Vancouver

It’s been a while since I’ve written something on here so I decided to give a quick summary of what has been going on since my return to my beloved Vancouver and the great friends I have over here.
My flight into the city was on Thanksgiving day (for Canadians, the US celebrates it on a different day). For North Americans this means eating turkey and spending time with family/friends. For me it was spending time in an airplane on the way to a housewarming/thanksgiving party of some really good friends of mine. I had told only one person of my return so I guess you could say I was bound become the surprise turkey at the party. After arriving at the airport I realized again that Vancouver is a really nice place to live in. Somewhere down my trip I had forgotten this, but upon returning I was greeted again by the mountain surroundings and a sunset that illuminated the city in such a way that you want to take out your camera and start shooting pictures, over and over again. I took the skytrain to the city and was picked up by Avi who took me to the party. Once there I was greeted by many familiar faces and many unfamiliar faces. It was so good to see everyone again!

The last few weeks it has been a whirlwind of activities including in random order: Vancouver film festival, Halloween, Canucks NHL hockey game, hiking the chief mountain in Squamish, swimming/hottubbing/sauna in north vancouver, snowboarding in Cypress, pick nick in Coquitlam, parties left and right, riding a mechanical bull at a country bar, frisbee games, indoor climbing sessions, trying to catch some sleep with 10 people in a 1 bedroom apartment, board games night, eating sushi again and again, growing a mustache for Movember, visiting the Museum of Anthropology, Wreck beach, Bloody Beetroots concert, visiting a Sikh temple and having delicious indian food, …

But I am nearing the final stretch of my wonderful trip. Can’t believe a year has almost passed since I left. Only 6 days left to go!

Toronto

Before heading to Toronto I rode the bike from Quebec City to Montreal. There I stayed for the night before heading for Canada’s biggest city. The ride from Montreal to Toronto was pretty long. I expected it to be a fairly easy 500 kilometers but man, it seemed to take forever to get there. I guess after being almost 4 months on the road one gets eager to reach the end of the trip, at least that was the case with me. I’ve always set Toronto as the final destination of my trip, the city where I would part from my trusty mechanical steed. I was lucky to have a place to stay in Toronto. Paul, a fellow motorcycle rider who I met in Inuvik NWT, was very kind to offer me a room in his house. An offer I could not refuse. First thing on my agenda was to get my bike presentable for sale. It took almost 2 days to get it clean but I must admit that I took a few breaks here and there to ease the cleaning pain. But afterwards it looked like I had a new bike…at least in my eyes.

Sure, the paintjob had faded most of its original color but the rims reflected the sunlight quite nicely. Rubber hoses looked black again and the engine was cleared of grease and multiple layers of dirt accumulated from a lot of places in Canada. Next thing to do was take pictures of my achievement and show the internet buying world what I had done, especially the visitors of Craigslist and Kajiji, the two most popular free ad sites in town.
Soon I received a small number of emails from interested parties. Some asking further information about the bike, some simply asking when they could swing by for a one to one inspection. Paul also asked around if somebody might be interested in his circle of friends. In the end there was only one person who came look at the bike and had a test ride. But this one person was interested and would buy it if it would pass a obligatory safety inspection by a mechanic. I obtained this crucial piece of paper and the sale was made final. Hooray, mission accomplished. I sold the bike. I was glad that this went without too much hassle but it was an awkward feeling dropping it off at its new owner :-(. You grow attached to this lump of metal that takes you across Canada. Sure, it is all replaceable but still some part of me wanted to hang on to it. So basically in under a week after arriving in Toronto the bike was sold. The tent was also up for grabs and that took almost no time at all to get rid off. Now I had some time to kill to explore the city and its surroundings. At the beginning of my stay my host offered me a boat ride on lake Ontario which gave a nice view of Toronto.


Paul also offered me to take me to his cottage/hostel at Byng inlet, a three hour drive north from Toronto. I spent a weekend there trying to offer Paul a hand who needed some work done on the house. He had to crawl underneath the house to spray on some insulating foam. A nasty job.

Since the house is on an inlet that leads to Georgian Bay which is part of the grate lakes, most people have some kind of water transport as well. Paul showed me some of the nice views the waterways had to offer.





There were also some other friends of Paul staying at the hostel and one of them had a nice muscle car in which I became a passenger on the way back to Toronto.

After this weekend trip there was also a trip to Niagra on the lake and Niagra falls.

Other things I did during my stay in Toronto was to meet up with Jessica and Jen who showed me around in the city.

I met them in Nova Scotia during the passing of hurricane Earl and during my stay in the city they were so kind to take me to an Alberta themed party, a bbq, a music gig in which Jessica’s brother played the guitar, a theater play in the hometown of Justin Bieber, a walk through various parts/parks of the city, a bike ride through some of the neighborhoods, a brunch…

All good times, but eventually the time had come to pack my things and head back to Vancouver to finish of where my motorcycle trip had started 4 months ago.
I had only informed one person of my Vancouver arrival. I would become the surprise turkey for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Quebec day 3

I was suggested to visit L’isle d’Orleans, a little island in the middle of the St. Lawrence river, not far from the city. It was again a beautiful day so ideal for exploring. I seem to have hit a good stretch of weather. Hopefully it lasts. The island is connected to the mainland by a bridge.

The eastern side of the island was apparently the more scenic side so as soon as I crossed the bridge I started making my anti-clockwise circle of the island. They grow a lot of produce here, apples, grapes, pumpkins, you name it and there is probably a farmer growing it. The road takes you through nice quaint villages.

One can tell from the houses that you need quite the financial reserve to obtain property in this neck of the woods. But you get a nice landscape in return and I’m sure property prises peak in summer and even autumn when the fall colours come out, like they are doing now.

I stopped here and there to take a picture. After a while I noticed a sign for a maritime museum and decided to check it out. I was greeted at the entry by the admissions lady. She gave me her sales pitch to lure me into the museum and although I could not understand everything she was saying it sounded very convincing and I went in to have a look…after paying the entrance fee of course. The grounds used to house a small boat shop, and you could enter the old workshop and learn about the craft of building wooden dingies.

I continued riding and after seeing what seemed like the only restaurant on the island I went for lunch.

I made a few more stops here and there but I had almost covered the east side of the island. The road curved to the west and like I was being told, there was not a whole lot going on on this side. I completed the loop around the island. Just across from the bridge on the way to the mainland there are some waterfalls. As I approached the falls I was greeted with a nice gate for which they asked $9 to go through to the parking lot. I think not. There was another road that led close to the falls. I planned to park here, ignoring the no parking signs, and walk to the falls. There was a man warning everyone that they patrolled this spot a lot and had no problem writing out parking tickets. Ah well, better not risk it then, I am not a ticket collector. There was another entrance to the falls at the top of a hill. Again, they charged for parking. I parked my bike about 5 minutes walking distance from the paid parking lot. Anything to save me from paying for parking.


After visiting the falls I made my way back to the city where the evening was spent on a nice dinner.

Quebec day 2

Another beautiful day, ideal for another stroll through the city, this time taking my camera with me like a real tourist. I blended in completely. The walk I did was similar to the one I did the day before. I did make a few extra stops here and there. In the old part of town it was really busy.



Not something I particularly like so I tended to stay away from it all. It was also time for me to get some groceries for the evening’s meal that I was going to cook for my hosts. When I got back to the appartment they invited me for a game of frisbee near the citadel. Upon passing one of the tall buildings in the city they told me that they had a revolving restaurant at the top of the building so we decided to go and have a look. They let us walk through the restaurant so that we could enjoy the view. All the food was stalled out buffet style and it was very tempting to take some desserts from the counters :). After a good frisbee session it was time to put my cooking skills to the test again. Unfortunately I never seem to be able to recreate the flavour of one of my favorite dishes created by one of my hometown’s restaurants. One day I will get the hang of it. In the evening they persuaded me to try a bit of water pipe action. Not sure if I’m a convert yet, I guess I’ll have to try a different flavour next time. All in all a very nice day and my bike got a nice rest as well.

Edmunston – Quebec city

There was thick fog in the morning and that means clearing off snails of the tent so that I don’t crush them when packing the tent.

The situation with my matress deteriorated again. The affected area had increased quite a bit. The area in the top right hand corner on the picture is not cool 🙂

I crossed the little creek again, this time without problems.

I rode about 15 minutes but had to stop because my hands were freezing. It is definitely getting cold on the bike!! I heated up my hands on my hot engine and changed the layering of my gloves. Leather gloves first, then my woolen pair on top. Not that it helped very much. Luckily as soon as the road stopped following the river the fog went away and it was a perfect blue sky. But still very chilly!! I took the highway to the Quebec province and at about 100km past Riviere du Loup I had enough of the highway and followed the coastal road that runs parrallel to the highway. I stopped here and there to take a few snapshots but I was looking forward to my Quebec city arrival. At the city I could couchsurf with Garbrielle and Alex. I arrived at their place which is very centrally located and met Gabrielle who asked if I wanted a little tour through the city. Of course !!! She gave me tons of information about various places and showed me most parts of town. I felt like I was taking part in a paid tour :). Quebec is a fairly small city in the sense that most things can be reached by foot. No subways to take or buses to catch. Of course the central location of my hosts appartment helped a lot as well. But you can stroll from the old part of town easily to the other neighborhoods. Loads of tourists though. But yeah, it ressembles a European city so it is obvious that a lot of North americans who don’t want to cross the pond would make a stop here. In the evening I had a nice dinner with my hosts and talked the evening away. Luckily they understood most of what I was babbling about in my limited french tongue :). I didn’t bother with taking pictures today, don’t like holding up someone when I try to take a picture. Tomorow I will explore the city on my own and snap away.

Fredericton – Bathurst – Somewhere near Edmunston

I seem to have bad luck with the weather lately. A nice rainy start to the day. I wanted to see more of New Brunswick before heading to Quebec. I decided to follow some of the scenic drives that are indicated on the free tourist maps they give out. I would head north east until reaching Bathurst where I would be greeted by the ocean again. This is the Miramichi river route. The ride follows the river and passes various small towns. At one point there was a stop sign that I saw way too late. The road was wet and I had to make an emergency stop so that I would still stop in front of the stop sign. I saw a car approaching from the left, he had the right of way. The back tire lost all grip so I was just skidding to a stop. I managed to pull it of in time but it was close :). At Miramichi I had lunch and I took the highway to Bathurst. Luckily the weather cleared up and I was greeted with sunshine.

I started to follow the Acadian coastal drive north – northwest towards Campbellton. This coastal drive is not incredibly scenic if you ask me.

At Campbellton I took the Appalachian range route back down south until Plaster Rock.


I passed a provincial park but they asked an entrance fee of $7 dollars and there were only a couple of hours till darkness so I did not visit it. On the road I did see a black bear. It had been ages since I had seen a bear. A big black one that took off into the woods when I tried to stop and take a photo. A bit further down the road a big moose that took some time to get off the road.
You can see it on the left of the car.

It is funny, they always seem to run away from cars but they remain on the road so it is impossible to pass them. After a few hundred meters they finally decide to head into the forest where we wont follow them :).
At Plaster Rock I rode west towards Grand Falls where I followed the River valley scenic drive east towards Edmunston.
I started scouting for a place to sleep. Since the road followed a river I hoped to find a nice spot alongside the water. This was easier said then done. I pulled in a little dirt road once but didn’t like the spot so I continued looking. It was starting to get dark now so time was running out. I pulled in another dirt road, had to cross some railway tracks (no gates) and then found myself in front of a small creek. I checked the depth of the water and decided I could make it. I made it almost all the way before running out of speed and had to balance myself with my feet in the water. Had a bit of trouble to get out of it. The rear tire had no grip at all on the moss covered rocks on the bottom of the creek. But eventually I succeeded and was rewarded with a nice small grass filled field. Trees were blocking the view to the river but that was not really important. After checking the map to determine where I ended up I noticed that the river is the frontier between Canada and the US. I was expecting laser beams to set of alarms or guards with German sheppards patrolling, boats cruising up and down the river with retired navy seals onboard but nothing!!! The river isn’t even that wide, guess they don’t bother with this side of the border.
Well I covered quite a bit of New Brunswick this day giving me the feeling that I have seen a bit of the province. I can continue to Quebec now.

Fredericton day 2

The day was started with a visit to the library to backup pictures.

I followed that with a stroll through town. Headed back to the house and discovered that something had been nibbling on my food bag again that is attached to the side of my bike. There was chocolate powder all over the street (from my hot chocolate mix pouches). Perhaps squirrels or raccoons. It was time for a new bag to put my food in. Too many holes, stuff might fall out. After taking a nap (yes old people like me need a nap now and then) I went for groceries and picked up a new bag. When I got back I also lubed my bike’s chain. I met up with Benjamin and Erin and went to a couchsurfing meeting at a local pub downtown. There was a good turnout and it was great group of people chatting away while listening to some bands performing. I didn’t catch any show from the festival. Prices ranged from $10 to $50…not cheap.

Fredericton

The sounds I heard at 1am were a bit strange. I believe it was a moose that perhaps had something lodged in its nose. It sounded like someone was making an effort to pump as much air through their nostrils as possible. Of course this is my guesswork since I didn’t feel much for getting up in the middle of the night to investigate these sounds. After 5 minutes the noise started to fade away and I could fall asleep again.
It didn’t rain during the whole night. But of course when I woke up I could hear the first drops of the day and again my tent became soaking wet. I continued following the Fundy trail and made some stops along the way. One particular stop was at the lookout point for St. La croix island. This tiny island once offered refuge to 79 frenchmen who created a base there in 1607. I could not imagine how one would fit that many people on that tiny island. They had some nice information panels describing what happened on the island and why it was abandoned in the end (winters were too harsh).
At one point I lost the markers for the Fundy trail so I decided just to follow the signs to Fredericton.
Because of some road construction I ended up at a small dirt road that took me to a high point on a hill which made for pretty nice vistas of the surroundings.




I had lunch somewhere along the way to Fredericton at a liquor/convenience store / restaurant in some town whose name I can’t remember. It rained on and off like the clouds could not make up their minds. I made it to Fredericton where I had a couchsurfing host waiting for me. I arrived at the place and was told that there was a jazz and bluez festival starting that very day. A very lively house I might add, there was my host and his 6 roommates and 2 other couchsurfers. There was a free concert that night to open the festival (all other shows required tickets). So I decided to grab some dinner in town and check out the free shows. Afterwards I headed back to my host’s place where I hung out some more with Benjamin (the host) and the other CS’ers.

Hopewell Rocks – Fundy – Past Saint John

Rain was what I was treated to in the morning. Nothing better than to pack up a wet tent.

Another exciting thing that happened during the night was that my air matress is starting to break down. It does keep the air inside but the grooves that shape the matress are starting to come loose. This creates extra surface that the air must support and will create a lump in my matress. Not cool. You can say my matress is shapeshifting. Anyhow, I started making my way towards Fundy National park. The first stop of the day was cape Enrage. I payed the 4 dollars to get in only to discover there was a small lighthouse and a staircase to the beach. I did get a little history lesson about the lighthouse by a guy who worked at the ‘park’.

Unfortunately for him, his voice was so high pitched that I could not stop thinking of an ‘In de gloria’ scene (a comedy show in Belgium). Man, it is hard to remain your cool but I did not burst into laughter. I felt a bit dissapointed having to pay 4 bucks for this spot, but oh well, what can you do.

On to Fundy National park then. At Alma, the town just before the park’s entrance I had some lunch. It was a ‘green’ cafe so all items on the menu were ‘green’. I had a soup with bread, cheese, vegetables and fruit. Not bad but not exactly filling either. Luckily by now the weather had cleared up. At the park I went on some short hikes. I did not feel like tackling the bigger trails. I stayed until the high tide came in before taking of again.


I followed the Fundy scenic drive along the coastline towards Saint John. I made a stop at Sussex to grab another thing to eat since my ‘green’ lunch did not fulfill its role enough. The road is very nice. Hilly terrain mixed with a lot of curves makes for good motorcycle roads. But it started to rain again so the necessary pitstop to change into my rainsuit was made before continuing. I was glad I did because it came down pretty good afterwards. I made it to Saint John but I did not stop. Everybody that I met told me it was not really worth it. It seems to be an industrial city and from what I could tell from passing through on the highway they are right. By now a big gray cloud had created an early sunset so I had to find a campspot. I continued following the Fundy trail and finally I found something about 20km before St. George. A dirt road leading up a hill leading to…I don’t know. I didn’t follow it till the end. As soon as I was out of sight from the highway I pitched my tent on a level patch. Luckily it stopped raining but it looked like it could start again any minute… I decided to put my matress the other way arround so that my head would not be resting on the lump. This of course meant one of my legs was resting on it. After a short while I could hear the seam expand again, creating an even bigger lump. Damn, this is seriously uncool. I need to replace this thing one way or another. Of course I don’t have a sales receipt, I bought it second hand (in perfect shape). It has been going great these last 3 months. I guess I’ve reached the point of no return…It will only get worse.

Some farmer’s field – North cape – Cape Egmont – Hopewell rocks

Since I did not want to wait until the farmer came and work his fields I got up pretty early. It was 7.30 when I awoke and by 8 o’clock I was ready to ride. I thought nobody would notice me but as soon as I left the little dirt road that led back to the main road there was an old man walking. I got a bit of a strange look from him but I ignored him. I drove to the next town that had a grocery store. I was hoping to find some granola bars but they had nothing. I felt like I had to buy something so I ended up with a kitkat for breakfast. Since that is not enough I stopped at the local bakery to get a cinnamon roll. Not exactly the most healthy of breakfasts but all I need is sugar to satisfy my sweeth tooth and to give me the energy boost I need in the morning. I started riding towards North cape, the northernmost point of the island. Upon arriving you are greeted with big windmills.

It is also the place of canada’s windmill research institute. There is an interpritive centre but they charge admission. For what?? They get their electricity for free! So no, I did not visit it. I strolled around for a bit and then continued the road to west point which is…you got it, the most western point on the island. They had a little lighthouse there which they converted to a bed and breakfast / motel place.

I continued riding and the road of course heads east again. I stopped at cape egmont which has another lighthouse.

At certain points on the road you can see the confederation bridge that connects the island to New Brunswick.

I had some lunch at Summerside before returning to New Brunswick. This time the ride over the confederation bridge was smooth without gusty winds.

The weather was still pretty decent and I made way to Moncton where I stocked up on supplies. Since there was still plenty of daylight available I continued riding towards Fundi National park. I did not make it to the park however. On the way there is a scenic spot called Hopewell rocks. The park was closed but I was glad it was. It seemed like a very touristy place. But you could still enter the park eventhough it was closed. They charge an entrance fee but since it is closed nobody can collect your money. The park’s main attraction are rocks on the shoreline that have been carved or sculpted by the tide.

Fundi bay has the highest tides in the world. The tide bridges 16 meters on certain days!! When it is low tide you can walk on the seabed to admire the rocks. It had just passed high tide so the water was pulling away again. I can not deny or confirm that I went and walked on the seabed…:/
It was now starting to get dark so I needed a place to set up my tent. As I rode back to the main road I saw a little dirt road next to some ad signs. Too easy…I followed it and came to a nice secluded area. I was certainly not the first one to discover this. There was a nice fire pit made by previous campers.