And the Trent Severne Waterway!!

 Sunday 2nd July 2017…

Business class on Via Rail

Lake Ontario

The train trip to Toronto was relaxing and interesting as we travelled some of the parts of Canada that we would have seen had we continued on the Great Loop. We had got business class fares as it allowed us more baggage, plus access to the lounge, free meals and drinks and still less than half the price of the cheapest airfare. We timed our journey to coincide with sis Lyn arriving at Toronto airport from Winnipeg, where she had been visiting her granddaughter (actually at a wee place called Reston 3 ½ hrs drive west of Winnipeg). We were due to arrive at Toronto station at 2.07pm and Lyn was coming in at 3.40pm, so there was plenty of time for us to get to the airport and meet – shuttles run every 20 minutes from the station to the airport and take 25 minutes to get there.  Yeah right….. our train was 40 minutes late and it took another 30 minutes to get our luggage, so by the time we got to the airport it was well past her landing time – and then I found out that the meeting place I had arranged to meet and insisted she remain at (ie the luggage carousel) was airside and I wasn’t allowed in there! Luckily as I arrived, the doors to the arrival hall opened and there we were staring at each other! By the time we got the rental car and headed off for Peterborough, it was rush hour in Toronto and we had to travel right across the city making 1 ½ hr trip become 2 ½ hrs.

This part of the trip was about doing some of the things that we missed by not finishing the Loop. First, we took a 2 ½ hr cruise on the Trent-Severne waterway  at Peterborough that took us through a conventional lock first, and then the famous 113 year old lift lock that Loopy Kiwi would have gone through. While not as thrilling as it would have been in our own boat, it was pretty choice all the same, and Lyn got to see what “locking through” was all about. 

Liftlock Cruises dock

Our cruise ship

Lock 20 - Conventional lock

Lock 21 - Peterborough Lift Lock

The guy that built the lock lived here

We then drove another 3hrs north to Big Chute, where boats are put on a railway carriage to get them from one part of the waterway to another, as we would have done with Loopy Kiwi. We didn’t expect to see this in action, but just after we arrived, a small runabout was loaded and transferred, so we got to see the whole operation. Another 2 ½ hrs back to Toronto and our airport hotel made for a long day.

The next day was a trip to Niagara falls and, regrettably, coincided with the first day of the Canadian school holidays – so Niagara was packed! Lyn and I did the cruise to the falls and got suitably soaked, despite the classy plastic ponchos they provide. Unfortunately, my cameras also got drenched and the handicam hasn’t been quite the same since. There were too many people to try and do anything else there, so we hightailed it back to Toronto to ready for our flight to Winnipeg the next day.

Which, of course (being the 30^th of June),  was the day before Canada Day, and Canada’s 150^th birthday, and when we arrived at the airport, we were told that we were on standby as the flight had been overbooked. After some tense waiting, we did finally get on the plane which was chocker. After our arrival in Winnipeg, we faced a 3 ½ hour drive through some of the flattest country I have ever seen with mile after mile after mile of corn, soya bean and canola fields till we got to the bustling burg of Reston, Manitoba. And here, the next day, we celebrated the combined birthdays of Lyn, her 2 grand daughters, and Canada with a party at the local bar. 

The bustling burgh

Our accommodation in Reston (surprisingly luxurious)

The sign reads: "We now serve red and white wine - $5"

Yummy home-made pizzas for supper.

Today, we drove the weary way back from Reston to Winnipeg , visited an Aviation Museum and stayed at a hotel right at the airport (which, by the way, had the best ribs so far this trip – and lots of them!!). The reason for the airport hotel is the 4.00am start in the morning to catch a 6.20am flight that gets into Vancouver at  7.20am.