Kenora to Vermilion Bay “Rocks and trees and trees and rocks and rocks and trees…and water.”  The Arrogant Worms sum it up! We also had hills today, and a headwind. But the beauty of the surroundings and cooler temperatures (i.e., cloudy, threatening to rain all day) made it a pleasant, if sometimes moderately challenging, day. We ...

West Hawk Lake to Kenora, Ontario A few minutes from West Hawk Lake, we joined the TransCanada, which, we were pleased to see had a newly paved hard shoulder. Soon after, we were at the Ontario border!  A couple of bikers on the other side of the highway, who were on their way to Rocky Mountain ...

Whitemouth to West Hawk Lake We left the B&B shortly after 7:00, heading north alongside fields of canola, corn, wheat and barley. We turned east onto the #44 (the old Highway 1) and almost immediately found ourselves on the Canadian Shield. The road was quiet and the scenery was novel, for now. Apart from dealing with ...

Winnipeg to nr Whitemouth We checked out Stella’s Bakery yesterday and were there again this morning for 7:00 opening. After a good breakfast and fuelled with espresso and latte, we headed out of Winnipeg, crossing the Red River Floodway, which last protected the city in 2009. We avoided the TransCanada, as we were told at Manitoba Tourism ...

Canada Day in Winnipeg: After the obligatory laundry and bike maintenance, we walked to the Legislature and found a crowd of people in red and white, ready for the human Canada Flag event. Wandering, we stopped at the statue of Louis Riel, who, as the founder of Manitoba, holds his rightful place on the bank ...

Portage La Prairie to Winnipeg We met our French cycling colleague, Jasmin, at Tim Hortons, where he had spent the night sitting in front of his laptop. He is using warmshowers.org or couchsurfing.org, but it seemed not to have worked out this time. He was in good spirits and we shared more stories over an espresso ...

Brandon to Portage La Prairie It was a perfect day for going to the lake, or …….for cycling along the Trans-Canada! It was hot and long and the wind was not always our friend. We have learned not to hope for an easy ride, as we have discovered that anything can happen and when it does, ...

Shoal Lake to Brandon Highway 21 South was a good choice. There was very little traffic and even a hard shoulder for a good part of it. With a tailwind, the cycling was easy and the skies were blue. At Hamiota,  we stopped and made espressos beside the cemetery. We passed through the Sioux Valley ...

Russell to Shoal Lake Suddenly, we have come into summer on this trip – warm, sunny days with a cooling breeze (from the right direction). But, just as we were beginning to sing “Sum-mer time and the (riding) is easy…”, the road conditions deteriorated and the hard shoulder disappeared! For  the last 50 kms, we ...

Yorkton to Russell, Manitoba Paul’s presentation to the meeting in Hong Kong last night was well received but the Skype audio started to break up at the end. Because of this there were questions that were unfortunately left unanswered, at least for now. Paul did get a chance to see and chat with colleagues from WHO ...