Niagara Falls, Ontario to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario What a great time in Niagara Falls. I love the Falls and have made many great memories here over the last 50+ years. My mom loved going to the Falls and often we would just go for the day. When Bart and I were dating we often went to... Continue Reading →

Sherkston Shores, Fort Erie, Ontario to Niagara Falls, Ontario We stayed up quite late last night - but when on holidays, who needs sleep!! But I did have the best sleep so far this trip, as Debbie and I had a comfy King bed! Loading up our bikes! Our place in Sherkston! It is going... Continue Reading →

Port Colborne, Ontario to Skerston Shores! What a great time in Port Colborne. It was sad to leave our gorgeous accommodations....but we know we are going to another great place, so off we go. We were on the road by 10:30ish. When we originally planned this trip, we were going to stay in Fort Erie... Continue Reading →

Thorold, Ontario to Port Colborne, Ontario We had a lovely breakfast of french toast with fruit and a hot apple crisp with cream! Leaving Robinsong B & B to head to Port Colborne! It is so nice to be cycling on trails. When we approach the Allanburg Bridge we are happy to see that it... Continue Reading →

NOTL to Thorold, Ontario What a great time we had at Pillittieri Winery yesterday. We ended up being there much longer than I thought, 3 hours! She just kept pouring the wine!! and of course we just kept drinking the wine!! She gave us some great deals and we made some purchases for us to... Continue Reading →

Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) The 6 of us - Janet, Margaret, Betty, Irene, Debbie and I (Sonya) met up in Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) at a winery!! Thanks to Debbie we got a complimentary private tour and tasting at Pillitteri Winery Our guide was fabulous!! We learned a lot about the winery and the wines, and we drank a... Continue Reading →

Since my cycle trip in Netherlands 2 years ago with two sisters , I am constantly looking at places to travel and cycle. This time we decided to look in our own backyard - beautiful Niagara!! I grew up and lived in Niagara until I was 19, and when I got married I moved to... Continue Reading →

Our last day on vacation. When I was researching places to stop on the way home from the East Coast, I saw that there was an Amsterdam in Montgomery County, New York State.....and then Rotterdam as well, and other Dutch names. They are named after cities in Netherlands. Cool!! I said...."I want to go there!"... Continue Reading →

We left Freeport Maine around 10 a.m. heading towards Schenectady, New York State. Dang - I totally forgot to make the stop at the L.L. Bean Factory Store which was something I talked about so much for so long. I can't believe I forgot. Next time!!! I caught this pic as we were driving through... Continue Reading →

Travel day. We are taking the ferry from Digby to St. John New Brunswick. We reserved months ago as it only runs once a day at 11 a.m. It goes across the Bay of Fundy 80 kms. and takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours to cross. This pic is early morning at Digby Campground just... Continue Reading →

We spent the day touring around the Digby and surrounding area. This is a part of Nova Scotia we have not seen before so we are excited to see new things! First I had to do a few things in my office (lol) - our clam tent has been great - bedroom, kitchen (if raining... Continue Reading →

Wow what a great day this was. Sunny (a bit hot but I am not complaining!) and a very successful whale watching on the Bay of Fundy. When we started planning this trip last year, I saw this piece of land coming down from Digby into the Bay of Fundy and so started googling what... Continue Reading →

Rain was coming and so we decided to pack up early. We packed up wet but didn't have to pack in the pouring rain which was good. Our tent was just wet from during the night. We are sad to leave a beautiful area, as there is always more that we can find to do... Continue Reading →

The night before at the campfire, we decided we would not stop in Peggy's Cove on the way to Halifax as it looked like quite a bit of rain. In the morning, I got a text from Tracy saying it looks like the weather is not going to be as bad as predicted - let's... Continue Reading →

What a fabulous day in Nova Scotia. We did a road trip around the area and we saw so much!!! First stop was Chester, NS. We first stopped in town at the cafe and a walk through. There was a real estate office and we were checking out the prices for homes - wowza!!! Way... Continue Reading →

What better way to spend our 38th Anniversary than in the Unesco town of Lunenburg in Nova Scotia! What a great day we had and the weather was spectacular. 13 years ago when we came to Lunenburg we wanted to go on the Bluenose, but it was in for repairs and was not sailing that... Continue Reading →

We had one last visit in the morning with John and then off we went heading to Nova Scotia. We hit some construction which delayed us by 40 minutes or so. Tracy got this pic coming over the PEI Confederation Bridge. We have about a 5 hour trip today. Frist stop - we found a... Continue Reading →

Wow - what a great last day we had on the island. We went to Greenwich National Park in the morning. They have quite the nice interpretative centre, which I think is fairly new. They had trails that went to the coast, but they were about 4.5 km. one way and then back, so we... Continue Reading →

Our home away from home!! Wow do I ever sleep good here!! So as I said in my last blog.....don't judge a book by it's cover. John has done an amazing job renovating his family's cottage and he has plans to expand it, to add a bedroom, deck off the back, etc. It was great... Continue Reading →

We left Julie and Jeff's by 9 a.m. and we have a 5 hour drive today. We had a great sleep in a comfy bed and are excited to see what we will see today! It is not sunny but it is also not raining. The temperature is 20 degrees. This was St. John River... Continue Reading →

We woke up to rain and apparently it is going to rain all day, and as I always say "a rainy day on vacation is a better day than a sunny day at work." We were warned last evening by our friend Julie who we will be staying with this evening. We had asked her... Continue Reading →

We got out of Hamilton June 21st by 3 p.m. Yay 2 weeks of vacation. East Coast Canada - here we come!!! We stopped at the Big Apple near Cobourg, Ontario on the way. I hear it is the place to go when you come through, and it was supper time and we thought we... Continue Reading →

So even though Italy wins.....as our next big big trip (in Spring 2026!), we look forward to some big trips within Ontario and Canada in 2024 and 2025! This summer 2024, we are so looking forward to travelling to the East Coast. I am hoping to hear from all of you who have any suggestions... Continue Reading →

When I finish a big trip.....I like to think about where next? I feel blessed as I think I have seen so much, but really I have only seen so so little in this big world! There is so much more to see. I hope to see some of Canada over the next few years.... Continue Reading →

Friday morning! For some of us (Steve and Andrea) this is the end of the holiday. For others they continue for more fun (Bob & Tracy) and for Bart and I we get one more night in the Netherlands and will spend some time with Bart's family in the Rotterdam area. Steve gets the credit... Continue Reading →

April 27th! Happy Kings Day!! Happy Kings Day!! Anne our host gave us great breakfasts. We are all happy that we decided to stay in Delft. The courtyard at our B & B We are happy to be in Netherlands for Kings Day! We first went to the Oude (Old) and Niew (new) church as... Continue Reading →

Happy Birthday Bob!! Bye bye Amsterdam and hello Delft! We took the bus to the Amsterdam Station Zoud to catch the train to Delft. Delft is near Rotterdam. Welcome to Delft! Our B & B was in the old town about a 10 minute walk from the train station (Taken from google) - Delft, a... Continue Reading →

What a great day we had in the tulips. We went to Keukenhof Gardens, the largest Spring garden in the world. We took 2 buses to get us there. It is in Lisse (near the airport) outside of Amsterdam. we are meeting up with a number of people. Chris Hemelik’s (who lives in Hamilton) parents... Continue Reading →

We had a 20 minute walk to the train station from our boat. And then we had to get Tram 1 from central station to take it to our accommodations. Bob and Tracy and Bart and I are staying at Wouter and Zu’s (my Dutch friends) and Steve and Andrea found a B&B very close... Continue Reading →

What a fabulous day in Amsterdam! The rained stopped. It was a bit cool but all good!! We started with a tour of Anne Frank house. I went through 9 years ago, and there were a lot of changes. They have made it a self audio tour. Prior to going into the hiding place you... Continue Reading →

We had a day cruising on the water. We started to see a lot more boats (mostly cargo) as we are getting closer to the North Sea. We are in Netherlands and everything is very flat. I am happy as I love the Netherlands! At 4:30 pm we had a tour of Kinderdijk. There are... Continue Reading →

We arrived to Cologne around 9 am and got a nice view of the cathedral while eating breakfast. We were always in the back of the bus. Our cruise director Wez came to sit in the back to keep us under control. Lol We took so many pictures and heard so much this day that... Continue Reading →

Even though it was rainy and chilly we sat outside at the front of the boat so we could see all the castles through the Unesco site Rhine Valley. Wez our tour guide narrated and gave us the history of all the castles. Wow so many. We passed about 20 in a few hours -... Continue Reading →

Our boat let us off in Speyer where we had a walking tour. All the guides we have are local residents so it is nice as they can answer our questions and know a lot about the history of their village/city. The Cathedral was the burial place of the German emperors for almost 300 years.... Continue Reading →

We had an even earlier start today. 8:15 am. But the 6 of us all made it on the bus…and on time!! We drove across the bridge from Germany into France. And then to Strasbourg France. The history of Strasbourg was interesting - it went from being German to France again and again. Back on... Continue Reading →

This morning we were back on the bus for 8:30 am and off to the Black Forest of Germany. They took the scenic drive there through some quaint villages and through the rolling hills and countryside of the black forest. Steve and Andrea did a hike into the Black Forest. While the rest of us... Continue Reading →

We all had a great sleep last night, from 8 1/2 to over 10 hours. We are all refreshed and ready to go! Today is the day we get on our riverboat! Our apartment in Basel Steve and Andrea went out to get coffees. There was not a lot open on a Sunday morning, but... Continue Reading →

Door to door from Hamilton to our accommodation in Basel was 18 hours. One limo to Toronto, KLM to Amsterdam, a long walk through Schipol Airport, Germany Air to Switzerland, Bus 50 to the Basel train station, and Tram 8 to Marktplatz, where we have an apartment rented. A long but an exciting day to... Continue Reading →

Our last day of our trip we will spend with family. It will be so great seeing them again. Last Spring when I was cycling in Netherlands with my sisters, I had a very nice surprise when we got off the boat from Enkhuizen and there was Ome Hans & Tante Inneke, and Inne and... Continue Reading →

Where will we be on King's Day?! With the King and his family in Rotterdam!I always wanted to be in Netherlands for Kings Day and here we end up in the same City as them on the same day!King's Day is the Dutch national holiday celebrating the King's birthday on April 27th! It looks like... Continue Reading →

Our last 3 vacation days we will be spending it further south in the Netherlands, in the Province of Holland. We have a B&B booked for 2 nights in Delft, which is about an hour train ride from Amsterdam. Delft Delft is home to the Royal Delft Museum. The museum is almost 400 years old... Continue Reading →

Wow time has flown! I last bogged in November that we were planning a Spring trip, and here we are very excited and only 4 weeks away from leaving on a jet plane!!! In addition to our friends Bob and Tracy travelling with us, Steve and Andrea are also joining us both for the River... Continue Reading →

I now know what is next. We booked a trip for next April!! Yay!We are travelling with our friends Bob and Tracy and we are so excited to share Netherlands with them! Bob finally gets to go to the "monkey bar!" in Amsterdam. Lol. He always talks about wanting to go to the monkey bar... Continue Reading →

I was thinking this morning - I miss writing in my blog! and then I thought, is it that I miss writing in my blog?, or I am longing for the next adventure? and maybe both! I started this blog in 2018 or 19 as part of my Social Media course that I was taking.... Continue Reading →

We had 10 great days in the Netherlands just recently! One of the highlights was that we saw family 7 of those days! First hanging out with Jasper in Amsterdam, to a surprise visit from Ome Hans and Tante Ineke, Inne and Vonnetje when we arrived in Stavoren by Ferry, to Willy and Albert and... Continue Reading →

I took my son's GoPro with. I probably should have practiced with it before I went on my trip. LOL. I probably could have tried to keep my head a bit more still........although then you wouldn't see what is to the left and right of us. Also, I found out I should have turned it... Continue Reading →

We had an awesome breakfast from our hosts Henk and Henrietta. What a fabulous stay we had at their place. when we left they gave us Hart, their own town’s baked treat. Her great grandfather was a baker in Spakenburg and created this recipe that is still used today. You decorate the Hart as you... Continue Reading →

We had an early breakfast at 8 am as we wanted to start cycling early due to potential rain. Tueny and her husband had a wonderful spread of food for us, and once again like so many, enough for us to pack a lunch as well. We were packed and on the road just after... Continue Reading →

Hierden is a farming village in the centre-east of Netherlands. It is in the province of Gelderland. Before Euros Dutch money was Gelders, so this must be a rich province lol. This is our destination today. Our host Sandra had a nice breakfast ready for us at 8:15 am. We were all packed up as... Continue Reading →

Lemmer was a great village. I can imagine it gets very busy in the summer months. In the morning Debbie and Janet went to a small bakery in our street and picked up some croissants and pastries. It was an easy and quick breakfast. We also did a bit of shopping in the hema store... Continue Reading →

Hindeloopen is a beautiful village on the sea! So many restaurants and little shops, and beautiful views throughout the town. We wanted to go to one shop before leaving so we waited until 10 a.m. The shop was filled with things from Fryslan, including all the painted art pieces. We were determined to get it... Continue Reading →

What a beautiful place Enkhuizen. We stayed at the mist prominent house in the town. It was a top notch B & B! Ingrid our host had the entire place decorated with so much thought, and we had everything we needed. We had a beautiful view from our room. We were right by the harbour,... Continue Reading →

We set our alarm for 7 am as we have plans to go the Henri Willig Cheese farm before heading to Enkhuizen. https://henriwillig.com/en/visit-us/cheesefarm/ Dirkjan had a nice dutch breakfast for us - fresh breads, cheese and meat and boiled eggs. But the best is that he played guitar and sang while we were eating. The... Continue Reading →

We had picked up our panniers at the bike shop on Sunday evening so we could pack them at our place. in the morning we took the tram to the bike shop. Bart the manager who I have been dealing with for two years was on holidays and the young boys didn’t have our reservation,... Continue Reading →

We slept until 9 am. We needed that after being up for over 36 hours. We really needed coffee and after an hour trying to figure out how to use the coffee maker we gave up. lol I should have taken a video as it was quite funny. We finally downloaded the manual and found... Continue Reading →

May 28th at Noon we arrived. Debbie and I flew from Toronto and Janet flew from Vancouver. Our flights came into Schipol Amsterdam within 5 minutes. Debbie and I went to Toronto early anticipating it being very busy but we got through customs quite quickly and then we had 3 hours to sit and relax.... Continue Reading →

Only 4 more sleeps and we are heading to the Netherlands for our cycle trip! Sister Debbie sent us this video on the rules! My response to her yesterday when she sent it was "just ride is my rule. lol" This morning I thought I would check out the video. Maybe good thing I did... Continue Reading →

My cousin Vonnetje gave us some information to think about. Do we take the bike bus across the Ijsselmeer or do we take a boat across? She says...."by boat it is lovely and easy!" Due to construction on the Afsluitdijk, you are not able to cycle across. It is 32 km long. I was on... Continue Reading →

I have been chatting lots with my riding buddies, Janet and Debbie as we finalize the details of our Netherlands cycle trip. Exciting!!! Vrienden op de Fiets (Friends on the Bikes!) We got introduced to this fabulous organization from a lady we will be staying with along our route. We had booked with her 2... Continue Reading →

When we were planning this trip 3 years ago, I started this blog as part of my course I was taking at McMaster University at the time. I spent a lot of time researching the route we wanted to cycle, and what towns we were going to stay in. Since cancelling our trip 2 years... Continue Reading →

We have been busy finalizing our route and confirming our accommodations, and since we have ALL of our accommodations booked, I would say that our route is also confirmed!! We will be cycling on the LF cycle routes and with the handy routeplanner it has been a great help to narrow down our distances, what... Continue Reading →

I decided that I needed to start training. So I bought a RAD (Ride all Day!) Max Racer Bike Trainer. It arrived today. Yay! Features train indoors all seasonsfolds easily for storage or transportfits bikes with 26 - 28 & 700cc wheelsfront wheel anti-slip levelling standeasy setup, quiet operation (I have my fingers crossed the... Continue Reading →

It has been awhile since I last blogged. Our trip is now only 6 months away so we should be confirming our route. I found this great routeplanner website for Route LF22. It has been very helpful in calculating distances since I am looking to make a few changes to our route. So with this... Continue Reading →

So why did I choose to plan the 500 km cycle trip in the Netherlands? because it is FLAT of course!!! Haha. Actually that is not the reason, but that sure is a bonus! There is a very interesting BBC article on why cycling is so popular in the Netherlands. One person when asked how... Continue Reading →

Day 4 we plan to cycle from Hoorn to Medemblik which will be a 43 km ride. They call this section the Historical Triangle. They have tours with an old steam tram and boat that will take you this route, but since it will take 3 to 5 hours and we have our own cycles,... Continue Reading →

It is important to know the traffic rules when you are cycling in another country. If you have been to the Netherlands, you will recognize some of the things in these pictures - multiple children or pets on bikes, moving furniture, no helmets, etc. Believe it or not - All of these things are legal... Continue Reading →

In May 2020, our cycle trip in the Netherlands will take us 450 km around Isjelmeer Lake. Since the Netherlands is flat I would say "just get on your bike and ride!!" But....there is wind and we all know what biking against the wind is like. I wonder how much wind we will get on... Continue Reading →

Very popular beer around the world!! exported from the Netherlands! Apparently the Netherlands is the world's largest exporter of beer. Hmmm...I did not know that. When I googled this is what I found. For such a small country, the Netherlands sure pumps out a lot of beer!!! Proost!! (Cheers!) Below are the 15 countries that... Continue Reading →

My sisters and I were just on a trip to British Columbia in western Canada last week and since we were together we had opportunity to chat a bit about our upcoming cycling trip to the Netherlands next May 2020. We will be biking up to 500 km around the Isjelmeer Lake in the Netherlands... Continue Reading →

Monnickendam This picture is an aerial view of the city of Monnickendam which will be one of the first places we bike to when we leave Amsterdam. Credit: https://www.holland.com/global/tourism/destinations/provinces/north-holland/monnickendam-10.htm So now that I am looking at the map, it seems there are 2 lakes we will be travelling around. The historic city of Monnickendam is... Continue Reading →

I received an email this past week from Ome (Uncle) Hans from the Netherlands. Oh oh...the longest major dijk will be closed for 3 years in the Netherlands - April 2019 to April 2022. This is on our cycle route and we were looking forward to biking this to get across the sea! This is... Continue Reading →

Zuiderzeeroute - LF Route Thank you cousin Eric for suggesting this book including 6 maps. Exactly what we need to plan this cycle trip. 🙂 I had my Building Social Media Relationships class tonight. This blog is 2-fold: 50% of my mark for my class is this blog (how you can help? - follow it,... Continue Reading →

The Old Post Bakery - "We Have Good Taste!" I had to blog again today as I was quite excited about my dutch bakery find in Beamsville this afternoon. I was suppose to make a dessert to bring, but because my blogging on dutch food took so long, I ran out of time. When I... Continue Reading →

All this talk about good dutch stuff in my blog had someone say "hey where can I get some of these great things locally - like near Hamilton?" Actually someone in my class this week said "when I was in Amsterdam I loved their curry ketchup" and it inspired me to write a blog about... Continue Reading →

THANK YOU to all those in the Netherlands that responded to my blog on Facebook. I have read all the websites you gave me links to and have saved all of them in my "favorite links" on my blog. These will for sure be helpful in the planning of this trip. The last blog I... Continue Reading →

Day 3 of our trip will be leaving Amsterdam and travelling north towards the Afsluitdijk which I think is the largest dyke in the Netherlands. It holds back the North Sea and it created the Isjelmeer Lake that we will be biking around for almost 500 km. I think this is kind of how we... Continue Reading →

If you haven't been to Amsterdam you should for sure put it on your bucket list! I would like to share some of the great finds that I enjoyed in Amsterdam. I have been there 4 times and prior to each trip researched what to do and sent out messages on social media asking for... Continue Reading →

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjTn_EkgQRg This video is a great capture of Amsterdam!! Watch it!! and then read my blog. I have been to Amsterdam 3 times since the Spring of 2015. I fell in love with it and want to go back more than I can (at least what my pocket book dictates!). Amsterdam is the capital of... Continue Reading →

Cruising on the Rhine! Here we are - Margaret, Janet, That's So Sonya and Debbie! This picture was taken on a cruise we took with 6 sisters on the Rhine from Amsterdam to Switzerland. Viking Cruises is an awesome company to travel with so if you are planning on a river cruise check them out... Continue Reading →

Over the Christmas holidays I researched bike rentals in the Netherlands, and since they are the land of the "bike" there are tons of bike rental shops. We want to spend a few nights in the fabulous city of Amsterdam (more on that city later). So I picked A-Bike Rental. I talked to them and... Continue Reading →

We have finalized our cycle trip route around the Isjelmeer in the Netherlands. Not to say that this will not change as the planning is ongoing but this gives you an idea of our route. Actually, from my research this probably gives you an idea of a common route around Isjelmeer. Here is the map... Continue Reading →

There are so many questions or things we need to think about when we are planning our bike trip to the Netherlands, and these points are just coming out of the top of my head: How will we pack and how much can we take along?What if it just pours all day long?What if one... Continue Reading →

Thanks for joining me! In May 2020, I will be going to the Netherlands for a 450 km bike trip around Ijsselmeer Lake. I am going to use my blog as I way of planning our trip, hopefully getting some followers, people who may have completed this trip or a similar one, that can share... Continue Reading →