Cycling and paddling around the world, worldtrip witk bike and canoe

CANADA 1: 25.05. - 18.09.2009

Route: Vancouver Island, Comox, Powell River, Vancouver, Hope, Fraser Canyon, Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Revelstoke, Golden, Yoho NP, Lake Louise, Banff, Canmore, Calgary, North Sakatchewan River, Rocky Mountain House, Devon, Edmonton, Canmore, Icefield Parkway, Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Swift Current, Moose Jaw, Carlyle, Winnipeg, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Espanola, Manitoulin Island, Guelph, Hamilton, Niagara on the Lake, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie

Distance Bike: 6410 Km Ascent: 34110m

313. Weekly Report 25.05.- 31.05.2009

Route: Sidney, Juan de Fuca Trail

Welcome to Canada: The entry to Canada was completely without any problems and while we just get the entry stamp and are waved through customs a car behind us is completely taken apart. We have not yet cycled 10 km when we meet a huge group of touring cyclists who make just a break. Spontaneously we are invited to the buffet (though the treasurer asks us spontaneously : How does it come that you eat without having paid? However, she was told by the people around us that we were invited. She was a former policewoman and so she is always a little bit gruffly, the treasurer apologised and wishes us a good appetite. We hardly manage eating, actually, because fast our trip spread among the 150 cyclists so that we have to answer constantly some questions, while we try to eat our Chilli a cheese bread roll and the tasty dessert. Though Bruce, the older nice man who had invited us, tries to give us time for eating we try to answer everybodies questions while eating in turns. As if this was not enough, we still get a big bag of vegetables and a pot of Chilli with on the way. What welcome to Canada!

Meeting Chris and Tanja again: During apple picking in New Zealand we got to know Chris and Tanja who also worked on the same orchard. They have moved now Victoria Island and her house lies just 15 km of the ferry on which we came from the San Juan Islands. The both offer that we we can take a break at their place which we do of course with pleasure.

Juan de Fuca Trail (hiking): Actually, we had planned to hike the famous West Coast Trail, however the trail fee, ferry tickets and the shuttle service add up for both of us to more than 300,- €. We find out that directly to the south of the West Coast Trails is the Juan de Fuca Trail which is absolutely comparable though 2 days shorter, and costs just 40,- €. The decision which Trail we make is fast of course. Though Chris and Tanya have offered us to drive us to the Trailhead, but because we do not want to waste neither their time nor the whole petrol Tanja drops us of at the bus station on the way to work. Now by bus we go to Sooke. We plan to hitchhike the 80 km to the trailhead and after just 15 minutes we got a ride. We enquire in the info centre some more details of the tour and when we want to hike the last 2 km to the Trailhead a car stops and asks whether we want a ride. Of course we want and thus we arrive at already 10:00 o'clock in the morning on the beginning of our hike.

Tide pools on Botanical Beach: On Botanical Beach many small pools are cut off with low tide from the sea and thus form a own small world. Many of the pools are round basins hollowed out of the sandstone and look like nicely planted aquarium. We arrive just in time for low tide and thus we explore every small tide pool.

Mussels: Right next to the tide pools are also big mussel benches which are exposed completely at low tide .

Juan de Fuca Trail: Juan de Fuca Trail follows either wild rocky beaches, with gigantic pebbles and driftwood or by densely covered tempered rain forest. With an annual rainfall of 7m it is no miracle that we hike through thick vegetation and through muddy paths. Many of the fallen down tree giants were integrated into the path for crossing small creeks and mudholes.

Black bears: We already wonder to which animal all the excrement heaps may belong when we all at once see a black bear about 15 m before us on the path. Before we the retreat I still try to take a quick photo of the bear, but because it is too dark in the woods it is blurred. A few metres further we hide on side path which leads to a pit toilet. We wait close to the pit toilet to hide in but the bear passes us quietly on the trail. On the next day we see a young bear on the beach. first he´s eating something, but then he comes up directly to us. We withdraw, but because there are no side ways (cliffs on one side and the ocean on the other) we climb onto a small rock. However, the bear is afraid of us as well and hides in a big cave behind a trunk. After a few minutes a Canadian couple comes and together we circumnavigate the cave. We´re hardly around the bearwhen he comes out of his hiding place and flees in the opposite direction. Who was more afraid?

314. Weekly Report 01.06.- 07.05.2009 Route: Victoria, Comox, Powell River, Vancouver

Hotel stay: Heidi just become the happy owner of our booklet. She would love to introduce us also to her family and in particular to her son, who wants to cycle through the USA the coming summers, and offers to invite us to dinner, but as they do not live here any more and we have to leave town in the late afternoo . Halve an hour later she comes back with her husband Maurie and says that they have already negotiated a good deal at their hotel and that they love to invite us to sty there for the night. It feels quite strange to be invited to stay at a hotel, but the whole family is so nice that we accept. For dinner we get some great Asian noodles and enjoy them at sunset at the promenade. Having finished dinner we watch the show of the best street we have ever seen, and finally, after a marvellous evening, we fall dead tired into our bed.

Caravan overnight stay: Shortly before sunset we are invited to spend the night in a caravan, used as a guest-room, what we accept with pleasure.

Whitewater: Though at the so-called Sunshine Coast we had lots of sunshine, but we have seen the coast only rarely, because the street runs either along houses,or through forests. The Skookumchuck Narrows are a narrow place by which the ocean has to squeeze through at low tide and high tide.The fast flowing current creates huge whirlpools which are loved by really experienced kajakers. Though I have considered to try my luck, the whirlpools werewith a diameter of 30 m way to big for me and so I stayed on shore.

Speaking German: In front of the supermarket we meet Oswald and Joland and are spontaneously invited. Oswald and Jolanda are a German Swiss couple who have emigrated a good 14 years ago to Canada. Dinner we eat in an Indian restaurant in which their daughter works. Because they live about 30 km away from where we met them and as it is already late in the evening we pack our bikes and our luggage into their car and drive to their place. The next morning after a restful night we have to roll only downhill to arrive at the ferry which brings us to Vancouver.

Staying with Seppel and Kerstin: Seppel and Kerstin are friends of our friend UFO from Germany. Both are engineers and live since about 4 years in Vancouver. Seppel loves extreme Mountainbiking and for the things he does with his MTB normal people need climbing equipment. Werner who also is here for a visit was courageous and went cycling with Seppel but the next day his whole body is aching.

Sandra in for a visit: Our friend Sandra is a flight attendant and just right now she´s in Portland (USA) as we´re in Vancouver. Portland lies, at least seen from Germany, just around the corner from Vancouver and thus Sandra flies during her 2-day lay over to Canada. Vancouver is the favorite town of Sandra and so we are shown around for two days and visit some of her favorite places.

315. Weekly report 07.06.- 14.05.2009 Route: Vancouver

Bicycle repair: Already for some weeks my bottom bracket poses some problems and because of fear that it will break down in the middle of nowhere, I try to change it here. To do it I need first of all a few special tools which I buy in an Outdoor store. Unfortunately I got the wrong tools and thus I exchange them the next day again. After we have read on the Internet how to get the bottom bracket out it it easy. Now, back to the bicycle store,they have no new bottom bracket . Likewise the 2nd, 3rd, bicycle store. Then though in the fifth bicycle store there is no suitable bottom bracket, but, the mechanic tinks I could insert, perhaps, a completely new crank set. Though the sixth bicycle store is well sorted like most of his predecessors, however, they also do not have a suitable bottom bracket . Nevertheless, in the seventh bicycle store I find finally a new bottom bracket for the price one can buy a whole new bicycle in India. Now I have only the problem that in Cuba with the rebuilding of my pedal the last year the thread was made new, but unfortunately, a little bit too small. At that time the pedal was simply postcut what means, that I can insert now no new pedal which I have to do. However, in a bicycle store they have a suitable tool and thus we simply cut the thread in my crank a little bigger. Back at Seppel and Kerstins place I assemble everything again. Everything works out fine and thus my bicycle is now fit for the last 15,000 km.

Mt. Grouse: Mt. Grouse lies directly in Vancouver about 10 minutes by car from the city centre. Although a cable car leads up to the summit, it is a popular sport to run uphill. We need less than one hour for 700 metres in elevation and are only half as quick as the quickest runner this year. Then on top there is a world-class lumberjack show, a bird show, and two Grizleybears. Nadine has to join in for the lumberjac show, but loses the saw competition. We´re particularly impressed with trunk climbing and log rolling. Nevertheless, both lumberjacks of the show are by no means some clowns, even if they behave in such a way, but both are world champions in the disciplines speed climbing and log rolling.

Grizleys: We have a lot of fun also with both Grizleys which seem to feel comfortable here. Both were found as motherless babies and were brought up here. To go back to our bicycles, we ride down with the cable car to protect Nadines knees.

World cyclist meeting: Infront of an Outdoorstore we meet Edwin and Scott and because we are already arranged a place to stay for the evening we meet the next morning for the breakfast. Thus we sit with really tasty pancakes with cream and blueberries in Edwins kitchen and exchange stories from all over the world. Edwin, from New Zealandr, cycled from 2001 - to 2003 around the world and, finally, got stuck with his today's wife Kathie here in Vancouver (http://howsmycycling.com/). At that time in Tibet he got to know Scott. Scott is an US citizen and has published book about his 4-year-bicycle world trip (www.theargonauts.com). Of course breakfast has not been sufficient for exchanging of all stories and thus we remain one more night with Edwin, Kathie and her daughter Anna. Then for dinner Edwin makes a pizza which can take up it easily up with the pizza of quite a lot of Italian restaurants. The next morning, however, we really have to say goodbye.

316. Weekly report 15.06.- 21.05.2009 Route: Hope, Fraser Canyon, Kamloops, Salmon Arm

Desert: The desert which starts in Mexico extends straight through the USA until it reaches even Canada. When some tourists whom we met in the rain forest told us, that we would be soon in a desert arewe have trouble to believe them. However, step by step the mountain forests gave way to bushes and then to open country. Though thanks to gigantic irrigation plants there are some big pastures here, but the rest are sage brushes.

Cacti: What would be a desert without cacti?

Martin chasing the local girls:

A reunion: Actually, we wanted to cycle the southern route in the Rockies, bu, in Hope we changed our plans and followed the Fraser River. So we came to Kamloops where we met Heidi, Abby, Kate and Jaiden again. Yes exactly, this was the family who invited us into a hotel in Victoria. This time we visit them at home, and manage to catch up with our Internet site again (the English part was in a delay for nearly 2 months). Maurie, Heidis husband is just again for 4 weeks in the Indian reservation in which he is working as a nurse (although he does there the duties of a doctor and sews even wounds). With pleasure we would have remained a little bit longer, however, with every day more we would have made the departure even harder than it already is.

Tim Hortons: Tim Hortons is the Canadian version of Starbucks, ans therefore well beloved. Heide pay a visit to Torm hortons for her daly fix of caffein.

Wii:Finally we caught up with the modern world and played the first time in our livef Wii. Best of all we like the "plays" tennis and boxing. So we stand in front of the TV and swing with our arms around as if we would play tennis or punch air holes to knock out each other.it was great fun but the next day our muscles in our arms and our back are really aching.

317. Weekly Report 22.06.- 29.06.2009 Route: Revelstoke, Golden, Yoho NP, Lake Louise

Bear country: We are again in the bear country and so every evening we have to hang up our food into tree. Nevertheless, this time we have luck and camp directly besides a bridge, so that we can hang our panniers of the bridge. The next morning one of the straps breakes and the pannier drops down a couple of meters. Good luck, nothing broken.

Moose: The English word for the big "deer" with the shovel like antlers is "elk". Nevertheless, here in North America the word used by the local Indians "Moose" was used for the elk, while one calls the "red deer" here "elk". However the name may be, we have seen and elk/moose in the Yoho national park. It stood relatively close to the street in a lake. The elk is accustomed to the cars quite rather well, but he seems to be very interested in us cyclists.

Yoho National Park: One of the attractions in the Yoho National Park is the so-called natural bridge. Here the river has worked itself through the rocks, so that a natural bridge has formed. The brilliant blue water and the breathtaking mountains in the background are quite impressive even without the natural bridge. beeindruckend.

Mountain Goat: Still in the Yoho National Park we see in the evening all at once a Mountain Goat with her young. Both graze comfortably directly beside the busy Highway and when the number of the tourists. who want to take photos are rising too much both withdraw for safety's sake a bit into the rocks to observe the funny tourists from save distance.

Lake Louise: Probably the main attraction in Banff National Park is of the world-famous Lake Louise and so we find heaps of tourists here. While most are content with a short look from the promenade some invest 33,-€ to paddle for 1 hour over the lake. We simply inflate our packrafts, paddle for half an hour straight across the brilliant blue lake and then walk to the view point Plain of Six Glaciers before we paddle back to our bikes.

Lake Moraine: Next day we visit Lake Moraine, for us still way prettier than his by far more famous neighbour. We hop directly on the shore from stone to stone and with every step the view of the mountains and the glaciers get better and better.

318. Weekly report 29.06.- 05.07.2009 Route: Banff, Canmore

Amir und Julia: At Lake Louise we met Armir his nearly wife Julia and some friends of them. Both guys are from Iran and thus we talked for a while about their native country. Still on the same evening we got an e-mail from Armir in which he invites us to Canmore. As we´re passing through Canmore we we enjoy their great hospitalety for dinner we are sitting around the great dinner table Amir had made on his own and enjoy the best Thai Currey ever. As Armir and Julia are going to marry in 3 weeks and as both their parents just arrived bith of them are of course pretty busy, but recommend us to hike around Mt. Assiniboine.

Mt. Assiniboine: We leave most of our luggage at Amir and Julia´s place and cycle the first 35 km to the beginning of the footpath (though Amir gave us a lift up the fist steep and dusty climb). The highlight of the 2-day tour is Lake Maggog with Mt Assiniboine in the background. Mt. Assiniboine has, by the way, the nickname Martherhorn of the Rocky Mountains. The trekking tour is really wonderful, but the best thing is that we see just 10 people during 2 days. At Lake Louise you see more in less than one second!

Black bears: In the morning on the way between Banff and Lake Louise in the Bow Valley we see a young black bear grazing beside the road. We just intended to take a picture while cycling past te bear, but then the first car stoped. Once the first car stops, everybody els stops as well, because there might be something to see. Suddenly there are 4-5 cars around the bear. First the bear is nerved a little bit, then he decides to walk straight through the cars to cross the street to dissappear on the other side in the woods. A full-grown bear stretches occasionally short his head from the wood when he, however, all cars sees he hums briefly irritated and disappears rather immediately again in the wood.

Unicyclists: If you think that we are crazy, then you haven´t met Marc and Garcie. They plan to cycle on their unicycle along the Great Divide from Canada to Mexico! About 5000 km lie before them, mostly on grave roads. Unfortunately, nobody has yet invented panniers for unicycles, and thus they carry their whole equipment and their food and water in big backpacks. We´re deeply impressed! More on their website: www.divideby1.com

Paddle tour part 1: Back in Lake Louise we decide to paddle the Bow River from Lake Louise to Canmore. We deposit our bicycles with the Rangers and lock up our remaining gear in the foodlocker on the campground. Already in Lake Louise are a few nice rapids and so we get a little bit wet. The Bow River has a good current and thus we don´t have to paddle too hard while we enjoy the view of the surrounding mountains. The rapids half way down to anff we not as bad as we were told and so we have a marvellous day.

Although we try hard we don´t find the time to translate our entire website into english. As we want that our english speaking readers are also able to follow our trip at least a bit we decided to translate for every picture only a short version of the story. Not perfect, but we think much better than no story at all or a story entirely made by Google Translations (and therefore unreadable). Hope you enjoy it.

318. Weekly Report 06.07.- 12.07.2009 Route: Banff, Calgary, Lake Louise, Saskatchewan Crossing

Paddling Part 2: As it was raining all day long we stopped our packrafting trip in Banff. As Sandra, a friend of us who is working as a flight attendant, is supposed to arrive tomorrow in Calgaryv we had to hitchhike. We got first a lift with two guys on their way to Tim Horton´s and later a lift from a family with dad, daughter and uncle who even dropped us at the house of our friend Hendrik!

Hendrik: We met Hendrik in Chile in 2006 and so it was a great pleassure to catch up with him here in Calgary, where he´s living with his girlfriend and his dog. As we had to exchange many memories and stories nobody wanted to go to bed early. :-)

Sandra: Sandra is working for the German airline Lufthansa and so she´s together with Martins mum our most frequent visitor! Unfortunately this time Sandra stays only for 20 hours in Calgary. :-(

Square Dance: As the world famous Stampede (a rodeo) is on in Calgary, Nadine got invited to join in for a Square Dance.

Birthday: Nadine is celebrating her birthday already for the 7th time on our trip!

Packrafting the North Saskatchewan River: We plan to paddle the North Sascatchewan River for 450 Km's from Banff NP down to Edmonton on our Packrafts. If eveything goes fine it´ll take us 10 days.

Lake Abraham: Lake Abraham is the biggest artificial lake in Canada. As our packrafts are not really fast on flat water we hitchhike around the lake.

Developing country Canada: When we saw that these guys were washing their ATV´s in the cristall clear glacier water we first couldn´t believe our eyes. We then asked them if they knew what they are doing, but they still kept on polluting their drinkingwater. Finally Nadine told them, that it is nobodys fault if he doesn´t know that he´s doing something bad, but if he knows it and continues doing it, then it´s something different. For that she got the response: "You should better leave now or I could drown you otherwise!"

320. Weekly Report 13.07.- 19.07.2009 Route: North Sakatchewan River, Rocky Mountain House, Devon

Rapids: The North Saskatchewan River is rated WWII - III. Every couple of Kilometers we encounter some nice rapids but our packrafts handle them pretty well. Just once Nadines boat flips, but except a lost hat nothing happened.

Waterfilter: As there is supposed to be a quite serious Giardia porblem (nasty bacterias) in the North Saskatchewan River we filter our water for the very first time after having been over 6 years all over the world.




Shopping Trip: On they way back from the supermarket in Rocky Mountain House Martin got a lift from Grant. As his wife Shelly and his sister Roanda are very experienced paddlers he then invites us over to his house where everyone is surprised, that we´re not just paddlers but also cyclists. We spend a lovely eavening with them and next morning Roanda gives us a lift to the local wave, where all the playboaters hang out to train.

The Bierley´s: That's the local wave and on the first run I capsize in the first wave. As I manage to climb back into the boat I finish the rapids wihout problems. On the second run I manage the first wave without problems but now overconfident I want to turn the boat to surf in the last wave. I´m to slow turning around, hit the wave sideways and capsize again.

Stranded: These guys got stranded as the waterlevel of the river went down during their lunchbreak. They made a fire to call for help and finally their friend came and pulled them loose.

Thunderstorm: One evening we´re surprised by a huge thunderstorm. The storm is so strong that most of the stakes holding our tent are pulled out. We have to lean against the walls of our tent to support it. The storm lasts for about 20-30 minutes and we have a really hard time to prevent our tent from being destroyed. Later on we heard that the storm was so strong that many trees were uprooted and that due to powercuts many people had no electricity for many hours.

321. Weekly Report 20.07.- 26.07.2009 Route: Devon, Edmonton

Wildlive: We saw quite a lot of wildlive from our boats. We saw a Whitetail deer swimming through Lake abraham, a Coyote, some bald eagles, more Whitetails and Elk, Goose and herons, and in the evenings we often heard the beavers spashing their tails onto the water.

Arrival in Edmonton: Edmonton is a huge town, but if you arrive along the North Saskatchewan River you can't see it at all. We're already in Downtown, still sourounded by forests, when we suddenly see the fist "houses".

Karen and Mike:We first met Karen around Banff two weeks ago and when we came to Edmonton we visited her at her parents place. Karen and Mike plan a trip around the world for themselves so we´re really looking forward to welcome them in Germany.

24h MTB race: Karen and Mike, together with Daren, Peter and Kent form a team during the famous 24h race in Canmore. The racecourse is pretty difficult but equipped with headlamps they even don´t slow down very much during nighttime. "Our" team is doing pretty well but more impressive are even the solo cyclists. While our team manages 18 laps on the 18 Km long course during the 24 hours, while some solocyclist cycle even more than 21 laps!

322. Weekly Report 27.07. - 02.08.2009 Route: Icefield Parkway, Jasper,

Bearhunt: As soon as someone stops in Banff NP everybody stops as well, as they hope to spot an animal. This time a black bear was spotted and the people really hunt the poor bear down and even cut of it´s way. Normally you're supposed to keep a distance of 100m to bears, so approaching a bear is clearly not a good idea. We´re worried about the bear and inform the the ranger on the nearby campground.As soon as the ranger sees this photo he jumps into his truck to "rescue" the poor bear.

Mistaya Canyon: The impressive Mistaya Canyon. Not a good place for swimming!

Colombia Icefield: The Columbia Icefield is one of the main attractions in the Canadian Rockies. But the normal access to the glacier is by snowcoach, which seems a bit too boring for us.

MTB Trail: To avoid the Icefield Parkway a bit we take a bikepath out of Jasper which then converts into a MTB Trail. We have to work hard for many hours and mostly we push our bikes uphill over the rocks, but finally we´re back on the pavement.

Fryatt Valley: As we wanted to do some hiking, we visit the Upper Fryatt Valley on a three day hike. The Upper Fryatt Valley with the beautiful lake and the surrounding mountains is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in Jasper NP.

Shortcut: Instead of cycling all the way back to the paved road after the hike, we take an unusual shortcut. We blow up our packrafts and transport our gear and our bikes straight across the river. While Nadine is just crossing once, I'm crossing 4 times until all our gear is on the other side.

Grizzly: Our first Grizzly!

323. Weekly Report 03.08.- 09.08.2009 Route: Icefield Parkway, Lake Louise, Banff, Calgary

Waterfowl Overflow Campground: Probably the campgroud with the best view in Banff NP.

Snowbird Glacier: "Nomen es Omen". Can you see the flying bird?

Lake Peyto: The incredible blue color of Lake Peyto comes from tiny rock particles. While bigger rock particles sink down these tiny particles are floating in the water and reflect mainly the blue green waves of the light.

Visitors from Germany: Florian, a friend from Highscool with his family, and his sister Eva have been on a trip through Western Canada and so is was really great to meet them. Together we visited Lake Moraine and Johnston Canyon, while I took Florian down the Banff river on our Packrafts.

Cool campspot: Probably the second best campspot in Bannf NP, on a restarea just before the southern entrance. We´re not the first to camp here and so we see many recently used spots. During breakfast we enjoy our last view of the rocky Mountains before heading towards the East.

Calgary: This time we stay at Darrins place. Darrin was one of Karen and mikes team mates during the 24h race who later invited us to stay with him. Darrin lives right in Downtown and also pretty close to MEC (famous Outdoor store) which is pretty convenient. As we´ll have no more time to use our packrafts we left them with him so that Sandra can pick them up during her next visit to Calgary. Thanks darrin and Sandra forr this help!

324. Weekly Report 10.08.- 16.08.2009 Route: Calgary, Medicine Hat, Swift Current, Moose Jaw

Dinosaur Provincial Park: Though we really hurried up, we arrived too late at Diosaur Provincial Park. To be honest we´ve been 75 Mio. years too late, because at that time we would have seen a tropical landscape where many Dinasours were roaming. Today one can find the biggest concentration of dinosaur bones here in this small park, though one can visit 70% of the park only by guided tour.

The Prairie : As we got invited by VAUDE (the companiy who supports us with their panniers) to join them during the bikeshow in Las Vegas, we have to hurry up a bit. So we have to cycle the 3500 Km from Calgary to Buffalo (near the Niagara Falls in the East) in about 5 weeks which is very fast for us. As the prairies are mainly pretty flat farmland we decided to listen for the very first time to some audiobooks while cycling.

Strange names : We encounter strange town names as Moose Jaw, Swift Current, or Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump.

325. Weekly Report 17.08.- 23.08.2009 Route: Carlyle, Winnipeg

Pat, Wendy and Sharon: While leaving Carlyle we got invited from Pat, Wendy and Sharon to sleep in a "nearby" cabin. The cabin is about 15 Km away (uphill and against the wind) and so we leave our bikes at Paul´s carpenter workshop. Paul, who has met Heinz Stücke (a German guy who is cycling since 1962 and is still on the same trip) back in the 70´s is more then happy to lock our bikes in. That way we first enjoy a lovely dinner and later on many great stories, as erverybody knows some, with Pat, Wendy, Sharon and Paul and later on a quiet night.

Installing a kitchen: Paul specialety are kitchens and as some of his empoyees are sick he´s looking for a helping hand. Though installing a kitchen is not our main profession we of coures volunteer to help. So next morning, instead of cycling towards the east, we join Asthon who is installing a kitchen and furniture for two bathrooms on a small farm. At the end of the day both bathrooms are nearly and the kitchen is half done, and so we´re pretty happy on our way back "home" (to the cabin). But before we´re back home, Paul invites us for dinner and his wife turns out to bee a great cook. Her pizza and her soup are so good, that it is really hard to stop eating!

Bike workshop : Paul helps us to drill a broken screw out of Nadines handlebar which finally was a much bigger project than expected. Thanks Paul for your help! While Paul is drilling we´re interviewed by the local newspaper.

Holland: This little town is not named after the Netherlands, but after the Mr. Holland (originally from England), who was the first postmaster in town.

Bee's Knees: Finally we are heading back to the hills. On our last night in Manitoba we get invited from Eric to stay in his beautiful B&B Bee's Knees right on a lake. Eric just opened his B&B this season and as two friends (who join us for dinner) work in a nearby resort and send once in a while some guests over to him, he had a prety good first season.

326. Weekly Report 24.08.- 30.08.2009 Route: Kenora, Thunder Bay

Lake of the Woods: For us Canada always meant endless lakes and forests. So far we haven´t seen too much of both, but with our arrival in Ontario this certainly changed! "Lake of the woods" is probably the most beautiful name for a lake we have heard on our trip.

Friendly Police Officer: We camped on a rest area where "Picknicking only" probably indicated, that we were not supposed to camp. But as camping was not forbidden we did it anyway. Next morning during breakfast a police officer shows up anf we assume that we´re now in trouble. But the police officer just askes us, if everything is fine with us and later on he even gives us his "bussinescard", so that we could call him if we would need some help. As we have no cellphone he even tells us where we could find the next public telephone! How friendly!

Terry Fox: Terry Fox was a young canadian Indian suffring from cancer. Despite haveing lost already one leg to cancer he decided to run from the eastcoast to the westcoast to rise money for cancer research. After having run 5373 Km and collected 24 Mio $CAN in just 5 months he arrived in Thunder Bay where he had to stop his "Marathon of Hope" as he got too weak to continue. Today Terry Fox is one of the most famous canadian heroes and this monument was errected in honor of his achievements.

House on Lake Superior: Just after sunset George and Barb invite us to spent the night in one of their cabins on Lake Superior. Not only that the cabin is extraordinary beautiful, but as they have no hot shower out here they turn on the sauna for us! They also offer us, that we could relax a couple of days in their cabin, but with the bikeshow and still many kilometers until Buffalo in our mind, we decide to stay just one more day. Their cabin is located right on the lake and so we enjoy a beautiful sunny day at a quite special place, while George and Barb treat us with a lovely dinner and breakfast. George, by the way, was a member of the Canadian wrestling team for the Olympic games in Munic in 1972.

327. Weekly Report 31.08.- 06.09.2009 Route: Thunder Bay, Wawa, Sault Ste. Marie

Becky and Scott: At Lake Superior we meet Becky and Scott. During the last 15 months Becky and Scott cycled 15.000 Km through Canada, the USA, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Southeast Asia on their recumbent bikes. Finally they returned on a freighter to Seattle from where they started to cycle beck home to Ottawa. Everybody is happy to have some company and so we cycle and camp together for a couple of days until they turn off towards Ottawa. More about their trip on their website:

Foodtree: Scott and Becky also have plenty of food and so we have to pull about 50 Kg up the tree.

Winnie the Pooh: In 1914 Harry Coleburn purchased a black bear baby from a trapper here in Whiteriver and named him Winnie. When Coleburn had to go to France during WW I he left the young bear with the London Zoo. Soon Winnie became the most beloved "inmate". Especially Christopher Robin Milne, son of A. A. Milne, adored the bear and finally his dad wrote the famous stories of Winnie the Pooh.

Fauna:We nearly cycled through Northern Ontario without spotting some Moose (Elk for everybody outside North America), but finally Nadine saw one female Moose with its offspring. But besides that we also saw twice a couple of black bears, an old wolf, a small harmless snake, three cranes, some bald eagles, a marmot and our first skunk (besides all the roadkill). When the skunk came towards us with its tail high up in the air we decided that it is probably a good plan to keep on cycling.

Wawa: "Wawa" is the name the local Indians have for a goose. This big goose was erected, after the Trans Canada Highway was finally finished just a bit south of here.

Dad Lake, Mum Lake and Baby Lake: Ok, but where are Granddad Lake, Grandma Lake, Uncle Lake, Aunt Lake, Cousin Lake, Nephew Lake, ....

Strange bottles: When truck drivers have to pee they very often don't stop. Instead they urinate into a empty bottle and throw it out of the window. How sweet!

Lake Superior:Lake Superior it the biggest freshwater lake on our planet. Only Lake Baikal used to have more water, but he became victim of USSR's planed economy during the cold war. Lake Superior is 82,100 Km² big, 405 m deep and has a coastline of 2,938 Km! No wonder that we cycle 1 week along its northern shore.

328. Weekly Report 07.09.- 13.09.2009 Route: Sault Ste. Marie, Espanola, Manitoulin Island, Guelph

Velorution: Velorution is a bikestore in Sault Ste. Marie where touring cyclists can camp in the back yard. Besides the small campsite there is also a MTB trail in the backyard, but as a big sign indicates: No saltos!

Manitoulin Island Bridge: Once every hour the Manitoulin Island Bridge is opened, so that boats can pass. In 2004 we met Rob, a Canadian cyclist, in Kairo, who set out on his biketrip two years earlier from exactly this bridge. Six years, 100.000 Km later and with quite some stories Rob finished his trip right here on the bridge just before Christmas 2007. As Rob is a hardcore winter cyclist he had to cope with plenty of snow on his departure as well as while returning!

The Big Canoe: To leave the Manitoulin Island we have to take the Big Canoe or MS CHI-CHEEMAUN in the language of the local Indians. For its 200 Km roundtrip the ferry needs 3600l of diesel, which is pretty much considering that it can transport just 143 cars. At least I always thought, that ferries are much more economic than cars. Photo taken in Niagara on the Lake)

329. Weekly Report 14.09.- 18.09.2009 Route: Hamilton, Niagara on the Lake, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie

Niagara on the Lake: Niagara on the Lake is supposed to be the most beautiful town in Canada. with its alleys, trees, flowers, parks and beautiful restored houses the town is really living up to its reputation. On our way out, we meet Sylvia and Bernd who invite us to their house. First we got treated with an awesome dinner and as Bern is a professional photographer we find plenty of things to talk about. Finally at 02:00am we decide that we have to sleep now also a bit. As there was still plenty to talk about our departure shifted from after breakfast to noon and finally we leave with a heavy heart.

Niagara Falls: Though hey are small than the Iguazu Falls between Argentina and Brazil and not as high as the Angels Falls in Venezuela (1000m high) the Niagara Falls are at least the ones with the biggest amount of water. The Horseshoe Falls are pretty impressive! Hard to believe that some diehards challenged them packed into steel barrels. Some of these crazy men and women even survived it!



Misty Maid: Normally we are not so crazy about the normal tourist stuff, but as it is the only way to come really close to the falls we book a trip on the Misty Maid. To be in the middle of the action we stand right in the front of the boat where water and mist is al around us and where the falls are really roaring. Its a little bit like in a washing machine but we really enjoy it.

American Falls: The Niagara Falls are actually two falls. While the Horseshoe Falls form the border between Canada and the USA are the smaller American Falls entirely located in the US.

Goodbye Canada: Becky and Scott arranged, that we could spend our last night in Canada at the house of Becky's Aunt and Uncle. As Sharon and Mike want to accommodate us more comfortable they arrange that we can sleep at their neighbors house. Dieter, their German neighbor, is already 80 years old is really happy, that he can speak his mother tong for a while and treats us with German bread and German cookies. Next morning Aunt Sharon invites us over for a lovely breakfast. We really would have loved to stay a day more but the Bikeshow in Las Vegas is calling and so we have to leave. Goodbye Canada. We had a great time. See you!