Canada: from Sydney to Sydney!

Well tonight we are in Canada’s capital, Ottawa. Our new pad for the next four nights is charming and I read online that it has a “walkability” score of 97%. We proved this after we arrived an hour early for our checkin and had to go for a walk as we waited. Before we knew it we were at the amazing parliamentary section of this lovely and sensibly laid out city. Our journey here has been smooth but not without its challenges. I keep hearing that song by LRB (the first one with Glenn Shorrock out front) : “I remember those days on the road, trying to get somewhere …”
https://youtu.be/600TQCG7OJY?si=ki4k5BgMp_UrIttZ

1. WoeWoe in Wawa
The small lakeside town of Wawa, which has large replicas of geese everywhere (go figure), yielded up the worst motel we have had on this trip, ironically called The Alpha Inn. First we had trouble locating it because the new owners had invested in a you-beaut sign that had an elaborate slide show, only one slide of which had the actual name. Every time we passed by, the name was not showing. We thought we were going mad or had been scammed. Seeking advice we were told about the new sign which had confounded a few before. They would have been better advised to spend the money on new clean towels and maybe hanging space for their rooms. Ah well, live and learn: we didn’t so much as check out the next morning as run away! Without breakfast we headed out into the fog and the vast stretches of the Park National transversed by the Trans Canada Highway. After a couple of hours we finally came upon the Voyageurs’ Lodge, and had good coffee and one of their famous (and huge) apple fritters. Relief! Strengthened we reached our next destination, Blind River, in the early afternoon.

2. The Old Mill Motel at the End of the Universe
This motel was also run by a Canadian of Indian extraction and once again the office was decorated with subcontinental icons and fragrances of incense. We were heartened to be given the end room which had a marvellous picture window facing the entry of the Blind River into Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes. The room was spacious, with a great king bed and just about everything we needed. BUT this motel is next to a sewage treatment plant that made a loud hum all night - not white noise, but blight noise. We didn’t get much sleep and were glad to be on our way, this time to decent motel at North Bay.

3. Graham’s Birthday at Best Western, North Bay
Once again we drove through fog on what is billed as one of the most scenic drives in Ontario. We didn’t see anything scenic but the fog had a beauty (and a terror at times) of its own. We were happy, knowing we were having our own unique trip across Canada. And that we would be staying at a reliably excellent hotel at the resort town of North Bay, with a restaurant and bar, pool and so on. Ah the joy of crisp fresh sheets and the quiet of deep carpets! It was Graham’s 73rd birthday and we had a celebratory dinner, a lovely walk, a video chat with Chris & Stu, a birthday message from Hanna and Shane, and a fine night’s sleep. Then OTTAWA! More on this to come …

So far the trip by road has not only revealed the truly open hearted nature of the people, but also the beauty and flow of the landscape - the shape of the place at least along the Trans Canada Highway. From sea level at English Bay in Vancouver, over and into the amazing Rockies, through Alberta’s incredible badlands, down onto the plains of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, onwards around the northern shores of the Great Lakes, and the incredible lakelands all around them, this is a bountiful place with a hard wintery climate.
But the skies cleared to allow a welcome sun to filter through this afternoon and there are daffodils, tulips, violets and hyacinths blooming shyly in the gardens in our boho area of Ottawa. Spring is definitely building …Read more