Winnipeg, Provincial capital of Manitoba.

The Canadian Museum For Human Rights.

Winnipeg is very much a mixture of the old and the new, for thousands of years the native Indians have met here to Pow-wow and to trade between tribes. Nowadays it is the capital of Manitoba, set in the plains, a rather more agricultural area than we have seen before.

The Forks is the old and the new meeting place, so called because it is th e junction of the Red and the Assiniboine rivers, where the tribes met and both the Hudson Bay Company and the North West Company had their trading posts on either side of the rivers.

In the middle of the 19th century the railway took over the area, but, while they still have a lesser presence here most of their old buildings have been taken over by shops and restaurants in a revival of the open spaces.

The is a large French population here, indeed almost everyone we heard was speaking French. Just across the river is the French Quarter, and we visited the Cathedral there.There are two Dioceses in Winnipeg, this one is French. and the stone building above was the fifth to have been built here since 1818. Unfortunately it was burnt down in 1968, leaving just a shell, and the new smaller Cathedral was  erected inside, in a very modern style.

Indian Pow-wows still take place in this arena once a year, and was the centrepiece for the National Aboriginal day that took place here just a few days before we arrived.

The Red River

Part of the garden at the Cathedral

A model of the 1905 Cathedral

The altar, very plain and simple.

Winnipeg's skyline, and the ultra modern footbridge across Red River.

A taste of Canadian history

Thunder Bay lived up to it's name last night; we had a massive thunderstorm which must have resulted in fires somewhere near as there was a number of fire engines running about, sirens blaring.
But today the sun is back- and we have been to visit Old Fort William, a historical rebuild of the trading fort on the Kaministiquia river, just north of Lake Superior. It was the inland headquarters of the North West Company, a rival to the Hudson Bay Company, who traded in furs with the local Indians and other trappers.

This is probably one of the best historical areas that we have ever visited, there are about 50 buildings, and most are manned by young people who know the history, and stay in character while they are talking. We learned how to make barrels and birch bark canoes, how the furs were traded and packed for dispatch to Europe. The only way around was by canoe, even to Montreal, some 1500 miles away.
Each year in the spring they held a rendezvous here, when the traders came up from Montreal and the trappers came in with their furs. The population would soar by over 1000 at that time, including the directors of the company.

They actually make birch canoes here, not only large ones for the Fort itself, but smaller ones for sale. We saw the doctor's surgery, where the Doc's assistant gruesomely described an enema and an amputation. We got to see and smell some of the concoctions that he uses to try to cure the locals of their various ills. Most did not survive.
We learned the value of the furs, which were traded for credits, one for a small fur, two for a beaver, four for a good fox fur etc. The credits could be spent on guns, blankets, food etc.

The doc explains! Note the enema syringe

We got to meet the local Indians, who described their lives around the fort, and they showed us the skins they had trapped and will trade at the fort.They live as a family, maybe eight people, in a teepee like this one. They told us that they got on well with the Europeans.

There must have been 20 different type of skins, very valuable in the 18th century in Europe, where they had virtually wiped out the fur bearing animals. Here there seemed to be an unlimited supply, indeed they are still trapping, though only those species that are not threatened.

We were shown how to load a musket, and allowed  to fire one, I stood well away when Anne fired!

On the way back to the hotel, we were stopped by the police, with a blaring siren. It seemed we were driving too slow because we were looking at a map, but I think I was driving at the posted limit, 50kph, Nobody does round here! When he found we were foreigners he was OK, he led us to the street we were looking for.

The trades area, carpenters, tinsmiths, coopers armourer etc work here.

A five day old pot bellied pig on the farm. Not happy! They would produce all their own food, and had numerous animals. 

The clerks office.

And their dormitory. 

Dovetails on the corner of a log cabin, very strong.

Thunder Bay is at the northern tip of Lake Superior, and as we travelled up here we visited a few of the sights on the way.

Young's store in Wawa, they sell everything here, including tourist tat. It burned down in 1979, and was rebuilt by the locals on a "barn raising" day. The contents were entirely in keeping with the late 19th century.

Pubic conveniences- labelled Ma and Pa!

They have skiing moose here!

They pray for sunshine at this church.

Rainbow Falls.

A superior lake.

How many superlative apply to Lake Superior? Well, it is the largest fresh water lake in the world, it has 10% of the worlds fresh water. The coastline is 1826 miles long, and it is 1322 ft deep in the centre. It is 350 miles long, and 160 miles wide. How much more? Well the water in it would cover the whole of North and South America to a depth of 18 inches!

And to top all that, it is certainly the most beautiful area we have seen in Canada so far. Lovely beaches, fantastic waterfalls, views to die for. Not a lot more to say- I'll leave you with a few more pics.

Butterflies seeking salt at the side of the road.

Hopefully this is the nearest we'll get to a bear!

Fisherman at Montreal Falls.

Theano Point,, where uranium was first found in Canada. Also the resting place of the largest ship to go down in the Great Lakes 

This cheeky little B stole my crisps!

Magpie Falls, 

The Wawa goose, at Wawa town, is so called because its call is "WA-WA"!

Controlling the waterways

White Tailed Deer wander along the road in front of us.

St Joseph Island was on our route today, what we thought would be a small deviation from our main Highway 17 turned out to be a 100 km detour! The map didn't make that clear. We wanted to see a British Fort built in 1796, which overlooked the only route from Lake Superior to Lake Huron, the fur trade route that the Americans coveted. The British Indian department was also present at the fort to maintain good relations with the natives.

In 1807 relations between the Brits and the Americans were becoming difficult, the main reason being the control over the Great Lakes and the fur routes. Fort St Joseph became an important garrison in the area, but a little vulnerable. The commander decided that  his best defence was offence, so he decided to move his 40 regular soldiers, 150 Canadian militia and 300 Natives some 40 miles to capture the American fort at Michilimackinac island, and abandoned Fort St Joseph.

In 1814 the Americans burned the fort to the ground, and after a treaty gave the American fort back, the Brits decided not to rebuild Fort St Joe, moving their base to another island.






Earlier we had stopped off at Bruce Mines, and visited the local museum. Warmly greeted by a volunteer lady, she showed us round. There were many interesting items, including a very early cylinder phonograph, However the most unusual item was a hair curling machine from the early part of the last century that used electricity directly into each curler. It looked extremely dangerous!












Tonight we are Saulte Sainte Marie, a town which lies on the narrow point between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and has the same name on both sides of the border between Canada and the USA. There are ship locks on the American side, and we saw a large tanker about to enter one of them.

Two bridges span the waters between the two countries, one rail and one road, the rail bridge has a lifting section to allow the bigger ships to pass. On the Canadian side there are smaller locks for boats and small ships.

On our travels today we passed through a Menemite area, an offshoot of the Amish, who eschew all and any technology later than the 19th century. They are farmers that still use horses to plough, and to travel through the area, and wear clothing that would have been worn in the 19th Century. They seem to be well integrated however, and well regarded when trading with their modern neighbours. They are of course very religious.

Lunch in a diner on St Joseph Island. I ordered a cheese and tomato sandwich and small fries!

Back in the wilds....

And what a relief! Leaving Niagara to come north west means driving through Toronto, although we did make a small detour through Kitchener to visit Andrew's friends and pick up a couple of items. You would think that Sunday morning would be a quiet day to travel. Not so! The traffic was pretty bad, with jams on the freeway, until we got well up the 400 away from Toronto, and three quarters of the way to our destination, Parry Sound.


The season hasn't yet started here, it is quite quiet, and Parry Sound is a small town situated on Lake Huron, in Georgian bay, where there are reputed to be 30,000 islands. We could have taken a cruise through some of them. The town sits at the junction of old Indian Canoe routes and the route of the early settlers from the St Lawrence to Canada's north and west, where they trapped furs. It was named in honour of the English explorer William Parry in 1820. I climbed the 130 steps of the fire watch tower to get these two pictures!

From there we made our way two hundred and thirty miles north to Manitoulin Island. As the crow flies it would only be about 70 miles, but by road...... The only way onto the island other than by ferry is over a single lane swing bridge, which opens for 15 minutes every hour. Originally a railway bridge, it was opened to traffic in about 1930 when the railway was withdrawn from the island.

It is very much a "First Nation" region, which is what the Canadians call the Indian people here. Although they no longer live the primitive lives that they did, like aboriginals everywhere they like to take advantage of the tourists. And who can blame them? They are probably better integrated than any other that we have seen throughout the world.

Bridal Veil Falls.

We did a tour of the island, the largest in a freshwater lake anywhere in the world, and which itself contains 110 lakes.With a total population of only 12,000, it is very quiet in the winter, but in the summer swells to 50,000, when the economy peps up. Fortunately it hasn't yet, just getting going. The weather remains mixed though, two good days, followed by a cooler one.
Tomorrow it's back to the mainland, continuing North and west.

Gore Bay, our car in the foreground

Janet Head Lighthouse, built 1879, can be seen 11 miles out. The original keeper's home is part of the building, and there are others of similar design dotted around the north of Lake Huron.

A split log fence, typical of the area

A view across one of the larger lakes on the island, the small island in the foreground has a house on it, only accessible by canoe or boat.

Little Current, our base to visit the island. The large ship is a cruise boat for 250 passengers, from Chicago to Toronto in 11 days.