Go west...

… life is peaceful there, Go west, lots of open air… Well, lots of lakes, rivers, forests and very picturesque. 

From Montreal we headed 200km west to Ottawa, the nation’s capital. The Parliament building (also known as ‘the Hill’) looked quite familiar:

While we were there, the bells started ringing and at first I thought I was hearing things. The Star Wars music, both the Jedi and Emperor themes, were coming from the bell tower. Now, I’m not sure what the national anthem of Canada is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not either of them! As it turns out, a lady rings the bells at midday everyday, and does a varied repertoire depending on how she feels. We thought it was quite bizarre, especially given that local elections in Ontario are coming up in the next few days! Or maybe we were just reading too much into local politics J

Next we visited the Canadian Museum of History and learnt all about the First People and European influences, the fur trade and Confederation. We still wanted to know more, so we then went to the Canadian War Museum and found out about the war of 1812. To us, all we knew about 1812 was the Napoleonic war in Europe, but here, the US tried to invade Canada and conquer the British colony, claiming it for herself while the Crown was busy fighting off the French in Europe. As the US President Thomas Jefferson said at the time, it was a “mere matter of marching” as many Americans had assumed the Canadians would be eager to join the US. How wrong they were!

We also had a drive out to Smiths Falls and the Rideau Canal museum. The Canal connects Ottawa (on the Ottawa River) with Kingston in the south, on Lake Ontario, and is over 200kms long. The canal opened in 1832 as a precaution in case war broke out with the US again. It was a great feat of engineering and most of the original structures are still intact. It was registered as a World Heritage Site in 2007. 

We also saw this little beaver having his lunch on the banks of the canal

From Ottawa, we continued west another 270kms to Mew Lake campground in Algonquin Provincial Park. The park was established in 1893 and is the oldest provincial park in Canada. It is huge and currently it’s about 7,600 square kilometres (2,950 square miles), and about a quarter of the size of Belgium! With over 2,400 lakes and 1,200kms of streams and rivers, there’s a lot to explore. We were only there for two days and our campsite was right on the lake front so we decided to chill out on the first day. This was the view from our table:

And the other side of the lake, can you spot Badger hiding in the trees?

A bear had been spotted in the area but I think Mark’s snoring might have scared him away! The next day we went on a 3 ½ hour hike through the pine and maple forests to a lookout and Bat lake. The trek was worth it:

From Mew Lake, we headed north to North Bay and skirted around Lake Nipissing, then carried on west to Sudbury, 325kms in total. Nickel-copper ore was discovered here in 1883 during the construction of the railway. Greater Sudbury is the home of the Big Nickel (50 years old this year) and one of the largest nickel and copper mining areas in Canada.

From Sudbury, we continued to follow the Trans-Canada highway another 150kms to Algoma Mills. Here, we are on the banks of Lake Lauzon on one side, and a short walk to the North Channel that feeds into the Great Lake Huron. This is the view from the back of Badger:

… and the islands in the North Channel with Lake Huron beyond on the horizon.

Tomorrow we continue on the Trans-Canada highway for another 170kms to Saulte Saint Marie, which is on the border with Michigan. After that, it’s only another 1,400kms to Winnipeg then another 1,300kms to Calgary. Piece of cake!