Thursday 12 June 2014

Friendly Winnipeg

Cycling for 7 straight days and 800km we arrived in Winnipeg.  After having a lovely time 'holidaying' in the Rockies it was time to get some kilometres done.  It's been a reasonably tiring 1500km from Calgary with only a couple of rest days in Drumheller and Saskatoon.  

At least the prevailing winds have been in our favour coming from the west or north west.  On two days the winds swirled around us and, at times, hit us head on making cycling dreadfully hard.  It's easy to hate the wind when it's not in your favour.
 

The picture is taken in Forks Park, Winnipeg, a historical Canadian site where two rivers meet.  It has been a place of settlement, fur trading, railways and immigration to the Prairies. Today it is a very pleasant park.  In the background is the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights which opens later this year.  The tent in the foreground has been erected for annual Treaty Annuity Payments to First Nation Indians that have signed historic treaties with the Crown.  When travelling through Canada we cycle past many First Nation communities and two days ago we passed through this wonderfully named town: 
  

On our journey we meet many people with family connections to Europe.  Often they have Scottish grandparent who emigrated to Canada .  It highlights that whilst the history of Canada can often seem relatively recent we should always remember who lived here first.  Okay that's enough of the politics. 

Well it's not really.  Here's some more politics of a sort - the state of the Canadian roads is very poor. That's being polite. Oh I know severe winters affect the roads but that's an excuse and certainly not the whole story.  Firstly, the roads have not been constructed to deal with the huge trucks that are commonplace today and, secondly, the maintenance repairs are laughable.  Remember the guys that used to come round and offer to Tarmac your drive for a bargain price only for it to break up after a couple of weeks?  Ever wonder why they don't knock on your door anymore.  Well I can tell you that they are all over here repairing the roads!  

We like to complain about the state of British roads and the potholes.  Well have a look at Canada's roads and you wouldn't complain again.  Thank goodness our bike wheels are robust.  Every day we travel across sections where the cracks make it like cycling along railway sleepers.  We also hit many potholes that send a spine crunching jolt through your body.  As an old Chinese proverb says 'don't cycle in Canada with your tongue between your teeth'.

Now we are in Winnipeg we have left the Prairies and what a wonderful place it was.  Vast areas of open space and big skies.  That said we have realised something is amiss with this rambling blog.  Despite all the pictures we have not posted a pic of a grain elevator!  I mean there are millions of them in the Prairies. So here is a picture of a grain elevator in Saltcoats owned by Macdonald Farms. It's almost like being home!


2,850km to date.

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