The Pas to Winnipeg - 26th August

I woke up at 5am and immediately realised the train was stationary. I couldn’t understand why we weren’t moving, so when I looked out of the window and saw we were in The Pas station, I knew there was something wrong. We should have left The Pas at 3am, after a three hour stop.

I went into the dining car and talked to Richard, the attendant, who told me that the delay was because the train bringing the driver to take over our train here in The Pas, was held up by a goods train. The railway is single-track, with very few passing points. At first we were told that the train bringing the new driver should arrive at 7am, but then it was announced we would have to wait for a 3pm departure, because the new driver was over his permitted daily hours and they had to find a replacement.

I realised that this meant the earliest we could arrive in Winnipeg would be 5am the next day, and the likelihood was that it would be even later than that and, as a result, we would have no time at our hotel. There was also the possibility we might miss our flight from Winnipeg to Toronto and our connection to Heathrow.

I discussed our alternatives with Wendy and we agreed to see if we could fly to Winnipeg. After a few phone calls, we discovered that a local carrier, Bearskin Airlines, had a flight from The Pas at 4pm, arriving in Winnipeg at 5.25pm. A rapid decision was taken to book the flight at the extortionate amount of $700 CAD each! Still, it meant we would not have to abandon our booking at the Fort Garry Hotel and we would be certain to catch our flights to London.

A major problem on the train was that the toilet holding tanks were now full and the toilets no longer worked! The train staff assured us that a tanker had been arranged to pump out the tanks. It arrived and started the process, which caused an awful smell!

A large mural of polar bears by the side of the track, with our train in a siding in front of the station.

We now had a couple of hours to spare to walk around The Pas visiting places we had seen when we were here in 2010.

Close to the station was a Dairy Queen fast food outlet, which we had visited on many occasions when we crossed the States with Bob and Thelma. Thelma loves their milkshakes, as do I!

Downtown The Pas was pretty run down, but it was good to see the places we had visited before.

 

The Sam Waller Museum where we had seen a two-headed calf on our last visit. It is one of the more interesting buildings in The Pas, but was unfortunately closed until the afternoon.

 

The Lady of our Sacred Heart Cathedral.

The town 'square' with its large Inukshuk and murals of Inuit life.

On our tour of the town, I booked a taxi to pick us up from the station at 2pm. We got back to the train and said goodbye to Matt and Vicky from England, who we had met on the way to The Pas. Vicky was about to start a year at Winnipeg University and Matt had obtained a year’s work permit. He was a flooring contractor and hoped to get work in Canada using his flooring skills. We wished them good luck in the year ahead.

Once again, we were saying goodbye to some really nice people who had all accepted the problems of the train journey without a single complaint. Our taxi arrived at 2pm for what we expected to be a ten mile ride to the airport.

On the way out of town, we went past the Kikiwak Inn, where we had stayed in 2010 - another moment that brought back good memories.

 As it turned out, it was about thirty miles to The Pas airport and cost $75 CAD! I should have taken the driver's suggestion when he picked us up, of getting Via Rail to pay. Still, we were on our way, as opposed to being stuck in The Pas.

The Pas airport terminal building was very small, but it did have a TV that was showing the Manchester United v Chelsea game from Old Trafford! The airport is at Clearwater Lake - the "clearest lake in the world". Dana, the lady who checked us in, lives by the lake. She is responsible for check-in, baggage and security and told us liquids and toiletries are allowed in hand luggage, so no throwing away of water bottles was necessary!

Outside on the tarmac were several yellow fire-fighting planes, belonging to the Province of Manitoba.

We watched our plane land and taxi in front of the terminal building. It was a twin-prop Fairchild Metroliner that carried 19 passengers, although there were only 7 or 8 other people on our flight.

Our flight took off on time and was uneventful, even though Wendy was not very happy about the plane being so small. We reached Winnipeg at 5.30pm and took a taxi to our hotel, The Fort Garry. It is one of the Canadian railway hotels and is a magnificent building.

When we checked in, we were handed a letter left by Brian and Brigitte, who had stayed at the hotel the night before before flying on to New Zealand. They were recommending a tapas restaurant on the other side of the Assiniboine River close to where it splits from the Red River at The Forks.

We went up to our room on the 2nd floor. When we opened the door of our room, we were surprised to see we had been given a three room suite, such a contrast to the cabins on the ship and particularly the train!

We looked at a local map to see where the recommended tapas restaurant was and decided it was too far to walk after the long day we had endured. Instead, we walked to Union Station and close by was an Earl's restaurant, one of Bob's favourite eating places. We had an excellent dinner, but made the mistake of ordering too much. We should have split a main course instead of ordering one each.

On the way back to the hotel, we asked at the station when our train was due in and were told it was expected at 6am. Thank goodness we took the flight from The Pas!