Canada wet

Short distance travelling (microdriving?) throws up some unexpected pleasures and still opting for only an hour or two's driving per day, we land at Port Colborne on the edge of Lake Erie. Staying at a friendly Mom and Pop motel a couple of miles outside town, we get a lift with the manageress to and from the Breakwall Brewery. With half a dozen excellent beers, we're sorry they don't stay open late and we have our last drink at an indifferent sports bar. There's always tomorrow night, though.

Port Colborne was founded in the early 19th century to allow shipping to bypass Niagara Falls. My experiences of canals started when cycling along the Oxford Canal as a student, followed by 25 years of week-long cruises with friends. The Welland Canal (named after the town half-way between Lakes Erie and Ontario). It's said to receive 3,000 ships a year, with a half-hour wait for the lift bridge (built in the late 1920s) to open. It's hardly the Panama Canal but enjoyable nevertheless.

Back on Lake Ontario, our final stop is the city of Burlington. Both human and avian families are enjoying an outing on Victoria Day, but it's just about possible to create the illusion of rural isolation. Then it's a short drive back to Toronto airport but we're glad to have allowed an extra hour for navigation issues. The road leading to it peels off to the left across five lanes of busy highway, which people familiar with the area might not mind but we find hairy.

But....mission accomplished and with the only malaise being jetlag, surely a total success.Read more