From Halifax we headed east again, which is kind of odd when we should be heading west, we followed the coast as much as possible, passing through small towns on our way to Cape Breton Island. It was lovely riding on near empty roads, even if their condition was often rather bad and the people we met as we went were just so incredibly friendly without being over the top. On Cape Breton Island we headed to the National Park that we had been told was a must visit place. It was very nice with some great views along the coast and some stunning views over the forest. What was new to us was staying in a campground that had warning signs about Coyotes, Moose and Black Bears! We went for a walk to some falls and Julie was kind of nervous after hearing what sounded like growling.
After visiting this island we went to another "must see" island, Prince Edward Island, PEI to the locals. To get to PEI we caught a ferry that look just over an hour, the interesting thing here was that you only pay when you leave the island and at the other end of the island you can leave via the twelve kilometer long Confederation Bridge where the toll is cheaper than the ferry. PEI is quite a holiday island, the locals farm and fish for income, but there is a big holiday theme about the place. We quite enjoyed the capital, Charlottetown, a lovely old city with beautiful official buildings and known for being where Confederation of Canada was hatched. From PEI we went via the bridge to New Brunswick and followed the coast around the Bay of Fundy, reported to have the highest tides in the world at up to 14 metres.
From St John we finally started heading west, skirting around the top of Maine to the Saint Lawrence River and Québec. On the way we visited the worlds longest covered bridge, it was quite a sight and would have been quite an achievement in its day.
Québec was quite strange for us, up until this point most of the Canadians had spoken English and French and the signage had been in both languages also, but from Nova Scotia we had noticed that the English was becoming less and less and when we entered Québec, English was almost none existent, to the point that for only the second time on this adventure, the Stop signs didn't say stop, it was in French, the only other place to do this was Turkey and KFC was PFK, Québec was more French than France! The locals say they want to retain their French history, but we got the feeling they were over doing it. Of the Canadian Provinces so far we also felt that Québec was in the worst shape economically. The roads in places were shocking, in Québec city we couldn't take the bike over the river on the ferry because the ramp was broken and in Montreal a storm had taken out the power in the campground and still wasn't restored two days later. Québec city was nice though, the skyline is dominated by a very French looking Chateau that is now a hotel, there are some lovely old buildings and beautiful parks with cobbled stone streets, we weren't so taken by Montreal and were quite disappointed really. Then it was into Ontario to Ottawa, the federal capital of Canada. Here we found more of what we like, older French style architecture and a lovely feeling to it. We spent a bit of time going through the old and new parliament building and learning more about Canadian history. While we were there we witnessed a 21 gun salute to the birth of William and Kate's baby, those guns pack quite a bang! Then Toronto, wow, the biggest and craziest city we have been in, and that is saying something. It wasn't so big as in area, we have been to Istanbul and it wasn't so big as in tall, we have been to Busan, I think it was just a combination of both and the streets were big, bill boards were big, everything was just big and there was so much construction going on, it was crazy.
Then it was onto the jewel of Canada so far, Niagara Falls. What a sight and sound, they were amazing and while the place is very commercial and surrounded by hotels and a street that looks like Las Vegas, I think they have done quite well catering for everyone. If you just want to have a good view of the falls and spend no money, you can, if you want to spend some money and get up close to the falls, you can and if you want to spend a lot of money and stay close to the falls and fly over them, you can. We chose the middle and went on the Maid of the Mist boat that takes you right to the base of the falls, then we did the walk behind the falls, followed by the White Water Walk by the rapids and finally the Aero Car, a cable car that takes you 35 meters above the Whirlpool, all quite incredible. Then finally we left Canada and headed via Buffalo into the USA. It had been quite a rush through Canada, but we needed to be out by the end of the month, for paperwork reasons, but we are more than looking forward to heading into British Colombia and the Rockies. So in three weeks we have met so many friendly people and done just on five thousand Kilometres, enjoyed some nice quite places and enjoyed seeing new sights.