Vegreville to Vermilion   Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.          (HG Wells) Vegreville is home to the world’s largest pysanka (Ukranian Easter egg).  It symbolizes the harmony, vitality and culture of the community. We arose and went to Innisfree, but only for ...

Edmonton to Vegreville Somewhat disconcerted by the tornado warning for Edmonton of the previous day (it did touch down at Pigeon Lake), we arrived back in the city yesterday and picked up our bikes from Velocity Cycle. We spent another enjoyable evening with Maureen and Bev, dining at the High Level Diner (thanks, Vanita, for ...

Entwhistle to Edmonton Ok, so today was not fun. While the oatmeal at the Riverside Diner was a welcome start, we were soon in the rain again. It cleared later and the temperature rose, but at the same time the wind shifted to the east, which became more tiring as the day wore on. Rather than ...

Edson to Entwhistle Our coffee stop was Tim Horton’s this morning, which will amuse some who know we are espresso snobs. However, Timmy’s surprised us, as the espresso was not bad at all! The server was bemused, though, when we didn’t want any coffee with the shot of espresso! The ride was fairly easy again, with few ...

Hinton to Edson Our day started at the Old Grind in downtown Hinton away from the strip along the Yellowhead. The coffee was good and we enjoyed their tuna sandwiches later, by Obed Lake. The young server said our bike trip was “awesome”. A man struck up a conversation on seeing Pauls’s epresso. Originally from ...

Jasper to Hinton At breakfast, Lorraine informed the young Irish woman who was serving us that we were cycling across Canada. Her incredulous  response was “That’s insane!”.  As we were checking out of the hotel, a visitor from down-under  advised Paul that there was a new invention – i.e., the car!  Unfortunately, Paul was not ready ...

Lois decided she would like to change her saddle. She has not been entirely comfortable on it, depite various efforts to adjust hight and tilt. Bike touring requires a firmer saddle, to provide proper support over long rides and to prevent chafing, so we knew that the transition from the gel seats of our hybrids ...

Valemount to Jasper A Google search for breakfast spots identified a wonderful Swiss Bakery the other side of the railway tracks, by the Valemount Via Rail Station. Run by a Swiss woman and her professional baker husband, it offers full European (Swiss) breakfasts, sandwiches and a tantalizing selection of pastries, cakes and cookies, as well as ...

Blue River to Valemount We passed the first 1000km mark on our cross-Canada tour today, just before Valemount! The ride was good – we’re hoping that the nice wide shoulders of the Southern Yellowhead (#5) continue on the Yellowhead, which we join tomorrow at Tete Jaune Cache and will be on throughout Saskatchewan and into Manitoba. ...

Clearwater to Blue River What’s with this weather? A temperature of 7 degrees again this morning. Everyone keeps talking about the heat wave we missed a couple of weeks ago. We did see the sun briefly this morning (and optimistically applied sunscreen), but then it showered and showered some more and for the last 20 kilometres ...