Posts from our Canada 2018 trip
Au revoir Quebec … je me souviens
But we survived. The little yellow weatherboard is still firmly anchored to the ground when we wake after a particularly rainy night. While we wait for the final rains to disappear, we feast on a three course breakfast …
Suburban beginnings and wild endings
It has happened. We have done a sterling job up until now to avoid it, but today there was little choice. Stranded in the wilds of Canadian suburbia, we have …
How much do I love thee? Let me cut the metres.
Either he loves me big-time, or he’s sick of my grunting. Either way, today we have a route change. We abandon the route I painstakingly plotted which traveled via a couple of lakes and potentially wonderful Canadian scenery, and replace it with a shorter, largely downhill version …
Fatigue (fa-ti-gay)
Michel Thomas, celebrated language teacher, tells us often in his French audio course, that so many words in English come fron the French. (In direct contrast to the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, who insists that everything comes from the Greek.)
Fatigue is one of these words. Spelt the same in both languages, it obtains some cachet with the French pronunciation. We’ve adopted the French pronunciation, as best we can, and given it our own special meaning. …
The day throws all it can at us to stop us getting to Sainte Gabriel
“What are people like you doing in a place like this?”
Neil and I exchange a look. We’re in what would appear to be the nicest restaurant in town. It is packed with people. We’ve just had a fairly nice meal, with great service from our English-speaking waiter. It’s late, and we are about to head to tonight’s home for sleep. …
Hurrah for an easy day into Trois Rivières
Sonia, our host, is an inspiration. She is a jeweller, teaches jewellery making, has an apartment and studio in Quebec City as well as this place, and has a very lovely life. For two corporate escapees, it is fascinating to find out how other people live, and to see the happiness that comes from a seemingly simple life. …
Grand Départ: started out pretty; turned into a tough day along and near the St Lawrence Rivere
”Let’s go to Canada,” he said. “It’ll be flat.”
Would you believe that? He showed me a profile that looked nearly flat. He told me we would do as much climbing on the whole trip as we did in one day between Poland and Slovakia. I fell for it. …
Our ultimate starting point (for the Tour de France afficionados, let’s call it the depart réel) is Quebec City. We take the train from Montreal to Quebec City on Via Rail, Canada’s intercity passenger railway company.
We are leery of North American railways, so do a recce, firstly finding Montreal’s central railway station which is no easy task as they seem to make it as hard to find as possible. There is no grand ediface. We slip through a discreet door, go underground to find the station, then work backwards to find an entrance we can bring the bikes through.
If you’re ever looking for it, you’ll find an entrance to Montreal Central Station in Rue de la Gaucheteière, near Place Bonaventure. …
Two days in Montreal is not very long, especially when the skies are heavy and the rain is plentiful.
It’s my fault we only had two days. …
Vale Joe Cooper
Our dear friend and neighbour in Heathcote passed away early on Wednesday morning AEST (25/7/2018) at the age of around 90 years – he was never that sure of his birth date. We met Joe right after we moved in to our Heathcote house, and he became our weekend visitor, usually dropping in for a coffee and chat on Sunday mornings. He lived life on the edge, and in his later years when his body could no longer keep up with him, he lived vicariously through the exploits of others. He had a keen and inquisitive mind, a sense of wonder about the world around him, and a real soft spot of animals, especially cats. Many of our family and friends met him over the years. There’s a big hole in Kilroy Street now, and it is going to be dreadfully quiet come 10am the first Sunday we are back and he is not at the front door looking for a coffee.
Bike trails all the way to Montreal: beautiful canal paths