Blog - Cycle Trekkers

September 17, 2016March 15, 2017

HEADWINDS AND MOSQUITOS: STRUGGLING THROUGH SASKATCHEWAN ON TWO WHEELS.

Michael’s write up about discovering Saskatchewan on two wheels during out cycle trip across Canada in the summer of 2016. Click here to read Kelly’s write up about Cycling in Saskatchewan and Pedalling the Prairies.

Ready to discover Saskatchewan on two wheels

We rolled out of Calgary full of hope for dry weather and favourable winds through the farm belt of Canada; the prairies! We were both still in need of a bit of a break and the one full day off we had in Calgary wasn’t really enough, so spent a couple of nights in Airdrie just outside Calgary guzzling craft beer with our awesome couchsurfing host Kolin, playing with his 3 cats and cleaning our stinky tent as it now smelt like a sweaty pair of soiled manpants. After a few extra rest days, we were ready to head to Saskatchewan on two wheels.

It didn’t take long for the scenery to change and the Rocky Mountains to recede into the distance behind us. The world became flat! Yellow Canola fields popped up everywhere and the farmland began again. We spent a night camping in a rest stop next to horseshoe canyon with dozens of cute furry prairie dogs darting around our feet hoping to catch some stray spaghetti falling from our plate…no chance little prairie dogs, I’m a hungry cycling fatty with a huge mouth.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”rU3GT” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]SASKATCHEWAN ON TWO WHEELS[/ctt]

Drumheller was an interesting place, a mix between Cappadocia in Turkey and a weird tacky dinosaur theme park.

Cool mars like rockscapes and the most intense heat of the trip so far…but around this time is when the mosquitoes really became an issue. Horrible swarms of the nasty little shit-tards would descend on us and annoy the piss out of us constantly, not just when the sun went down but during the day! The rudeness! Mosquitoes are supposed to give you a break until nighttime, that’s the rules!

The constant headwinds, savage horrible mosquitoes and heavy rain took it’s toll on us through Saskatchewan, as well as the distances between towns to get water and food as we had chosen a less travelled route along the number 4 road to avoid the busy trans Canada highway. Although it did make for a trying period of cycling, I’m glad we decided to take this route as we met some incredible people and experienced levels of hospitality we hadn’t come across since cycling in Iran several years ago.

Our introduction to discovering Saskatchewan on two wheels was long stretches of not a whole lot other than abandoned farms and ominous storm clouds rapidly approaching us. On the second night we were forced to take shelter in a slightly creepy (but also slightly cool and photogenic) abandoned farmhouse on the side of the road. The thunder and lightning had started up and it was raining very heavily so we reluctantly dragged our bikes inside the derelict house that was still furnished with a burnt out old cot bed, an oven that appeared to predate Christ and some busted up kitchen cabinets. We managed to squeeze the tent into a dry section where the roof wasn’t leaking and settled in for a pretty poor nights sleep, both of us half expecting the roof to blow away in the middle of the night or an axe murderer to appear and help us shed weight from the bikes by hacking our legs off in our sleep.

Death by Mosquito

The mosquitoes were relentless and whenever we saw a slight hill in the distance a sense of impending doom gripped us knowing that we would slow down going up hill giving the bloodthirsty little pricks a chance to land and feast on our already weakened bodies. I’ve never ridden anywhere before where the mosquitoes actually keep up with you while riding and attack every inch of you body including your face. Saskatchewan on two wheels definitely had new challenges we didn’t consider – mosquitos being one of them!

We pulled into a tiny village called white bear with a population of 13 to treat ourselves to an ice-cold beer at the bar…only to discover that they were closed on Mondays. Locals in Eston the previous day had told us of this pub and it’s reputation for ‘the best wings in Saskatchewan’. Not really interested in the wings, but after a few days of boring hot riding with occasional freak downpours, the thought of a cold beer and being able to refill our water bottles was pretty appealing so we were close to broken when we arrived at the pub to see it was closed. We plonked ourselves down on the table next to the pub feeling very sorry for ourselves and started sporking our jars of peanut butter and Nuttella when a guy called Russ pulled up in his truck for a chat. He invited us back to his place to refill our water and ended up offering to let us stay in his ‘spare house’ behind his own place!

Befriending the locals

The pub may not have been open, but we did end up getting fed many ice cold beers, met nearly the whole town and ended up at a BBQ at the bar owners house where he cooked up a feast and we learnt all about life and history of White bear! The bar owner was originally from Bangladesh but had lived in Toronto for 25 years and randomly ended up buying the local pub in White Bear, but his wife and kids weren’t too keen on the isolation of living in a town of 13 in the middle of the prairies so chose to stay put in the slightly larger Toronto.

Being a pair of weirdo biking vegetarians at a BBQ in rural Saskatchewan we filled up on baked potatoes and salad while the others scratched their heads as to why we weren’t touching the mountains of chicken wings and burgers. We didn’t help get rid of the meat but I definitely did my best to help clear the beers and felt pretty rough riding the next day. After the BBQ we visited a local couple Lynn and Darryl’s farming property nearby, had a few more beers and then returned to Russ’s ‘main house’ and into his amazing crazy basement saloon for a chat before sprinting like fuck to his ‘spare house’ to avoid the clouds of savage mosquitoes.

My memory of our time in the prairies is always going to be linked with mosquitoes and the feeling of being constantly on edge and under attack, it was not possible to step outside without being swarmed and face fucked from all angles. I think I am going to be permanently mentally scarred by Saskatchewan mosquitoes.

We pushed on through the prairies stopping in Swift current for our first hotel of the trip where we basically lazed around in air-conditioned glory and I filled my system with booze and chocolate. You’ll notice a theme to my traveling habits here; booze and food. It’s basically why I ride.

Amazing People and cheap campsites

One of the best parts of riding throughout Manitoba and Saskatchewan on two wheels was not having to worry about where you will be sleeping that night, particularly in Manitoba as there was a town roughly every 20km and the vast majority of them had a municipal campsite for 10 bucks a night! We also had quite a bit of success with the website ‘warmshowers’ in the prairies meeting some amazing people who have been involved in the cycling community for years. Glenda in Moosejaw was particularly cool seeing as she wasn’t really into biking, had never done any bicycle touring, but over the years had hosted hundreds of cyclists! She called it her “summer hobby” looking after cross country cyclists and giving them awesome history and cultural lessons in her kitchen while feeding us amazing food and telling us about her time in the 80s as a best selling microwave cook book author! Not surprising really seeing as she had also rescued and looked after 6 or so cats too! Cycle tourists are pretty similar to stray cats really; living off scraps, sleeping in bushes and bathing themselves in public.

The ride through Saskatchewan while sometimes boring and windy was made a whole lot better by the quietness of the roads allowing us to ride side by side without fear of losing a limb to a passing truck. It got busier heading into Regina, but even then pretty cruisy compared to most other cities we’ve ridden in.

Warmshowers’ Legend!

Ron in Regina was another colourful character we stayed with; for over 50 years he’s been tinkering with bikes and touring across Canada and since his retirement from teaching he’d set up his own fully decked out bike shop as a hobby in his basement and helped out cycle tourists and locals with low cost repair work and maintenance. Ron was a super cool generous guy with a big heart who cooked amazing Asian dishes and while he could no longer cycle due to knee issues was still passionate about biking and pretty much an encyclopedia of bicycle knowledge…handy for me because I don’t know a fucking thing. He replaced Kelly’s stretched chain and I used his workspace to fit a front low-rider rack as I was getting pretty sick of wobbling all over the place due to an unevenly distributed load on the bike.

We had to stay a couple of nights longer in Regina as it was a public holiday and Kelly needed to see a doctor about her eye which had developed a red swelling since the beginning of the trip and had not gone away, so we got to stay indoors for a while like real life normal people which was nice for a change.

The whole ‘sleeping indoors’ thing continued as we left Regina and stayed with a warmshowers host’s brother Brad and his wife Lisa and their kids in a little town called Sedley 50 km from Regina. Brad and Lisa ran the local newspaper for Sedley and the surrounding areas so we got quizzed about the trip while enjoying a few frosty cold beverages and we eventually made it onto the front cover of the local paper so felt like cycling celebrities!! Fame at last!

Tornado?! WTF?

The weather had not improved and we rolled out of Sedley in the rain the next morning, made it 50km before finding out the town of Stoughton where we had planned to camp was under a tornado warning! A fucking tornado! The prairies really did hate us, but we loved its people so in the end we won the battle. There was really no point continuing any further for the day as every km we pedaled into the 60km an hour headwind brought us closer to where the tornado was supposed to touch down so we decided to camp in the small town of Fillmore where we had heard about the imminent tornado. There was no need to bust out the now rarely used tent as a local lady called Ava heard of our plight and immediately offered to let us sleep at her place! Sleeping indoors again! We really were being spoiled. Ava and her family were totally cool, took us around the local farms and showed us a little bit of harvesting of wheat, fed us a kick ass dinner and gave us a warm comfy place to sleep. The kindness and generosity of people really never stops amazing me and is always a highlight of cycling. As well as being able to drinks lots beer and eat lots of food without feeling guilty, that’s a highlight too.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”50ly0″ via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]The kindness and generosity of people really never stops amazing me and is always a highlight of cycling[/ctt]

The weather cleared up the next day and we managed to make up for lost time by smashing out 137kms, our biggest day of the trip so far! Unbeknownst to us, we had had two other cycle tourists hot on heels for a while now and today they finally caught us! Jacques and Louisa were also cycling across Canada but had started in Victoria and zig zagged through the Rockies and other areas, and had first heard of us from Glenda in Moosejaw and then Ron in Regina who they had stayed with days apart from us! It was awesome getting to ride with another couple doing the same thing as us and we spent our last evening in Saskatchewan at a cheap official campsite in Redvers chilling out with our new friends over a few beers and huge camp dinner.

Visiting Saskatchewan on two wheels had pushed us to our limits mentally sometimes, but the friendly helpful locals had made it a great place to ride in the end and if we had to do it all again I definitely would not skip this province! I’d skip the mosquitoes though. Actually I’d strap a giant vacuum cleaner to my bike and suck all the little fuckers out of the air before depositing them in a blender. Bastards.

Next stop Manitoba!

If you’re planning a trip across Canada then you might find our trip notes, stats and book helpful. You can also check out these 10 secrets to cycle touring!

September 11, 2016March 15, 2017

Cycling Lake Superior in Ontario

Kelly’s write up of cycling Lake Superior! Click here to read Michael’s write up of biking Ontario.

Lake Superior is friggin’ huge!

Cycling Lake Superior was one of the highlights of our cycle trip across Canada. It’s the largest freshwater lake in the world, and has some stunning national and provincial parks, and I’m sure some amazing hiking. We spent 10 days cycling Lake Superior. We cycled 7000km and only covered about a third of the entire route around the lake. To put things in perspective, 700km is like a return trip from London to Paris.

The day we left Thunder Bay and headed north to Nipigon it rained. On top of this we had a terrible head wind, there were construction work for about 60km and there was next to no hard shoulder, which meant we were pretty much cycling in the road of a busy highway. It was not fun! And, it didn’t feel particularly safe. We had our lights on the whole time, but still I’m not sure we were that visible. The issue was, we had nowhere to get off the road, and so we had to keep going. 110km later and we finally rolled into Nipigon at around 8pm. The raining was still not letting up. We decided to screw the camping, and treat ourselves to a motel.

As it turned out, earlier that morning, before the rain started, Michael found an iphone on the side of the road. As luck had it we were able to return the phone to the owner. And, he gave us a $60 reward. That reward would be our cheap motel, which was actually pretty expensive for a motel ($90 – that’s our budget for 3 days), but the owner did give us a huge thermos of coffee and we managed to dry all our gear out.

Cycling Lake Superior — Beautiful (but cold) Lake Superior

We woke the following day to find the rain had stopped and the sun was making an appearance – woohoo!

After we had finally packed up, it was already a late start, but we decided to check out the town and grab a coffee. When we finally started cycling Lake Superior that day it was almost lunch time. The ride from Nipigon to Marathon was supposed to be hilly, but also very scenic. Straight away I realise we underestimated just how hilly this section would be.

The previous day we were shivering in the rain, today we were sweating, climbing up hills in direct sun. The kilometres were slowly clocking up. We had planned to do about 90km that day, but only managed 75km, and by the end of the day we were knackered. That night we camped at a picnic spot, right on the lake. It was one of the best spots we had camped all trip.

We took the following 2 days cycling to Marathon fairly easy. Allowing ourselves time to stop and enjoy the views and also not to burn out. The ride was challenging, but the scenery made the blood, sweat and tears all worth it. For me, cycling this section of Lake Superior was more difficult than cycling in the Rockies. Finally we made it to Marathon, and stayed with a local guy, Lloyd.

From Marathon the cycle got easier – or we got used to cycling steep gradients.

It felt like we flew to White River, and we arrived nice and earlier. Enough time to chill, have a shower, relax and eat a shit load of food. Apparently there had been a lot of bear sightings, so we were on extra alert. I was sure we would see a bear at some point around Lake Superior – we never did.

The next day cycling was just as good, and we arrived at Wawa at a reasonable time. In Wawa we meet a guy, Zoltan, outside the supermarket who invited us to camp in his garden. He actually ended up going the extra mile and setting up his trailer tent for us to stay in. The generosity of people during the cycle trip, never fails to amazing. People are genuinely amazing! Anyone that thinks otherwise should hop on a bike and go on a cycle tour – within a couple of weeks I can guarantee you would have experienced unbelievable hospitality and kindness from strangers.

Cycling Lake Superior Provincial Park

Cycling Lake Superior Provincial Park was one of the highlights of our cycle across Canada. It is definitely up there with Bow Lake and Banff National Park. We took our time cycling through the park to enjoy the beaches and vistas. One night we camped at Sinclair Cove – it looked like we were on a tropical island paradise. It has to be one of my favourite campsites (though I write this while we’re camped at a picnic spot, next to a stinky drop toilet).

I had to keep reminding myself that it was a lake and not an ocean. I love the ocean and often miss it when I’m travelling. What I’ve discovered is how awesome lakes can be – swimming in a lake feels refreshing like a cold bath, you can drink the water, it doesn’t sting your eyes and there are no sharks.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”mKHT6″ via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]I had to keep reminding myself that it was a lake and not an ocean [/ctt]

We only had 2 days left of cycling Lake Superior before we reached Sault St Marie, and finally got a rest day off the bikes. I had been told there was a steep incline into Sault. Other than that it should be pretty easy going. We decided to take it easy and set up camp on the beach to enjoy the sunset. We got chatting to some people, and a local told us we would get moved on if we camped on the beach in this area. Complete bumper! Ian, the owner of a local RV park, came to our rescue, and let us camp in his RV park for free. This is just another example of the unbelievable kindness from strangers that we experienced throughout the cycle tour.

Sault St Marie

Finally after almost 2 weeks we made it to Sault St Marie, where 2 amazing warmshowers’ hosts, Juanita and Jeff, greeted us. We spent a couple of night exchanging stories, drying out and cleaning our gear and recovering, and eating some amazing meals, with our awesome hosts.

There is a bike store in Sault, called Velorution that has a free campground for cyclists. We decided, we had to spend at least one night at this campground. Unfortunately, there were no other cyclists staying there the same night as us. We’re in the tail-end of cyclists crossing Canada, so we tend to miss most of the cyclists, but it was still an awesome set up, and we were thankful for the extra rest day.

Already it has been over 2 weeks cycling through Ontario, and we still have 850km before we reach Canada’s capital, Ottawa. That means we would have cycled over 2000km in just Ontario. Ontario is just crazy big!

If you’re planning a cycle trip, you might find cycle tourists’ non training plan handy!

onwards to ottawa — Campsite at the bike store in Sault St Marie, Ontario

[ctt template=”8″ link=”k5Srw” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Ontario is just crazy big![/ctt]

September 5, 2016March 15, 2017

Cycling Ontario: To Thunder Bay

Kelly’s write up of cycling Ontario to Thunder Bay. Click here to check out Michael’s write up of biking through Ontario.

Cycling Ontario and it’s Lake-lands

Originally we had planned to dip into the USA and cycle the south side of Lake Superior. We had heard several horror stories about cycling Ontario, particularly the roads between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, and though we’ve probably cycled worse roads in Iran and the Stans, we didn’t see the point in putting ourselves at unnecessary risk, especially when there were alternatives. So we headed to the USA border on highway 12 saying “goodbye” to Manitoba and the Prairies.

Highway 12 turned into highway 11 as we crossed into Minnesota in the USA. We followed this highway for 60km through the USA and back into Canada. The ride in the USA was absolutely horrible. It was 60km of hell, complete with thunderstorms, an extremely busy road and a hard shoulder with a rumble strip right down the middle, forcing us to cycle in the busy road.

Finally we made it back into Canada and started cycling Ontario! The road conditions immediately improved, and we couldn’t have been happier to be back.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”6M8sc” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]We couldn’t have been happier to be back![/ctt]

Canada Won the Toss

The plan was to follow highway 11 through Ontario from Rainy River to Fort Frances (which was only a hundred odd km), then head back south into the USA, however our plans changed once we got a message from our German cyclists friends, Luisa and Jacque. They were also heading to Fort Frances, so we arranged to meet up at the campground. We caught up on stories, over what turned out to be Canada’s most expensive beer. They told us they were planning on taking highway 11 to Thunder Bay after locals told them that highway 17 was really dangerous. Michael and I looked at each, found a quarter and flipped on what to do. Heads go through the USA, tails (or I think it was a moose head) stay in Canada. It was the moose head! We were staying in Canada. Bring on cycling Ontario!

I learnt that the route we were following was known as “Mom’s Way” – the alternative route from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay, which (strangely) included the 60km stretch through the USA. It was a lot quieter, with less services than the more popular and direct route to Thunder Bay.

ontario by bicycle — Pretty obvious… exploring Ontario by bicycle!

Cycling with Friends

Surprisingly, though we have done a cycle tour before, Michael and I have not cycled with our cycle tourists that often (well it’s been twice, with the same people), so to cycle with other people was definitely a new and exciting experience for us. Unfortunately for us, Lusia and Jacque had been cycling about 8 weeks longer than us, and have covered a lot more distance, which meant we were the slower cyclists (mainly me being the slowest – which isn’t always fun). On top of that, my knee was starting to ache. However, it was still enjoyable cycling with others and time spent in the saddle definitely went a lot quicker. Hopefully, we’ll get the chance to cycle with others cyclists again (hint to any cyclists out there on our route).

The “Mom’s Way” route

The cycling Ontario from Fort Frances to Thunder Bay was enjoyable. The first night we spent on a First Nation’s reserve at Seine River. The locals were really friendly and even opened up the community centre to let us use the showers and fill up our water bottles. The second night we spent next to a lake, which meant we all got cold baths before bed. This is where Jacque taught us his trick of hiding his food bag in the (bear proof) bins, so the bears couldn’t get at it.

The last night to Thunder Bay was spent next to an ice cream van. We managed to cycle 115km in the heat, humidity and storms, and arrived at Shabaqua Junction hoping to find somewhere to camp. We found that, plus more! An ice cream van, complete with a cool chillout area was there to greet us. It was the perfect end to the day!

Lesson Learnt: Don’t drink and then set up the tent

Michael being the alcoholic that he is pulled then out a bottle of rum. I was feeling it after just one rum and ginger beer – and we still had to set up the tent and cook dinner. We somehow managed to do all this just in time for a huge thunderstorm to hit. This is when we learnt that we should not drink before setting up the tent – we set the tent up pretty wonky, and unfortunately we did get a bit wet!

After surviving the storm, we woke up in a rather wet tent. We decided to cycle 500m to a gas station and make breakfast there. Unfortunately, the gas station owners were jerks, but we did meet another cycle tourist, called Mike, who was also heading to Thunder Bay. It turned out he was also going to be staying with the same warmshowers’ host (5 cyclists in 1 warmshowers’ house – I hope he’s got a big house). Mike told us he started in Vancouver 3 weeks early, and was cycling something ridiculous like 150-200km. Personally, I can’t understand why you would even want to cycle that much – I don’t know how you would see anything along the way, and it must be so boring spending so many hours on the bike by yourself. You may as well just be driving or catch a plane. Anyway, each to their own!

So, we were on our way, all 5 of us stinky cyclists, heading to Thunder Bay – that last about an hour before Mike decided to zip on ahead to meet someone for lunch.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”4Tbm7″ via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]We were on our way all 5 of us stinky cyclists heading to Thunder Bay [/ctt]

Thunder Bay

We stopped at Kakabeka falls along the way, and strolled into Thunder Bay just after 3pm. It was hectic! Thunder Bay was the biggest and busiest city we had been in since Regina, and it was safe to say we were no longer use to so much traffic.

We decided to stop in at Walmart, and then stop in at McDonalds (the German couple had somehow managed to score a $100 gift card for McDonalds, for free, from one of the owners). They kindly shouted us to a hot drink and treat. After that we headed to our warmshowers’ house, to meet our host, Frank. We had a great couple of days relaxing in Thunder Bay, and started to feel somewhat clean and normal, again.

Personally, I wasn’t overly impressed with Thunder Bay. It didn’t have a good vibe about it, and we didn’t find it particularly nice to cycle around. It did however have one of the most amazing dinner buffets EVER! Tokyo House – a Japanese buffet, only you order off the menu and they make it fresh for you. It was great! It was probably the best thing about Thunder Bay! Persians – a sweet kind of donut with pink icing topping, are also pretty good. Definitely worth trying if you happen to be in Thunder Bay.

After a few rest days in Thunder Bay, we said ‘goodbye’ to our host and our cyclist friends. They had decided to catch the bus for the next section of their trip. So, we hit the road, just the two of us and our bikes, ready to explore Lake Superior and continue cycling Ontario.

Are you planning your own self supported cycle tour? Check out this article about how to make money while cycle touring.

cycle tourists manitoba, Cycling Ontario — Our German cyclists friends – having lunch just after crossing into Manitoba

August 31, 2016March 15, 2017

Cycling in Manitoba. New Province, More Prairies!

Kelly’s write about about cycling in Manitoba. Click here to read Michael’s write up about biking in Manitoba.

Cycling in Manitoba

As we entered Manitoba the roads went from bad to worst! The hard shoulder disappeared and was replaced with a soft shoulder (or gravelly road that cannot be cycled). This meant while cycling in Manitoba we were forced to ride in the road. Luckily, the roads were relatively quiet and the drivers were very polite and would tend to get right over in the next lane when passing.

Just the two of us…

We had another great day of cycling with a strong tailwind! Luisa and Jacque cycled with us for the day. The four of us managed to smash out 85km by lunchtime. After lunch we said “goodbye” and headed our separate ways. Lusia and Jacque were headed to Winnipeg, where they thought they might catch a bus from, and we had decided to bypass the city and head towards the USA border in the south east of Manitoba.

Originally, we thought we would cycle the south side of Lake Superior, which would mean cycling through the USA for a couple of weeks. We came up with this plan based on several recommendations from other cyclists and because we had heard horror stories about the highways between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay in Canada.

cycle tourists manitoba, cycling in manitoba — Our German cyclists friends – having lunch just after crossing into Manitoba

Country Town Festivals

Hartney was the next town we were passing through, and we needed to stop for supplies (ie. food). The town looked like a ghost town! We headed to the grocery store and got chatting with some locals. Apparently the town had it’s annual weekend festival, and the locals we spoke to convinced us to camp at the local campsite and join them at the festival.

The festival was cute and the locals were super friendly. We joined them for some beers, watched the fireworks then headed back to the campground. Little did we know the campground would turn into a nightclub in just a couple of hours. Teenagers were up until about 4am making a racket, breaking into the pool and just being super loud. So, we didn’t get much sleep! We discovered that it was an annual tradition – we just wish we knew that before we decided to camp there.

The next day was pretty much a write off, though we did manage to cycle 90km and made it to the tiny town of Belmont. When we arrived we headed to the town campsite (surprisingly, most towns in the Prairies had a town campsite with facilities). We then discovered it was Belmont’s town festival! Not wanting a repeat of the night before, we took up an offer of a local that said we could camp in her garden. We had a great night sleep and even woke to homemade banana bread – people are awesome!

elgin manitoba, cycle touring videos, cycling in manitoba — Love this buildings in the towns we cycled through in Manitoba

Mennonites and Hutterites

We still had a little way to go before our planned rest day at a farm near Morris (100km south of Winnipeg). I had arranged for us to stay with a couchsurfer (Jordan) there. Originally we were only going to stay 1 night, but ended up staying 2, which gave us enough time to clean the bikes, our gear and ourselves, as well as hang out with Jordan. Jordan was awesome! He taught us loads about Mennonites, and the Christianity religion common in the area. We even got to visit a Hutterite community.

If you’re not familiar with Hutterites (or Mennonites for that matter), they are similar to the Amish in the USA. Like the Amish, Hutterites have their own communities. Simply put (and how it was explained to me) the biggest differences between the 3 Christian types; Mennonites don’t agree with violence and don’t live in communities like the Amish and Hutterites. The Amish don’t agree with modern technology, so live in communities that are completely cut off from the modern world. And, the Hutterites believe in living in common (kind of like communism), so everyone is equal, and they also live in communities, though they do use modern technology, but everything they have must have a purpose and be practical. There are different degrees of conservativeness in each group.

Visiting the Hutterite Community

The hutterite community we visited was quite conservative. We were shown around the community by some of the schoolgirls. They wore homemade clothes, with shawls or bonnets. Hutterites even speak their own language, which is a German delict. They also pray in High German, but are taught in English. This meant they had a very distinctive accent. The community was super modern and was made up of about 120 people (approx. 17 families). They had a commercial hatchery for eggs and a dairy farm, beehives, vegetable garden and grew wheat, and were practically self-sustained. They also had their own school. If a Hutterite wanted to leave the community to visit family in another community then they would have to get permission from the Minister. If they needed to visit the doctor or buy something, they would need the minister’s permission. Everyone had a job, which was assigned to you.

Though this all may sound quite restrictive, at the same time, they never had to worry about unemployment or poverty. I don’t think I could live in a community like that, but it works, and it is sustainable, and the people lived good, happy lives. It was an extremely interesting experience. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take any photos, so I can’t show you what it was like, but if you get the opportunity to visit one, I highly recommend it. This is definitely something you’re more likely to experience cycling in Manitoba, opposed to driving through in a car.

Flying the high life

After visiting the Hutterites Jordan took us for a flight in is Dad’s plane – yep, we flew in a plane. Not exactly eco-friendly, but it would have been rude to decline. The wind was quite strong, which made for a bumpy ride, but we got to see for ourselves just how flat the Prairies were.

view from plane canada manitoba — The view from Jordan’s plane – you can see how flat the Prairies are!

Friendly People

The next day it was time to hit the road again! We planned to make it 2 the US border in only 2 days, so we still had a few hundred kilometres of cycling in Manitoba. The first night we spent in the cute town, Vita, where we were greeted by more friendly people and a really good café and grocery store. If I could sum up Manitoba in one word, it would be “friendly” and funny enough, that’s what it said on the “welcome to Manitoba sign” and even on their car registration plates. The people most definitely live up to that expectation.

Tornado?!?

That night we camped at a school, under a shelter as we heard there was a bad storm coming. The storm was terrible! Hail, strong winds, rain, you name it we had it. Jordan had told us when you hear a tornado coming; you will hear a noise like a train speeding pass. We heard cycling in Manitoba could be a challenge, but we didn’t think tornado warnings would be apart of that. That night while we were camping, we heard a train, only there was no trainline anywhere near Vita. After about an hour or so of terrible weather, it suddenly went completely silent. It was an eerie silence. We never found out whether a tornado did touch down that night, but it was definitely one of the worst storms we had ever camped in.

Goodbye Prairies – you’ve been fun!

For the rest of the day we cycled to the US border, with the plan to camp as close to the border crossing as possible. The terrain had already started to change. We could tell we were leaving the Prairies and coming to an end of cycling in Manitoba. We managed to camp only 5km from the border crossing.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”UdS72″ via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Goodbye Prairies – you’ve been fun![/ctt]

Throughout the Prairies, I spent a lot of time staring at a grain elevator in a distant town. I wondering whether we’re ever going to reach this town, or whether I’m actually hallucinating. You really feel the distant on the straight flat roads, and a lot of the time you feel the strong winds too. I think these are the main reasons why many cyclists dislike the Prairies. However, they are still quite beautiful, with beautiful people and beautiful towns. So, though the Prairies go on and on, don’t skip out on cycling in Manitoba or Saskatchewan! That’s over 1000km of Canada you’ll be missing, along with some amazing people and beautiful, but challenging landscape.

Are you about to finish a long term cycle tour? Or changing to a different style of travel? Check out our article on the transition from cyclist to backpacker to see what to expect.

August 26, 2016March 14, 2017

Pedalling the Prairies: Swift Current to Manitoba

Kelly’s write up of pedalling the Prairies during our cycle tour across Canada in the summer of 2016. Click here to read Michael’s write up about cycling in the Prairies.

Pedalling the Prairies of Saskatchewan

While pedalling the Prairies we discovered friendly people, good campsites and great cafes. We also discovered that the Prairies went on and on, and on. from Swift Current we got on the Trans-Canada highway 1. It felt like a dream after spending a week cycling through the bumpy roads of the forgotten Prairie lands. The section of highway between Swift Current and Moose Jaw had a wide, smooth hard shoulder. It even felt like we were on a slight descent, though I’m sure we probably weren’t. We were smashing out the kilometres! It felt great! On top of this there were plenty of cute towns to stop at. All of them had a museum, coffee shop and free wifi. We were in cyclist heaven!

We spent an enjoyable couple of days cycling to Moose Jaw. Spending too much time at the various towns and cafes along the way.

One thing I noticed about Saskatchewan is the interesting town names. We visited Kyle and Herbert, and seen signs for Elbow, Eyebrow and Cereal. Moose Jaw and Antler also got a visit from us. I can’t help but be intrigued to how a town got a name like Eyebrow – at least it gives you something to ponder while on the bike.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”1xzLX” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”] I can’t help but be intrigued to how a town got a name like Eyebrow[/ctt]

Warmshowers’ and Prairie Hospitality

Once in Moose Jaw we were greeted with the lovely Glenda, a legendary warmshowers’ host. This was followed by a few nights stay in Regina with Ron, another legendary warmshowers’ host. And then yet another warmshowers’ host in Sedley and an offer in Arcola.

People tend to give Saskatchewan and the Prairies (in general) a hard time! We were told numerous times to skip the Prairies; that they were boring and had nothing worth seeing. Well, what I have to say to those people: if you want to see boring head to Western Australia and drive 5 hours east – red sandy desert for days. You’ll be lucky if you even pass a gas station or see another person!

The Prairies on the other hand are fully of extremely friendly people, all whom have an interesting story to share. We met ranchers, famers, Mennonites and Hutterites, Germans, British, Ukrainian people, plenty of cyclists and people enthusiastic about cycling, and just a whole bunch of awesome people. In fact, I don’t remember one person that I met in the Prairies that wasn’t amazing in one way or another. For me, a large part of travelling and cycle touring is the people you meet, and we met some amazing people in the Prairies.

regina, cycling the prairies — With our amazing host in Regina!

Rest Days in Regina

We decided to have a few rest days in Regina. There were a couple of reasons for that, firstly for Ron’s amazing cooking, secondly to get a few bike things sorted, and thirdly to sort out my eye! 6 weeks (since the day we arrived in Canada) and I still had an infection on my eyelid. Obviously, at this point I was a little concerned about it and decided it was a good chance to get it checked out. I was told some good and bad news. The good news was it didn’t look like a virus so it shouldn’t spread to my eye and affect my eyesight. The bad news, it will still take some more time to heal and potentially I could have a bump on my eye for the rest of my life. At least I didn’t have too much to worry about!

After Regina we planned to get off the highway and head onto some quieter roads through some smaller towns. Usually the roads weren’t as good, but they were quieter. We also got the opportunity to pass through less travelled areas, which we always preferred.

Cycling through Canada’s Tornado Alley

One thing we hadn’t considered to be an issue or concern while pedalling the Prairies, were tornados! To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even know Canada got tornados, so when I received an email from Brad (another warmshowers’ connection) about a tornado warning in the town we had planned to camp in that night, we were a bit concerned. The day had already been struggle, with 60kph+ headwinds we were at times barely cycling 8kph.

We pulled into Fillmore at 1pm for lunch and pretty much passed out from exhaustion and defeat. After lunch we headed to the town hall. This is when we discovered the tornado warning! The lovely people of Fillmore came to the rescue. Before we knew it we had a basement to sleep in and was being shown around the local towns. The random kindness of strangers never fails to amaze. It really does restore your faith in humanity.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”3TJQ0″ via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]The random kindness of strangers never fails to amaze.[/ctt]

After a goodnight sleep, out of the danger of any potential tornado or hailstorm, we were back on the way. And, for once, the wind was at our backs! We were practically flying down the road towards the next province, Manitoba.

Saskatchewan, pedalling the prairies — Friendly hosts in Saskatchewan!

Making Cycle Touring Friends

We had just passed Stoughton (where we were supposed to camp and where apparently a tornado did touch down the night before), when we heard some strange noises behind us. As it turned out, a German, cyclist couple, Luisa and Jacque had been following us for a few days. They finally managed to catch up with us. They were the first couple we had ever cycled with, so it made a nice change to cycling just the two of us. So all four of us continued pedalling the Prairies together.

We spent the rest of the day, cycling with an unbelievable tailwind and made it 137km to Redvers, right near the Saskatchewan/ Manitoba border. Redver’s had an awesome (and cheap) campsite, so we decided to camp there for the night and celebrate with a few beers.

After 2 weeks pedalling the Prairies of Saskatchewan we finally got to cross into the next province, Manitoba.

Though Manitoba would be a new province, we still had a few hundred kilometres of cycling through the Prairies before we would be out of the pastures and meadows and into the lakelands of Ontario.

Planning your own cycle trip? Don’t forget to buy insurance! Check out this article to find out why it’s important to get sufficient cover on your trip.

August 17, 2016March 15, 2017

Cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies of Canada

Kelly’s write up about cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies during our coast to coast cycle trip. Click here to read Michael’s blog post about cycling the Prairies.

Hello Saskatchewan!

Cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies.

As soon as we crossed into Saskatchewan there was an instant change in road quality. No more wide hard shoulder and lots of potholes. The only things that stayed the same were the swarms of mosquitos and the scenery. We had heard mixed things about the Prairies, and now we had the chance to learn for ourselves what cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies is really like!

We still had another 90km to go to get to the closest town, Eatonia. Originally, we didn’t plan on cycling the whole way to Eatonia, but we were keen for some comfort food, some cold drinks and to escape the swarms of mosquitos that were chasing us. It didn’t matter how fast we cycled, the bloody mosquitos managed to catch us!

[ctt template=”8″ link=”PgcSf” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]It didn’t matter how fast we cycled, the bloody mosquitos managed to catch us![/ctt]

Mining Towns: Eatonia & Eston

The ride to Eatonia actually turned out to be the longest cycle day on the trip so far, 119km. Even more reason to celebrate! So, when we arrived into Eatonia we decided to treat ourselves to a campsite – yep, we know how to treat ourselves to luxury! And then we headed to the store to buy some treats and find some beer.

Eatonia was not a tourist town, but there were a few services, including a tavern and a cheap store with coffee and cakes. The lady working at the campsite warned us of another storm; so even let us camp in the shelter. What more do you need? We were pretty stoked!

All the people staying in the campsite were there for work, which I thought was a bit odd. I wonder what would happen if company’s in Australia started booking campsites instead of hotels when they sent their workers to rural towns to work.

We considered spending a rest day at Eatonia, but decided to head onto Eston the following day (only a short cycle – 55km away). In Eston we camped at another official campground. It was actually booked out when we arrived, but they luckily had some overflow campsites, which we were able to camp in. Everyone staying in the campsite was there for seasonal mine work. People literally moved into the campsite for 3-5 months to work.

More Prairie land

After leaving Eston we decided to head down the very quiet, 342. Just like the road we took into Saskatchewan, there weren’t many services along the way, but the road was dead quiet, and instead of 300km, we only had about 100km to cycle.

We were able to cycle side by side for the most part, and only seen 1 car every 15-30 minutes. It was great! Trucks were also not allowed on the road, so we didn’t have to worry about gushes of wind as they zoomed passed.

A guy in Eston told us about a hotel in a small town called White Bear. Apparently they served awesome food! All we really cared about was getting a cold drink and filling up our water bottles. It was a hot day and there wasn’t much shade along the route – another downside to cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies. Our focus was on getting to White Bear and that kept us motivated to keep cycling on.

White Bear

We eventually pulled into the small community of White Bear. It was tiny! I suddenly had my doubts that such a small place would have a hotel. Either way, we decided to find out. To our amazement the hotel did exist. We cycled over in excitement, just to find out the hotel was closed on Mondays – and of course, it was a Monday.

Feeling a bit defeated we hid in the shade of the hotel and started munching on some peanut butter and nutella. We sat there for close to 2 hours – we completely lost all motivation to cycle on.

Around 4.30pm, a ute drove passed us and stopped, curious to know what two bums were doing hanging around outside the hotel. We told the driver we needed water and hoped to get some from the hotel, but it was closed. With no other questions, he invited us back to his house to fill up our water bottles.

SASKATCHEWAN ON TWO WHEELS, Cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies — The small Prairie town, White Bear

Friendly people

Russ (the ute driver) had been living in the town his entire life. It was interesting hearing all the stories about how the town had changed over time. The town used to have grocery stores, repair shops, elevators and a school. All that remained now was the hotel and a few houses. The population of the town was once about 300 people. It was now 13 people.

After chatting to Russ for a bit he invited us to stay in his spare house – yes, he had a spare house, right nextdoor. Even though we had a relatively short cycle day, how could we pass up staying in an old farmhouse.

It turned out that every Monday, the owner of the hotel put on a BBQ for the community. Provoss (the hotel owner) kindly invited us along. We even visited the hotel to pick up some beer. Though the hotel was closed, we somehow managed to still visit it and eat the food we had been told about – mission accomplished!

At the BBQ we met about 90% of the community. Everyone was super lovely and even tried to help us with our route planning. Lyn and Darrell invited us back to their house for a bit, then dropped us back off at Russ’s. I can honestly say, I don’t know many places that have such a community spirit.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”cm0cV” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]At the BBQ we met about 90% of the community. [/ctt]

Cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies, SASKATCHEWAN ON TWO WHEELS — Making friends with the locals!

Kyle

The morning we left White Bear we were continuously attacked my mosquitos – honestly, I have never been attacked so bad. It was crushing our souls and making it very hard to enjoy the cycle. It also looked like it was going to storm (again). Great start to the day! We definitely found the most challenging thing about cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies to be the mosquitos.

The town of Kyle was only about 15km away, so we decided to head there and have a second breakfast. At Kyle we decided to book a hotel in Swift Current to chill out rest for a couple of days! The first hotel of the trip, but we needed it!

From Kyle we were back on a main road. This meant we could no longer ride side by side. After being on quiet roads for so long, the traffic (especially the trucks) took a little bit of getting used to.

It was only a 90km cycle day, but it dragged! We both felt exhausted and beaten down by the bad weather, but most of all the mozzies. Finally, we cycled over a hill and could see Swift Current in the valley. Yes! 10km downhill to the hotel! I was ecstatic. Swift Current, though only a small town, was the biggest place we had been to since we left Calgary.

I love the country, but sometimes it’s nice having access to things we usually take for granted. Like, food, cold water, beer, a comfy bed, not being eaten by mosquitos… the list goes on. Cycle touring definitely makes you appreciate the little things.

A bit of luxury in Swift Current

At Swift Current we checked into the Comfort Inn. Though a budget hotel, it felt like pure luxury. Comfy beds, breakfast buffet, free tea and coffee. We were living the dream!

We chilled here for 2 nights taking a rest from cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies. Happy to be away from the mosquitos and amping ourselves up for the cycle down highway 1 to Moose Jaw.

So, we got a taste of what it’s liking cycling in the Saskatchewan Prairies, but this was still the beginning. We still have a few hundred kilometres until we reached the next province, Manitoba.

If you’re planning a cycle trip, you might want to check out what made our first cycle trip different, to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes as we did during our first cycle tour.

August 10, 2016March 15, 2017

CYCLING THE ROCKIES TO CALGARY!

Michael’s write up about cycling the Rockies to Calgary during our cycle trip across Canada in Summer 2016. Click here to read Kelly’s write up about cycling the Rockies to Calgary, and to the start of the Prairies!

THE ROCKIES TO COWBOY COUNTRY

Hello Rockies!

After a pretty harsh introduction to cycling the Rockies to Calgary that involved me crashing my bike like a clown and mangling up my once devilishly handsome ankle, we decided a bit of a rest was in order as we were both exhausted and sick of having our bums glued to bicycles. We enjoyed the spectacular scenery on the way into Jasper national park, but were dismayed to see that all campsites were marked as ‘full’ on the road signs. No room at the inn for smelly cyclists.

The despair didn’t last long though as when we eventually arrived at the first campsite we found out that only the sites for the big ugly R.Vs (cheat mobiles) were full, but hiker / biker walk in sites were available! Yay! A shower and a chance to clean my filthy greasy wound!

Jasper was a nice town, appeared to be purely for tourists but still had some charm and most importantly; an all you can eat Indian buffet!!! Hungry vegetarian cyclists are the Indian buffets worst enemy and only known natural predator in the wild. We ripped it apart and left no chickpea or naan bread unchewed. We also severely savaged the Jasper brewing companies tasting platter before shakily riding back to camp to pass out before it began raining yet again.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”ZSe5d” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Hungry vegetarian cyclists are the Indian buffets worst enemy and only known natural predator in the wild. [/ctt]

After a day off the bikes and a short hike we were on the road again cycling the Rockies to Calgary, via the amazing Icefields parkway towards Banff….and back into the rain.

There was no relief, I think it had rained pretty much everyday since we left Vancouver, but the scenery was stunning with plenty of waterfalls, glaciers and excuses to hop off the bikes and look around along the way. We even spotted a bear doing a happy little jig across the road at one point.

Flying down the extremely steep Sunwapta mountain pass was a pretty terrifying experience as my hands were so numb from the freezing wind and rain that I was having trouble squeezing the brakes. Brakes can be important for a cyclist when riding down a mountain by the way.

The scenery approaching Banff national park was jaw droppingly beautiful, around Bow lake and near the Icefields park centre were particular highlights and I’m definitely glad we took the time to get off the bikes and walk out to the edge of one of the Glaciers. Avoid the tourist trap that is the Icefields park centre though, huge masses of tourists jostling there way off tour buses to pay $6 for a coffee and $5 for a cookie. We stuck to our gourmet diet of granola bars and Nalgene bottle coffee for this stretch to stop our budget getting sodomised.

We had some pretty amazing camp sites along the way and as it is illegal and actually enforced that there is absolutely no wild camping allowed within the parks, we stayed in official government run sites in the Rockies so did get the luxury of a shower and some shelter with wood stoves in some spots which was kind of a nice change….but it still kept raining.

Cycling the rockies and the icefields parkway — Making it to the Icefields Parkway!

We rolled into the ultra touristy Lake Louise area after a few days and gorged ourselves at the bakery and filled our bellies with the warm fuzzy goodness of rum and hot chocolate around the campsite to try and forget about the relentless punishing rain.

On a ‘rest’ day we thought we’d take a leisurely ride to check out Lake Louise. It had been sunny all morning until it came time for us to ride the 4km basically vertically uphill from the campsite when mother nature decided we hadn’t experienced enough wet weather recently so turned on a torrential downpour for us. We pretty much rode up a river to get to a lake to battle with other soggy holidaymakers to get a snap of Lake Louise in all its moist glory. It was a pretty place, but I think the scenery and smaller crowds around Bow lake made that a bit more enjoyable, still worth a trip to check out though.

The amazing views and stunning cycling along the Rockies towards Banff town and into Canmore where we had a Warmshowers host called Jeff to stay with.

We had lunch and a coffee break by the river in Banff (where it of course pissed down) before taking the amazing ‘legacy trail’ two-lane bike path all the way from Banff to Canmore, which was one of the highlight cycle days for me so far. It was pretty special being able to fly along side the main highway surrounded by stunning mountain ranges in every direction without fear of being run off the road by an accountant called Bill on holiday from Winnipeg in a Winnebago roughly the same size as a small eastern European country that he has no idea how to control.

The legendary Jeff and his lovely wife Paula fed us to bursting point and filled us with beer and helped massively with planning the next leg of journey telling us all about which roads to take, which to avoid and which towns were best for hungry cyclists!

After a couple of pleasant nights feeling like human beings and enjoying laughing at the rain from inside a nice warm house it was time to roll on to Calgary and the stampede! Yeehaw! We even got escorted out of town by Jeff who rode with us for about 20km to show us the right road to take!

cycling the rockies — Cycling the Rockies to Calgary

With all of our dramas at the start of the trip taking Kelly’s bike back we lost a couple of days and were now in a race to reach Calgary in time for the last day of the famous Calgary stampede to watch the cow Olympics or whatever the shit a stampede is.

We had managed to claw our way back on track, even through the Rockies and were going to make it in time for the stampede! So we smashed out a 110 km day through an insane downpour on the highway that basically turned into a full blown flood. We were forced to seek shelter at a farmer’s market where a lovely local lady cheered us up by giving us a bag of carrots as I think she felt pity for the two very wet cycling bums. Small acts of kindness like this can really make your day when you’re riding! Plus it’s nice to have something to sex up your traditional meal of pesto pasta a bit by throwing some fresh veg in the mix!

[ctt template=”8″ link=”hU9Af” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Small acts of kindness like this can really make your day when you’re riding! [/ctt]

We made it cycling the Rockies to Calgary!!!

After several weeks stampeding against the clock to get there before the festivities finished, we had actually arrived in time to use our tickets that we purchased months ago! Just after we got to the city, a freak hailstorm broke out which we got to enjoy from the warm comfort of a swanky airbnb while sipping rum and munching free carrots before heading out for an evening of chuck wagon races! Yeehaw doggy!!

It was an incredibly satisfying feeling knowing we had made up for lost time and managed to get into town for the stampede…I have absolutely no idea what the fuck was going on during the chuck wagon races, but a good time was had by all and they had beer and funny hats. What more could you want?
Prior to the races we also wandered around the grounds and looked at all the tacky shite for sale and randomly bumped into a First Nations guy that we had met two days previously cycling through a reservation on the way to Calgary! Pretty bizarre experience being in a city where you know absolutely nobody and attending a very busy major international event only to bump into someone you met in a different part of the province days earlier!

So after all the dramas at the beginning of the trip we had achieved something we had basically thought impossible and made it to the stampede in time!!! To treat ourselves we found the swankiest (cheapest) breakfast buffet in town and swarmed all over it like a pair of savage Canadian deer flies sucking its prey dry of blood. Our prey happened to be French toast and waffles; way better than deer blood.

The waiters in this particularly trendy little café seemed appalled at the sheer volume of food we were able to consume and attempted to bring us the bill after a mere two plates! Hahaha! Get the fuck out of town my friend, come back when the chef is broken and sobbing on the floor because he misses his family and wants to go home; we are cycle tourists and we’re in this buffet game for the long haul!!

We enjoyed our couple of nights in Calgary and were anxious to see what the road ahead held for us! Would the flatness of the prairies be easy after the cycling the Rockies to Calgary? Will we eventually drown in the constant rain? Will the Canadian Mounties chase us down and have us hung for crimes against buffet humanity? All these questions and more will be answered in the next boring installment of this blog where we tackle Saskatchewan head on and wrestle it into submission like the little prairie dog it is!! Or we get run over by Bill in his Winnebago, whichever comes first.

If you’re planning for first cycle tour, then check out these resources for cycle touring to help with your planning.

bow lake: cycling the Rockies to Calgary — The Rockies were absolutely stunning – despite all the rain!

August 2, 2016March 15, 2017

Cycling the Alberta Prairies

Kelly’s write up about cycling the Alberta Prairies during our cycle trip across Canada in Summer 2016! Click here to read Michael’s write up of cycling across the Prairies.

A couple of rest days in Calgary and then a couple more in Airdrie was exactly what we needed before Cycling the Alberta Prairies! We had the chance to rest, clean our gear, buy new gear, replace some broken and lost things, eat a whole lot of food and drink a whole lot of beer. So, as you can image we were feeling a bit more ‘normal’ and more enthusiastic about the cycle ahead!

Horseshoe Canyon and the Start of the Prairies

Once we left Airdrie the Prairies became quite apparent. Suddenly there were yellow canola fields, pastures, meadows and wheat farms everywhere. The land also flattened out – though there were still a lot of small hills along the way (which we weren’t expecting). The wind picked up and we spent the day battling a strong head wind. The first of the trip, but not the last.

We spent the night camping in Horseshoe canyon – a stunning canyon just outside Drumheller. It was at Horseshoe canyon where we started to see Prairie Dogs (this is actually where we spotted the most Prairie dogs of the whole trip). Prairie Dogs are totally adorable! They are Canada’s quokkas. A quokka is a marsupial found on an island just off the coast of Perth and they are the happiest, little fur ball in the world, and totally adorable!

prairie dog, Cycling the Alberta Prairies — Prairie dog at Horseshoe canyon, which we discovered while cycling the Alberta Prairies

[ctt template=”8″ link=”nD8hL” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Prairie Dogs are totally adorable! They are Canada’s quokkas.[/ctt]

Drumheller: The Dinosaur Town

In the morning we cycled onto the tourist town, Drumheller. To get to Drumheller we had a steep descent into the Coulee. It was an awesome and very pretty cycle! It also meant we smashed out 20km in less than an hour.

Drumheller is famous for it’s dinosaurs. As soon as you enter the town you will start to see plastic dinosaurs everywhere. We headed straight to the visitor center to see the world’s largest plastic dinosaur. It was actually pretty awesome! You could even pay to climb up to the mouth of the dinosaur. I have to admit, I am a fan of the various, “world largest” items.

We spent a bit of time chatting to the lady in the visitor center and mapped out a plan. We decided to head down highway 10 to check out the Hoodoos (rock formations on a smaller scale to those in Cappadocia, Turkey) and then cycle the quiet 570. Before we head off down this route, we made a quick, but important stop at good ole’ Timmy’s for some sugary treats and a coffee.

The Hoodoos

Highway 10 was stunning, though quite touristy. We cycled through the coulee (like cycling in a gorge or narrow valley) for most of the day. The Hoodoos were quite cool – worth the stop! Not as impressive as the rock formations we seen in Turkey, but still completely different to anything we had seen in Canada so far.

After the Hoodoos the traffic disappeared. There were still a couple of small towns we cycled passed, but we knew we would get to a point that this would end. At the end of the Coulee, in the very small town of Dorothy, we stopped in the shade and had a long rest.

Road 570: Entering the Prairie Plains!

From Dorothy there was 300km until the next town, which was also in the next province, Saskatchewan. There were very limited services along the route, so we weren’t sure where we would be able to get water. We decided to take this route due to the lack of traffic. Cycling the Alberta Prairies was challenging!

The first night we camped at a community hall in Coulee. Coulee consisted of a farm, a community center/ school (which didn’t look like it was being used) and a camp of construction workers. Luckily this meant we could fill up out water at their camp.

The next day was shit! Strong headwinds, lots of mosquitos, little change in scenery and lots of bloody hills (I thought the Prairies were flat – what I friggin’ lie). To fill up our water bottles we had to detour off the road about 6km to the trading post at Big Rock (Big Rock consisted of a trading post, a house and a campsite). The trading post was like an oasis, with cold drinks, hot drinks, free wifi, free water and friendly staff. I didn’t want to leave. I would have happily lived there for the rest of my life instead of getting back on the 570, but unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

Haunted Shacks and Ghost Towns

We headed back to the 570 and continued towards Saskatchewan. Finally, we got a nice long descent. When I reached the bottom, I turned around to see where Michael was and noticed a huge black storm cloud was making its way for us. Fortunately, there was an abandoned house in the field, so we decided to head over and check it out.

Now, anyone that knows me would also know I’m a big wimp. I hate anything that could potentially be haunted, I hate scary movies, I hate all that horror crap! I was not planning on sleeping in an abandoned house that looked like it hadn’t been lived in for 50 years. Michael must have been able to tell, just by looking at me that I wasn’t too impressed with the idea. Every horror movie I had ever watched that featured ghosts or haunted houses, started to go through my head. How the hell was I going to sleep in that shack?
Fortunately (or unfortunately), the storm hit! It was bad. Later we learnt just how bad it was – roads had washed out, farms flooded and some areas even got hail. We had no choice but to camp in the haunted shack (by this time I had already decided it was haunted). Surprisingly, I had a good sleep. The storm distracted me from the sounds from the ghosts, that along with being so exhausted from cycling in a headwind all day, meant I passed out pretty much as soon as my head hit the mat.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”mg5c8″ via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]The storm distracted me from the sounds from the ghosts[/ctt]

Cycling the Alberta Prairies

In the morning we woke to clouds, but the storm has pass. We managed to get some pretty awesome photos in the shack. I was in shock that I actually managed to sleep in a haunted shack – something to tick off the bucket list!
We packed off and got back on the 570 to the Saskatchewan border. We may have finished cycling the Alberta Prairies, but really the Prairies had only just begun!

Are you planning your own cycle tour? If so, check out this article about Accommodation Options for Cycle Tourists.