Canada has a vast land area (it is after all, the second biggest country in the world) but the routes for traveling across it are somewhat limited by geography, climate and distribution of the population (and with the population, the road and rail infrastructure).Any route…Read More

Canada has a vast land area (it is after all, the second biggest country in the world) but the routes for traveling across it are somewhat limited by geography, climate and distribution of the population (and with the population, the road and rail infrastructure).

Any route for traveling across Canada can be split into three main sections: the eastern, the middle and the western. The middle section is the longest and in many way the easiest to decide, as there are relatively fewest options. The eastern and western sections are more complicated as many detours and alternative options are possible.



Road or rail?

Before you start to plot the route, you need to decide whether you are going to travel by road (whether by bus or by car) or by rail or by some combination of the two.

Traveling by train has major advantages. It's the most comfortable form of overland travel. It allows for a social contact and exchange without being quite the claustrophobic experience that traveling by coach can be. Canada, just like the US has been to some degree created by the construction of the railways and following the railway follows to some extent the progress of the white colonists in the country.

On the other hand, the current Canadian railway is a rump of a service which runs on limited routes with limited frequency. Sleeper cabins are very expensive and as many areas (and always the same ones as the train always runs at the same time) are covered at night, you simply miss parts of the country altogether.

Driving across Canada is a bit of a rite of passage for Canadians and certainly a convenient if a bit soulless (especially in the middle part) way to experience the scale of this vast land. However, one way car hires are very expensive and not that common, and if you don't have your own vehicle, one way hire might be simply prohibitive financially Using ride-shares is cheap but not always easy while coach travel is uncomfortable and not that cheap either.

A combination of rail and road is likely to offer the best experience and best value for money for those wishing to travel across Canada.

The second decision is to whether "across Canada" is to mean genuinely ocean-to-ocean drive, or a drive from Montreal, Toronto or Ottawa to the western coast (or opposite).

Road trip across Canada

Trans-Canada Highway, spanning the whole country from St Johns in Newfoundland to Victoria (and now Nanaimo) in British Columbia, is the obvious choice for the route that is entirelycovered by road. However, a visitor interested in seeing the best that Canada has to offer should adjust the Trans-Canada itinerary to include some spectacular sections not included in the Trans-Canada system.

And thus, having arrived in New Sydney from Newfoundland's New Glasgow, it's recommended that a detour round Cape Breton is made. Trans-Canada doesn't include Halifax nor Lunenburg and both those places in Nova Scotia are well worth a visit (and can be incorporated into a route).



In Quebec the Trans-Canada misses the Gaspe peninsula and follows the south bank of St Lawrence. Taking a ferry from Riviere du Loup and following the north bank will give a more scenic drive (a detour north towards Tadoussac is worth a couple of days if you are not pushed for time) and will include the magnificent city of Quebec.

From Quebec, follow Trans-Canada to Levis and Montreal, and from then on to Ottawa. In Ontario include Toronto (which doesn't lie on the official Trans-Canada) and consider a detour (half-day minimum) to Niagara Falls. Then follow the route to Thunder Bay and via the Canadian Shield to Kenora and then to Winnipeg in Manitoba.

In Saskatchewan, Trans-Canada passes through Regina but route 16 goes through Saskatoon which is a nicer city and with more interest for a visitor than Regina. From Saskatoon go to Calgary via Drumheller with its atmospheric badlands and fascinating dinosaur fossils.

Once in Calgary, follow Trans-Canada through the Rockies as far as Lake Louise, but instead of traveling across the Rockies through Golden and Revelstoke, take the Icefields Parkway, one of the most spectacular drives in the world, to Jasper.

From Jasper, if you are feeling very adventurous and can afford it, you can follow route 16 to Prince George and Prince Rupert, from where in the summer you will take a ferry along the magnificent Inside Passage to Port Hardy at the northern tip of Victoria Island. Drive down the island (detouring to Ucluelet and Tofiono) to Nanaimo and Victoria, from where you take the ferry back to the mainland and the glories of Vancouver.

Alternatively (and much more quickly), cut south from Jasper to Kamploops and there rejoin the Trans-Canada for the final stretch to Vancouver (with the option of crossing to Vancouver Island from there).

Rail trip across Canada (with road detours)

The rail trip across Canada will take you from Halifax to Vancouver, with possible side detours. The first leg is The Ocean train from Halifax to Montreal (there is a connection to Quebec City by a local train too: stop over there). From Montreal, travel to Ottawa, and from Ottawa to Toronto where you will board the flagship service of ViaRail, The Canadian. This will take you through Canadian Shield (north of Trans-Canada Highway) where you can stop for a taste of wilderness in fishing and hunting camps on the way, to Winnipeg and Saskatoon in the prairies. From then the train goes to Edmonton rather than Calgary and on to Jasper (where a side trip on the Icefields Parkway is possible by coach). From Jasper to Kamloops and then to Vancouver complete the rail trip.

General advice

Whichever way you choose, budget more time than you think you'll need. Canada is unimaginably vast, and the distances are huge. If driving, plan your stops carefully and make sure you have enough fuel, food and energy reserves for all this driving.   Close

Quebec has its own culinary tradition and culture which one one hand is similar to one of the whole of Canada, and indirectly thus to the North American eating habits; but on the other shows a surprisingly strong French influences, in what foods are eaten,…Read More

Quebec has its own culinary tradition and culture which one one hand is similar to one of the whole of Canada, and indirectly thus to the North American eating habits; but on the other shows a surprisingly strong French influences, in what foods are eaten, but even more so in the habits, customs and behaviours associated with eating, from eating hours to the existence – and popularity – of neighbourhood restaurants that uncannily resemble local restaurants in France.

This is particularly obvious in Montreal, where the French influence is strong and clearly visible in very continental cafés with very French patisserie and even coffee that differs from the standard Canadian dishwater. Other communities also influence the Montreal scene, noticeable in the Plateau Mount Royal area for example where Portuguese and Italian shops . There is also a Chinatown, with notable Vietnamese presence: it's hot Vietnamese noodles that save us from freezing on our first tour of Old Montreal.

One of the Montreal institutions, however, is of a Jewish provenance. Schwartz's is famous for its smoked beef sandwiches, or rather mountains of the smoked salt beef served with rye bread and pickled gherkins. The queues at lunchtime stretch along the road, the staff are famously rude and the guests are packed at communal long tables, but the food is good (the meat resembling pastrami most of all, but hot and smoked). The gherkins are a bit floppy for my Polish palate, though and the salami is not a salami at all but garlic sausage. Portions are huge, but prices not as low as the style of the place would lead you to expect. Still, an institution, an interesting experience and good food.

One cannot leave the subject of Quebec food without mentioning its (in)famous national (or is it provincial) dish, poutine. Poutine is a fast-food, greasy-spoon type of dish which consists of chips (aka French Fries), cheese curds (aka "squeaky cheese") and gravy. The chips go at the bottom, then the cheese, cold; this is topped by hot gravy, traditionally fairly light chicken, turkey or chicken-and-beef gravy rather than dark beef gravy. The squeaky cheese is a peculiar form of cheese that that I find it hard to find analogues for, but it's bouncy, fresh and mild in flavour; somewhere between fresh cottage cheese, mozzarella, halloumi and the unsmoked variety of Polish oscypek (though it's cow's milk, not sheep or goat). It has a fairly high melting point, so the hot gravy just about makes it stringy.

Poutine is an acquired taste, certainly, but when done well (i.e. with crispy chips and nice gravy), surprisingly easy to like, occasionally. Our first taste is offered by our Quebecois host in Laval (the second biggest city in Quebec that nobody heard of) who cooks is according to his mother's directions, and it's very tasty indeed. Other samples, from roadside shacks and institutional canteens, with soggy cheese and industrial gravy, are not quite so edible.

The poutine is accompanied by barbecued burgers (considering the fact that it's the Day of the Freezing Rain, it's a feat in itself) and followed by maple syrup on snow: slowly boiled down to very thick consistency, then poured onto snow (in this case, scraped from inside the freezer) and rolled into very sweet, very sticky and quite tasty (in small quantities) lollipops.

We will see containers attached to maple trees all over eastern Ontario and Quebec, gathering the maple sap for making of the syrup; and in Quebec City little cornets (like miniature ice-cream cones) filled with various consistencies of maple-syrupy-concoctions are sold from stalls in the old town.    Close

Canada is a country created by immigration – a surprisingly high proportion of it from the Old World countries other than the United Kingdom – and Canadian food culture is a result of mixing these various traditions the immigrants brought in over the last…Read More

Canada is a country created by immigration – a surprisingly high proportion of it from the Old World countries other than the United Kingdom – and Canadian food culture is a result of mixing these various traditions the immigrants brought in over the last four hundred years (yes, that's how old is European settlement in Canada), the environmental conditions of the land and some – but admittedly very slight – influences of the original inhabitants of the land, the latter noticeable more in what is eaten then how.

The US influence is strong – or perhaps it's an American thing in general – and portions, particularly of anything sweet or fast-food related – are enormous.

Most big cities are full of ''ethnic'' restaurants, with the East Asian influences particularly noticeable, and Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Thai restaurant very common. This was especially true in Vancouver which has a huge East Asian population, but other cities also had many East Asian eating places. Sushi appears to be as much of a national food as curry is in Britain, at least in Toronto and Vancouver and is commonly available and quite reasonably priced.

American-style burger and steak joints and assorted diners – often called ''family restaurants'' – are, obviously, very common, and you can find one of those even in small places. Fish and chips is also popular, more so (naturally) in coastal places. We ate very good fish and chips in Nova Scotia and on Vancouver Island; deep fried, often in Japanese style, light tempura batter. Oysters and other types of seafood are also available deep-fried in fish-and-chip places.

Alberta is known for its beef, and steaks abound in the Prairie provinces in general. Not only beef, but buffalo (farmed bison, to large extent) are available. We somewhat failed on the steak front, and only had one steak meal out, on the last day in Alberta. It was OK, but by no means mind-blowing.

Eastern European influences are also common in the prairies and I was surprised in Winnipeg to see fast-food places that offered pierogi and cabbage rolls – dishes popular in Poland and Ukraine. We only tried them once, from a guide-book recommended cafe at Winnipeg's Forks, but I was very underwhelmed. Buffalo burgers, on the other hand, were rather good whenever we tried them.

Nova Scotia boasts not only great fish and chips, but is also famous for its lobster. Expensive as it is in restaurants, you can have it much more reasonably if you buy it and cook yourself. I have never eaten lobster before – in fact none of our party have – and we are all quite excited to be picking live lobsters crawling in the supermarket tank, to be carried home and cooked for our supper by our Halifax host. Eaten just with very garlicky butter, the lobster is divine and easily among the best things I have eaten in my life, ever.

We also ate well in the very interior of Canada, where supermarket prices are high and ethnic restaurants unknown. We spend a magical weekend in Sioux Lookout, a small town in north-western Ontario popular for hunting and fishing and, quite fittingly, while being looked after by the host of people that welcomed us there, we were fed a moose stew and a freshly-caught wild trout: lovely, simple food that shined with the quality of ingredients.

In Vancouver, we ate in various places, but the highlight was an Ethiopian restaurant, a discovery of an entire new set of flavours and styles.

Quebecois have their own culinary tradition, heavily influenced by the French one, and it definitely deserves its own article.   Close

I have to start by admitting that my Supalite Brashers are actually male ones as unfortunately the highest size available in female was 8 and I needed 9. I was, however, assured by the guys in Black's that there wasn't much difference and if they…Read More

I have to start by admitting that my Supalite Brashers are actually male ones as unfortunately the highest size available in female was 8 and I needed 9. I was, however, assured by the guys in Black's that there wasn't much difference and if they felt right they would be right.

Now, they felt more than right – they felt absolutely fabulous. "Supalite" is a fitting name, as each boot weighs barely 500g and on first trying fitted beautifully. This isn't a common occurrence for me. I hate buying shoes, and although it doesn't apply as much to buying boots and trainers as to more dressy shoes it's still an ordeal. I have long and very wide feet with high arches, and as I got older and fatter they seem to have grown longer and wider. And thus, although I had huge psychological problem even contemplating spending 100 GBP on a pair of boots, after trying countless other pairs in three other shops I decided to go for the Brashers.

After all, I needed boots for our six-months long trip to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We were weight and space limited (2 adults, 2 children, 4 sleeping bags, 2 camping mats, mostly cold weather months and the worst exchange rate for ten years or so) and thus I needed footwear that would do for everything from pounding city pavements to (mild) trail-walking, in temperatures ranging between below zero to mid-twenties.

The Brashers did admirably. I had no other shoes with me apart from a pair of crocs for indoors when necessary and thus I wore them pretty much every day between early March and October 2010. My feel were – a little bit – sore after the first couple of days (but I did a lot of walking) but they didn't take more than four days and maybe a total of 10 miles walked to break in completely. This is unheard of for me, as most footwear takes me weeks to get used to.

The Goretex kept me dry, with a little bit of NikWax care every few weeks, throughout. I used the boots in the rain, in the pouring rain, in the sleet and in the snow, I walked into puddles and even (sort-of) forded streams and they stayed dry and comfortable.

I don't like too stiff boots and the Supalite Brashers were just right on that score: when laced up all the way they worked fine on all rougher terrain I subjected them to (although admittedly there was nothing out of the ordinary, as we had the kids with us at al times) and with looser and lower laces they were find for pottering about. I even learned to drive in them!

I used heel cups in the boots and this probably helped a lot on pavements: I think without those, they might have been a bit hard on the sole in the city. However, I am old, very heavy and arthritic so probably more likely to suffer anyway.

All in all, the boots were worth every penny of the 109 pounds I spent on them and already have paid for themselves. I don't wear them as much now as we have been back to the UK for a few months and I wear trainers most of the time, but whenever I put them back on for a countryside walk, I still appreciate the great quality of the boots.
   Close

Alberta is different. For the first time I feel we are truly in the west, and outside the realm of European civilisation – is it the right word in the context – maybe not. We still are, obviously, in the realm of European, or post-European…Read More

Alberta is different. For the first time I feel we are truly in the west, and outside the realm of European civilisation – is it the right word in the context – maybe not. We still are, obviously, in the realm of European, or post-European culture, but the focus has somehow imperceptibly changed. I have heard of people having a similar experience in Russia, once they get to Moscow and beyond: the reference point is not the same, the place looks in a different direction. In Canada, it might be that the change is due to the fact that the French traders and explorers never got beyond – roughly - what's now Manitoba (Winnipeg has a French quarter, but Calgary doesn't). Or maybe it's the ranchers and the oilmen that make Alberta the most right-wing, the most American, the most gung-ho of the Canadian provinces. Or maybe it's simply because the people we stayed with in Alberta happened to be among the most well-off and right-wing (in Britain they would probably be "natural Tories") we met in Canada: though it wasn't quite how our Albertine (or is it Albertan?) adventure started.

We drive in with our ride-share, a twenty-something ska trombonist, anarchist and an audio-engineer who takes us from Saskatoon to Calgary in good humoured and chilled-out way that cool young 'uns are so much better at than even the coolest middle-aged people, filling the time with decent music and political discussion about evils of capitalism, Canada's indigenous people's struggles and the US immigration and security paranoia.

The flatness of the prairies continues from Saskatoon, although the wheat fields and grain elevators are gradually replaced with grazing land, and we see our first oil well: terribly exciting, and just like in films about Texas! The road is empty and the sky is big above our heads, maybe bigger than in Manitoba and Saskatchewan (I don't know how it can be bigger, but it plainly is). I am glad we are in a car for a change, as it seems a good way to travel this section, and we can stop (within reason) to take a few photos. But it's the driving, the steady unrolling of the grey, empty ribbon of the open road in front to us, that is somehow meaningful here in the middle of the North American plains, in the prairie that turned from the buffalo-inhabited steppe to a bread (and steak) basket of the world.

As the sun starts to go down spectacularly over the prairie, we enter the Alberta badlands near Drumheller, a stark change from the prairies. "Badlands" is actually a technical term, used particularly in America, applied to extensively eroded rock formations in an arid area, usually full of ravines, hoodoos, canyons and other – very uneven – rough terrain. The "badness" of the badlands initially referred to a difficulty of crossing such terrain on foot. It a strange and yet compelling landscape, the rocks not only interestingly formed, but also stripily shadowed, and one just can't help but expect a dinosaur to peep out from behind one of them.

And one does, five minutes down the road, as we enter the town of Drumheller itself, famous for the Royal Tyrrell Museum of palaeontology located a few miles away. We are too late for the museum (apparently world class), but Drumheller itself boasts a number of model dinosaurs, of shabby of shape and colourful of paint, including one that towers over the town car park in a significantly-larger-than-life display of claws, teeth and a viewing platform in its mouth. I told you Alberta was different.

Children are delighted, we snigger and proceed to smoke, eat and stretch our legs before the final drive to Calgary, where we arrive late in the evening and which seem to spread over a huge area on both sides of a wide river. Tomorrow we'll start exploring the city.    Close

The Canadian is Via Rail's flagship service, the train with a number 1, which runs cross-country and (almost) cross-continent between Toronto and Vancouver. It used to be a daily service with two trains, one on each of the southern (via Calgary) and northern (via Edmonton)…Read More

The Canadian is Via Rail's flagship service, the train with a number 1, which runs cross-country and (almost) cross-continent between Toronto and Vancouver. It used to be a daily service with two trains, one on each of the southern (via Calgary) and northern (via Edmonton) routes. There are now three trains a week, covering the northern route only.

The Canadian leaves Toronto at 10pm, and this is what I wrote on the day, waiting to board the train for the first leg of our trans-Canadian journey:

"Anyway, we are ready to GO WEST. Actually, I know we have been going west (more or less) since we left Halifax, but somehow this feels like the real thing. The Canadian is supposed to be one of the greatest rail journeys in the world, and despite the fact that majority of it nowadays takes place at night it probably still remains so. Our next stop is Sioux Lookout. What does one do in Sioux Lookout? We are ready to find out."

The train journey between Toronto and Sioux Lookout takes almost thirty hours (which is quite a long time to cover the less-than-a-thousand miles between Ontario's capital and one of its westernmost towns). We are travelling in economy class, or "coach", rather than in one of the sleeper carriages that the train predominantly consists of. But there is none of the condescending attitude that you encounter on other major train journeys towards the passengers in the cheapest class (as it was for example on Australia's Indian-Pacific). In fact, once you get on the train, the somehow officious attitude that ViaRail ground staff quite consistently show changes completely. The people who run the train are helpful, friendly, down to earth and sensible, making the journey just that little bit easier.

The train consists of old (call it "classic") stainless-steel carriages. The economy car is open plan, with rows of seats in 2+2 setup on both sides of the central aisle, mostly facing towards the direction of travel. At the both ends of the carriage there are sets of four seats of which two face the opposite way, reserved for larger groups and families travelling together. We get one of those, but as the carriage is by no means full, we make ready to claim more spaces.

There is plenty of room: the seats recline quite far back, and each has an extendible footrest – the amount of legroom is pretty good in the standard seats too, and the arms-rests in between folds up so you can stretch across if the train isn't busy.

We are given pillows and blankets, and in addition to our own sleeping bags and fleeces all that makes for quite comfortable pallet, and after the initial excitement we all, somehow, sleep.

When we wake up the next day, the train has passed the industrial heartlands of eastern Ontario (it leaves Sudbury around 5am) and we are already deep into the seemingly endless landscape of the Canadian Shield. A boreal forest of pine, fir and birch stretches interminably around us, broken only by a glimpse of an occasional lake. The day is dull and grey, and the desolate stations we occasionally pass seem no more than logging or fishing camps. When we arrive in Hornepayne, the wind is howling and a freezing rain falls diagonally against our faces as we walk along the platform (i.e. a strip of hardened gravel by the track side) to stretch the legs. It's horrible. I'm loving it.

When the train departs, we go to the Dome Car, an observation carriage which has a fast-food buffet in the lower section, and a domed, glass-roofed viewing area upstairs. The food selection in the buffet confirms the Canadian fascination with processed dairy, as the sandwiches on offer are: cheese, ham and cheese, egg and cheese, and beef and cheese. I am eerily reminded of the SPAM sketch, but settle for pot noodles (or a local equivalent) and a burger.

The view from the top is similar to the view form our carriage (it's in the mountains that the Dome seat is worth it's weight in gold), but the change of indoors scenery is always welcomed. We meet people as we always do, other tourists, backpackers, people travelling for work and for family reasons. There is a woman from Sioux Lookout that can't understand why we would even think of going there (this is a bit discouraging, but we remember that the main idea was simply to break the journey). There is a guy travelling over thousand miles to meet his virtual family from Second Life. There is a girl with a son of our younger's age which is great because they can run up and down the carriage shrieking and jumping, pissing the other passengers off but giving the parents a break.

In the evening, we decide to send Mum and Daughter for the sit-down dinner (the sleeper travellers have food included, we have to pay extra 30 CAD for a three-course meal) to save money and save embarrassment in the posh company from the first class.

We order one dinner between us, but "with chef's compliments" we actually get two, which to be honest is more than we can eat, but as the food is rather lovely, at least by train restaurants' standards, we manage somehow. The cheesecake is the best I ever had in our travels in Canada, anyway.

As the day comes to the close, the rain stops and the sky clears to a deep, purplish blue, painted with golden and red streaks towards the west. The lakes gleam darkly as we – this time literally – ride into the Canadian sunset.

We arrive at one in the morning and when our hosts' friend turns up (they are not here and in addition to leaving a key for us and the flat for our use, they delegated a friend of theirs to be our contact point) and takes us to our couch, we can only crawl into the beds and sleep.
   Close

Ottawa was chosen as Canada's capital when Canada was still a British colony in 1857. This, incidentally, was a very clever decision by the Queen Victoria, carefully considered and designed to try and balance the French and British prides and placate the rivalry between Toronto…Read More

Ottawa was chosen as Canada's capital when Canada was still a British colony in 1857. This, incidentally, was a very clever decision by the Queen Victoria, carefully considered and designed to try and balance the French and British prides and placate the rivalry between Toronto and Montreal (it was only successful as it united both in derision towards Ottawa). Anyway, it was not, as some might lead you to believe, a choice based on Victoria's liking for a romanticised watercolour landscape of the town.

When Canada became a nominally autonomous federal republic in 1867, Ottawa's role as a place that brings the provinces together became even more important. The variety in Canada's provinces is fascinating, and surprising: for a country of only 30 million people, it's not a mean feat to manage both: a creation of a distinct national identity as well as celebration of regional diversity.

Canadians, apart from the Quebecois, don't really talk too much about differences between the provinces, but they exist, and are bigger than one would expect from the short history and small population (much bigger than for example in Australia): from climate to geography, accent to local regulations, ethnic background of the people to attitudes to work, life, politics and environment, Canada's provinces vary quite a lot, and Canada's history can be told in terms of adding the provinces to the federation. This is celebrated in Ottawa in many displays of provincial flags and crests, especially around the Parliament Hill.

But this city is more than just a seat of the federal government, though the administrative rather than just commercial character of Ottawa can be felt in its downtown core, where the atmosphere is less rushed and cut-throat than in Toronto or even Calgary. There is public art everywhere, a lot of it somehow connecting to the ideas of Canadian national identity and the Federation, while the population is multi-ethnic and almost as diverse as in Toronto.

Ottawa feels like a pleasant place to live, though the fact that we had a sunny weather for the two days we spent there probably influenced our impressions. But in addition to the public art and many remarkable public buildings, it has wide, open spaces, squares and parks, boulevards and promenades, and of course it has a river which is a good thing for any city to have as a focus and a breathing space.

The city has a good public transport system, with dedicated roads exclusively used by buses which makes the travel much faster, and well managed, purpose-built interchanges and stops that look more like city train stations than bus stops.

For the visitor, Ottawa has a range of attractions including, as one would expect in the capital city, cultural institutions of national importance, some of them world class.

Every visit to Ottawa should include at least some of the following :
**Parliament Hill with Canada's federal legislature, great views from the riverbank, the Centennial Flame and many monuments.
**Canadian Museum of Civilisation, which has stunning social history and anthropological displays in a magnificent building situated just across the Inter-Provincial Bridge from the Parliament Hill.
**National Gallery of Canada, with many major Old Masters, as well as great collections of Canadian, Asian and indigenous art.
**...and if you arrive in May, catch the Canadian Tulip Festival for which Ottawa is famous.

Other attractions include the Canadian War Museum, Currency Museum, Rideau Canal (with an ice-rink in the winter) and the bustle of the ByWard markets and restaurants.

Canadians often say that Ottawa is boring, but in reality it's a pleasant city to visit and a must for anybody who wants to understand the diversity of the Canadian experience.    Close

I think I need to explain the idea behind this journal. I suppose the title: the centre and the periphery makes it self-explanatory to some degree: it's about juxtaposition, it's about contrast, it's about diversity. But there is more to it than just that. After…Read More

I think I need to explain the idea behind this journal. I suppose the title: the centre and the periphery makes it self-explanatory to some degree: it's about juxtaposition, it's about contrast, it's about diversity. But there is more to it than just that. After all I could have picked any two places, one small and one big, or one at the east and one at the west extreme of the country. I think that Ottawa and Sioux Lookout work rather well together though.

One is the the capital city of Canada, with a metro population of over a one and a half million people, one is a tiny municipality with about five thousand people.

But they are both in Ontario: Ottawa lies at the eastern edge of that largest (and arguably, the most archetypical Canadian) province, across the river from its sister Quebecois city of Gatineau. Sioux Lookout is in north-western Ontario, near (at least by Canadian Shield standards) to the Manitoba border.

Ottawa is multi-ethnic and international, with one in five people who live there born outside Canada, and only 1.5% indigenous Canadian. One in three inhabitants of Sioux Lookout are of Aboriginal origin. Ottawa is a central administration hub, and yet Sioux Lookout is a major public services town for the First Nations' reserves in a vast area of north-western Ontario.

I have been wondering – and I still wonder – which of the two is the face of the 'real Canada'? Majority of people in that vast country live in urban centres, mostly of the eastern seaboard. The Francophone/Anglophone dynamic that is such a defining feature of eastern Canada, and is so well represented by the simmering conflict between Toronto and Montreal is also represented by the unity in division of Ottawa and Gatineau.

And yet, huge areas of land in Canada lie on the Canadian Shield, a semi-circle of post-glacial, rocky land covered in thin soil, full of lakes, rocks and boreal forest (and further north, the tundra). Logging and mining, hunting for moose and fishing for trout, Indian trappers and Mounties are all part of the Canadian archetype, as much – no, much more than – the multi-ethnic metropolis of the industrial east, Ottawa is representative of the people, but Sioux Lookout, and all that is around it, stands for the land of large area of Canada, and for much of its soul.

And when I say large, it really is enormous. It takes 30 hours by train to travel from Ottawa to Sioux Lookout (via Toronto). In the straight line, it's over 800 miles (or over 1,300km), and you still have not even left Ontario! There is nothing like taking a train through the boundless expanse of the Canadian Shield to get a feeling for the actual size of the place, the landscape, the feel of the country as it passes you by in a mesmerising rhythm beaten by the wheels of the train.
   Close

Also on the south shore of Nova Scotia are the towns of Chester and Mahone Bay. Both are picturesque and attract artists and photographers to their pretty lanes and waterfront views. Both have craft shops, galleries, restaurants and cafes and you can spend a few…Read More

Also on the south shore of Nova Scotia are the towns of Chester and Mahone Bay. Both are picturesque and

attract artists and photographers to their pretty lanes and waterfront views. Both have craft shops, galleries, restaurants and cafes and you can spend a few hours in each as a combined trip from the city.

Chester comes first as you head down Highway 103 (or pick up the pretty coastal road, Highway 3 from around exit 5). Chester has a large marina and has annual festivities such as a classic car and boat show in the summer as well as a large regatta, the famed Chester Race Week. You can also take a ferry to Tancook Island though it's mainly for the scenery and hiking/biking there thought there is also a little museum featuring artifacts from the local area. Chester has an arts center and a playhouse and a small museum as well. It's main attractions are the scenery and craft shops. There's golfing in the area and three marinas. Other events in summer include a garden tour and a heritage house tour and an art festival.

Mahone Bay is a little further along the road, from Chester follow Highway 3 and you'll drive right into it. Mahone Bay holds annual festivals including the Wooden Boat festival and the autumn Scarecrow Festival which is brilliant! Scarecrows of all shapes and sizes are found all along the waterfront streets and properties. The town is a pretty spot along a bay. There are three churches that dot the shoreline of the bay and this view from across the bay is the one you see on all the postcards. The churches feature free music concerts all summer long.

There are lots of pretty craft shops along the main road and some nice restaurants with scenic views. There's a farmer's market and flea markets on various weekends. Do check out the Settler's museum in a historic house on the main street. You can even get up close and personal with some seals on boating and kayak tours.

The south shore of Nova Scotia is very pretty with lots of little towns and villages dotting the coastal route 3. Chester and Mahone bay are only about an hour drive down the highway 103, a bit longer if you take the scenic route and stop at the antique and craft shops along the way. We like to do that on the way down and spin back up the highway at the end of a day with good seafood under our belt. Lunenburg is only about 15 minutes further south from Mahone Bay and the larger town of Bridgwater is about a half hour drive. There are larger shops and restaurants there and the views along the LaHave River are nice too.    Close

The south shore of Nova Scotia was settled by German immigrants. The town of Lunenburg on the South Shore is now a World Heritage Site, due to it's lovely architecture. It's a very good example of a planned British colonial settlement as well. The town…Read More

The south shore of Nova Scotia was settled by German immigrants. The town of Lunenburg on the South Shore is now a World Heritage Site, due to it's lovely architecture. It's a very good example of a planned British colonial settlement as well. The town is full of Victorian homes, some of which contain wonderful little shops and galleries featuring local artisans' and craftspeople's works. There are many pretty cafes and restaurants as well, some overlooking the waterfront. You can get to Lunenburg by taking exit 11 off the 103 highway or follow the old number 3 highway along the shoreline from Halifax. That's a very pretty drive.

Lunenburg has a fine history of ship building and the famous schooner, The Bluenose was built here. The Bluenose was built in the 1920s as a fishing vessel but was undefeated in schooner racing. She is now commemorated on the Canadian 10 cent coin. In the early 1960s, a replica, the Bluenose II was built, sponsored by a local brewery. It proved so popular that she is maintained and sails to many locations as a Goodwill Ambassador. She always leads the Parade of Sail during any of the Tall Ships visits. She is based in Lunenburg now and when in port, there are 1 - 2 hour sailing trips available to the public.

There are some lovely old wooden churches in Lunenburg. One, St. John's, burned down several years ago and has been rebuilt and restored painstakingly. There's a little Railway museum for train enthusiasts. It has a model railway display as well as artifacts from the old Halifax and Southwestern Railway. It's on Highway 3 up the hill from the waterfront.

On the waterfront is the large red wooden building, the Fisherie's Museum of the Atlantic, also worth a look. There are craft demonstrations, an aquarium, boats and guided tours. The aquarium has eleven salt water and three fresh water tanks including a 7 foot high tank. There's a theatre that shows many films about local history and culture. They have daily talks and there's a boatbuilding house as well. Open during the May to October summer season. Learn all about the fisheries, the age of sail, and the rum runners. Get some hands on craft demonstrations or browse model ships, artifacts and paintings.

Close to Lunenburg is the fishing village of Blue Rocks. It's only a 10 minute drive from Lunenburg. Many people visit Peggy's Cove as an example of a fishing village as it's close to Halifax and has a photogenic lighthouse but for a road less traveled and far fewer tourists, visit Blue Rocks instead. the village is on the coast and has multilayered blue tinged rock formations along the shore. The fishing huts on a pier make for a pretty picture and the village itself is very pretty. Artists and photographers flock here for the views.

Another picturesque place to stop in the Lunenburg area is the Ovens natural park. A privately owned park, it sits on the rocky shores. There are hiking trails and sea caves that you can visit by boat tour. These caves are the "Ovens". There was gold in them there hills in the 1800s and the nearby area was populated by miners. The town is now gone but you can see a small gold rush museum on the site and even try to pan for gold if you feel lucky! There's a swimming pool, restaurant, general store and gift shop too. They have an annual music festival (see website for any activities and schedules). There's also a campsite and cabins for rent if you want to stay in the area. It cost $8 admission for an adult with child and senior discounts and group rates. To get there, pick up the secondary road, 332 that circles Lunenburg and head south following the shorely. Just past Bayport, start looking for the signs for the Ovens, on Feltzen South Rd. which then leads you to the Ovens road. The Ovens is a nice park to visit even on it's own as a day trip from Halifax.   Close