Friday 23rd September to Sunday 25th September: Family time and going home.
We spend our last day centred around family which was a good way to end our trip.
We spent a very enjoyable evening on Thursday with Anne and Heath and their children, Aubrey and Ewan.
On our way back from Ottawa to Carrying Place on Friday, we called in to see Christina and Wayne. We had a good journey apart from a delay caused by some road works. On the journey, Christopher and Denise overtook us but we were concentrating on the road so much we didn’t see them waving to us!
We had a great time with Christina and Wayne and spent a long time chatting over lunch. Christina showed us some photos she took of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Canada.
When we got to Christopher and Denise’s home, they showed us some photos of Olivia, their new granddaughter. She is very cute 🙂 Denise also showed me the progress she had made with her quilt. Since we had left, they had taken the boat out of the water and were preparing to pack up the pool for the winter.
John woke early on Saturday morning and realised the sunrise over the Bay of Quinte looked marvellous so he came and woke me up to see it. I’m glad he did. We both went back to sleep after I took a photograph!

I spent the morning re-packing the luggage so that we didn’t have to pay to put an extra case in the hold. John went to check over the hire car. In no time at all it was time to pack the Mini ready for driving to the airport.


We set off to Toronto International airport after lunch. We had to go on Highway 401 which was rather daunting as it becomes 6 lane each way near Toronto. It was also stressful that we had to try to find where to return the hire car. There were clear signs to the different terminals but not to the car rental drop-off point … we only saw the sign after we had turned onto the wrong road! We managed to work out where we were, come back and have another go. This time we got it right!
After that everything went smoothly and we had plenty of time to get a meal and read our books. The flight was uneventful and we were amused to see that although the sky had been clear over Canada, Ireland and Anglesey, it was cloudy and raining at Manchester when we arrived on Sunday morning!
We were really pleased to see Liz waiting for us when we walked out of the arrivals hall. Liz drove us back home and to the end of our holiday.
It felt cold and we weren’t quite sure what day of the week it was or the time of day, but we were glad to be home. We had been away for about 4 months and slept in 34 different beds!
On our trip we have travelled by:
- Ship / boat: freighter, 3 different ferries, 3 boat trips
- Train
- Bus
- Car – during the last 6 weeks we drove approx 6,000 km / 3750 miles with the hire car – about what we would normally drive in a year in the UK!
- Plane
Our overriding impression of Canada is that it is BIG and beautiful, and friendly. We enjoyed seeing different parts of the country and watching the wildlife.
Most importantly, I am glad I was able to meet so many members of my family and enjoy their company.