The Icefields Parkway is lauded as the world’s most scenic road. It’s not hard to see why. This is anything but the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon. Flanked on either side by mountains – some bare, some snow capped, some glistening under the weight of a glacier – and by an unfathomable number of conifers, every mile of road seems to open up yet another … Continue reading Driving the Icefields Parkway
Our stay in Jasper didn’t get off to the best of starts. 3am on our first morning, and we are woken up by a dripping noise. Turns out that the room above was having a shower (who showers at 3am in the morning!?) and it was leaking into our room and bathroom! We spent our first day in the town by going on a walk … Continue reading Jasper National Park
Yes that’s right – we’ve seen our first bear(s)! And not just any bear, a mummy black bear and her 2 cubs. Black bears are the most common bears in North America, but we still hadn’t expected to see one on our first visit. I’m glad that when we did see one, it was whilst we were more than the recommended 3 bus lengths away … Continue reading Welcome to bear country
VIA Rail’s ‘Canadian’ train from Toronto to Vancouver is supposed to be one of the world’s greatest train journeys. It also costs over $2,000 and takes 5 days so was just a bit out of budget! Instead of doing the whole thing (the first part through the Prairies is meant to be pretty boring anyway) we flew to Edmonton and then took the train to … Continue reading Travelling by train to the Rockies
So having driven down to the Niagara Falls, we drove all the way back to Toronto and kept on going until we reached Algonquin Provincial Park. The Park is massive – about one quarter of the size of Belgium, and is home to forests and thousands of lakes. A main road to Ottawa passes through the Park in the far south, where a lot of … Continue reading Algonquin Provincial Park
After the bright lights of Toronto we headed south to the Niagara Falls along the western shores of Lake Ontario. To help us on our way, we have now been joined by a new travel companion, our hire rental car, which is a Kia Forte. Following on from our previous holiday hire car luminaries, such as Harris the Yaris, our car needed a name. So … Continue reading Niagara Falls
The CN Tower. Landmark of Toronto and a symbol of Canada. Inescapable from almost any angle in the city, it is the focal point for countless photos. The 3rd tallest tower in the world, the tallest structure in the western hemisphere, and formerly the tallest freestanding structure in the world (1975-2007) – thanks Wikipedia! To put it in perspective, The Shard in London is 306 … Continue reading Living on the Edge!
So day 2 began with a quick visit to Fort York, built in the late 18th century to protect York (now Toronto) from those pesky and newly independent Americans south of the border. It seemed rather insignificant compared to the modern world of gleaming skyscrapers in the distance and the rumbling Gardiner Expressway overhead. Next up was a short ferry ride across to Toronto Islands … Continue reading Day 2 in Toronto
After waking up at 4.30am (thanks jet lag) we had a lazy morning and headed out to explore downtown Toronto. We looked at the CN Tower from various angles. Including zooming in on the people doing the EdgeWalk which Stewart is trying to convince me to do. tried to walk up the wavedecks, which we found on the waterfront, without touching the floor… met the … Continue reading We’ve arrived – Toronto Day 1
Brown Bear Travels 