Our last blog post saw us disembark in Toronto from the longest train journey ever. We were both ready by this point to get back to how we normally do things on this trip (cycle/eat/camp/repeat) but before we got moving in an easterly direction we needed to do a little detour… to Niagara Falls.
Time now being of the essence we decided not to cycle there which meant.. another train! This was only a short journey, changing onto a bus and arriving into what turns out is Canada’s answer to Las Vegas/Blackpool feeling fairly discombobulated!
Niagara
The discombobulating was 100% worth it though because Niagara Falls was actually even better than we could have dared to expect. And when I say better, I mean a mega WOW!
Unfortunately, the day we had there was very cold so the obligatory boat trip was not only wet, but absolutely freezing… Somehow though, I found this added to the excitement of the whole thing, which left us both (especially me) giggling like children. Something about the photos Matt took of me are weirdly reminiscent of me on a primary school trip (aged 39 and a half!) I LOVED it!
As well as the boat trip, we also walked onto the Rainbow Bridge and hopped back and forth over the ‘border’ between the US and Canada (not the actual border of course – we left Canada, walked halfway across the bridge, jumped about a bit and then turned back – showing our passports to Canadian immigration as we left the bridge). We also went up the Skylon Tower as it started getting dark which gave us a completely different view, as well as the thrill of seeing the nightly light show.
Once we’d looked at the falls from every angle possible we really were ready to get on the bikes.
Again, with time being on our minds we cycled part of the way back to Toronto before jumping on another suburban train to take us into the city. We really enjoyed this first day back in the saddle – particularly as the tackiness of Niagara Falls receded, and was replaced by the vineyards, orchards and old colonial towns of the wider Niagara region.
On the road again in Ontario
One night in Toronto was just about enough time to have a quick look around the city – and enjoy a delicious meal of Japanese ramen. Matt wasn’t feeling 100% unfortunately so we were tucked up in our not particularly comfy hostel bed very early.
He poked me awake the next morning announcing that we needed to get packed up and leave in thirty minutes in order to make (yet another) suburban train scheduled for 8.12am to give us a boost out of the big smoke. I blearily speed packed, then we speed cycled down to Union Station to be met by a departures board that didn’t feature any trains departing at 8.12. Hmm… All energy expended from doing everything at speed I instantly forgave Matt for assuming that a train at 9.12 and 10.12 must also mean one at 8.12, and instead we flopped on a bench to wait the hour whilst guzzling the coffee and bagels we’d grabbed at the hostel breakfast buffet on the way out.
A couple of hours later (and another train/bus combo – what is with that Toronto?!) and we really were on our way this time. Bikes pointing in the direction of Ottawa and straight onto a rail trail, despite Matt feeling increasingly peaky we were on our way.
The next few days through Ontario carried on in similar fashion, with a combination of rail trails (some of which were great, some of which were far less good, with 50kmh speed limit signs for the quad bikes!) and hard shoulder riding interspersed with small towns/cities with some very familiar names…
Unfortunately, despite the pretty straightforward cycling we quickly discovered that campsites were not yet open for the season. A bit of a mis-calculation on our parts (we were fooled by everything being open on the Pacific Coast of North America, which apparently has a completely different climate…) This meant more motel and WarmShowers hopping, including a brief but wonderful stay in Peterborough with Sue and Ian.
As we closed in on Ottawa, Matt unfortunately found himself feeling worse and worse, which despite him stoically churning out 100km+ days on the front into a headwind, meant that a day off was probably in order.
As it happened I started feeling peaky too (I wonder where I caught that from?!) so we had an unexpected break on the outskirts of Perth which also coincided with a band of very wet weather coming through. So far, we’ve been very fortunate to be feeling pretty healthy on this trip – so feeling unwell really knocked us both for six. Being on the road whilst ill is no fun – the excitement of new places, cycling and being outside is replaced by just wanting… your own bed. A motel one had to suffice.
Konnichiwa Frank and Carl!
The need for the motel bed/haircut/rain avoidance did mean a slightly delayed arrival into Ottawa, or to be more precise Gatineau.
We’d first heard of Gatineau when we were in Japan of all places, when we spent a week cycling with Frank and Carl who live and work in this Québecois city located just over the river from Canada’s capital city. Some of you may recall that these were the guys who we actually made unwell on an all you can eat/drink/karaoke night out in Wakayama, leading to them needing a day off cycling to recover, whilst we continued on feeling decidedly ropey (is this something to be proud of? Probably not).
At said night out, Frank had extended a welcome to us to come and stay with him if we made it to Canada (him and Carl also did tell us that coming in April/May was a little early…) At the time, we had no idea where we would end up (this was September 2023 after all!) but somehow we found ourselves at the bike shop that Frank and Carl work in (La Shop if anyone needs anything bike related in Gatineau!), being greeted with big hugs all round.
Frank was a fantastic host – we ended up spending three nights in Gatineau, taking over his spare room, hanging out with Billy his cat, exploring Ottawa, going out for dinner as a foursome to an all you can eat Japanese barbecue restaurant (for the second time!), being fed sausages, spaghetti bolognese (Frank’s Mum’s sauce was delicious), pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast and a visit to his Dad’s farm involving an ATV (All-Terrain-Vehicle) tour in the woods!
To top it all off, Frank also drove us all the way to Montréal, saving us a couple of days of not particularly exciting riding and giving me a bit more time to recover from the Matty disease that had hung around us collectively for too long by this point. What a guy!
Québec
Feeling the presence of the ticking clock again, we booked ourselves into the Quality Inn in Montréal for just two nights, resolving to maximise our full day with dawn until dusk sightseeing. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas, as it decided to rain from dawn until… dusk. We still managed to see a lot of the city through the gloom including the Museum of Fine Art, the old city and port, a walk up Mont Royale and an explore of the Quartier Latin. Montréal is clearly a very cool international city. We were just a bit too cool and miserable by the end of our day there to look back at it overly fondly. Matt’s one pair of ‘evening socks’ will never recover from being soaked all day, and are now permanently the same colour as his shoes.
Despite having been in Quebec for quite a while by the time we left Montréal, being hosted by a bona fide Franc(k)ophone meant we hadn’t needed to worry too much about dusting off our GCSE French. Plus, despite being told repeatedly by Canadians that a lot of people in Québec don’t speak English, we hadn’t really quite properly believed it. After all, Québec is in Canada, isn’t it? Instead we had enjoyed the transition to French road signs and being greeted by other cyclists with a ‘Bonjour’. How lovely, we thought!
Leaving Montréal and heading in the direction of Québec City we had a bit of a rude awakening. It turns out that all of those Canadians we had spoken to about Québec were right (obviously). It is not uncommon to get into quite a communication pickle when speaking to people from Québec, particularly when said person is from the slightly older generation. Whilst our French is fairly rudimentary, we aren’t afraid of having a go, and on numerous trips to France in our van we’ve always been understood (and been able to get the gist of what French people are saying to us, in French). Not so in Québec where their French is unintelligible to us and ours seemingly unintelligible to them! This caused a mixture of hilarity, confusion and frustration at times but of course in most cases big smiles and hand gestures go a long way.
Once we’d realised this, and that more generally, whilst Québec is in Canada it is also very different from the rest of Canada, we had an enjoyable three days making our way to the province’s capital. Tailwind for two days (yesss!), vicious headwind for one (noooo!) and our first two nights of camping in a while and we were soon cycling up a steep hill to be greeted by the beautiful sight of Québec City – a really very lovely place which gave us all of the feelings of being back in Europe, our home continent! And of course where this trip started.
We enjoyed a lovely afternoon and whole day wandering the streets of the Old Town and even treated ourselves to a ‘Menu du Jour’ complete with lunchtime bottle of wine to really get into the French swing of things, ooh la la!
The time went too fast (suddenly everything is speeding up for us both, as we get ever close to returning home) and before we knew it we were waving au revoir from the ferry taking us across the St Laurent/Lawrence River for the continuation of our journey eastwards.
For us both, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa/Gatineau, Montréal and Québec City had all been big staging posts on this final leg of the trip so it’s a strange feeling to know that they are all behind us. Of course, as we’ve learned repeatedly on this trip – all endings lead to beginnings. And that’s a good thing too.
So what’s next? Well it turns out there’s more to Québec than the big cities, and then, somehow, there is still even more Canada before we get to the big ocean. So we had better check it out, I guess…
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