Archive "Steve`s World Bike Trip - Canada"

Update's From Canada

#1 Trip Itinerary April 8th, 2006

Contained in this update my itinerary for my trip. so far only the canadian section is very detailed, and it is even subject to change without prior notice. Ill be leaving Hinton, AB, Canada on May 1st, 2006. The following dates correspond to where I will be arriving, approximatley, give or take a few days. These dates are very tenative.

Hinton, AB - May 1st
Prince George, BC - May 6th
Vancouver, BC - May 13th
Calgary, AB - May 31th
Edmonton, AB - June 7th
Saskatoon, SASK - June 15th
Regina - June 20th
Winnipeg, MAN - June 30th
Kenora, ONT - July 28th
Sault St. Marie, ONT - August 7th
Toronto, ONT - August 18th
Ottowa, ONT - August 24th
Quebec City, QUE - August 29th
"Tour Maritime Provinces": New Brunswick, PEI, NOva Scotia, Newfoundland between August 30th - September 30th approx.
Portland, Maine, USA - September 30th
New York, New York, USA - October 5th
I need to be in New York to catch the Queen Mary II on November 5th, 2006, so, ill probably be taking my time through Canada and the top of the United States, so more if im coming to visit you in one of those regions, add a few days to the tenative date provided. Also, I'll be stopping to visit quite a few people along the way, and ive tried to add in the approximate amount of dates that I'll be staying, but i really have no idea at this point in the game.
Southampton, England - November 11th
I will be touring Britain and Ireland for about 2 months before heading to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Austria before April 25th
Veinna, Austria - April 25thI'll then be touring Northern and Eastern Europe for another few months, arriving in Tangier, Morocco, Africa by fall 2007.
From there it is all speculation, but I plan on touring the entire Atlantic and Indian oceans coastlines in Africa before going briefly through the middle east. This will take me about 12-18 months. Then into Asia and Austria, for about a year and finally along the entire Pacific coastline of North and South America, for about 18 months. This is all speculation though, as I dont know what will happen between now and then, and the entire route may be subject to change, depending on what road looks nicest. All in all, it looks like about a 5 year trip.
I'll also be sending this email via my google group, which you can sign up for at http://groups.google.ca/group/stevesworldbiketrip. Sending emails to everyone on my list is difficult to do in hotmail because I can only send to a certain amount of people at a time, this Google Group makes it easy for me to send it to everyone at once, so sign up if you want to catch the important emails. Also, if you havent done so already, and if I am coming to pay a visit with you, send me your address and phone # so I can find your house, and to make sure that I pencil it onto my map.Well if there are any questions about my route, let me know, and I'll try to answer them as best I can. Hope to hear and see everyone soon.
Steve Fox

---

#2 On the Yellowhead, Highway 16

May 12th, 2006

HelloIm writing to you now from the 28 Inn in New Hazelton, British Colombia, Canada. I know what your thinking, "Say what, Steve isn's supposed to be there..." but, I am in fact, here, I assure you. I am here because there has yet again be a spur of the moment change of plans. When I got to Prince George, I decided it best to carry on to Burns lake and Houston, to visit some people I knew. From there, I found out that the cost of the ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island was relativly cheap, so that's what Im doing. Taking the ferry. This will give me a chance to relax for a while off the bike, as Ive been going hard for the last 12 days straight with very little time off the bike. From Port Hardy, I'll tour the Island, and be in Vancouver by the 20th, where hopefully Ill ride the last few kilometers with Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei,as they finish off their soley Human powered circumnavigation of Earth.

The ride up here has be awesome so far, Im having a great time, and my body is slowly but surely getting used to putting on close to 100 km a day. The mountains and the scenery I've seen is amazing. I passed by mount Robson early in my travels, and it's huge. I would suggest that as one of those things too see before you die. There are some amazing places here in BC. As for wildlife, I've seen 5 black bears, one of which was this morning just outside of where I camped, a fox, also today, tons of deer and a few moose.

The weather has been a bit weird though. For example, on the very first night, it snowed almost an inch, just outside of Jasper. It has snowed severl times since then, and rained almost every day, but not quite. There were some sunny days in there, enough to burn my left ear, even with repeated sunscreenings. I was also caught in a tornado, or probably more of a simple dust storm trying to be a tornado. It happened yesterday, as I was departing from Smithers. I was biking along the highway, when, out of the blue, came the spinning death from above. The wind picked up enough to stop me dead on a flat peice of road, and it proceeded to lift my 2 front panniers off the rack, and trown then a few meters, at the same time, sand blasting my face. It lasted about 10 seconds, and then, as suddenly as it had arrived, it was gone again...leaving me standing quite rock pummeled, in the midle of a clean patch of road.

Well, thats it for now, ill try to keep everyone in the loop as much as I can. feel free to write

Steve

---

#3 Southern BC and back Into Alberta

June 13th, 2006

Good day my family, friends, and faithful followers.This latest update comes to you from near my departure point, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, a mere 3 day ride from Hinton. I will not be going west to Hinton though, as sad as that makes my mom. I`m sorry mom. No, instead, tomorow I will continue East in an almost straight line all the way to the east coast.

Ok, to recap on the past few weeks:

My last update came from New Hazelton, in the heart of British Columbia. From there I made my way to Prince Rupert on the coast and the scenery proceeded to do nothing but get more beautiful as I rolled along. One of the most amazing places I saw was the Exchamskis Park, which was an old camp site that was returned to nature to protect the massive trees that grow there. As much as I would have liked to take pictures of them, my camera had been broken since Terrace, BC, so I can only say go see it for yourself.

Once in Prince Rupert I stayed in a hostel for the first time, and it was a very rewarding experience. I also had the opportunity there to work for my stay, and managed to pay off my dorm room for the night and end up with some pocket change for dinner, and all I had to do was work on my tan (which is coming along fine after my very bad burning coming into Prince Rupert) in the back yard. I also met Claus from Denmark, whom I have since run into several times on the road. It so happened that we were in the same hostel, shared the same ferry, shared yet another hostel in Port Hardy, and met once more in Nanaimo. For the record, I won our race to Nanaimo, even though I was on a bike and he was bussing and hitchhiking, thus proving that bikes are faster.

Anyways, as I continued down Vancouver Island I met up with Ira Sutherland. That day I was having a rough time as my sun burn from the previous week was beginning to itch uncontrollably, almost to the point where I could no longer carry on biking. Thanks the the help from a couple in an RV, I was given some temporary relief with calomine lotion and aspirin, but that soon wore off. I was helped only by meeting Ira, who gave me someone to talk to and a reson not to concentrate on my itching back. I pedalled with Ira, who is biking across Canada this summer, for 2 days on the island before he sprinted ahead to Nanaimo to catch an early ferry, whereas I planned on taking my time getting there.

From Nanaimo I hopped on the ferry to Vancouver. I arrived later than I had expected, so I went to Ambleside Beach and camped behind a large statue right next to the Lions Gate Bridge. Then next morning I crossed the said bridge and toured about in Stanley Park, which has some amazing bike paths cutting along the ocean and into old growth forests filled with massive slugs and black squirrels. I carried on through the massive urban sprawl of Vancouver and its surrounding cities, which seemed to go on forever. It took me 2 days to make it through, and at the end I was quite finished with city driving and on my last nerve. I made it passed Hope and camped for 2 days on the side of the road in the pouring rain, resting, eating, reading and attempting to dry some things out. It had been raining for 3 days and everything was wet. It wouldn't stop raining for quite a few more days either. Wet tents are a pain to carry.

The road to Merritt, BC followed the Thompson River before punching through a desert. Once in Merritt, I ran into a hill, which didn't stop going up at obscene gradients until I reached the Okanogan Valley, which sent me on a 30 KM descent into a head wind. What a waste of a good hill. I arrived in Kelowna and met Alwyn and Val from London and cycled with them to a camp site (my third campsite of the trip) in Kelowna. The next day I left the Okanogan Valley and followed the Trans Canada Highway through 3 mountain ranges and over 2 very satisfying mountain passes. I met Stewart and Karen from Austria and camped in a campsite for the fourth time just outside of Golden. I camped for my last night in BC just inside Yoho National Park before making the home stretch back into Alberta, the land where I can legally buy alchohol. Hurray.

I left Canmore and spent 3 days biking to Wetaskawin, pulling off over 120 km a day for 3 days straight. I have since done about 130 km in the last 5 days, spending a lot of time visiting friends and relaxing before heading off into the vast plains of central Canada on my way to the East Coast.


You'll be happy to hear too that almost everything is holding out on my body and my bike. I say almost because some things have started to wear down, such as my patience with bad drivers. But that aside, I bent my front wheel on Vanvouver Island when a logging truck passed way too close for my liking and forced me off the 12 inch wide shoulder causing my front pannier to fall off, catching my spokes and putting a really nice wobble in my day. I did get it straightened in Campbell river, but that was still a 50 KM ride on a wrecked wheel. I have also worn out my rear tire. I noticed after about 1000 kilometers it was starting to wear out a bit, and just inside the Alberta border after being worn down right to the inner tube, it blew a flat, or rather, several flats all at once, writing off both the tube and the tire. I had planned ahead though, and bought a new tire a few days prior, so a simple switch and I was off again.Well, to sum everything up so far, this trip has been absolutly amazing. Im really looking forward to continuing travelling into unchartered territory as I have never really been much farther east than Edmonton. I would also like to thank everyone who has helped me out along the way so far. Whether it was by letting me sleep in your back yard, helping me with directions, or just showing an enourmous amount of kindness, you've made an impact on me, and I've only just started my journey. You guys and girls all rock. Thank you.Peace Out

Steve Fox

---

#4 Where You Can Watch your Dog Run Away for 3 days...

The Never-ending Canadian Prairies

Im writing to you now from Thunderbay, Ontario, Canada, where I'm in a swanky hotel room for no less than 98$ a night...But more on why I'm stuck here to come. All that matters is that I made it through the prairies with my sanity intact and the will to go on. I must admit, although there were some tough stretches where, if not for the curve of the Earth I would be able to see forever, but the people and the places I saw greatly made up for it.

As soon as I left Edmonton on my way to Saskatchewan it started getting very flat. I made really good time, but with nothing to do, you sometimes catch yourself carrying on fluent conversations with the wind. My first stop was in Saskatoon where I stayed with a friend from way back in the day in Basic Cadet camp, almost 5 years ago. I arrived in saskatoon via car as I broke my rear wheel in the middle of the land with no bike shops and couldnt find a replacement anywhere I looked, which included 4 sports stores in Lloydminister and a Canadian Tire. I was forced to hitchhike the equivelant of a 3 days ride to find a new wheel. As guilty as I feel for sticking my thumb out, there was just no way I was going to sling my heavy bike over my shoulder and walk 300 KM, as hardcore as I may be.

The next stop was Regina, where I happened to come across the McCusker Family who graciously put me up in there house, fed me amazing food and took me out to see the sites of Regina, which included a bridge belonging to England and an ice cream stand. I carried on from there to Estevan, but a pencil lead on the map up from the USA border where I stayed with another friend from camp back in the day.

I worked my way north again to Winnipeg, Manitoba, just in time for Canada day, but with no where to stay, regardless of how many people I knew there. One was leaving the day after I arrived and one's parents weren't home, so I ended up for 3 days in the Ivey House Hostel. It was a great stay, and I met up with Ira Sutherland, and his friend who are biking across Canada. I met Ira on Vancouver Island for the first time, and upon departing I said I would meet him in Winnipeg. Coincidentally we were lodged in the same Hostel. Winnipeg was a lot of fun, plus I got my second chance to work, this time at a berry farm, where I paid off lunch and made some extra money picking berries. I left Winnipeg with Ira and Cam heading due East. We took the scenic route through Whiteshell Provincial Park and left the prairies at long last. We entered the Canadian Shield which is the oldest rock formation on the planet, and was at one point covered in several kilometers of Ice in the last Ice Age. All the exposed rocks make for some great afternoons eating lunch by a lake and bouldering till my hearts content.

Upon entering the Sheild though, we also entered bear country again, which is a big part of the reason that I'm in a hotel now. It all started last night as I was looking for a spot to camp. I found a rest stop with a couple in an RV and decided to stay the night as the sun was going down and the mosquitos were coming out. I ate supper and set up my bear hang in a tree quite a ways away, then fell asleep. Around 2:20 AM I was awoken to the sounds of somthing breathing heavily near my tent and walking around. I knew right away it was a bear so I stayed quiet so as not to frighten it, waiting till it had moved away to start making noise. I heard Garbage cans toppling over and I began saying "Whoa bear, Get away bear, no food here" and just making general conversation with the night in an attempt to let it know i was there and possibly scare it away. It stuck around though, and started getting close to my tent again, so I grabbed my knife and talked louder. I got loud enough that I was a light flick on in the RV. They thought someone was stealing the gas out of their truck, but soon realized it was a bear, not a thief. They honked a few times and the bear retreated, so I went to their RV for coffee, all this at about 2:50 AM. A few minutes later, Richard went out for a cigarette, and called in saying " Hey Steve, when you left your tent, was it standing?" A little confused, I got out and sure enough, my tent was gone, laying on its side about 10 feet away from where I left it, completly shredded. Not 10 minutes after my dash to the RV, the bear had invaded and ripped my tent, sleeping bag and air mattress to peices. In the morning, after being up for several hours already I had to hitchhike into Thunderbay to find a new tent, as I was 3 days ride away and tentless. The reason I'm in a hotel now is there is really no cheaper accomadation like a hostel in town, and I was turned away from one cheap place because I had no credit card. Maybe a thing to look into getting?



Well, aside from the huge expenses ive incured with staying in hotels and buying new camping gear, and the near mauling last night, everything has been amazing. The people have been excellent to me (except the guy who wouldnt let me fill my water bottles from a hose in the middle of no where) and although boring at some times, the scenery is, in hindsight, breathtaking. I do have a feeling of guiltiness for having to hitchhike about 600 km, but I'm just going to look at those experiences as more stories to tell people later on. A huge thanks to Richard and Carole last night for helping me out in a time of need, and to that bear, for not eating me. Especially to the bear. Thanks for tuning in guys, I'm out for the night.

Steve Fox in Thunderbay, Ontario

---

#5 Neverending Ontario, complete with more bear encounters, lovely lakes and other bikers

Good Morning, or possibly good evening. Hope everyone out there is having a good time at whatever they happen to be doing. i know I sure am.

I'm writing to you from Espanola, Ontario, which is on an island in Lake Huron. It's taken a long time to get just this far, and I'm only half way across Ontario. It's HUGE, but it's slowly getting smaller. So, Thunder Bay was a rough time. After staying one night in that hotel, and convinently landing there on a Sunday when nothing in Thunder Bay is open, I needed to find some new accomadations. First I tried another much cheaper hotel, at $50 a night. They were full, so I tried another, but had no luck without a credit card handy. I biked to the youth hostel, and a swath of other high priced accomadations only to be turned away. The youth hostel was closed, or as I found out when I left town, 30 km away. I tried phoning several Bed and Breakfasts, hoping one of them would have room, but everything seemed to be full, possibly a result of the bluegrass festival happening as that time. I even tried the homeless shelter, only to find it full of people, most of them coincidentally not very well off, and me on an expensive looking bike loaded with gear...not a good combination. So I made my way back to my original hotel, stopping at various places to find some internet access to get onto Warm Showers, only to be turned away several times in hotels when asking to get on thier computers. Eventually I found myself sitting in the lobby of the Comfort Inn pondering whether or not to bite it and pay another $98 to stay another night and boogie the next day. Then my solution as to staying in that hotel came in the form of an old man. He had a reservation and had asked over the phone to have 2 downstairs rooms, as he had 2 women with canes with him. The hotel had put him in 2 top level rooms. Over hearing the mans dilemna and wanting to help, thinking of only the old women, I asked if he needed any help carrying his bags upstairs. He declined, saying that he would make due, and left. Then the woman at the desk asked me to get out, on the grounds that I was harrassing customers. For the first time i had to debate feircly with myself, to the point of a near fist fight, to not get on a bus and go home. I managed to convince myself to stay, saying it would get better and departed on my quest to find a spot to sleep. After knocking on several doors, and being told very rudely by some to go away, I found Mahlis (I hope I spelled your name right) who offered up her house. That was just in time too, as I was strongly considering buying a tarp and sleeping in a park. That night Joanne, Mahlis' mom, BBQ'ed steaks, shrimp and a large variety of food. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for putting me up for those 2 days while i sorted out my equipment. You ladies rock. Thanks so much.

I managed to get a new tent and some other various peices of gear that got totalled by the bear of death and made my way out of Thunder Bay in one peice with a new will to go on. On my way out of town I passed by the Terry Fox Memorial. For those of you who don't know, Terry Fox attempted to run across Canada to raise money for Cancer research, after losing a leg to Cancer. He had to stop his trip prematurely near thunder bay as the cancer had reappeared. He died shortly after without finishing his Marathon Of Hope.

In the next few days nothing overly exciting happened until I got to Marathon, ONT. I rolled over a screw and popped a tire just outside of Marathon and was forced to stop for the night. I stayed near a lake on the opposite side of a campground and woke up around 5:45 AM to a paw hitting my tent trying to get in just above my head. But this time I was prepared. Within 5 seconds or so I was out of my tent, bear spray in one hand, knife in the other (I now sleep with these items), yelling profanities as the bear ran into the trees. In another 15 minutes my tent was packed and I was rolling away shouting at the bear that was still lurking around in the trees. My third bear encounter of the bad kind occured later that day when one walked out onto the road 20 feet in front of me and stopped in the shoulder to watch me barrel towards it. a quick shout scared that one away. On my way passed the campsite I met Joe and Jack, who where also in the process of cycling Canada, and I joined them for breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, onesise, and several other meals in the spirit of eating as much as you can. I tagged along with them for the next few days, leaving Joe in Sault Ste Marie and Jack today just outside of Espanola.

While cycling with Jack and Joe we encountered the largest hill of the journey, th fabled Montreal river Hill, know to the truckers as "The Hill" whose story is told in frightening settings around late night campfires. Some people even dress up as it for Halloween. It's just that horrifying. For days we heard tales of it, consuming cyclists whole and spitting thier bike frames out, and people told us to watch out for this massif, as some dont make it up alive...Needless to say, we were frightened, and the thought of the behemoth haunted our riding. The only thing was, hills only go up in one direction...in this case, not ours, so we simply coasted down at break neck speeds. It really was an anti climax, as the hill from hell turned out to go down, not up. The day got better from there too. Joe had met a friend from his skiiing days who offered up his cabin, conviniently placed at the bottom of this hill. And the cabin was amazing! Right on the edge of Lake Superior and surrounded by blueberries, it had a bathtub outside on the deck so you could sip wine and watch the sun set, and the cabins interior was stunning, built of logs, and completly hand crafted, from the long table to the lights set it burls to the chairs carved of single peices of wood in the likeness of fish. It was truely a five star place, offered up to us to take advantage of to our hearts content, and that included the well stocked beer fridge. Needless to say, we stayed an extra day.

Well, to cut this long drolling update off, I'm running my internet bill pretty high right now and need to go find a place to camp, so I bid you all adeiu, and hope that you'll send me some emails some day, as I like hearing from people. Here's to keepin' the rubber side down.

Steve Fox

---

#6 Near the end of Ontario, in my nations Capital

So here I am, at last, a day's ride to the Ontario/Quebec border in Ottawa and only 1500 KM away from Halifax on the East Coast.

Shortly after writing my last update I ran into some more bike problems. That morning, as I rolled into a parking lot to do some grocery shopping, I popped a tire. That was OK, just a routine patch job, and I would have been on my way, but as I was pumping up the tire, the valve stem broke off...and I no longer had a spare tube handy. So, I was forced to walk to Canadian Tire, a few blocks away, only to find out that they didn't have the right size tubes. It took me quite a while to figure out that there were no tubes for my bike in Espanola. But then, out of the blue, came Kelly. He arranged for someone to pick up some tubes for me at a bike shop and had them delivered, while I chilled out at his flooring store all day. Huge thanks for saving me, Kelly.

After leaving Espanola I worked my way down Manitoulin Island and hopped on my 3rd ferry over to the Bruce Peninsula. I worked my way along a lot of back roads until I hit Niagara Falls, where there are more "gentlemen's clubs" than Tim Hortons coffee shops. I spent my first night camped behind one of these "clubs" after refusing to pay $59.00 for a camp site across the street, and fell asleep to the thump of techno music. The next day however, I upgraded to a Hostel so I could go out and see the town a little better. The falls really are amazing to see, especially at night, when they get lit up by spotlights.

From Niagara I biked to Lake Ontario and followed it through an endless urban sprawl for 3 days until I finally left Toronto. While in Toronto I checked out the CN Tower, which is the tallest free standing man made structure in the world, sitting at 553.33 meters tall. I also made a stop at the Friendly Stranger Hemp store to talk to them about their environmental policies and the actions that they have taken to help out nature. It is well worth stopping in to see them if you're ever passing through Toronto with nothing else to do.

A few days after leaving Toronto I found myself in Kingston, and on my way to the Blue Skies Music Festival in Claredon Station. As I was biking down the street in Kingston I was flagged down by Jenni, who was canvassing for UNICEF. She brought up the music festival and told me I should go, so I hitch hiked with her the next day. The hitch hiking was interesting, because we got picked up by Dan Ackroyd, as in the Blues Brothers, and a police officer. We made the festival eventually and the 2 days I spent out there were probably the highlight of the trip so far. The people there were amazing, the music was excellent, and the general vibe from everyone made me think that the world leaders should have been there to see how peace and harmony actually works. Talking to some of the "Blue Skies Veterans" who had been attending the Festival since its early days in the 70's said that they had never once heard of anyone getting in even so much as a petty argument. It was really an amazing time there.

So here I am, in Ottawa, at the end of Ontario. I've been staying the last few days with my good friend Jack, whom I cycled with for over a week in northern Ontario along with Joe. He told me when we parted ways in Espanola that I should stop in, and I made it just in time for a little R&R at his lake side cabin. Now that I am rested and full of food, I think I'm ready to tackle the rest of Canada, and hopefully find my way across the pond to Europe. One last thing, I finally have some pictures of my adventures up on my website, so feel free to check those out, and I promise there will be many more to come.

Peace Out

Steve Fox

---

#7 Out of Quebec and Into the Maritimes

Bonjour!Pour n'importe qui qui accorde dedans du Québec, pour lire ceci en français allez à http://babelfish.altavista.com/ l'obtenir traduit.

Greetings from Dalhousie, New Brunswick! I made it to the Maritimes, which really is exciting for me. Then again, every new area that I have ventured into has been exciting in its own way.

When I last updated you I was in the Capital city of Canada, Ottawa, staying with some friends. I left early the next morning (early, as in 5 AM) with the family and headed towards Quebec. I was a little nervous about Quebec. It would be my first time alone in a place that didn’t have English as its primary language, and my French was severely lacking. I had no idea of what to expect of Quebec, but I had heard stories on the news about the unpatriotic, separatist, anti-English people that lived there. I was a little nervous.

When I crossed the bridge at Hawksbury into Quebec I found that the people there were the exact opposite of what I had expected. They were very kind and generous, willing to open their homes, and the homes of their friends around Quebec, to me. I really enjoyed it there.

Anyways, almost as soon as I crossed the bridge I stopped to talk to an English speaking French Canadien to ask for some directions. He helped me on my way and no sooner had I left him, I ran into Yves, who was cycling from his cabin in Ontario back into St Therise where he lived. I cycled with him for a while before he offered to buy me lunch and offered me a place to stay in St Therise with him and his family. The next day Yves and his wife drove me around Old Montreal and took me for lunch before sending me off to Repentigny to stay in the back yard of one of their friends, leaving me with the address to another friend in Quebec City.

Just as I was leaving Repentigny the next morning I ran into Jean-Matheiu, Elaine and Dominique (2 sexy nurses and 1 crazy nurse according to Jean-Matheiu) who were biking from Montreal to Quebec City to visit some friends. I cycled with them for two days into Quebec City. The only problem when we got there was that I had left the address and the map to my contacts house on the table at breakfast that morning. With no place to go I followed them to their friends house to stay, where I was very welcomed.

The house there was very busy, with 10 kids living there and another one on the way. Their mom was really an amazing person. Even with all the kids, the perpetual state of party going on there and the constant need to give attention to everyone, she still managed to find time for me, for which I am very grateful. The second day I stayed there I went out with Jean-Matheiu, Charles, Elizabeth, and Florence to Old Quebec to see the sites, and met Jean-Matheiu’s family. The next day I left even after sustaining a very bad muscle cramp the night before that left me struggling to walk. I biked out of town with Charles, who is also an avid biker. We fought a difficult head wind all the way out, only putting on 48 KM that day.

The next day I fought another bad headwind but cycling with Blake, going from Kingston to Halifax for a vacation, made it easier. Having someone to talk to lets you ignore the wind for a while. After 2 days of nasty headwinds, the winds turned around and pushed me towards my first actual century, which is biker talk for 100 miles. The total distance that day was 162.64 KM, my biggest day yet. Another 2 days of biking and I found myself here, in Dalhousie at the house of Bob and June Harquail, whose daughter I met in Quebec City at a birthday party.

Quebec really exceeded my expectations, for not only friendliness, but for the scenery as well. The St. Lawrence River is stunning, especially around sunset or sunrise, and it is amazing how big it gets toward the end of the continent. It felt very cool to cycle along side the sea way as I had only ever seen it on maps in school textbooks. To be right there beside it, seeing the things I had read about was amazing.

I am now officially in the Maritimes, and the people here are some of the nicest I have yet to meet. Maritime hospitality is not just a story you hear from time to time. Anyone that I have talked to here has been very interested in what I am doing, and willing to help me out in whatever way they can. I’m looking forward to experiencing the rest of Canada. I am also hoping that my front tire holds out for another 500 KM, so that I can dip the same tire into to Atlantic Ocean as was dipped into the Pacific on the other side of the continent. It might make it, but it is very worn out, with over 8000 KM on it.

Well, that’s all for now. If anyone knows anything about ships going to Europe in the next few weeks, feel free to let me know, as I still have no idea what I’m going to be doing for that. If not, I will probably figure something out.

Peace

Steve

---

#8 Wow I love the Maritimes!

I am coming to you from Ingonish, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Maritimes has been absolutly amazing. I would also like to apoligize in advance for any spelling errors I may make in this update. Its late and Im kinda tired, but really feel the need to write to you and keep you in the loop. Bear with me.

I left Dalhousie, NB, where my last update came from on an overcast day, which made for some excellent cycling. The sun isnt beating down on you and your warm from all the body heat you make. I made it the outskirts of Miramichi, NB by the end of the day. I saw nothing that day because of the inland route I took to dodge a peninsula.

One more day of cycling and I found myself loading my bike up into the back of a shuttle across the Confederation Bridge over to Prince Edward Island. While in Charlottetown, I took my bike into the shop where I was warned about an impending break down of my drive train, which includes the chain and rear cassette. I decided to wait to change it until Halifax and hoped for the best out of it. I stayed 2 nights on this smallest of provinces, my second night with a contact I got from some freinds I made in Alberta. They put me up for a day before I headed to thw Wood Islands Ferry, which took me to Pictou, Nova Scotia.

I biked for 2 virtually uneventful days until I got to Stewiacke, NS. While biking on the highway I saw a bright flourescent orange sign that said "Bluegrass" on it. I followed it deep into the wilderness, down secondary highways, back roads and finally a winding road that took me to a field packed with RV's. I decided to stay the weekend at the Music Fest, and spent my time relaxing and talking to a lot of people and listening to music. Thanks to everyone there for all the food you gave me. Meeting everyone there was probably the best part of it. I wasn't such a big fan of the amount of RV's though. Think of the fossil fuels. It was still an entertaining weekend, regardless.

I made it to Halifax and found a place to stay on www.warmshowers.org. I stayed there for 3 days and put my bike in the shop for a new drive train. It was the first time we were apart in 4 months. The day spent walking around town was tough too, and made me realize how much I need her. Just kidding....kinda. I checked out the harbor as well, and tried to find a ship to Europe, but with no luck. I did meet some very cool people there involved in the underground scene of Halifax. A lot of cool people there, including some people who will find a bike for you if you're in Halifac and in need of a bike to get around on. They have a bike shop in thier basement, fixing old bikes. I also met Steve who was a fiddler busking at the water front. Halifax was a good city, although there are some big hills there.

From Halifax I headed out, along the Eastern Shore before hopping of the middle into Antigonish. My first day out I spent most of the day on an old rail trail, which cut through a salt marsh and got me off the highways. My last day on the mainland I came up with an idea. The idea is that while biking across Canada I have noticed that the words "Tim Hortons" show up a lot in the ditches of all the roads I have been on. I decided to pick up all the cups that I saw for about 10 KM and in those 10 KM's I found over 100 cups. I have some pictures of it. Its kinda gross. My plan is to get Tim Hortons involved in cleaning up its garbage in the ditches of Canada, as a way to help out the Environment. Any feedback on this would be great as well, ideas and comments, or if you would like to help me out on this one. I made it Cape Breton island that night and stayed with a contact I made at the last bluegrass festival at the head of the Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) Trail.

Cape Breton Island Has so Far been amazing. I was urged by many people to come here and I am glad that I did, even though the hills here are really big, some of the biggest of the trip. Even so, it is so beautiful out here. And all the hills that go up, have to come down, making for some amazing descents, and a speed record for me of 70.4 KM/H. Cape Breton HIghlands National Park which is bordered by the amazing Cabot Trail is one of the scenic highlights of the trip so far. The Highlands are formed from a high plateau with deep valleys and steep cliffs that crash vertically into the ocean. The views are stunning, and while in Ingonish, I went on a whale tour on the Keltic Express. We was some dolphins and Minky Whales. As of today, I have just finished the hard part of the trail, and on the home stretch to North Sydney and the ferry to Newfoundland, where I will be in 2 days or so.


My plans for Newfoundland are to go up to Port Aux Basques on the west coast, and up the Coast to Gros Morne National Park for a few days of relaxing hiking and amazing veiws. From there I will go to Springdale in the north to visit some friends, then the last stretch to St Johns and the end (hopefully) of Canada. From there I will be hopping on a boat, I think, and going somewhere else in the world, whereever is convinient to go at the time. I'll just have to wait and see.

A final word, I would like to pay my respects to Steve Irwin, whos story you have probably heard already. my hat is off to him and he will be sorely missed. Anyone who knows of the Squirrel Hunter from back home will understand this deeply. Also to Terry Fox, as the Terry Fox run was just a day ago. Thanks for tuning in.

Peace, Steve

---

#9 Canada under my belt, the end of the beginning

I made it!

2 days ago I pulled into St Johns, Newfoundland, athough under some nasty circumstances. Getting here means that I have officially cycled across Canada.

So the last time I left you I was at Ingonish, on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. A days ride and 2 mountains later put me in North Sydney where I around until 1130 that night to get on the ferry to Port aux Basque, Newfoundland (NFLD). Newfoundland is accessable only by ferry, of which there are 4 on the island. This makes it somewhat more isolated.

The ferry ride took all night. In the morning I rolled off the ferry to be greeted by some heavy winds and driving rain. Determined to push on, I put my head down and pedalled away. Just before leaving the Ferry terminal however, several people made strange remarks about a place called "Wreakhouse". I gathered something about "bad winds" and "blows over trucks", but didn't think much of it. Then a few kilometers down the road and man in a pickup frantically swerved toward me and rolled down his window. "Be careful, you're almost to Wreakhouse. You should get on the other side of the road so you don't get blown into traffic." Then he sped away. It made me a little nervous, so I dodged to the other side of the road. 500 meters later I found out what Wreakhouse was. As I came out of the relative shelter from behind a mountain, I felt the pedalling getting easier, which was nice as I was going up hill. The tailwind got stronger until I could stop pedalling and maintain 30 KM/H up the hill. That was exciting, not having to pedal, at that rate I would cruise through Newfoundland. Then the road turned to the right and I was knocked over as 100KM/H winds pummelled me from the side. This wasn't even a windy day on Wreakhouse, but by the end of the day I was wreaked, having fought that cross wind the whole day. Wreakhouse winds are formed by a funnel effect in the mountains, making them much stronger there than anywhere else around it.

Another 3 days of pedalling I ended up in Gros Morne National Park, and found my friend Ira Sutherland, whom I have met with on Vancouver Island and in Winnipeg. The next day we donned our hiking equipment, in my case sandals, and headed towards the highest peak in the park, and the mountain from which the park gets its name. It was a 6 hour hike round trip with an elevation gain of about 806 meters. The veiw from the top was absolutely amazing. Gros Morne is a park and UNESCO World Heritage site because of it's unique geography. Thousands of years ago it sat squished under tonnes of glacial ice, and as the ice melted, it carved sharp cliffs and deep valleys into the rock. These valleys have since become almost completely cut off from the ocean, creating fjords. The dramatic cliffs, along with the changing colors of the leaves and the dark, deep waters beneath us made for some spectacular veiws. Ira and I made our descent and went for supper with an Australian couple we met on the mountain. They must have felt sorry for us for all the "toils" we go through and offered to buy us dinner. It was very good dinner, to say the least.

That night I left Ira in Rocky Harbor to go party with a large group of universtiy students from Corner Brook. Ira, to my knowledge went to the other side of the Bonne Bay to do a few more hikes, while I decided to carry on north, up the Northern Penninsula. On my way north, I passed by and attempted to hike to the top of Western Brook Pond, which is the poster child for Gros Morne park. even from the road you can see the sheer cliffs that plummet into the cold blue water and the high plateau at the top. It is definatly one of the most beautiful things I have seen. I would have liked to have made it to the top, but the fact that I dont have proper shoes, just sandals now, made it difficult to traverse the knee deep mud in som places.

I carried on north for another day, passing some interesting sights, until during a miserably rainy day, I popped both my tires, and while trying to fix them, wreaked both tubes because of little tiny peices of sand that stuck to wet rubber. I was forced to abandon my bike at Hawkes Bay and put my thumb out, in a bid to get to L'Anse aux Meadows, which means Jellyfish Cove in french. This is the sight of the first European settlement in North America, by the Vikings. The original sight was nothing spectacular to see, but the stories told by the interpreters, the sheer history of the place, and reconstructed Viking huts made for a very interesting and educational experience. I spent a lot of time talking to the Cheif Bjorn the Beautiful and Svein the Frenchman inside the huts. They even dubbed me with a Viking name: Thorvald Barelegs. While up there I also got the opportunity to sample some seal meat, which was really quite good. Pam Anderson would be ashamed...

Another day of hitchhiking got me back to Rocky Harbor and 2 uneventful days put me in Springdale for a few days of R & R with some people I met while working in Hinton. They fed me all sorts of Newfoundland foods and left me full and contented.

By now it had begun to get very cold at night. almost all of the leaves had changed colors and were falling to the ground, the days were getting shorter and I was getting anxious to make it St Johns. I hit one very cold rainy day in which I made very little distance, moving quickly from one warm spot to the next. I covered 30 KM that day. The next night I almost got in some trouble for camping in what I thought to be a safe spot to camp. Several managers and security staff approached me just as I was about to crawl into bed, long after the sun had gone down and the cold set in. Apparently what I thought to be a nice grassy patch on top of a hill in the middle of Clarenville turned out to be on several peoples property. I managed to sweet talk my way out of moving though, as relived their apprehensions about me camping quickly. It's amazing how far smiling and keeping your cool can get you. It was an honest mistake on my part though. Oops. The next night I had the chance to go check out some junior hockey games with some people I met and stayed with. Considering I was just going to get some water, It was a pretty entertaining night.

I left the Murphy's house the next morning and started pedalling hard. St Johns was 90 KM away. an easy days ride, but I wanted to be there before dark, so I pushed it. As I rode and thought about the prospect of rolling into St Johns, I was overcome by goose bumps. I had amost crossed Canada. This is the biggest country in the world, and I just cycled across it, coast to coast, under my own steam. This thought got my blood pumping and I couldn't help but get excited. I pedalled harder, trying to make it there quickly, and use every last calorie I could, I wanted to feel the toils of several months of pedalling when I reached Cape Spear, the farthest point East in North America. I hit some giant hills, but none of it mattered as I rolled right through St Johns, pausing only to ask some quick directions to the Cape. The day had been perfcect, overcast, but not raining, warm enough to wear light clothes but cool enough to keep me from sweating too excesively. The wind calmly pushed me along, over steep hills. Everthing was great. Then I came over the second last hill before the edge of the world. Cape Spear opened up to me. I could see it laid out in front of me, I knew where to go. The road went down to sea level once more before winding to the top of the last hill on the road, and on top of it, a lighthouse and some other isolated buildings. The adrenalin exploded, my blood pumped fast and my hair stood on end. I raced down the final descent pedalling hard, but as I reached the bottom of the hill, no more than a kilometer away from my goal, I wiped out. I wiped out hard. I was powering along, attempting to beat my speed record, moving at about 66 KM/H when my front bag rattled loose and popped off my front rack. It was still half tied on however and pulled my handlebars to the side. My bike rolled over several times and I tumbled into the ditch, landing in a patch of grass, narrowly missing a massive, sharp granite boulder and a small stand of broken off, spear like sticks. Not 2 seconds after ladning I stood up and felt myself all over, to see if I had broken anything. i was bleeding pretty badly from my right calf, but it was only road rash with sharp peices of crushed gravel still stuck in it. my right elbow had taken a beating and one of the spear like sticks had gotten me in the back. Everything was OK though, and I hobbled across the road to get some help. I was driven to the hospital and given a rough cleaning and a clean bill of health. I was really quite lucky, because as safe as I usually play it, I wasn't wearing my helmet, which was a little bit of a stupid move, considering the speeds I was trying for. Lessons learned though...maybe.

So, here I am in St Johns now, staying with some people whose address I was given in Halifax. Today I knocked to of my options off as things that I wasnt to do. Firstly, there are no boats in Canada it would seem that want to take a biker across the atlantic unless I am willing to pay a large sum of money, which, being a traveller on the cheap, I am not. I also had the idea of going to work at Marble Mountain, a ski resort in Corner Brook, NFLD, but was turned down for my application. So I am left with a few options. I could continue my search for a ship, which seems to be becoming a wild goose chase; I could get back on my bike and head south, which in these cold times, seems to be a promising option, or I could break my no fly rule and hop on a plane for about 1000$ CAD to London, which at this point is a last resort option that I would prefer not to take. Tomorow I plan on making the final 8 KM assault on Cape Spear, thus finishing Canada off, once and for all. I will be heading out there around 5 AM, hoping to catch the sun as it rises in the east, so I will think these options over carefully before deciding. I will keep you all posted on what my "plan" is.

SOME STATS FROM MY CROSS CANADA JOURNEY
Total Kilometers: 10830.65
Total Spent: $ 4017.76 CAD
Days on the Road: 165
Kilometers hitchiked: About 1000, I wasn't keeping track.
Flat Tires: 11, one every 1000 KM
Top five Canadian Cities: Edmonton, Winnipeg, Kingston, Halifax, St. Johns
Top five Scenic Spots: Cape Breton Island, Niagra Falls, Gros Morne Nat'l Park, Rocky Mountains (so many nice places there its hard to pick one), Lake Superior. I would also include L'Anse aux Meadows there although it wasn't quite scenery.
Best Province: It's hard to pick one becausre they all had good and bad times, so I won't. But If i truely had to It would be Newfoundland or British Columbia.
Anyways, Thats all for now. I will keep you all posted on what happens next, because your guess is as good as mine. To the End of the Beginning.

Peace

Steve Fox

---

#10 Canada and Beyond...

The Next Step: After several days of relaxing, fixing things and biking around St Johns, I have decided what I am going to do.

My quest for a boat was anything but success, and my pants full of ants are anxious to move again. I also am not going to fly. My only real option is to go south, as I don't want to be stuck in the snow, of which they get a lot out here. Im going to go back across Newfoundland now ti catch the same ferry that I took to get to the Island, in Port Aux Basques, mostly because the other longer more expensive ferry is no longer running for the season. I will probably take several ferries through some of the small isolated fishing villages though, which will cut off a lot of the biking.

From there I will head south, through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into the USA and down the East Coast. I will check out the differnet ports that I run across to see if there are any boats there willing to take me, but if I don't have any luck there I'll carry farther south until I hit the bottom, then turn around and go back north. This throws my entire "plan" off, but that is OK...who's planning anyways?

I also just got back from Cape spear this morning. I had hoped to watch the sun rise there before taking off, but it has been overcast and rainy for the last few days. It was still nice though, gave the feeling of beginning a new section of my travels. It was also worth noting that it reminded me of the first day of my trip leaving Hinton in May. The first peice of road was a steep hill, and as I wobbled out of my street I was pretty nrevous of the hill, having never really ridden the bike fully geared up. I touched the brakes a lot on that hill. Now, today coming back from Cape spear with no gear on my bike, I was nervous because my bike felt wobbly after being accustomed to the heavy laden touring bike. I was kinda nervous about the high speeds with no gear around me. It was also to the bottom of the hill that I wiped out on a few days ago.

So now, 170 days after starting my trip, I am off again, heading south. Here's to another eventful and entertaining couple of months. Peace

Steve

---

#11 St John's to Halifax

Here I am in Halifax Nova Scotia for the second time, staying with some people I met last time i stayed here.

I left St. John's late in the day, and only made it to Conception Bay South by nightfall to stay with Phil, a guy I met at Blatch (what they call the house I stayed at in st Johns). He owns a farm and grows his own food there, which is something I am interested in, so I ended up staying there for 2 days. I left there and biked a day into Chapel Arm where I stayed with the same people as the first time I went there. I also got the other broken part of my frame welded where it broke after my crash at Cape Spear.

From there I biked down the Burin Penninsula over barren plateaus to Bay l'Argent, where the first of many ferries took off. I left for Pool's Cove, but ended up for 2 nights in Rencontre East, partying with the locals of the small outport village. I made Pool's Cove and 50 KM of biking found me in Hermitage for another night. My second ferry ride took me to McCallum where I had to wait for 4 days to get onto my next ferry. My time wasn't wasted though, as I spent many days playing my drum and fixing things. i also did my first presentation to the school there, entertaining all 12 students for about 45 minutes.

The third ferry finally came and took me about 2 hours across the water to Francois, where I slept in a warehouse on the floor just beside the ferry so I could hear it start its engines for the 7 AM departure. two more hours took me to Burgeo, and presented me with a choice: I could wait 3 days for the connecting ferry, or I could bike 300 KM of wilderness to Port aux Basqes. i chose to bike and stocked up on food and water for a few days fo riding. The wilderness area I had to bike through was about 200 KM of emptiness, covered in thick moss and muskeg, and almost devoid of human activity, aside from the two small hunting villages I went through. The next night I made it to Stephenville, lured off the beaten track of the Trans Canada Highway by the prospect of Halloween parties. I didn't end up doing any kind of partying, but spent two days with Jim, who invited me into his home and filled me up with delicious food and great conversation for 2 days. It was great to talk about things with someone whom I completely agree with. he also had some excellent travel stories to share.

I left Stephenville with the prospect of a nice day, but no sooner had I gotten on the road, a storm broke out whipping white caps almost up to the highway and soaking me with ocean spray and rain from above. Within an hour I was foreced inside to dry everything I owned out. That done, I carried on to higher ground and some tree cover to hide in from the wind. Up on higher ground, I trudged through several hours of on and off slushy snow. Then just as my mood was plumetting with the temperature, along with that feeling that life sucks, a beacon of light appreared in the form of a hippy van. They didn't pick me up, but as the VW Westfalia sputtered past, someone stuck thier head out of the window and yelled some encouraging words ot me. I had hoped they would stop and pick me up, but they carried on, so I follwed them, filled with a new goal. I assumed they were travellers, cause who else drives a hippy van to a ferry port? I really wanted to meet them so I put my head down, yelled some curses at the weather and pedalled harder until I pulled into Port aux Baspes around 8 PM, long after the went down around 5 PM. As I was sitting in the ferry terminal I caught a glimpse of my beacon of hope, as 2 of the vans passengers walked into the building, and i caught them on the way out. As it turned out, there were 4 travellers in the van, 2 guys from Ireland and 2 girls from Australia, who had met will travelling. At this time, the winds had been blowing strongly for several days and the ferry was unable to get into port, so we were stuck there queing in line for 2 days. this gave us time to load my bike and gear into the van and smuggle me on board when we finally did leave. That night on the ferry was spent jamming with my drum.

Once I was back on the mainland I made my way south, ending up in Port Hastings for a night with a guy who owned a small bike shop in his garage. In the spirit of taking a different route, I took highway 344 along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. I ended up in St Francis Harbor where I was invited into the home of Frank and Gail for 2 days. while there I read a book put out by a group called OTESHA (www.OTESHA.ca). They are an interesting group of youths trying to make a difference with various problems in our world. The next night I had a very difficult time of finding a place to stay, which was a first in Nova Scotia. i ended up sleeping in a shed that night and a garage the next. It really brought home the fact that I am not in Newfoundland anymore, where people feel no fear of strangers and where hospitality is truly at it's best. While biking back into Halifax, I also have begun biking at night, under the light of the full moon. It is a very different experience to see the road and the world in the dark. There is not a lot of traffic on the back roads I was on and I am pretty well lit with blinking lights and reflectors, so theres less danger of being hit by someone who is not inebriated.

So i've now been staying in Halifax for a week. This is one of the most amazing cities I have been to yet, full of excellent people and great times, which will probably have to wait till i put out a book. I've been hanging out with people from the local Backpackers hostel, even though I am not staying there, and have been seeing the sights and sounds of town. I'm having a great time here, but as usual, and almost right on que, the ants in my pants are getting anxious, although im surprised I still have ants from the size of the holes in my pants made of hemp that barely cover me at this point. That's what happens to pants after several thousand kilometers of pedalling. Now I will be on my way to New Brunswick to see Fredricton, which is so far the only provincial capital city I haven't seen yet. From there It's nothing but sunshine and bikinis, with some inevitable snow in between.

Well, that is all for now. Now, go get on your bike and go somewhere you havent been before, and do it just for fun, regardless of the weather right now (within reason).

Peace

Steve Fox

---