A days cycling to the falls

Our host Dave prepared a nutritious if somewhat unusual breakfast. It was a three course meal with Gazpacho to start. Cold soup first thing in the morning doesn't sound too appetising, and Dave said he could see the look of terror on all our faces as he brought it to the table, but it was very good (crushed honeydew melon, blueberries, mint and honey bee pollen!). Next up was some homemade sourdough bread, selection of cheeses and about 9 different varieties of jam/jelly, all locally sourced. For the hot course... well you can see below.

We were joined by a couple from Michigan at the meal, who we found had done the cycle ride to Niagara Falls yesterday. We had been debating whether it was advisable to attempt the route, but after discussing it with them we had the confidence to try. 

Picked up our 'flat foot technology' cruiser bicycles and headed for the Falls  - Eric occupied the pound seat on account of there not being a helmet to fit, and his paws wouldn't reach the pedals. 

One very steep hill and nearly 15 miles later Eric had his first glimpse of the both the American and the. Canadian Falls... 

Arrived at the Falls at last, and Eric wasn't even out of breath.

They don't seem to consider the Falls spectacular enough on their own, today they provided an Elvis impersonator singing the old hits at the main viewpoint, and tonight there is a massive firework display - it's like Coney Beach on steroids!

On the way back we stopped off at the Botanical Gardens and Butterfly Conservatory. 

Three of a selection of pictures we took. 

Even though these pictures are of fantastic butterflies, it was far more pleasing to at last see a Monarch butterfly up close and personal in the wild a few miles down the road. 

Some more bird sightings today:

Plenty of Northern Flicker, a few others we've initially identified as a Turkey Vulture; American Robin and a Veery - there is disagreement on the last one and it's probably doubtful. We are willing to be proved wrong on all of them!

Turkey Vulture?

(A poor picture of an) American Robin ?

The disputed Veery 

Downhill most of the back - wheeeeeeee.  Managed to miss the turn-off we came from in order to return to the cycle hire place, but did pass Fort George, a very impressive historic monument. Eventually found our way to where we returned the cycles, and then hit the shops. 

One was called Rocky Mountain Chocolate, and I've never seen such large toffee apples before, with a huge selection of coatings. And no we didn't have one!

Gananoque to Niagara-on-the-Lake - otherwise known as NotL

After a super warm day a storm in the night brought lashing rain and strong winds.  Still raining in the morning, meaning breakfast was in the dining room not on the terrace. Now we're in the More English part of Canada breakfast was a choice of a more regular (for us) breakfast, or Pancakes and fruit. The rain had eased by the time we left for our long drive to NotL.  About 400kms of freeway sticking to the 100kmph speed limit -

All this and aircraft surveillance!

Managed to drive through Toronto without too much trouble thanks to Flossie.   Some rather nice Art Deco skyscrapers. 

Toronto skyline from shore of Lake Ontario at NotL.  

Checked in at our accomodation, Eric decided to relax with a book.

Who looks the most regal?

Walked around NotL just to get our bearings, past some absolutely ginormous houses and had a good photo of a Northern Flicker and a not so good picture of a falcon, possibly a Merlin or an American Kestrel. It was at the top of a very large tree with it's back to us most of the time, and the light in the wrong direction - excuses, excuses. 

Addendum to Tadoussac blog - owl banding at Sables de Tadoussac

Completely forgot to put in about our 'exciting' evening in the National Park in the sand dunes at Tadoussac - so here it is now for those of you with a birding interest.

We went for a evening/night excursion to the National Park where there was going to be a demonstration of bird bagauges 'banding' or ringing to us. The evening started with a quiz, en Francais complet - in other words, made extra tricky as completely in French. Luckily there was a family from Nice in the south of France whose son is studying at Cambridge and he was able to give a summary translation for us and some American ladies we met in the B&B.  Expect the next bird quiz to be in French DB? 

If you thought CES in the mud at Kenfig is difficult, putting 75m of nets between boreal forest down a sand dune larger than the front face of the large blow-out at Kenfig with 1 in 2 slope ending at the beach also seemed like a bit of a challenge. There were also rides in the flatter bits of boreal forest. They were trying to catch boreal owls, Petit nyctale and Nyctale tengmalm, using a lure tape. Unfortunately for us the wind was in the wrong direction and the moon was out, so they did not catch any.  We had a film of them doing the ringing as a substitute. They take feather clippings for chemical and DNA analysis, so they can tell where the birds they catch orginate.  One owl they caught previously was captured one night and recaptured the next night having travelled 150 miles south in that time - pretty amazing we thought.  From the video pictures the owls looked very cute.  They also told us about the programme they have to re-introduce Peregrine Falcons.  Although the owls were not around, the midges were. Luckily for us the American ladies, Carole and Anita, brought some industrial strength midge cream used by the American Special forces, called Xtreme. We'd left ours in the suitcase. 

The boreal forests here are not beIng devasted by the Phytophthora fungus, but instead are being destroyed by some sort of moth caterpillar, unfortunately our Cambridge based graduate was an Arts major not Sciences and so was unable to translate that part.  

The American ladies were from Minnesota and had been in Tadoussac for a week. The day we arrived they had been on a seaplane over the fjord, and the pilot had let one of them drive the plane, taking photos of her and the views while she was at the controls! She'd not flown a plane before. 

Magog to Gananoque (pronounced Gan-a-noc-kwai) or Gan by the locals

The early morning swim in the pool was skipped as there was a chill in the air. Instead, an early morning promenade around Magog was called for, both to visit the park on the point and to see if the shops were open.  The adventurous one's shoes have developed a hole.  None suitable found, but did acquire some new earrings! Back for breakfast, very satisfying again.  

Yogurt with granola, toast and a fruit bonanza next to the 'Pain Dore', fruit included something called pretty pear. ??  We challenge you to see how many different fruits you think are on the plate - no prizes though!

Headed out along the main highway, quite a few Monarch butterflies passing us, so far we have managed not to squash any on the windscreen. 

We are very glad that we downloaded Navfree for Canada to the iPad, the roads are mostly very straight but the signage in and through the cities is very confusing. Mostly, following our Navfree guide has been good.  Twice we thought we knew better than her, but then we went north instead of east, and the other time we hit a 5 mile tailback. So, we have learnt to pay attention to her - we've named her Flossie.  The buses and lorries seem to go faster than the cars here, and so occasionally it's a bit like a scene from the film 'Deliverance', with the big American lorry fronts looming in the mirror. It's safer just to move out of their way (hears strumming of banjos in the background). 

Some people in last night's B&B were from Calgary, where they said there'd been heavy snow, but that temperatures were predicted to rise to 20 deg C again by Saturday when we fly in to there, so it should be very pretty. We by-passed Montreal with its skyscrapers in the distance on the new freeway, including a toll bridge (only 2 CAD) , this price would be good on the Severn Bridge.  We even drove under a canal suspended above the freeway.  Lots more birds visible, quite a lot of raptors but going too fast to ID. 

Turn off the main highway onto Route 2 and along the Long Sault Parkway (Sault is pronounced 'sue') and wend our way slowly between the Islands. Another rather stunning view of a bald eagle, and also other birds as we travel - yippee. Unfortunately didn't make it to the Upper Canada Bird Observatory as the road was quite a long unmade one. Weather very hot, 26 degrees today, good job the car has air conditioning.  A visit to a ValueMart for some picnic goodies before we hit the Thousand Islands Parkway.  Not quite as good views of the St Lawrence River (by now a river not a seaway) as on the other Parkway but found a good picnic spot, and had a very healthy late lunch.

Still seeing lots of Monarch butterflies, as well as dragonflies, raptors, herons, ducks and a blue jay. The United States are visible just across the water, and there are a set of bridges that connects Canada and the US. One of the cruises from Gananoque goes to Boldt Castle, which is in the United States, so you have to have your passport and all the other goodies you need to get into America, including your fingerprints - think we'll pass on that.  Possibly a helicopter ride would be the best way to see the area.  

Arrived in Gananoque in time for an evening constitutional to the marina and 'downtown' area.  We are staying in an Irish Gastro Pub! There is a quiz tonight. View from our room is rather nice.

Selection of the days photos is below again.

    Bald Eagle and Eric watching it soar above the river

Ducks on the Long. Sault. Parkway, awaiting ID - a bit far away!

Great Egret (Ardea alba) stalking some fish

Toll Bridge to United States of America - who'd want to pay?

after our Newark debacle, somewhere to be avoided.

   

 

Blue Jay

Houses on the Thousand Islands

Eric admiring the view from the Irish Gastro Pub bedroom

Looking back from the park towards the B&B - red building with loft window next to the tree

An Osprey seen from the park

Mini lighthouse at the marina in Gananoque

In the Sculpture Park

Heron

We are negotiating to have this shipped back to Chestnut Drive. 

Fruits were banana, melon(3 varieties), fig, blue, black, straw, rasp berries, star fruit, pretty pear, pear(2 varieties), kiwi fruit, mango, grape, grapefruit, pineapple, orange. 

Total fruit count = 22 when you include the peach, pomegranate and cape gooseberry in the starter. 

Levis to Eastern Townships and Magog

Started the day with yet another amazing breakfast, including sweet and sour sausage with crepes for the non- vegetarian. Elvis has left the building through the 9ft front doors.

              

A steady drive along Route 20 for about 80 miles to Drummondville along very straight roads, it had  only about 4 bends in whole distance, with minimum speed limits well as a maximum. 

Heading for Ulverton Woollen mill - mais ferme (but it was closed) - but at least the covered bridge was open. 

Richmond was next - Victorian houses with slate roofs. 

Through Windsor with it's canyon, boulders and waterfall. 

No tourist information site found yet.

Lots of farms, including one with a multitude of antique farming bits and bobs for sale on the roadside and stretching right back beyond to the barn doors. Could have picked up something to go with our plough. 

Fifteen miles further on...Sherbrooke is very much a university town. Parking up we encountered some hippie type people picking berries from the landscaping bushes around the tourist office.  They popped up from amongst the bushes to offer us a sample of some 'black mouth berries' - 7 times more Vitamin C than Kiwi fruit apparently, and they really do make your mouth black. We'd never heard of these before, they looked like blueberries. One of us took them up on their offer, even though they said they were a bit bitter and dried your mouth up - and indeed they were and they did!  On leaving them their salutation was 'Enjoy nature'. Only on later reflection did the adventurous one consider the possibility of it being an ill-advised action.  Writing this some 6 hours later it seems they we're OK after all!  

They were very helpful in the tourist office in suggesting things to see in the area and we left with a hundred weight of leaflets and maps (not very sustainable I know).  Attractions in town included 'wall mural' walk, spread throughout the town, we managed to see some  (8) but not all. On our circuit of the locality we initially walked through a very affluent part of town with many boutiques; even the tattoo parlour looked elegant,  if that's not a contradiction. Suddenly, a couple of steps further on, we were in what appeared to be the Soho of Sherbrooke, with sex shows and boarded up shops. We made a  quickish U-turn.  Back to the car and out to a lovely park where there were sculptures made completely out of compost, moss, and ceramics.  Eric wasn't too scared of Cedric the giant moss sculpture, but later he went a bit too close to the dragon ... But we managed to rescue him. 

The road to Magog was another straight one, but was a ribbon development full of mall type shops , with at least 5 egg restaurants- all with a play on the word egg in their name - Eggspresso etc, and one called EggsOeuf.

Booked in to the  B&B and went on a discovery drive to North Hatley for a picnic by Lac Massawippi, plenty of midges around but we were only bothered by a pretty stray cat (well perhaps not stray as it looked in very good condition). Back for a stroll and some window shopping in Magog, a rather swanky place with lots of restaurants and upmarket boutiques - luckily these were all shut by this time. Quite a popular place with terraces in the restaurants overlooking the marina, and lots of boat houses. One restaurant had a table with an oblong fire in the middle of it - live music too. 

A random selection of the days pictures.

    Two of the 14 wall murals in Sherbrooke

     Eric using the giant moss sculpture's nose as a slide

    Eric doing a 'Selfie' in front of North Hatley Pier

The covered bridge at the closed woollen museum

  The dragon compost and moss sculpture - can you spot Eric in the picture below?

   Eric makes another friend

    Lady Howard - owner of the park

    North Hatley picnic spot

   Magog marina on Lac Memphremagog

  The boathouses at Magog

  Time for bed -  Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Monday - Breakfast Banquet number 2

Picture of breakfast (we were on our own for breakfast this morning so a picture was in order).

                Breakfast for Two

Plus ... We had a croissant that had been split and done a bit like French toast, with eggs and maple syrup then stuffed with cream cheese, cranberries and toasted almonds.

Plans for today were Isle D'Orleans, Chute de Montmerency, and Saint Anne de Beaupre waterfall walk - the last two with suspension bridges - although a good head for heights is apparently needed. 

Had to cross the longest suspension bridge in Canada in the car, which sits alongside the longest cantilever bridge in the world.  Too difficult to take picture while driving!

The island has many artisan shops, chocolatiers, windmills, beach areas and farms.  First stop was to pick up picnic lunch bread, strawberries and raspberries to accompany our second days doggie bag. After a cold start, weather now glorious.  

Quayside stop for a stroll along the waterfront.

    Eric admiring the view of Quebec City from Isle D'Orleans quay.

The chocolatier shop we passed on the walk was so full of tourists (like us) that we didn't stop to buy anything.  But outside the shop was an interesting variation on picnic tables - they moved to and fro 

- the video doesn't work in the blog, so here's a slice from it - we can delight everyone with the video when we arrive home (ha ha).

After a few art galleries we came to the Maritime Museum. It was 5CAD each to get in and the lady said 'OK, give me your car keys' - after nervously looking at each other we realised they were as a deposit for an iPad based self-guided tour.  Phew! The museum told the past history of boat building on the island.

    Inside part of the museum.

    Eric playing the part of an old sea dog on the mast of a schooner.

   Picnic lunch at the Maritime Museum.

    

    A further quayside stop produced what appeared to be a Monarch butterfly.

Another stop further on and a walk around gardens dedicated to the ancestors of the inhabitants of     Isle D'Orleans where there was this interesting metal sculpture.

By the time we had completed a circuit of the island everything was shutting and there was no time to visit the two other attractions planned earlier in the day (sigh of relief from someone who doesn't like heights).

 Beautiful, if rather industrial, sunset from the terrace.