Pigeon Lake

Canada

Not a great cycle trip or adventure to write a post about just a lovely family holiday and beautiful wedding so I felt like posting a few pictures! My brother has been asking and asking me to come out to Canada to visit and last year he said “please come because we are getting married!” We are very grateful to very generous parents who made it possible for us to enjoy this special occasion and a brilliant holiday.

On our way a quick visit to London and the Natural History Museum.

King Louis!

Although Mia got a bit freaked out by all the stuffed animals especially the lion which she came face to face with! It is good place to waste time before a flight.

Hugh’s cottage by the lake, luckily they are not moving till after the wedding, a perfect wedding venue!

The groom himself!

All hands to the deck getting ready…

…plenty of time to go for a paddle as well.

We stayed just north of Hugh’s house in this lovely airbnb place, in the Kawartha lakes region. On the banks of Pigeon lake and close to the little town of Bobcaygeon it was a perfect location.

The dock at the bottom of the garden.

a princess waiting for her daddy.

Wedding day, tables all laid…

and canoe filled with drink!

I had a busy morning getting the flowers ready but really enjoyed doing it for such a special occasion.

Not in focus I know, but it was such a lovely atmosphere.

The first dance with on looking bridesmaids!

Early morning cuddle!

Off to explore the lake

And what a find, a perfect little beach complete with a big box full of buckets and spades.

Most days involved a quick trip to the beach either in the canoe or kayaks or even the pedal boat.

Busy building castles, moats and streams

After a summer of heating the lake was lovely, so even Pippi braved a swim. Hard to believe in a few months it will be all frozen!

Pip squeak!

Mighty!

Happy in the sand and sun.

Helping with the canoe, this was by far one of the highlights for Mia, being able to just go out for a paddle,and it beats walking round to the beach.

Finished at the beach and onto the bowling lanes!

Ready steady roll! In celebration of Grandma’s birthday a brilliant evening.

After the wedding we decided to take a little trip down to Toronto and Niagara. The falls were amazing, just the volume of water pouring down. More than six million cubic feet (168,000 m³) of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost four million cubic feet (110,000 m³) on average!

My favourite bit of the falls…

but I wasn’t tempted to climb over, of the 15 people who have dared to challenge the falls only ten made it alive.

The not so beautiful side of Niagara!

Driving into to city. We booked into a backpackers and really enjoyed wandering around Toronto for a couple of days.

Dancing in the street.

Blue blue skies and skyscrapers.

We had some hard moments dragging a three-year old around the city but she loved running through the streets of skyscrapers, climbing over benches, blocks and sliding down rails (just like her Uncle)!!

just hanging out in the park.

Back at the lake, no northern lights but a lovely moon…

and beautiful sunrises, the one good thing about early Pippi wake up calls!

In our fancy hire car!

More beach time! We did spend quite a bit of time in the towns as well, Bobcaygeon was really sweet with some great junk shops!

Sisters

Pigeon lake, hopefully we will be back, really enjoyed a lovely and special family time.

Thank you Grandma and …

Grandpa.

The start of the lower 48!!

Canada, USA

Our journey through Canada has finished and we have started the next stage, which will take us down the Pacific coast to Mexico! As well as the beautiful views the thing we will remember most about Canada is the hospitality of people, who have not only helped us on the way, but have taken us into their homes and really looked after us, it has been amazing. We are now spending a few days in Seattle, it is good fun wandering in the big cities after spending the last couple of months in the countryside. It’s great to get the mix of both. The last few weeks have been easy cycling with ferry rides between the islands and a chance to have a few more rest days!

Porteau Cove Beach, Vancouver.

Alice Lake B.C.

Modern art in Vancouver

Vancouver skyline from Stanley Park.

The perfect driftwood seat, shame it wouldn’t fit on the bikes!

The lovely home of Ken and Lynne, who took us in for the night.

Camping on Salt Spring Island.

The houseboats on Vancouver Island, a little bit different from Annie Dolly!!

Antique shop in Sidney, Vancouver Island.

Chewing gum! Post Alley, Downtown Seattle.

The Green Tortoise Hostel, Downtown Seattle.

More gum!!

get you kicks on route 99..

Canada

…we have left Scarecrow farm and headed south for Vancouver. The start of the hills!! we have travelled down route 99 and are currently in Whistler resting our legs. We have had some mixed weather but luckly clear for some great mountain views.

Crosby.

Bridge Lake at sun down.

Filtering water at Green Lake. A great sky after a very wet day.

Heading out of Blue River.

The start of Route 99

Dead trees at Duffy Lake.

?????

A happy Lorely at the top of our first steep climb

getting ready for the down hill after a long day climbing

Duffy Lake.

End of the camp fire ban.

Scarecrow Farm

Canada

Have reached McBride, and taking a few days off the bikes at Scarecrow Farm, it makes a good change to stop a while, but already planning the next route. The ride has still been great, we headed into the farmland around Smithers and now have climbed back up into the mountains, we are between the Cariboo range and Columbia mountains and the start of the Rockies. The views were great but now you can hardly see anything, the air is very hazy as so many forest fires are burning in the area. From here we will travel on towards Kamloops before cutting across to Whistler and on to Vancouver. On our way to McBride we saw black bear cubs right by the side of us, but quickly headed on before we saw the Mum. We also had Moose in our campsite with three young calves, which was great to see.

Smithers, BC

A perfect camp spot!

“one more cup of coffee for the road”

The surly long haul trucker!

The Mack long haul Trucker!

The Ancient Forest on the way to McBride

Pruden lake, a really lovely swimming spot after a hot cycle.

Lorely filtering water at Slim creek.

Smokey skies and Russ with his new licence plate!

Hay time at Scarecrow farm.

Scarecrow farm

Kittens in the barn!

White water rafting with Tweazle, Peter and family.

In the flat back Ford

Scarecrow Farm

Scarecrow Farm.

travelling south…

Canada

….so a 1000 miles down the road and we are in Smithers B.C. Have had some great days cycling, camping,swimming in the lakes and some of the best scenery we have seen. The road from Haines Junction to Haines was one of the best we have cycled, lots of sun, no cars and mountains everywhere. Shame about the head winds. We then caught the ferry to Prince Rupert down through the fjords past Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan. We saw whales, seals and loads of flying fish. Making our way to Prince George and on down to Vancouver.

arriving back into Alaska