We arrived at about 2:30 and had some nice gentleman take our picture down on the pier at the Harbourside Park. Then we pedalled over to Quidi Vidi Cove for a libation. The lady at the brewery was so impressed with our story she gave us half a dozen free beer as a prize!

The right hand photo is of the Quidi Vidi brewery. The other photo is the view from our B&B, "The Roses."

We still have a bit more pedalling to do - 17 km out to Cape Spear. And, of course, we are going to do the tourist thing around St. John's for a few days before heading out. NO, we aren't pedalling - we'll be flying back.

If I get a chance, I'll put up some more photos of St. John's.

See you.

Sept 14 - Arnold's Cove to Brigus - 95 km

Another dry day! It's been a while since I complained about rain. Headwinds in the afternoon, but not as bad as the previous day.

We are well onto the Avalon Penninsula now. The hills are smaller. Since we are on the Trans Canada Highway, the scenery isn't spectacular, but it is nice. It is almost alpine, in spite of being less than 200 meters elevation.

Brigus is one of those quintessential Newfoundland towns. Very old, quaint, a small fishing harbour and wonderfull people. We stayed at the Brittoner B&B (the story behind the name is too long to recount here), hosted by the delightful Betty Barrett. This is typical of an older home (circa 1840) that has undergone changes and renovations and finally been converted into a B&B. We had some wonderful chats with Betty over evening tea and a great breakfast. We'd recommend the Brittoner any time.

The first photo is of the dock at Brigus. I climbed the hills in the background to take the second photo (I'll do anything to keep you guys happy). The photo at right is from the deck of the Brittoner B&B. Pretty touch to take, eh!

And, one for the 'small world' department. One of the other couples staying at the Brittoner turned out to be from Comox, and they knew the Stewarts, who were our next door neighbours when we grew up in Kye Bay!

Sept 13 - Port Blanford to Arnold's Cove - 81 km

Less hills today, but the headwinds appeared after noon. We can live with that.

One of my sisters wanted me to check out Come By Chance, because she saw it on a map. So, I did. I knew beforehand about the Come By Chance oil refinery, but I decided I would fulfill my sister's wish and have a look. There's the town's sign beside the highway. The next photo is one of only two non-residential buildings in the town ( the other is the firehall).

So, sister, I went all the way DOWN the hill and had to pedal back UP the hill (fully loaded), just for this photo. You owe me big time, kiddo - at least two energy bars (the good kind!).

Arnold's Cove, where we stayed is actually the main residential area associated with the oil refinery and has some neat old fishing wharves. We stayed at Tanker's Inn, which is a converted construction camp, probably left over from the refinery (or,it seemed like it must have been!)

Sept 11 - Gander to Port Blanford - 122 km

A long day, compounded by headwinds in the afternoon. We did 2/3 of our day by lunchtime and fought headwinds afterwards. But, no rain.

We're still travelling down the east side of Newfoundland and today we went through Terra Nova National Park. Apparently, Terra Nova exists because of unique geography and bird migrations (I believe, don't quote me).

There were more hills than yesterday and it was a bit of a grind. I call this photo the "Newfie Roller Coaster." You could almost hear me groan right from BC when I saw it.

The other photo is of a town called Gambo, taken from a spot on the highway called "Joey's Lookout." The Joey referred to is Joey Smallwood - I don't know if this was his home town or not (it's on my "round tuit" list to check)


Port Blanford existed because of the railroad (now removed) and logging (you know what that's like). So, now its a sleepy little town with virtually no commercial buildings and a fair amount of residents spread out over the town's area. There is a big golf course development.

We stayed at a B&B again, the Serendipity hosted by Elsie. Very friendly, comfortable, a great breakfast.