I handed in notice to work today, which made me a bit sad. I’ll be finished up in 5 weeks and there are 52 days until the adventure begins. I’ve begun getting rid of items that I no longer want, and being quite ruthless in the process. This marks one of the points where I can’t turn back, the other one being when I give notice for cancelling my lease in a week. I imagine that I’ll be a lot more focused from this point forward. During the last few weeks I’ve determined the route that I’ll be taking and put dates against places.

The Route (so far)

Across Canada Route, Missing the bit in the middle

The route across Canada so far. (click for larger version)

The initial plan was to head out of Montreal as soon as I arrived, tour around New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and then get back to Montreal in time to catch some of the Jazz Festival, after hanging out in Quebec City for a few days. After planning the route it became obvious that I would not be able to catch any of the Jazz Festival without skipping a large amount, or travelling excessive amounts per day. In the interest of my sanity, and actually enjoying the trip, I changed the plan to spend a few days in Montreal before hitting the road.

From Montreal I’ll head inland toward New Brunswick, where I’ll pass through Grand Falls, Fredericton, and then spending a day or two in Saint John. I’ll then head up the Fundy Bay coastline,  taking the Fundy Trail Parkway, and check out Hopewell Rocks. From there it’s into Nova Scotia and down towards Annapolis Royal. After checking out Luenburg, Blue Rocks and Peggy’s Cove, I’ll spend a few days in Halifax. Then it’s time to head towards Sydney, along the coast, where I’ll also spend a few days before heading out on the Cabot Trail. At this stage it appears that I’ll be spending Canada Day in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, which is the home town of a friend. I’ll then make my way towards Prince Edward Island, where I’ll head around most of the island anti-clockwise, taking advantage of the historical roads on occasion.

Once getting back into New Brunswick, I’ll follow the Arcadian coastline towards Campbelton and then enter into Quebec again. I plan on taking the ferry at Trois-Pistoles across the St Lawrence River and then make my way down the river towards Quebec City, during which I’ll ride around Ile d’Orleans. I’ll spend several days in Quebec City, resting and exploring the city. By this point it will have been 3 weeks since arriving in Montreal and I would have covered over 5000km of roads.

From Quebec City it a long day’s ride into Ottawa, crossing into Ontario at Hawkesbury. A few days later I’ll make another long ride to Toronto, where I’ll also spend a few days, one of those days will include a trip out to see the Niagra Falls.

The route gets a lot less defined once I leave Toronto. I’ll be heading up towards Sudbury and then across to Thunder Bay, but how I do it is yet to be decided. I’ll try to take parts of the TCAT if the route doesn’t look to difficult. The same is true for the route from Thunder Bay, through Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon and then into Edmonton. I plan on spending at least a day in the cities mentioned above and I will probably weave my way across, as opposed to heading straight through. From Edmonton I’m going to head to Jasper, where I’ll spend a day or two. Then it’s down the Icefields Hwy for a stretch, through Rocky Mountain House and then down into Calgary. After spending a day or two in Calgary, I’ll head south to Bellevue, through the Crowsnest pass and into British Columbia.

Once in B.C. the route meanders from the Crowsnest Pass towards Creston, then up to take the ferry at Kootenay Bay across to Balfour, and continues on into Nelson. Then it’s up through Nakusp and Revelstoke and into Kamloops. I’m participating in the Loose Screw Dual Sport ride, so I’ll need to be there by the 12th of August. After that I’ll probably head towards Vancouver, via Whistler. It depends on how I’m feeling after 2 months on the road and how the funds are going. I could possibly head over to Vancouver Island as well.

I have 15 days to cover the 3500km between Toronto and Edmonton, which averages to 233km/day. As far as I’m concerned, this is a reasonable pace that still lets me see lots.