After our aborted attempt to go to the Northwest Passage back in August 2018 because our ship hit the rocks within 24 hours (the story can be found in our early posts on this website), we are leaving for Toronto this week to start our latest attempt, make the journey and tick that off our bucklist.
This time we are sailing with Quark Expeditions on its new ship, Ultramarine, which will be a massive upgrade from the old Russian cold war ships that were used by One Ocean in our 2018 attempt. We have travelled with Quark Expeditions before to Antarctica in 2012 and from Kangerlussuaq across the Davis Strait to the Hudson Bay in 2014, both voyages being fantastic memorable experiences. The voyage is entitled “Northwest Passage: In the footsteps of Franklin” and we board the ship in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland after a charter flight from Toronto.
Map of voyage as on the website of Quark Expeditions
The trip, like the 2018 one, is primarily historical and follows in the footsteps of the ill-fated voyage of Sir John Franklin which left Greenhithe, England in 1845 tasked with finding a way across the top of Canada, referred to as the “Northwest Passage”. Franklin and his men sailed in two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and overwintered on the ice for two winters before they abandoned the ships. Franklin had already died by this time and the crew tried to hike back to the nearest civilisation via the Back River. All 129 perished hundreds of miles from the nearest civilisation.
We hope to see the graves of three of the Franklin crew who died in 1845/6 on Beechey Island as well as other artefacts left over 170 years ago. As you would imagine and even with climate change, the window for this trip is very short and there is normally only a couple of months a year when the ship can navigate this area, so expeditions are always subject to weather and ice conditions. This means that the route can change at a moment’s notice if the ship’s captain feels that safety is compromised.
In addition to the historical side of the trip, we will also visit remote Inuit communities and see the fantastic wildlife such as polar bears, walruses, whales and countless species of birds.
Some polar bears we saw in the Hudson Bay in 2014
Our posts on this trip will be more sporadic as we will be out of good wifi range for much of the trip but updates will follow when better communication allows. We look forward to you joining us on this very chilly trip.
Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022 (apart from the Quark Expeditions route map above)
When we were booking this trip to Bulgaria, we thought we could go slightly further afield, on our non-Trabant driving days, and pop across the border into Serbia and visit the historic town of Nis, the birthplace of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great. Tripadvisor offered a day roundtrip which looked just the ticket.
The morning of the trip dawned and as we were having breakfast in our hotel in Sofia, the local travel agent called to say the trip was cancelled. The reason being that it was taking 2 to 3 hours to get across the border, each way. Apparently, there were a lot of Turkish travellers on the way home to Turkey for their holidays and they were using the crossing along with the usual lorry traffic. Daniel, the local travel agent, said that if we wanted, he was taking a small group to Skopje, Macedonia, that day and we could join this tour. So after 20 seconds of debate we agreed to go to Skojpe, the capital of what is now called The Republic of North Macedonia.
Before becoming an independent country in 1991, The Republic of North Macedonia has been under the influence of the Romans, Serbs, Bulgarians, Ottoman Empire and for much of the 20th Century was part of Yugoslavia. Hence, from independence it was called The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia until its name change in 2018 to North Macedonia to settle a dispute with Greece over appropriation of symbols and figures that Greece considers Greek culture such as the Vergina Sun (on the old Macedonian flag) and Alexander the Great.
The old (left) and new (right) flags of Macedonia
It was a good 4 hour drive to Skopje from Sofia and we crossed the border with the formalities taking about 10 minutes each way. In Skojpe we met our local guide who would show us around the town for a couple of hours. Skopje had a devastating earthquake in July 1963 that had reshaped the development of the town so the area around the River Vardar has been rebulit with many impressive buildings and statues of the likes of Alexander the Great. Some of the new riverside buildings were being used by Government departments and commercial businesses.
One of the parts of Skojpe that had not been devastated by the earthquake and cleared for rebuilding was the Old Souk area which contained many small shops selling all types of essentials for the locals, with some tourist shops for those things you never knew you needed. Mixed amongst the shops were some old bath houses (some were now used as museums) and caravanserai dating back to 15th century. A caravanserai is a travellers inn where the animals were put on the ground level overnight and the riders housed on the first floor. They were located a day’s ride from each other to not over-tax the animals, so roughly 30 miles apart along the trade route.
The CarvanseriInside the CarvanseriThe Bathhouse now a museuum
Probably the most famous resident of Skopje was Mother Teresa of Calcutta, now Saint Teresa of Calcutta. She was born in Skopje to Albanian parents in 1910 and after 18 years in Skopje she moved to Ireland and then to India where she spent most of the rest of her life until she died in 1997 at the age of 87. A museum dedicated to her life is in the centre of Skopje and it displays the Nobel Peace Prize certificate.
The final stop on our day trip to Macedonia was to visit the Matka Canyon where the Treska River has been dammed and the Matka Lake formed above it. The drive up the mountain to the dam was very tight and not for the nervous motorist. There are some interested Vreio caves that can be visited by a short boat ride from the dam and it is a very popular destination for locals on their days off. We were told that there are also some underwater caves that possibly could be the deepest in the world, although this has not been confirmed.
After the boat trip and caves we drove the 4 hours back to Sofia arriving at 10 pm. A long day but worth the trip.
After two years and our early exit from Australia, we are finally going to be travelling outside of the UK and on the road again, quite literally.
We are driving the legendary Route 66 from Chicago, Ilinois to Santa Monica, California covering a total distance of 2,448 miles.
Why is Route 66 so revered and iconic I hear you ask and why is it called the Mother Road? That is credited by some to John Steinbeck the American author who won the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature. In his famous social commentary, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck proclaimed US Highway 66 the “Mother Road.” Steinbeck’s classic 1939 novel, combined with the 1940 film recreation of the epic odyssey, served to immortalize Route 66 in the American consciousness.
Perhaps for many of us outside of the USA, it started later with Robert William (Bobby) Troup Jnr’s 1946 song Route 66 which was sung by many famous artists over the years including Chuck Berry but whatever the origins of the legend, it still holds a mystic as it did to Bobby Troup when he wrote the song on his drive along Route 66 to Los Angeles to try and make it as a musician and actor.
A short history is that in 1925, the US Government enacted a public highways act for national highway construction and the numerical designation 66 was officially assigned in 1926 to the Chicago to Los Angeles route. Route 66 was intended to connect the main streets of rural and urban communities along its course as most small towns in those days had no access to a major national thoroughfare.
Its diagonal course linked hundreds of predominantly rural communities in Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas to Chicago; thus enabling farmers to transport grain and produce for redistribution. The diagonal configuration of Route 66 was particularly significant to the trucking industry, which by 1930 had come to rival the railroad for pre-eminence in the American shipping industry. The abbreviated route between Chicago and the Pacific coast traversed essentially flat prairie lands and enjoyed a more temperate climate than northern highways, which made it especially appealing to truckers.
By 1970, nearly all segments of original Route 66 were bypassed by a modern four-lane highway. The outdated, poorly maintained vestiges of US Highway 66 completely succumbed to the interstate system in October 1984 when the final section of the original road was bypassed by Interstate 40 at Williams, Arizona.
An interesting history and, whereas much of the original road has succumbed to the interstate road system, our route will be taking the same east to west trajectory and we will be visiting many relics and pecularities of Route 66 on our journey.
Our route will be as set out in red on the map above starting in Chicago and finishing in Los Angeles with the following stages:-
1. Chicago to Springfield, Illinois 2. Springfield to St Louis, Missouri 3. St Louis to Springfield, Missouri 4. Springfield to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 5. Oklahoma City to Amarillo, Texas 6. Amarillo to Santa Fe, New Mexico 7. Santa Fe to Albuqueque, New Mexico 8. Albuqueque to Monument Valley, Utah 9. Monument Valley to Winslow, Arizona 10. Winslow to Kingman, Arizona 11. Kingman to Los Angeles/Santa Monica, California
We will be staying for 1 night at some stages and 2 at others so that we can take in the local sights. Those sights include (1) making a vist to the Amish area around Arthur in Illinois which is the 5th largest Amish community in the USA, (2) a detour off Route 66 to Monument Valley on the Arizona/Utah borders to see the unusual rock formations and (3) a visit to the Hoover Dam as last time we were there we did not have enough time to visit the museum and go on the tour inside the dam.
You may wonder why we are not including Las Vegas in the trip. Las Vegas is not considered part of the original Route 66 and, having enjoyed its delights in 2018, do not feel the need to go back there like we do with the Hoover Dam that we visited from Las Vegas.
So fingers are crossed that the dreaded COVID will not put the kibosh on our travel plans this year as we have many trips planned in addition to this one.
When we were planning our holiday to Australia, one event on my list to complete the bucket list, was to literally walk over the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We have seen so many programmes with celebrities doing it (most recently an old documentary with Clive James), I thought that it had to be done.
It was pre-booked from the UK so Sue had the whole holiday to nervously contemplate the event.
Our hotel, the Harbour Rocks Hotel, was an old converted warehouse and as the name suggests, was situated in the Rocks area of Sydney which is between the Bridge and Circular Quay/Sydney Opera House. Very handy for the bridge climb as we were only 5 minutes walk to the climb centre on Cumberland Street.
There are various options for the climb, the Summit (3.5 hours), Summit Express (2.5 hours) and Sampler (1.5 hours). There are even Mandarin and Japanese climbs with guides who speak the appropriate languages.
We decided not to make it more difficult than necessary and chose the English speaking Summit (3.5 hours) climb rather than the Mandarin or Japanese versions. The safety briefing in Mandarin would have been a nightmare for Sue although I am sure I would have got by.
The safety briefing is very thorough and, after removing all of our clothes, we were kitted out in climb suit and safety harness. Every accessory was fixed to us: sunglasses, hat, even a handkerchief, but nothing else could be taken due to safety reasons, so no cameras or mobiles.
Our guide, Mitch, told us that it was the perfect weather day for the climb, perfect visibility, sunny and warm with no wind. They did still climb when it was windy but stopped just short of gale force.
The climb is along walkways that have been put in to allow maintenance and when one gets on top of the bridge, there are hand rails on both sides and steps so extremely safe. The only tricky bit is the four flights of stairs one has to climb to get from the road level to the top level of the arch. They are reminiscent of stair on ships and very steep.
The bridge does expand and contract with the temperature but you would not notice it when you climb although you do hear the trains rumbling over the bridge and the sound of the cars.
The views were spectacular, Opera House, Harbour, Sydney CBD, etc but as we were not allowed cameras or mobile phones, or in fact anything that could fall off, we could only admire the views and not record them for posterity. We did make some photos stops and Mitch obliged by taking some photos and a video that we could purchase (surprising that) after the climb.
A view from the top
Sydney CBD
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would recommend it although Sue was not so keen as she will explain.
Sue’s view
Never have I been so terrified. I had had assurances that climbing the bridge would not be scary. I had climbed the O2 in London and that was fine. I was not in any doubt that the safety aspect would be second to none and it was.
When we headed off our group of seven was asked if anyone was nervous. I immediately put both hands up. Why was it that nobody else did? ‘You’ll be fine’, assured Mitch our guide (who also carried out repairs on the bridge). ‘I’ve managed to get people up to the top that were in tears’…. Well, I wouldn’t be going that far!
After a practise steep stair climb we headed off. I had seen images on line of several steep steps before an easier climb. What I had not bargained for was an extremely long walk along a narrow metal gantry with a thin handrail. Below was a huge drop, to where I do not know as I didn’t look down. All I could hear was the traffic on the bridge above bumping over expansion joints. This walk seemed to go on for around 10 minutes. I was about to quit but I couldn’t stop as others and our guide would get way ahead, and I would delay others behind.
When we eventually stopped to admire the view (not me) and discuss the qualities of the engineering I told the guide I could not go on.
‘Ah, don’t worry, I’ll bring you up front’. Well it was a ‘chicken’ sandwich with the guide ahead of me and John behind. I was terrified to go on, but terrified to return. In fact, other guides would have to come up to get me down and I would still have to walk that long plank of a walkway!
Thinking things could not get worse we headed for the metal stairs. These comprised level after level after level of about 20 vertical steps at a time, where climbers hung on to the narrow handrails either side. It was far steeper than climbing a ladder.
Once at the top of this section we had reached the arching of the bridge. What great timing for yet another view of the whole harbour. I could not look. This stepped walk was more gradual but again went on endlessly. During this time we stopped for the customary photos, me trying to smile, knowing I will have to look at those photos in the future.
The bridge across the top
Having reached the top, what next but to walk across the width of the bridge with eight lanes of traffic and a train wizzing underneath. Time to admire the two national flags above us and have a video. Will this journey never end?
Then it was time to make our way down, slowly and with plenty of photo stops. The trouble was the nightmare had not ended. It was just as scary for me going down as it was going up.
The bridge climb was an experience I will never forget… or repeat. Thank goodness they did not offer a buy one get one free. It would be one offer I would refuse!
The weather in Edmonton has been fantastic today, 26 degrees Centigrade, sunny with a nice breeze. Not what we were expecting but very welcome before the frozen north on Thursday.
The city is set in a valley with the North Saskatchewan River running through the middle. We are staying in the downtown area, in the historic Fairmont Hotel MacDonald (see below) that overlooks the river.
It seems that Edmonton was originally a Hudson Bay Company outpost where they found coal in the Victorian times which was mined extensive until the decline of coal mining that started during the Great Depression with the mines along the river all moving out of Edmonton by the mid 20th Century.
Edmonton now has many parks along the river where the mines once were which give a nice feel of open space in the middle of the urban areas.
I am sure that you are all aware that the Oilers are the Edmonton ice hockey team and we visited their home at the Rogers Place in the aptly named Ice district. Rogers Place also hosts music concerts with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Fleetwood Mac playing there in the next few months. Unfortunately, there is nothing on this month for us to go to.
We did see Wayne Gretzky though, one of the Oilers and the NHL’s greatest players who was inaugurated into the Hockey Hall of Fame after his retirement in 1999. He is lifting what looks like a milk churn but is actually the Stanley Cup which the oilers won 4 times.
Near Rogers Place there is a novel site called the Open Air Neon Sign Museum. So as not to lose the city’s heritage from the early 20th century, with sponsorship and the use of the side of the Telus building, they have restored and hung neon signs that were once placed around the town when neon signs were the latest tool for promoting a shop, business, theatre or railway. It is very effective and much better than the graffiti that often adorns the side of buildings in so many cities.
We are off to Fort Edmonton tomorrow which is, I understand, an area where they have recreated streets from various times in the history of the town.
