Flight to Eden Vale near Toronto and a home for Betty for the winter

Sunday the 2nd of July

 

The Beech with Martin's balloon vehicle ready to go

The weather looked much brighter today even though there was a strong wind and still quite some showers in the vicinity, but it looked good enough to make preparations for the final flight of this trip.

 

Betty and a vintage Ferrari

As we loaded the aeroplane, a fellow balloon pilot., Martin Unsworth and his young son turned up. They had heard we were in the area and Martin couldn't resist to drive all the way from Montreal to see us. It was lovely to meet him and next time indeed, we should make a balloon flight over the city as Martin suggested!

 

Martin and his son

At ten past ten we took off and headed nearly due West across massive forest, more lakes and very wet fields. It must have rained non-stop here for weeks so wet was the ground.

 

heading towards Toronto

Dodging heavy showers, John skilfully landed the Beech at the Eden Vale airfield north of Toronto.

 

a wet landing

Our ever so kind local support team - mainly in the form of Chris Horsten and his partner Melaya - were already there and Bill the airport manager guided Betty with flashing lights to her new home in a fancy brand-new large hangar.

 

Bill and Phil in Betty's new hangar

We also met another Chris, the local mechanic and engineer who will look after Betty and later on the airfield owner himself (a nice man who indeed owns the whole outfit including several hangars and the entire huge property).

 

pushing the aeroplane

As soon as we had pushed Betty into her hangar – by the way next to a dismantled Lancaster ! – Phil and Chris shot off trying to find a hire car for us, whilst Melaya, John and I retreated to the local airport café.

 

Betty in her new home

There was hardly time for a prolonged farewell when the men came back with the car, as John had to rush to Toronto to catch his flight to Seattle. (he made it – just!).

We then loaded the balloon into the car, tight but it all fitted in, and set off heading south east towards lake Ontario. It was the start of a long weekend with Canada day and the 4^th of July coming up, so traffic was dense but after two hours we reached the little town of Whitby, booked us into an Holiday Express and called it a day.

 

Bye Bye beautiful lady!

What a relief to have found such a great place for the faithful aeroplane that had performed so well on this challenging trip. We felt really bad. Like parents who leave their child behind… nevertheless we found a decent bar and celebrated the successful adventure with a good bottle of Californian wine and Shepard’s pie!

Hard to believe that we won’t step into an aeroplane tomorrow but sit in a car driving on busy motorways heading for Boston…

The places we have seen were extraordinary and already make us want to visit more of those remote corners of the world. It makes me stand in awe how people survive and live in such harsh and desolate places but then there was also this unique beauty about them despite the cold, the isolation and the lack of bars and restaurants.

Thank you all who followed us on this Trans-Atlantic crossing! And thanks to everybody involved in the long and tedious and often frustrating preparations with this expedition! It's finally paid off.

We hope to continue the quest for more countries by balloon and aeroplane next spring with a trip through Central America and out to Cuba! Watch this space!

PS: I will update this blog once I have a few more youtube videos live and receive the footage of the other team members. There also will be a film released in  couple of months. I will post any links on this blog.

Stuck in Sorel!

                                             Saturday the 1^st of July. Canada day and rain!

Betty and the Cadillac

Got up early and went running trying to find a way to jump into the river for a swim. Found somewhere and had my first swim in 2 weeks which was glorious and a warm 20 degrees.

Winds calm but clouds low and it started to rain soon after. We all enjoyed a huge breakfast at the Aeroclub and made some preps for the US entry and immigration paperwork.

Allies enjoys a huge plate of Crepes

Today being Canada day and a special holiday there had been a vintage car rally planned in conjunction with our aeroplanes and some more vintage aircraft. Sadly due to the bad weather only one Cadillac turned up and posed with Betty alongside for some photographs.

 By late morning the chase for finding a suitable hanger for the Beech was still on but it became clear what we couldn’t fly to anywhere in this weather. John though discovered a very fierce looking red snake - did we fold that one in when we packed the balloon away or how did it get in?

John the snake whisperer

By later noon we were back at our Hostel in Sorel Tracy. Out of all places to get stuck probably the best so far as the place had good wifi, a pub next door and cosy beds.

room nr 6!

A peaceful afternoon catching up with the blog, emails and sleep was actually quite a welcomed break from the rushing around in the previous days. Dinner was spent in a fancy hotel near the river with our very kind and helpful friends from the airfield.

We also finally managed to find a hangar: it’s north of Toronto in Eden Vale and Betty will be cuddling a Lancaster for the winter!!

Flight to Sorel airport near Montreal and country no 85 in my balloon logbook

30^th of June: flight from Schefferville to Sorel/Montreal

The routing of our Trans-Atlantic tour

Being up early to check the weather I found that winds were reasonably light but in the wrong direction. There was no way I could risk a flight without the help of Gilles support and vehicles. So that was that.

the abandoned seaplane 

Going for a jog instead then allowed me to discover an abandoned seaplane by a lake to which I later returned driven by another friendly local guy called David. I managed to communicate with him in my rusty French and learned that the pilot of the aircraft died a few months ago of a brain hemorrhage.

All aeroplanes refuelled and ready we had to say good-bye to Mark and Rocky as they were heading towards the US.

flying over rivers and mountains towards Montreal

Our flight this time took us 540miles heading South towards Montreal covering initially vast areas of more forest and lakes and rivers before the scenery turned to civilization and we spotted more roads, cars, houses, power lines, fields and churches!

Our outback adventures comes to an end. I felt partly sad but also relieved to have made it through some of the toughest terrains on this planet without any harm and I was ever so grateful to our sturdy Betty and to John for his fantastic flying skills. So now I only needed to get Canada in my balloon logbook.

bye bye empty countryside!

And the weather didn’t look promising at all with low cloud, some drizzle and heavy showers en route…

At 2pm we touched down at the little friendly airstrip of Sorel, near St Lawrence Bay. A guy named Louis very kindly drove me to town immediately after landing as we were desperate to finally get hold of some local Canadian currency! We had been more than 3 days now in this country without a bank and a penny of cash on us.

waiting fort things to happen at the airfield cafe bar

Whilst I was down town Phil was desperately trying to sort out hangarage for our aeroplane. So far with no success as every hint turned out to be either too expensive, or too far off route or didn’t have a hangar or too short a runway.

As I returned to the strip at 4pm with Louis I noticed the wind sock just hanging down like a ripe banana from a tree! Let’s go and try to fly NOW!! The weather looked somewhat dodgy but it might just hold and there were no thunderstorms forecast – only the potential rain cloud.

Tim ready for his flight in the tiny folding basket

Surprising Tim with the offer to jump into my basket we both took off from the airfield  at 4.45pm and flew right over Betty! Sooo good to be in the air in a balloon again! Winds were light and heading into just the right direction towards a small country road. 

flying over Betty with another aircraft taxing below us

As I didn’t want to push my luck, I took the first available field that wasn’t crop (and there was a lot of that!) and called it a day! With sweat on our bodies (yes it was extremely humid and a wonderful 24 degrees!!) we packed the kit quickly away and brought it back to the aeroplane.

final landing on a field track

Country no 85 firmly in my book it was time to celebrate a hugely successful journey with 3 balloon flights, stunning aeroplane flying and a great team overall!

After a long wait for transport the friendly airport café personnel drove us to our little Motel in Sorel and we spend a very pleasant evening at the restaurant ‘San Marino’.

 It was great to see darkness again by 10pm and I slept extremely well.

Iqaluit to Schefferville via bear island

Iqaluit to Schefferville. 29^th of June

Sam Rutherford's Saratoga

Taking off at just before 10 am our team headed straight for Schefferville – a place in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the Canadian upper ‘highlands’ as I might call this landscape.

overflying islands and icy waters en route to Schefferville

Our longest flight so far took us just over 4 hours. We first crossed the last bit of half frozen ice and then came over what's called 'bear island' as this was an island where hundreds of polar bears would retreat to. But as much as I stared out of my windows and scanned the barren landscape, I didn't spot a dam single bear. That's it! no more bears to be seen as we were now heading south.

no bears on bear island

bear island as seen from 4000ft

Then more endless uninhabited tundra with millions of lakes and rivers and trees before try touching down on a small strip at the mining town of Schefferville.

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Schefferville used to be one of the largest iron ore mining places in Canada in the 50ies but turned into a dump and very poor area in the 80ies as the mines were closed. Recent local investment has reopened one of the mines and people seem to find jobs again and resettle in the area.

Downtown Schefferville

As we arrived a lovely lady called Clara came up to me inside the tiny arrivals hall and introduced herself to be the manager of the Auberge where we would be staying for the night. 

Clara's hostel near the lake in Schefferville

Her little wooden lodge was beautifully situated on a lake overlooking the hills – the rest of the town having absolutely nothing to offer except one big supermarket (without beers!), a number of quite run down houses and the ‘Bla Bla’ bar.

kids playing with an old mining train model

Clara turned out to be a strict landlord but she later on cooked us a most delicious pork roast with apple pie to follow – and even better: she had a cupboard full of good wines and spirits! Being told that even the Queen had stayed here, we felt suddenly really privileged to be in this weird old place.

Having settled into our hostel, I then decided to explore the countryside.  

up on top of the hill with Gilles and his dog

As I didn’t know the best way up a view point hill, I asked a man near a work shed. It later turned out that it was THE man of Schefferville!  Gilles was his name and he owns all the hotels – including ours - bars, several houses, the ambulance services, various workshops and he also had a personal key for the airport!

a view to the huge mines

He very kindly offered to take me in a ride in his side-by-side (a vehicle that is made for this rough terrain and can easily drive over stones and rocks with no trouble. Riding up the mountain ridge with his German shepherd dog in the back Gilles explained to me the history of the mines and also told me a fascination story of a crashed Beech 18!!

Schefferville is the last outpost for the trains from the South. It takes 12-15 hours! 

lovely sunset over Clara's lake

I tried to get him to come out in the morning to join a potential ballooning expedition but he refused saying that he’s up late every night and doesn’t want to get up early. Hmm.. shame!

The most incredible formation flight from Qik to Iqaluit!

Thursday the 28^th: Qik to Iqaluit via Pangnirtung and the gorge

The day started with a good hearty breakfast by Doug the hotel chef, manager, everything man. 

Our Beech needed some more fuel and we had arranged for a drum to arrive at the airport for 9am, but it turned out to be the wrong fuel.

After quite some time the correct fuel finally arrived and our hand pump eventually saw use. 

Phil and John churning the hand pump

Luckily John knew how to put the pump together and Phil got his ratio of physical exercise by turning the pump.

all three aircraft ready for take off from Qik

The plan today was to fly two shorter sectors via Pangnirtung, swap crew and teams around and then head for Iqaluit, the main town in this part of north eastern Canada.

I was lucky to catch a ride in Sam’s comfortable Saratoga with padded woolen seats, window shades and head sets that didn’t scratch your ears out (like ours!).

(My computer just collapsed again after I have written a long story, so annoying!).

Anyway, I will briefly recall what I had written: 

the team infront of the Beech 

There were two shocks or scary moments shortly after take off: one was a very close encounter with the Beech  as Sam's team tried to film her taking off. 

The second one happened just minutes or seconds later: as I opened the window (Sam's aircraft had specially designed openings for filming), my beloved little ZOOM camera was suddenly sucked out of the hole as it was so light-weight and I didn’t expect such a strong draft! oh no!!!! 

Rest in peace my little thing in the icy waters of Qiqiktarjuaq!  I shall miss that camera very much.

I did most of my documentation and many interesting interviews with it and won't be able to replace it during the reminder of this trip.

 

Betty in formation flight down the gorge

Luckily I still had my ipad and a gopro to film what was to be one of the most incredible flights of my life: 

We cruised in a three-ship formation along this stunning gorge with some of the tallest cliffs in the world and glaciers running down the slopes on those rugged mountains. 

Tim filming with his Gopro in the Beech

It was just out of this world! I managed to get a few great shots of the Beech flying close behind us before we landed at Pangnirtung – another remote little town. 

John concentrating on the controls

We managed to find the only restaurant in town which curiously was a Kentucky Fried chicken come supermarket!

The next leg took us across some vast expanses of flat tundra dotted with thousands of little lakes, tiny bushes and shrubs. We tried to spot a crashed DC 3 that had run out of fuel a few decades ago – just as well that we had decided to top our stocks up in Qik!

Paula getting slightly bored with the long-winded refuelling process

After an hour and a half we touched down at the capital city of Nunavut, one of the largest provinces of Canada namely ‘Baffin Island’. 

It came a shock to our system to see big transport jets and other aircraft buzzing in and out, vehicles driving up and down the runway and ATC rushing us to refuel and get parked.

A short drive took us to the best hotel in town, the Frobisher Inn – the very same hotel as Prince Charles was supposed to stay at only 24 hours later. 

Sorry we missed you Charles! Unfortunately though the hotel seemed to have lost our reservation and it took a long time to dig out a few rooms for us.

the Primary school of Iqaluit

and its Anglican church!!

I gave dinner in the noisy hotel bar a miss and went to explore this town. There is an Anglican church that looks like a Mongolian ger, a primary school without any windows and a huge supermarket that doesn’t sell any booze! 

I climbed a hill to eat my sandwich and enjoyed the views over the bay. What a trip, what a journey, what amazing unforgettable experiences!

view from the top of my hill overlooking the city

Finally an update again on our progress!

Qikiqtarjuaq to Pangnirtung via the gorge (tallest peaks 6050 m and steepest cliff Mt Thor)

The Beech flying through the gorge near Parnitung

Sorry I am now way behind the power curve on reporting and updating but this is mainly due to the lack of internet. Both Iqaluit – despite being the capital city of this huge province called Nunavut – and Schefferville (one of the main northern Canadian mining towns) didn’t have enough capacity to upload any websites never mind lots of photos or videos.

So I am typing those lines now sitting high above the clouds in Betty cruising at 8000ft over the vast and endless tundra-like area of northern Quebec on our way from Schefferville to Montreal/.

Mark inviting Tim to fly with him in the RV at Qik

We have just said good-bye to Mark and Rocky in their RV as they are heading straight for the United States today if they can make it, whilst we will be spending one more night with Sam’s team and I am very much hoping to get my balloon flight in.

It’s been too long now since the last one in Greenland but the terrain and the lack of supporting vehicles or a helicopter meant that my options for flying were seriously limited. The main regret I have indeed, was the lack of frozen ice or snow up North – so maybe next time we do the crossing in winter? just joking...

But we cannot complain: so far we managed to fly or planned routes as per itinerary and we had the most glorious weather on all the highlight days allowing for some stunning film and photographic footage.

...now I have not managed to type much more during that flight as we had to descend to 3000ft and it got very bumpy. But we landed safely and sound in quite some low cloud in Sorel airport which is ca 100miles to the East of Montreal after a long 4 hours flight.

Phil and John having to manually refuel from drums in Qik

It was somehow strange to suddenly see houses, roads, fields and civilization again! I felt party sad partly relieved.

To cut a long story short now as I am running again out of time: I will update this blog in retrospective at a later stage when we have finally found a suitable place to keep Betty for the winter. Time is pressing hard on us to do so and many earlier options have fallen through due to high costs.

Paula and Jeremy testing the ice

From now on you also won't be able to follow us anymore on the tracking system as the rally is completed and Sam will fly back to the UK tomorrow. But you should be able to follow our flight today towards Nashua in the US via flight radar 24.

Sam's Saratoga ready for the gorge flight 

all three aircraft parked in Qik

It will be a challenging day as entry into the US can be difficult. We will have to chose two designated airports to land there and clear customs.

Internet should be better again from now on and so I hope to upload some more photos soon!

Keep fingers crossed find can find a home for our lovely bird who has performed so well!!!

more soon...

Betty at Iqaluit airport