TrishP

Unfortunately, the wilderness places are so heavily forested that it is so difficult to walk, as there are no obvious thoroughfares. I used to live in NW Ontario and the closest I got to being able to walk in the open for a decent distance was during the winter when the lakes froze over, thereby opening up walking routes. It was also more bearable as no bugs were trying to eat me alive!!

Beaches here are really only accessible to those who live near a coastline, as the vast majority of accessible lakefront is privately owned (in Ontario, not sure about any other provinces) and therefore off-limits to the general public. Lakefront beaches don't hold the same appeal to this girl who was born and raised by the sea!

robin1234

With somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000 miles of coastline, Britain probably has more beach per square mile of territory than any other country! It's all different, too, so there's something for everybody. A couple of weeks ago I spent some time on the beach and sand dunes at Horsey in Norfolk, where the largest grey seal colony in East Anglia hang out. Some of the adults were enormous - but despite their size they seemed to enjoy surfing in on the waves. It was an amazing sight, and there were hardly any human spectators there.

vikingsail

Yes British coastline is spectacular and we can all have our favourite parts. How different life can be... here in Nebraska by the Sea we have this overly welathy little rich enclave known as La Jolla (home unfortunately to the likes of Mitt Romney and countless other legends in their own minds), seals unfortunately have a hard time, you can read about it here:
San Diego Council votes to close La Jolla beach in seal pupping season - LA Times

Oh how I long for those days when I can walk a deserted beach without luvvies, dogooders or other angry third parties at each other's throats.

Editha

Most of the farmland around Edmonton was closed to the public, but what prevented me enjoying the countryside even more were the mosquitoes. I've discovered that if you grow up with a type of mosquito or midge, you build up resistance to the bites and cease to notice them. My husband gets the worst of both worlds: he grew up on Vancouver Island, and has no immunity to either the mosquitoes of Alberta or rural Devon. At least here in Devon, I'm not aware of being bitten. My OH has been digging the garden the last few days and last night his bites were troubling him so much he had to take an anti-histamine and a painkiller before he could get to sleep.

Novocastrian

You'd think someone would have measured more precisely by now.

robin1234

Yes! I think it's to do with different ways of measuring the smaller indentations that are a feature of coastlines, especially rocky coasts.

Editha

The British Cartographic Society.

curleytops

Trish, if you don't mind my asking, whereabouts in NWO did you live? I grew up in that neck of the woods a couple of hours west of Thunder Bay. Your assessment of the bush btw is spot on. Walking could sometimes be a challenge in the summer as you'd get eaten alive. Then there was the bigger wildlife to worry about...

TrishP

I was as far north as one can go on paved road in Ontario ... Red Lake!
Where did you grow up? Atikokan? Ignace?

curleytops

I didn't know that's where the pavement ended. My last boss' family had a motel up there. I grew up in Atikokan, my Dad and one of my sisters still live there. They were calling for 4-6 inches of snow there today. Do I miss it? Take a wild guess!

TrishP

Ah, that'll be the Marion family, I'm guessing. Joel married a girl from Atikokan.
I worked for a few days for several months providing cover in Atikokan when the local therapist was on mat leave, so I got to know it pretty well. It was sad to see how a town fares when the dominant industry and employer shuts up shop. Met some lovely people there.

curleytops

Small world! I've pm'd you.

Bevm

Great beaches along the east coast of England, but as you say, cold for swimming.

Dallas Road in Victoria is probably the most popular one, but not a great beach. Willows beach in Oak Bay is also popular and can get crowded on a hot day. I think the water's shallow there so warm enough for paddling.

There's a nice small beach at Gonzales, which is rarely busy, and the McNeil Bay one is generally quiet, but it doesn't have much sand. Or didn't. When we were there it was coming in from somewhere. But as a walking beach, it's fine and it has tidal pools and such, along with the spectacular view of the Olympics.

I grew up playing on the beach in Morecambe, so I suppose I assume cold water for swimming!

Bevm

I don't know where you're from originally, but I'd say Victoria has more than a few weeks of hot days. It's generally all summer, but rarely reaching 30, which is fine by us! Perhaps you think of that as cool.

Long Beach has sand and there are others nearby, but it's a fair way to the west coast of the island. Lovely over there, however.

europlatus

I'm from Cheshire originally, so I definitely did not grow up with hot weather. Summers here in Victoria are wonderful, sunny and dry. But they're not hot. You typically get just a couple of weeks where the temperatures are above 25 degrees, and I was referring to those weeks as when you might want to dip your toe in the icy water here. The average high temp in summer here is just 20 degrees. I love the summers here, but I could do with it being just a bit warmer, especially in the evenings when it cools down considerably in the downtown neighbourhoods.

Not that England will be better of course. I'll certainly miss the sunny, dry summers here.