21milesranand 2kilogrammesofpeanutbutter

So after a good weekend out at the cabin, it was back again to Winnipeg. Obviously I was happy that my beers were here waiting for me too! My main aim as I have explained, for this week was to get 20 miles on the clock and get my fitness back up a little bit, so I started off with a 6.7 mile run on Monday morning followed by a 4.2 miler on Tuesday. There was no quiz night on Tuesday night either and so we headed off to Memorial Park in the city centre in the evening where there is yet another twilight movie showing. This week was The Wizard of Oz – a classic, obviously. So there were people dressed up like the tin man and Dorothy and a huge blow up screen on the grass in front of the Legislature building. A good and free night out for everyone! We also spotted a weird ‘Hose crossing', sign the way out as well as a knitted bicycle frame cover. Bikes obviously get cold in Winter – Only in Wolseley!!

Yes, the bike is wearing a knitted jumper!!

What?

Scarecrow. tin-man, Dorothy and the lion - who is who!?

The huge screen.

Wednesday was an early start – for Buffy at least. She had been invited again, to appear on Breakfast television, to talk a bit more about camping. This time she had two slots – one for Comfortable camping and another for Campsite Etiquette, which we spent an hour or so talking through on the evening before. She was up at 4.45am and away into town just after 6. I got up at 6.15, did a 4 mile run and made it back in time to watch and record her TV appearances. The rest of the day for me was spent making more homemade burgers – using a cool burger patty maker I bought yesterday. The patty maker works really well and I ended up with a dozen burgers that we can take with us as we are off to the cabin again this coming weekend and will be cooking them on a barbecue as well as making a full English breakfast for everyone, with some lovely thick European style back bacon, breakfast sausages and even real baked beans. Mmmmm-Mmmm, I can’t wait!!

 

Buffy on breakfast tv - a dodgy version recorded at home

In there are 12 frozen burgers, made by.....

 

...this - my new fangled burger patty maker!!

Thursday was a busy day – as we are off on a canoe trip into the wilderness next week, we had to do a little shopping to get in the supplies. So, we met up at The Real Canadian Superstore and spent a little over $100 buying all sorts of stuff – from pasta to Pad Thai sauce – we even bought a 2kg tub of peanut butter. Now, there are 4 of us going for 4 days, but I do think that 2kg of peanut butter is a little excessive. I’d like to see anyone after eating half a kilo of peanut butter in 4 days, which is the equivalent that we would have to eat to finish it. But what the hell, we don’t have to carry it all as we will be in boats most of the time and so at least we will have a lot of variety and a lot of food to eat when we set up camp. I’m obviously taking my camera on the trip and will do a special post sometime next week when we get back.

Just some of the stuff for the canoe trip

Do we really need THIS much peanut butter!?

Friday was an early start – my last run of the week – I had planned to complete 20 miles this week, trying to get my fitness back and yesterday I gave myself a mock test – the old army 1.5miles – which I completed in a few seconds over 10.30, which I was really happy with. So today was a mellow 2.5 mile loosener to try and relax my legs a little and give my dodgy toes an easy morning. I have now done a little over 21 miles this week and feel a lot fitter for it. I plan to continue the fitness theme when I get back from the canoe trip. For now though, I am packing for yet another weekend at the cabin, which we are due to depart for in the next hour or two.

So at 3pm on Friday afternoon, we were picked up by Buffy’s dad and headed on out to the cabin again. A nice evening in was spent reading and Buffy finally completed building her Dinosaur, who has been named ‘Master’. It was funny, when she finished it, watching the dogs reaction to what must look to them like a new small dog, with a bad temper. Cuddy, in particular got close, heard the dinosaur growl and then carefully backed away keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the thing!

It was a warm pleasant evening and so Buffy put up her hammock to sleep in on Saturday night. Unfortunately for her, a short while after she had climbed into it, it started to rain and so she ended up in bed listening to the drops hitting the roof above us. I did manage to get an hour’s kip in it late on Saturday afternoon after an early start on Saturday morning. 

We had gotten up early in order to go and visit Camp Stephens – This is a summer camp for kids where Buffy’s brother Stefan works for the summer and today was the end of a six week canoe trip for some of the youngsters. When they return they are given a hero’s welcome back to the camp and friends and family all turn up to see their kids return. We drove into Kenora where we took a boat across the lake to a small island and the camp. Here, we all sat on the grass overlooking the water and watched as the trippers returned and spent the next hour performing their skits telling us all about their trip, the strange people they had met and the things that they had seen. It was a fun morning and good to see them being presented with their red chequered shirts that they will wear in the future to travel back here and see the next trippers on their triumphant return in future years.

The trippers return

All ready to tell their stories..

haha like this!

Awesome chips.....

on a street named after the original chipman!

Mmmmm real chips!

Back in Kenora after a rough return ride across the lake, we hit the infamous Kenora chip truck. This is an old truck, which now never moves and serves gorgeous thick cut English style chips – just like we get at home. It even smells like Skegness!! We enjoyed a couple of big servings as we sat at the end of ‘Chapman street’, - named after the original chip man who has been here in town since 1957!!

It was then back to the cabin and an afternoon kip in the hammock, before we grabbed the homemade burgers and cooked them for dinner on the barbecue. They weren’t as good as last week’s versions, but still good!

After s Saturday night spent doing a near impossible jigsaw, while enjoying the fire and a few beers, we had a good night’s sleep – me in the big bed and Buffy out on her hammock. It didn’t rain tonight either, so she enjoyed a good sleep under the clear sky and the stars above!

Sunday was a bit of a hectic day. We had to collect some of the gear we need from Aunt Megan’s place as well as arrange to meet Stefan and then find a way back into the city, repack our personal stuff alongside the new gear, then get some dinner, have a shower and take everything around to Pats place, where we are planning on staying the night before we set off tomorrow on our 3-4 day back-country canoe trip through the Canadian shield, ending sometime on Thursday afternoon, near to the east coast of Lake Winnipeg.

So that’s it from me for now – I’m offline and away in the wilderness all week, but will get back online with an update after we return from our adventure!!