TOTAL GUIDE CANADA Rail Adventure
And if you don’t like trains… Chris Nye has more moving ideas
The Cabot Trail by convertible
PHOTOGRAPHS: Alamy, Axel M Mosler, Getty, Superstock MAP: ACUTEGRAPHICS.CO.UK
To fully enjoy the beauty of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, you really need the roof of your Ford Mustang down. The 300km Cabot Trail has jawdropping vistas round every headland as high, rugged peaks meet the Atlantic Ocean. Look out for bald eagles above you, humpback whale tails breaching the surface of the sea, and stray moose munching by the road.
The Niagara winelands by bike Liquid attractions aren’t limited to the falls on the Niagara Peninsula between Lakes Erie and Ontario; it’s Canada’s largest wine-growing region, too. Taste premium selections on a twowheeled tour: wine-lovers have 60 vineyards to pootle around, along scenic, waymarked cycle trails, that follow reassuringly flat waterways and lake shores, and gently rolling back-country
You can hop out for some hiking or swim from sandy beaches, and in the seaside villages, the island’s Acadian-Gaelic music scene – particularly good in The Red Shoe pub in Mabou – blends perfectly with the local whisky. North American Highways (01902 798008, www.northamerican highways.co.uk) has a seven-night ‘Nova Scotia Cabot Trail’ selfdrive from £1,295pp, including convertible hire, insurance and return Heathrow-Halifax flights.
Hiking British Columbia
lanes. Highly recommended: the Old Vines Chardonnay from Angels Gate Winery; and be sure, too, to gargle a glass or two of the celebrated Cabernets and Pinots at Calamus Estate Winery. Frontier Canada (020 8776 8709, www.frontiercanada.co.uk) has a six-day, self-guided cycling holiday around the Niagara Peninsula from £1,139pp, including all equipment and return flights from Gatwick to Toronto.
Canada’s Rockies at a canter
Lace up your boots, strap on your backpack and hit the coastal mountains and plains of British Columbia, just a couple of hours away from downtown Vancouver. Roam for days on end through romantic wildernesses with names like Lost Lake or Galloping Goose Trail, climbing fir- and pine-clad peaks, traipsing over glaciers, picnicking in alpine meadows,
Alberta’s rugged Rockies have stood in for Wyoming in many a Western, including Brokeback Mountain. So on a horse-riding holiday in the Banff National Park, as you ride your new best (four-legged) friend along mountain tracks, past waterfalls and forests, you’ll feel as if you’ve landed a bit part in Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe’s River of No Return. At the end of
and scoping out bears and wolves. You can go on your own, but it’s best done with a guide, your kit carried by packhorse. Hooked on Canada (01501 740985, www.hookedoncanada. co.uk) has a four-day ‘Alpine Meadows and Lake Hiking’ trip in BC’s Chilcotin Mountains Park from £993pp, full board, with equipment and guide. Air Canada (0871 220 1111, www. aircanada.com) flies HeathrowVancouver from £679 return.
each day, hop off for a hearty meal round a campfire. Best of all, the trip is suitable for firsttime riders as much as experts. Holiday on Horseback (00 1 403 762 4551, www.horseback. com) has a guided four-day ‘Wilderness Tent Trip’ from £590pp, which covers food, horse and tent, but not sleeping bag, air mattress or flights. BA (0844 493 0787, www. ba.com) flies Heathrow to Calgary from £627 return.
October 2012 Sunday Times Travel 77