Carpe Diem! Seize the day! E-Book

Monika von Borthwick

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 430

Beschreibung

Carpe Diem If you want to explore Newfoundland and the maritime provinces of Canada, please bear in mind that you have to slip into a warming anorak even in summer. Every rain free day is a gift at the edge of the Labrador Current. Rubber boots and good rain wear are also essential. You can admire icebergs from Greenland on the island in the north as late as June to July, and the small harbours are often decorated with ice floes until well into the summer. But when the sun breaks through, this region of Canada opens up in all its diversity and drama. In the north, a former Viking settlement bears witness to the earliest community, even before the Europeans discovered America and later established themselves there. Small, picturesque fishing villages tell of a hard struggle for existence. In the past as well as today. Lonely stretches of land give flora and fauna the opportunity to face the harsh weather. The capital, St. Johns, impresses with colourful wooden houses and a lively pub culture. The oddball humour of the population is unique, and they all love their musical heritage. Carpe diem! Seize the day!

Leseprobe

Carpe Diem?

If you want to explore Newfoundland and the maritime provinces of Canada, please bear in mind that you’ll have to slip into a warming anorak even in summer. Every rain-free day is a gift at the edge of the Labrador Current. Rubber boots and good rain wear are also essential. You can admire icebergs from Greenland on the island in the north as late as June/July, and the small harbours are often decorated with ice floes until well into the summer.

But when the sun breaks through, this region of Canada opens up in all its diversity and drama. In the north, a former Viking settlement bears witness to the earliest community, even before the Europeans “discovered” America and later established themselves there. Small, picturesque fishing villages tell of a hard struggle for existence - in the past as well as today. Lonely stretches of land give flora and fauna the opportunity to face the harsh weather.

The capital, St. John’s, impresses with colourful wooden houses and a lively pub culture. The oddball humour of the population is unique, and they all love their musical heritage. Carpe diem! Seize the day …

Monika von Borthwick belongs to the older generation and lives in culturally rich Upper Bavaria. In addition to her professional work, she looked after bus travellers as a tour guide in Europe. Even then, she wrote down her experiences with the countries and their people in as much detail as she could.

After the death of her husband, she shifted to travelling alone and explored numerous areas in Europe and North America on her own with her newly acquired motor home and her two dogs. In the process, she discovered a love of storytelling and sent detailed reports home by e-mail. These documents form the basis of her personal stories from each host country.

Monika von Borthwick

Carpe Diem! Seize the day!

... tomorrow it could rain again.

With the motorhome through Newfoundland and the maritime provinces of Eastern Canada (PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick)

The entertaining diary of the MoWuKnuffels

I never travel without my diary. You should always have something exciting to read with you. (Oscar Wilde 1854 - 1900)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Einleitung

Neufundland

1. Kingston, ON – Sydney NS

2. Northern Peninsula - Viking settlement - St. Anthony - first icebergs

3.

From West to East Twillingate and Fogo Island

4. Burin Peninsula

5. Grand Bank to St. John’s

6. St. John’s

Environment

7. Irish Loop – Avalon Wilderness – Cape Shore

8. Cape Race – St. Mary’s - Holyrood

9. Baccalieu Trail

10. Bonavista Peninsula – Cabot Trail – Random Passage

11. Road to the Beaches

12. Road to the Shores

Nova Scotia NS

1. Louisbourg – Baddeck – Iona – Chéticamp

2. Cabot Trail – Cape Breton

3. Eastern Shore – Marine Drive

4. Lighthouse Route

5. Acadian Shore – Evangeline Trail

6. Bay of Fundy – Minas Basin

7. Nova Scotia – Finale

Prince- Edward-Island oder P.E.I. oder PEI

1. East costal Drive - Charlottetown

2. Red Sand Shore – Cape North

3. Farewell with music

New Brunswick – Küstenbereiche

Moncton – Kouchibouguac National Park

Acadian Shore – Fredericton

St. John – St. Andrew – USA

Every preparation is different A little theory to start with

At the beginning of 2013, I was once again fortunate enough to unexpectedly discover a pleasant sum on my bank account, which certainly enabled me to embark on a big trip with my two dogs for the last time. After all, I already had some years of experience being sixty and who knew how long I would still have the energy and health to tackle a major project.

I had to abandon my last tour in Toronto in 2010 because I tripped over a hose while refuelling and suffered a splinter fracture in my left ankle. At that point, the tour to Newfoundland had to be cancelled. I wanted to pick up where I left off and fulfil my next travel dream.

In the meantime, our “family” situation had changed a little: my travel-experienced Wuschel unfortunately had to leave us for health reasons, instead the bright Pomeranian Wurschtel joined our pack. He had been a home-bred dog and was now gaining his first travel experiences with his new globetrotting family. To train for this varied life, we spent the winter with the camper in Spain on a camping site. This time was already tremendously exciting and new for the little dog. (see “Chorizo & Co”, BoD Verlag Norderstedt!)

Great undertakings cast their shadows ahead and so I went into the first planning phase as early as spring 2013. I tracked the internet daily for hours, looking for a cheap used Canadian motor home. In the process, I discovered the largest platform for this at “ Kijiji.com”.

Why Canada as a starting point? One of the main reasons was the chronological order and planning of the trip and my temporary general visa for the USA which expired in autumn 2015. The second decisive reason was the matter of the driver’s licence. Canada rewrote the German document into a Canadian one without a hitch, a prerequisite for taking out national car insurance.

International driving licences were accepted by the Canadian Traffic Act for six months, but not by insurance companies. My plans still amounted to eighteen months. The rules in the USA did not require a practical test in most states for transcription, but one had to pass a theoretical exam. At the age of 63 and with forty years of unpunished driving, that was too silly for me.

The third reason was my friends between Toronto and Montreal, experienced in motor homes, who would help me, buy a used one and whose address I could give as my Canadian base. A valid permanent address is essential for such an endeavour. How important and helpful this was – as we would see later.

Very well! After an extensive search, a few vehicles came into view in the summer of 2013. My friend Richard and his wife visited and took a look at their general condition. Again and again, I had to hear: “Leave it alone!” Then suddenly a call via Skype: “I have bought an RV for you!” He had chosen a vehicle on the net, for about 8500.- CAD. Richard had negotiated the supplier down to 7500.- CAD. The car had a few years under its belt, was in good condition after inspection and supposedly had only 76,000 kilometres on its speedometer. This could be interesting...

I booked a flight to Montreal for October (which again took quite some time on the PC) to inspect my new vehicle and take care of all administrative matters on the spot and in person.

Before that I had to find a suitable insurance company at a reasonable price. Easier said than done … I contacted more than twenty-five insurance companies via the internet to get an acceptable fee. Many were not interested at all and did not reply, some had outrageously high price levels. Only one “broker” was able to make me an acceptable offer. It was thanks to his commitment that we finally did business. Phase two began.

Open your wallet! Purse closed! Surprises guaranteed!

My ten-day stay in the province of Ontario was almost overflowing with activities. In between, there were several – to me unnecessary – holidays, such as Thanksgiving, when our hands were tied because no office was working.

To get any papers at all, we first had to pay the sales tax. Since we secretly cut the purchase price for the office to 4500.-CAD, it was accordingly low (“only” about 600.-CAD). In return, we received the so-called “history” of the vehicle. It listed all the previous owners and the mileage of the car. When I studied it in detail, I was astonished to discover that the 76,000 kilometres advertised had suddenly become 125,000 kilometres. Had the previous owner cheated us? Had the speedometer been manipulated? We asked him for a talk. It turned out that he had told us miles instead of kilometres in the advertisement so he had made a mistake in the designation. Because of the resulting depreciation, we bargained down another thousand dollars. I was still happy about that.

The next step was the safety and emissions tests which have to be done every time a vehicle is bought or sold – either by the previous owner or by the buyer. So off to the garage! After a short check, we were told that more extensive repairs would be necessary than we had expected. The cost was 2,500.- CAD! Plus, the emissions test with.... I had no choice! Gritting my teeth, I signed the garage order.

The profit from the two reductions was therefore completely lost. From a traffic point of view, however, my new rolling home was now absolutely safe. As a small consideration, we wanted confirmation from the dealer that the gas test would be OK. We hoped to be able to save at least a little here. This was noted on the invoice as requested. The gas safety test was only required by the insurance company.

So we marched again with the available documents to the state traffic office, to acquire the sticker for the vehicle tax. The lady at the counter was not on the engaging side but still pointed out to us that the motor home’s tax was still paid until the end of the year. Since the vehicle would be in the barn until May 15th anyway, we could save ourselves the expense and settle the debt when I returned to Canada. Thank you very much!

Finally, I was able to move my motor home into its walled winter quarters and was about 450.-CAD lighter for its sixmonth sleeping place.

Without the driving help of my friends, I would have been totally lost in this constant back and forth and would still be travelling from office to office today. For insurance reasons, I was not allowed to drive my own vehicle, as I did not yet have a Canadian driver’s licence. But I needed my German driving licence for the winter trip to Spain, so I did not want to have it rewritten yet. Thus, although I was listed as the owner of the car with all rights and obligations at the agency, Richard had to be my driver with a Canadian licence.

I found this arrangement grotesque, because with the international driver’s licence I could drive around anywhere in Canada for half a year and take any rental car. But not with my own Canadian vehicle! Long live bureaucracy!

We thought we finally had everything in place for the big trip. Satisfied, I climbed back on my plane to Munich, not without having taken a canoe trip on the lake in front of Richard’s house – on a beautiful day of the beginning Indian summer.

Shock on my return: my insurance broker informed me by email that the insurance company wanted an official gas test and that the workshop’s note on the repair certificate was not sufficient. However, the deadline for the provisional insurance would expire in the next few days. Richard had to bring the vehicle out of hibernation, make an appointment with a mechanic and forward the confirmation of the successful inspection to the agent – all in a rush! Further cost 64.- CAD that I could pay thanks to the technical possibilities of the internet, otherwise I would have been completely lost. Could I finally lean back and enjoy the Spanish winter? I still didn’t trust the peace but when I saw on the visa receipt that the insurance company had debited the sum of around 500.-CAD (350.-Euro) for the first year, I concluded the activities of phase two for myself!

Arrival mid May 2014 Canadian driving licence Not as simple as assumed

May 2014 – we arrived in Toronto after an eight-hour flight to the neighbouring continent! Knuffi survived the flight calmly and without protest. For Wurschtel, my liberty-loving companion, it was more strenuous. Being locked up was tantamount to prison for him. Richard was already standing at the exit ready to pick us up. This time, all the logistics were easier than the previous times because I could count on help.

Entering Canada was absolutely hassle-free. I got my stamp in the passport and many good wishes on the way. For the dogs I had to pay about 40.- CAD entry fee. The European dog passport was accepted without any problems, although it came from Spain. I had “disposed” of my old passports somewhere, but had the dogs vaccinated on time. So there was only one vaccination in the passport. To be on the safe side, however, I had the copies of the former passports close at hand.

Toronto welcomed us with rush hour traffic. We had landed at an extremely inconvenient time. There were two hundred and eighty kilometres ahead of us and we had to pass through the city and the heavily populated outskirts. “Stop and go” was therefore the order of the day and there were no stopping places to finally let the dogs out. They kept their bladders bravely tied shut and were happy to finally have their mistress near them again. Getting out of the car was also out of the question because of the rain. It wasn’t just raining, it was pissing down! Pardon me!

Halfway there, we were finally able to stop at a “Tim Hortons” snack bar, give the dogs something to drink and provide ourselves with a snack. You wouldn’t believe how elastic dog bladders could be! Around half past eight we finally reached our destination, in the middle of the Canadian bush, at Bob’s Lake. All three of us fell asleep as soon as we could, because I had been up for twenty-three hours today due to the time difference. Tomorrow we would take a look at my new rolling home and bring it here.

The motor home started without any problems! It had survived the Canadian winter in its permanent quarters well. We took it to my friends’ place by the lake, in the middle of the forest, careful not to let the police see that we hadn’t put a tax stamp on it yet. That would come later. For the time being, we still needed a valid driving licence to set off on our adventure. Nothing easier than that – we thought.

We went to the driving licence office the next day, armed with the necessary papers: the passport, the driving licence and (as we thought) the international document. After all, the latter paper included the necessary translation in several languages. The lady at the counter told us that this was not accepted and that we had to show an authorised translation. So we got a phone number and an address in Kingston. We called the Immigration Service and were told that it would take a week to get the necessary translation. The cost was eighty dollars – but with an additional certified copy! Even if I had been able to produce an authorised translation from Germany, it would not have been accepted and the money would have gone down the drain.

Richard was so upset about this illogical regulation that he almost lost his cool. Only slowly could I calm him down again. It was what it was, I needed the paper and had no other choice. If we had asked for a provisional document, the waiting time would have been extended by another eight days. We hoped that by the end of this week the document would be in our hands (delayed by Labour Day, a public holiday) and we would finally have cleared all the bureaucratic hurdles.

The “new” motor home found its place for the next few days in the middle of the forest, next to Richard’s boat. After he had towed his watercraft over the bumpy forest path, my doubts about the size of the camper vanished. If we could get through here, I could venture into the wilds of Canada with it!

In the meantime, I wanted to devote myself to the internal organisation of our third home. All the suitcases from the first trip and several oversized plastic bags lay decoratively scattered on the bed – chaos to the power of three! Where to start? One container after the other, nice and neat! Finally, I relived the experiences of the past weeks when I had polished up my own camper in Germany.

It was now sorted, sifted, cleaned and scrubbed. The previous owners had left many appliances on board upon request. In addition to a toaster and a small hot-air fan, there was also a hoover, a coffee machine and an electric plate. The kitchen had to be stocked up with some utensils. The predecessors did not seem to have been particularly active cooks. Long live the microwave and no-wash fast food!

Karen’s cupboards emptied, mine filled up! Despite everything, intensive shopping was the order of the day, first at the “Dollar Store” for mass-produced goods, later at “Walmart” for specials. Hurray for the credit card! We had to think of everything, from safety waistcoats to screwdrivers, from potholders to spice jars and from clothes pegs to throw blankets. The list was endless, and we spent almost nine hours shopping from shop to shop the day after for this reason. The sorting work started all over again but in the end, we came up with a respectable motor home for our needs. Survival guaranteed!

Topic driving licence:

Faster than expected we got the call from the immigration office: we could pick up the translation, after paying 62.21 CAD with taxes, for the same content as in the international driving licence, but on DIN A4 and with an embossed stamp for the certification. Don’t be angry, just surprised! Now quickly to the driving licence office… This time it went like clockwork: 80.- CAD, passport, German driving licence, translation, eye test and photo on the spot – and I got my provisional licence, valid for ninety days. In three weeks, the real driving licence would show up at Richard’s place. Valid for five years! My German driving licence was confiscated and supposedly sent back to Germany. Let’s see what solution I come up with at the end of our adventure.

The very next day I contacted the insurance agent, gave him the driving licence number and from that moment on I was the person responsible for my BSLA-920 (mnemonic: Bullshit/Los Angeles - 920) Nothing easier than that!

The tax stamp was still missing. Cost for two years: 180.-CAD. Important: a duplicate of the tax stamp had to be glued into the vehicle registration. Where did I have this important paper? Panic! At home, I searched through my documents a hundred times, texted my neighbour to please look in the photocopier, drove my two hosts slightly crazy ... and finally discovered the green piece of paper in an envelope with collected old and new bills! My God! Alzheimer’s said hello!

Actually, we could have left then, if the bed hadn’t been so miserable. You could feel every spring. So I decided to dig into my pocket once more and get myself a good foam pad. Easy to say! Delivery times of up to ten days everywhere and problems with price and sizes. Karen got on the phone and the internet. I’m sure we could cut the thing ourselves. Thanks to her patience and persistence, we drove back to Kingston the next morning and bought an alternative for 212.- CAD. Not just a cushion, no, it was neatly covered with solid fabric. With the truck, transport was easy, because the thing measured 1.40m x 1.90m, and the weight was easily manageable as well.

At home, we slipped the cover down and cut the foam to fit the camper. The more difficult work began afterwards: we had to patch the solid cover back together. This with my handicraft talents! Thank goodness Karen had sufficient skills for both of us. Fortunately, the kitchen was big enough for us to do the job. I will have to think carefully about whom I will pass my motorhome on to after my tour, judging by the bent fingers and pinpricks from this sh... work!

Our rolling home for the next 18 months: Year 1991 125,000 km, petrol engine 8 m length ... and very thirsty

Knuffi (f) and Wurschtel (m), my two travelling companions - each ten years old.

I had the feeling that we would be saying “goodbye” in the next few days. I was beginning to get impatient. Firstly, as a long-time single person, I was no longer used to fitting so absolutely into a familial community. There was not one minute of free space left for me that week – except for report writing. Both hosts meant all too well and mothered me like an infant, stuffed me full of advice and overwhelmed me with countless questions. Dog-tired from the day’s events and the ever-present foreign language, I often took up the cooking spoon in the evening to be able to repay my hosts’ helpfulness a little.

Total Canada

Direct route to Newfoundland

Kingston (ON) - Sidney (NS)

1,800 km - 10 days

End of May - the mood to leave!

Once again, our departure was delayed by another day. We had discovered during an all-round check that neither the heating nor the fridge worked on propane. Richard tried all the possibilities to get the two devices going. Probably just a small repair, but did he know how? All his attempts were crowned with failure. Instead, he achieved more success as a driving instructor. He had me drive the narrow forest road to his cottage, nagged me with reversing and turning, had me start the generator in the wilderness and tested all the levers and switches with me. I had to get used to the different dimensions of the vehicle, in length as well as in width and height. The automatic transmission also took some getting used to. At junctions I tried to shift gears all the time. False alarm! There was nothing there! I hid my left leg under the seat as a precaution so that the other would not be disturbed. You wouldn’t believe how automated some actions are. After about an hour, my teacher was satisfied with me, and I had to squeeze back into the hole in front of the hut as the last test. I had done it! I had passed!

My poochies once again enjoyed the extra day in absolute freedom. There was no leash requirement here in the bush. They were free to chase squirrels, chip monkeys and wild turkeys as they pleased. They always came back to the hut sooner or later when I whistled. Knuffi occasionally took a refreshing bath in the forest stream, looked like a piglet afterwards and had to wait outside the door to dry off. Wet dogs were not welcome in Karen’s tidy household.

We tested our bed in the forest for two nights, as Karen’s son came to visit and claimed my accommodation. I didn’t mind sleeping a little upside down because of the incline. In return, I had a certain retreat for our trio and a taste of our future freedom.

Finally, we were ready to go. We drove only one hundred and fifty kilometres on this first day and left all the sightseeing points behind us. In Gananoque, we tried an RV dealer for repairs with 50% success. The fridge could be started (as suspected only a small repair!), but the heating would need a longer check – and we would have to wait one week for an appointment! That was too long for me. Secretly, I decided to save the money for the time being, as I was heading for summer. Nicely naive! By autumn, the heater might have broken down again if I didn’t need it, so I postponed the workshop until later. Besides, if it got colder, I still had my two live hot water bottles to wrap around me.

Bulk shopping at Walmart in Brockville. I had my fridge to fill and needed various other things for more amenities in my new home. Good thing the chain store had large shopping carts. Prices for groceries and other daily consumables in Canada were high! I estimated they were a good third higher than here in Germany, if not half. My budget certainly needed some top-ups, as petrol was no longer as cheap as on the previous trip in 2010 – the equivalent of “only” 1,00 Euro per litre.

The municipal campsite in Iroquois was quickly found with a few minor detours and turns. Normally, the municipal sites were cheaper than the commercial ones. For this night, I needed the pitch, because I had to dispose of waste and free my pipes from the remaining antifreeze: 30.- CAD (a good 21.- €) with strong electricity. As so often in North America, with my eight metres I was a pipsqueak among the big trailers. Nevertheless, there was no envy, because I was the most agile sister among the big brothers! We stayed in a green area, with adjacent parkland and a glider airfield. Ideal for dog owners! But that evening, it only came to a small disposal round, because the shopping had to be stowed away. Besides, I finally wanted a snack, because I hadn’t had anything since breakfast and without a siesta, I was usually exhausted by nine o’clock in the evening.

We took it easy on the second day of the trip. I wanted to benefit from the electricity connection and type the travel report of the previous day into the PC, as well as briefly dart through our small flat with the hoover. The evening before had gone too fast for me. As a rule, departure time at campsites in North America is not set until early afternoon so this gave free space for various activities. We started at noon.

Three hundred kilometres laid ahead of us. I calculated more than four hours for this, as Montreal was located halfway. The time in between would be enough for a short siesta – I thought. Shortly before Montreal, we crossed the “border” into the French-speaking province of Quebec. At the welcome centre, I was provided with more than enough information about the entire province. It wasn’t easy to switch my brain to French after all the English! It worked surprisingly well and armed with two plastic bags I marched to the camper. A little bit before this point, I quickly took advantage of the free Wi-Fi service of “Tim Horton” and had a little nap. At 3.30 pm I was ready for new surprises.

These were not long in coming. We drove at walking pace along four lanes through the city of Montreal (four million inhabitants including the outlying areas and the second largest city in Canada after Toronto). New motorway junctions came up all the time. The GPS was a real help to me in finding my way through the urban jungle to the other end. It took me more than two hours to cross the city, I was fed up with the concentrated driving and, exhausted, I headed for a Walmart in Trois Rivères. To make matters worse, water started pouring out of all the floodgates and defensive driving was the order of the day. The big trucks showed little consideration and roared past me like a water slingshot. How might one feel in a passenger car?

Around 7pm I was standing in front of the market and was done: three and a half hours for almost two hundred kilometres. Now there was food for all the occupants, a very short walk and a quick purchase from the host. Wow, the wind was icy! I was already regretting my decision not to repair the heating. I had my comrades in my sights and got by with a hot tea. Wurschtel felt most comfortable in my bed anyway. If I had to, Knuffi could join me around midnight or early in the morning. When that happened I lay squeezed between the two friends: I under the covers, both on top. This was an advantage in cool weather but had a disadvantage when the temperature becomes hotter than twenty degrees.

We change sides

In order to get a little closer to our destination Newfoundland, we managed three hundred and twenty kilometres on this day – without stress. We continued leisurely at 80 km/h on the TC #20 towards the northeast. Why so slow? I had noticed with dismay over the past few days that my “baby” was suffering from enormous thirst. 24 litres of regular petrol per hundred kilometres… I couldn’t remember my previous old vehicle drinking so much. Was it the petrol engine instead of the diesel one I had before? No idea! Now I would try to test at which average speed I would save the most.

To ease my conscience, I came up with the following little calculation experiment (called “milkmaid calculation“ in German). Up to now, I had been driving at an average speed of about 100 km/h. I had to calculate the cost of petrol. Petrol costs: 74 litres of normal petrol cost an average of €68 at that time (visa bill), so “π times thumb” (German “calculation system”) one litre/1.-CAD (Diesel is a lot more expensive). This gave me 300 kilometres, so one hundred kilometres with my big carriage cost me just under €23.

Comparison to the camper at home: 80 litres fit into the tank. Assuming a price of about 1.35 € per litre of diesel at that time, that’s about 110 €. I drive a good 500 kilometres with that. Therefore 100 kilometres at home cost me about 22.00 €. If you take the higher price of petrol in Germany as a basis, the difference will probably be even greater. With this evening comparison calculation, my shock had subsided somewhat. After all, I was a lot heavier and bigger than my Wuschelmobil in Germany, which in turn would drive up the kilometre price at home. So I accepted the thirst of my “baby” as it was. I had no choice anyway!

The bad weather had subsided in the meantime. The temperatures, however, were not above ten degrees, so heating was the order of the day, even in the camper. The sun rose higher and higher and from Quebec the sky was bright. After the big city, which we bypassed without any problems this time, we switched to the south side of the St. Lawrence River, as there were only ferry connections further north. The water became wider and wider, apparently making bridge construction too costly or even impossible. (Total length with estuary 2,900 is kilometres – largest estuary in the world).

There was a lot of farming along the route and again and again the small farmhouses disappeared behind the mighty silos, whose round towers rose over everything like the fingers of a hand. Sometimes the TC #1 led directly along the water; sometimes it went more inland and apart from fields or forest there was little variety to see.

We were well on schedule and so I decided to take a day’s rest at the urban campsite in Rivière-du-Loup. Not least because our direct route to the ferry to NF would then take us inland from here. The prices were acceptable, with all the “trimmings” 65.- CAD for two nights (44.-€) and very nicely situated with a view of the river. What I loved about North American campsites was their infrastructure: water connection to the municipal drinking water system, your own sewage right behind the house and a current of 30 to 50 amps. That was the power needed for the four retractable walls of the big trailers and their top-class air-conditioning systems. There were many of those vehicles here. In addition, just about every site had a picnic bench and a fire ring.

According to the weather forecast, the sun was supposed to shine tomorrow, but rain was expected for the day after. Carpe diem! I combined dinner, lunch and coffee into one meal in the late afternoon and enjoyed my ham noodles with salad outside. After the evening walk, duty called and I sat down on my two buttocks to type the last two days into the laptop as well as send-off necessary emails. The next thousand kilometres would take us almost to the end of the world!

Relaxing day in Rivière-du-Loup

We had a fantastically restful and quiet night and crawled out of our wide senior bed together at eight o’clock. When I write together, I mean together. Wurschtel kept me warm all night and Knuffi had become too bored alone by six in the morning. The second mattress topper has created a comfortable height for my old bones and almost reminds me of my bed at home. There were quite a few things to do and try out in the morning. With extensive personal hygiene and household chores, it quickly turned into lunchtime. Now out for a long walk with my gang! The spring sun was still shining.

It had only just become spring here at the end of May and the green of the deciduous trees was decidedly fresh, with many now unfurling their leaves. The forest gave a Nordic impression with many slender and tall conifers.

Our municipal campsite was three kilometres away from the centre of town, near the ferry to Saint-Siméon on the other shore. We walked a little along the water’s edge. We discovered another campsite on the plain, a little higher in price and not nearly as cosy as our park. But it was opposite a small copy of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria with a permanent Christmas exhibition, like Käthe Wohlfahrt in Oberammergau (Upper Bavaria).

I would have a quick look at the town centre tomorrow when we stopped for shopping at Walmart. None of my guidebooks reported much about this little town, seemingly a normal ordinary “nest”. The walk didn’t help calming me down. Wurschtel in particular was beside himself. My two companions had to get used to the leash again. The ten days of absolute liberty in the wilderness with Karen and Richard had made them totally forget obedience. Well, now and then a different wind had to blow!

Who stole an hour from us?

We were up early today! The first brightness lured us out of bed at around half past five. No wonder when you close the shutters at ten o’clock the night before. I felt well rested. Why kill precious time? At eight o’clock we were already standing in front of the still-locked doors of our favourite supermarket called WALMART. As usual, I had thought of a few things I could use to improve or beautify my household.

At half past nine we set off inland. The forecast rain held off mightily although threatening dark clouds could be seen in the hills – I don’t want to talk about mountains – but there was little wet on the road. We passed through a friendly landscape, where the eye could admire countless green hilltops. Amused, I watched the moose collision warning signs at the roadside again and again, especially at dusk. Unfortunately, these mighty primordial beasts kept themselves hidden in their safe forests in the morning. Up to the Quebec provincial border, the #185 was mostly single-lane due to construction work, but they were busy working on the four-lane expansion of this connection to the neighbouring province of New Brunswick.

A spacious information centre welcomed us, and I was given a lot of information material. They kindly pointed out to me that we had now changed to Atlantic Time and had thus lost an hour of the day. This cost me my beloved siesta.

Edmunston was the next, for the moment, featureless town. Where was the next major WALMART for free overnight? My GPS gave me satisfactory information for Woodstock. That was further than originally planned, but within reason.

From the provincial border of “New Brunswick” we got back on TC #2 and were able to drive along four lanes, interrupted by an obligatory fuel stop for my boozy baby. Judging by the distances of the petrol stations, I guess I had to get back into the habit of topping up as soon as possible after using half a tank, because you never knew... The situation was not as dangerous as in the Yukon, but with this thirst, caution was the mother of the porcelain box – as we say in German!

Several stops would have appealed to me, such as Florenceville, the self-proclaimed capital of French fries in potato country, or Hartland with the longest covered bridge in the world. Certainly, the Scenic Route through the Appalachian Mountains would not have been too bad, or the road along the St. John River. But I refrained and put off my curiosity until early autumn, when my plan was to retrace our route back. My immediate destination was still Newfoundland, and I didn’t want to get bogged down.

The WALMART in Woodstock welcomed us after two hundred and ninety kilometres; we found a quiet place to sleep and quite a few green spaces for my two “rabbits”. I could even receive Wi-Fi in the camper, but I had to spare the home laptop power. I was able to work with my netbook, however, as I had 2 x 5 hours of battery with the tiny thing. That would be enough until the next campsite. If it came to it, I’d have to start the generator, but it made too much noise in a public car park.

A little further towards the goal

Little to report from today. We motored almost three hundred kilometres, in glorious sunshine, on four lanes and constantly surrounded by forest. Boring, because all the traffic was reduced to two cars in the front, one car behind and every now and then a truck coming along to overtake.

Wurschtel was happy about my “cruise controller” and the vehicle’s automatic transmission. This left my right hand free for patting. The little guy took advantage of this at the appropriate time and pressed himself with all his might against my driver’s seat on the right-hand side. He didn’t get any further because I had secured both dogs well. Knuffi was more content. She spent most of her time sleeping on the passenger seat: sometimes curled up, sometimes with her head on the door handle so that it wouldn’t fall off, sometimes with her head on the armrest. One gradually noticed her (nearly) ten years of life. All three of us were no longer young.

I postponed filling up my propane gas until the next major town, but my gut feeling sent me to an exit where I saw a large petrol station and an RV dealer opposite. The latter, at least, had to know where I could get hold of what I was looking for. And lo and behold! He had a propane tank on site! Forty litres of space! So not badly calculated at all… That gave me supplies for more than two weeks!

We arrived at the WALMART car park in Moncton tired and bored. No, I didn’t really feel like driving any further. We would need two more days to Sydney (Nova Scotia) for the ferry. So, I spent the late afternoon doing some beautification work. The evening belonged to literature studies and travel reports. Not exactly idyllic, but inexpensive...

Month of June Red nose, red head

Heavens! It was cold this morning when we crawled out of bed! Not even eleven degrees Celsius in the camper and outside; that’s why my nose got red. Everything else was toasty warm on me, as I was lying tightly wrapped under my warm blanket, shielded from the cold on both sides by Knuffi and Wurschtel. I hated being cooped up like in a sleeping bag, but it was OK for today, so it took quite a bit of effort to crawl out of my warm nest at around seven o’clock, but the dogs had to go out ... Praise be to those who work hard and are on the go this early! After a big hot cup of tea, things started to get slightly better – with me and the temperatures.

I remembered an insulation trick my previous owner had used on the first American motorhome. I needed a hardware store for that, though. Today, on Sunday, only WALMART was open. Isolation material would help against the cold and the heat. When I asked WM about a suitable radiator, they told me that they had already modified all the shelves and only had fans for the summer. Well, not then!

Once again, we had a stowaway on board and for the second time, a mouse had taken up residence in my four walls. After all, it was warmer than outside! Torn toilet paper was a giveaway! I tried my luck with a “mousetrap” and precious mozzarella. Sometime during the night there was a click, the cheese had disappeared, but there was no mouse corpse to be seen. The mouse must have had quite a fright. Hopefully, it had escaped! I, however, received several blows when I tried to set the mousetrap again without my glasses. I couldn’t imagine that the creature hadn’t been hit at all. Or was I dumber than a mouse? The bait for the coming night was prepared anyway.

My two companions always smelt mouse holes in the meadow but in the camper van, this hunting instinct apparently failed...

In the early afternoon, during the siesta, an undesirable side effect occurred. As usual, Wurschtel snuggled close to me during the siesta, causing me to break out in a sweat this time. With a red head, I finished my breather. In the meantime it had become pleasantly warm outside again. The weather was very kind to us. Bright blue...

After about sixty kilometres we crossed the “border” to the next Canadian province: Nova Scotia. A very friendly visitor’s centre in a green area welcomed us. Of course, as usual, we got the free maps and information brochures about the region. They even had a departure schedule for the ferry to Newfoundland.

One hundred and seventy kilometres now to New Glasgow – with bad road conditions in some sections, many frost heaves. In the WM there, we took a delayed lunch break with pancakes and breakfast sausages. I decided to drive another sixty kilometres to Antigonish: they would benefit us tomorrow. We had enough electricity, water and tank capacity, so our WM had to and could hold out for the third night. I preferred to save my money for the National Parks in Newfoundland.

At some point, the four-lane TC Highway ended and became a two-lane road. It was immediately relaxing to be able to drive “properly” again, to “experience” curves and to vary the speed. Basically, I was already on my long-term project for the summer of 2015. The Trans-Canada Highway stretches from St. John in Newfoundland across the entire continent to Vancouver but keeps changing its number. I would travel this current section in detail –according to the rough planning – in about five weeks with many side trips on my way back.

Shortly before the destination - North Sydney ferry port

It was frosty this morning too, but within a short time the sun warmed us up pleasantly. Two options were available to us in this weather.

Option 1: We harden ourselves and don’t shy away from getting up.

Option 2: We stay in bed until eight o’clock, when the temperatures will be over 10 degrees.

I opted for Option 1 because moving forward was more important to me. On average, I had to calculate two and a half hours until all three of us were ready to go. As a single person, you were responsible for all the work yourself, from cleaning the windows to feeding the dogs and tidying up. That simply took time. Today we had the last 200 km ahead of us. In total, we had been on the road for about 1800 km since Kingston, ON. Well, Canada is vast...

It was a varied drive this time, as we came into contact with the island and fjord world of Nova Scotia. As always, a blanketed sky and spring-like temperatures. The place names were either Indian or Gaelic/Scottish. From Aberdeen to Inverness, Iona and Inverary, many typical place names were imported from the Scottish Highlands. This time there were even some viewpoints and I pulled out my camera for the first time to play tourist. We enjoyed the first view of the fabulous Cape Breton and its spectacular national park!

The highway led us directly to the ferry. No chance of getting a seat tomorrow or the day after. Thursday would be the next opportunity for 214.- CAD and a six hours crossing. The dogs were free if they stayed in the camper: they would certainly manage that!

It didn’t matter, we just stayed on this side of the “channel” for the time being and we would rest now, which I had planned for Newfoundland. I could also make my further plans here. We found accommodation at a very quiet campsite for 30.- CAD a night with all services, free internet access and a view of the water. Here we would take it easy until departure time.

Nova Scotia – View to Cape Breton, NS

Campsite „Arm of Gold“ near Sydney, NS

Canadian province Newfoundland and Labrador (NL)

Newfoundland:111,390 square kilometres - 500,000 inhabitants - almost 10,000 km coastline - capital St. John's - oldest city in North America in former times the poorhouse of Canada today: fishing, tourism and oil production

First route with partial sectionsChannel-Port aux Basques to the Viking settlement L'Anse aux Meadows – 700 km

We actually made it! After six hours of crossing, we were able to set foot on Newfoundland soil. I say it again and again: Don't give up on your dreams! Stay true to your resolutions!

After my accident near Toronto in 2010, I never thought I would be able to continue my journey to this remote corner of our world. At that time, the eastern part of Canada and the Maritime Provinces were already dead to me for financial reasons. After all, I was also four years older!

And now this! I just couldn't quite grasp it yet when our ferry arrived in Channel-Port-au-Basque. We were over an hour late because the ship could not leave the harbour in North Sydney until much later, due to the tide being too low. The Canadian mainland wept tears for us and covered itself in mourning, i.e., fog. The veil only lifted on departure. For the dogs, it was another long period of absence, but they could move freely in the camping car, had food and drink, as well as enough warmth and air. In any case, they were not locked up like in the flight cage. Nevertheless, they were happy to see me again after this second long separation! Such love and loyalty are simply wonderful!

We made it through our two days of waiting at the goldenarmed campsite. The first day was crowned with lazing after the long journey, a long walk around the campsite and planning for NF. On the second day, I sat at the PC all morning and booked one Provincial Park after the other for our round trip. I did that just in time to be able to book most of the campgrounds as I had already missed out on some at the end of June! I looked for WALMARTS and checked commercial sites on the internet. Gros Morne NP also required advance booking.

With all my research, I became more and more aware that I absolutely could not make ends meet over a month's stay - except with stress. I did not understand that. So, I let the planning run until the end of July. I wanted to take my time, because I certainly wouldn't come here again in this lifetime to catch up on what I had missed.

Channel-Port aux Basques greeted us as Newfoundland should: freezing cold and in fog, with residual snow on the low hills. Mind you, it was the beginning of June! By now it was eight o'clock (four and a half hours’ time difference from Bavaria) and the dogs urgently needed to go out. We stopped briefly at the information centre at TCH #1 on the way to the "Cheeseman PP". I stocked up on groceries as a precaution, took the dogs for an invigorating walk - as did some other ferry guests - and headed for the overnight spot. Here I could even get electricity, which was not the case everywhere.

After being fed, my two companions lay contented and full on various armchairs and carpets. If only they could guess that they were among the most well-travelled dogs in Bavaria! I tried to use the electricity for a short while longer to write my reports. Basically, I was as sleepy as my two mice and, after uploading the pictures, soon fell into the trap as well. Good night!

Ferries in Sydney NS with a view of the city behind

Arrival at Newfoundland (NL) Channel-Port aux Basques

Newfoundland is not Spain!

That was clear to me this morning when I opened my eyes! I could already hear the rain pattering on our roof tonight, but when I looked out of the window at around seven o’clock, I couldn’t see anything at all – only the densest fog. On top of that there was an icy and strong wind. You know this kind of thing from Scotland, don’t you? I could forget about any sightseeing tour. Anyway, there was a lot of organising to do. Three hours of “morning exercises” and we were ready to go at eleven o’clock.

This was followed by a bold leap by me into yesterday’s visitor centre so as not to get soaked in one fell swoop. I wanted to check my emails there, as contrary to expectations there was no reception in the Provincial Park, and at the same time I also wanted to check my reservation confirmations for the next few days, as I was still waiting for two night confirmations in my plans.

Oh, horror! I had accidentally deleted the confirmations and neatly emptied the recycle bin... How to get the missing data now? With so many reservations, I didn’t even know which park I had missed, let alone the date or its reservation number. That’s why I could only be helped by the centre’s crew with their cross-connections.

The friendly ladies moved heaven and hell to find a superior place in the programme. Their efforts were successful and after some time a fax arrived at the office with all my lost data. In the meantime, we had a nice and detailed chat. In return, I promised to pay them a visit on my return trip after my extended journey and tell them about my experience. I had the feeling that they would be happy to have something to do besides the daily monotony!