Choo choo

Approximately 1,233 miles and 36 or so hours later, we made it into Winnipeg. The Canadian, or VIA Rail #1, was a fantastic experience… 

Actually it was. We left Toronto pretty much on time and used the remaining areas of mobile signal to do some online catch-ups and research. Then we entered the abyss of no mobile data and no Wi-Fi… 

Time seemed to enter a non-linear state…  we travelled on and on through vast forests stretching further than we could see, trees and rocks and rocks and trees, trees and rocks and rocks and trees, lakes and trees and trees and lakes…

We got talking to a few other travellers. One guy was really helpful in giving us hints on how where and when to spot bears. He spotted one and ran to our seats to see if we’d seen it… unfortunately we were watching The Sound of Music….

We also made a good friend in Monica, who didn’t want her photo taken for our blog but I think enjoyed playing Do De Li Do with us in the dome lounge car! We certainly enjoyed meeting her 😊

Every few hours or so the train would stop at a station for a short break so we took the opportunity to get off and walk the length of the train on the outside, and get a bit of fresh air.

We didn’t get a huge amount of sleep on board - it was tricky getting comfy. But we wrapped ourselves in our dry robes and microfibre towels, propped our heads on our neck cushions and did as best we could. 

Luckily pretty much everyone spent most of Monday dozing, and the atmosphere on board was very relaxed, so it was fine. We read, played games, looked at the trees and rocks and lakes and rocks and trees and lakes, ate and drank. We saw loads of beaver lodges and dams, and a few beavers swimming in lakes. Time passed by.

Facilities on board were ok - there was a small outlet selling hot and cold drinks and light snacks, in the same carriage as the dome lounge car, which also had some lower level tables and seating. There were 24 units in total - 2 engines at the front, plus 2 sleeper cars for the staff and a luggage car, then two seating carriages, one dome car, then 3 sleepers and one dome, repeated until the final carriage which had an observation point all round the rear (that’s what we’re standing in front of).

By mid-morning Monday they announced that we were running about 3 hours late… but apart from us then needing to get the last vegetarian meals from the shop, it didn’t really matter. 

We eventually got into Winnipeg at about 11pm, and we were super tired, not just because of the lack of sleep the night before but also because we’d had a time zone change during the day as well, so it was midnight for our poor confused body clocks.

We grabbed our bags and walked the short distance to our apartment. It was absolutely perfect for us. We flipped into bed and slept really well!

Next morning we needed to do a load of washing which proves to be more challenging than it needed to be… local launderette was closed, couldn’t find the card for the machines in the building, then found it and had to load cash on to it, then couldn’t find the machines in the building… but eventually we got clean and dry undies, so all is good!

Packed up our bags again and walked to the bus stop to get to the car rental at the airport. We’d told Alana we were hiring the cheapest vehicle they had available (which was true) but what we hadn’t told her was that it was a Dodge Ram twin cab truck!

We drove out of Winnipeg via a massive Walmart to get to Grand Marais and our next accommodation: a tiny cabin by the lake. We dropped our bags and went for a walk, paddle, swim, then went to get an ice cream before tea, because that’s how we roll now! The sunset was pretty special.

Adventure score: 9/10

Tiredness rating: 9/10