By breakfast at 07:45 we had reached 73N 163W and had travelled 450 nautical miles from Nome. Passing the Icy Cape we were now off the North Slope. These are the last miles of the North American continent where the tundra slopes to sea level and the Arctic Ocean. The Cape was found on 17th …
During the night we crossed the Arctic Circle. We ate breakfast at 66N 168W as we were about to leave the narrow section of the Bering Strait, staying on the USA side of the international boundary between the US and Russia and the International Date Line. Here are two islands – Big Diomede(Russia) and Little …
Essentially, today was a ‘getting there’ day. An 05:00 breakfast followed by an 11:30 flight to Nome via Anchorage. En route there were beautiful views of snow-capped peaks and glacial lakes. At -9 GMT we are on board the ship at the tiny town of Nome (64N 165W). It is a rainy and wind-swept scene …
Today our luck was in as power had been restored to the Maritime Museum. We toured St. Roch which was supported by very many copies of maps and documents not only related to Larsen’s voyages but those of Amundsen, Franklin and those involved in the search for Franklin. Canada Place (improved docklands) is backed by …
We arrived in Vancouver and disembarked at 07:15, transferring to the hotel in Vancouver. This is the third largest and fastest growing city in Canada. Our morning walk took us across the Art-Deco Burrard Bridge. Its decorations recall the arrival of Captain George Vancouver (British) who arrived here in 1792. He encountered First Nation people …
Overnight we had travelled over the last remains of the Prairies and awoke as the train was on the edge of the Athabasca River. It flows north from its headwaters of the Athabasca Glacier towards the Arctic Ocean. The murky white water of the river indicated that it was of glacial origin. The sun was …
After Winnipeg, but overnight, the train crossed some of Canada’s most fertile land. The flatness was broken only by farms and grain elevators. These are used to store grain, in particular, before loading onto freight trains. Most of them these days are built of steel and concrete but a few of the original timber ones …
Overnight we crossed more of the Shield, passing small communities where the trains have to be requested to stop. We moved to -6 GMT. By breakfast we were still passing lakes and forests at Auden, a busy logging centre and home to the indigenous Ojibway people. At 09:53 we passed the east bound Canadian, Train …
We departed Toronto on ‘The Canadian’ or Train 1 for the 2,795 mile journey to Vancouver. This will take 4 days and 4 nights. Overnight we stayed in the Royal York Hotel, formerly Canadian Pacific Hotel. Such hotels were provided for passengers who had to wait for connecting trains that only ran on a small …
Overnight we crossed New Brunswick to Quebec. After breakfast we followed the south bank of the St. Lawrence and by lunchtime had reached Sainte-Foy. This is the railway station for Quebec City. As a terminus it involved crossing the Quebec Bridge, a smaller version of the Forth Railway Bridge, both backwards and forwards. Before entering …