Trip of a lifetime!

Je ne parle pas Francais

My 48 year old high school French isn't up to the task. Is there an english version of the invitation?
 
Ron,

Sorry, didnt check. I just plowed my way through.

They are setting up an 8 episode TV show, wherein a crew of modern day voyageurs will wear period clothing, paddle full size birchbark voyageur canoe from Montreal to Winnipeg, downsizing their Montreal canoes for Canots du Nord in Fort William. Basically, they will be doing the full deal.

The link described their solicitation for crew.
 
With all that effort for historical accuracy, it's unfortunate that some parts of the old route won't be the same as in the days of the NWCo. Dams have altered many of the waterways. The saddest example of this is the once mighty and dangerous Winnipeg River (Lake of the Woods to Lake Winnipeg), now a mere shadow of its former self.

Anyone interested in the canoe route from Montreal to Athabasca should read Eric Morse's classic Fur Trade Routes of the Voyageurs - Then and Now.
 
No parle either

For us non-Francophone types here is a translation site I often use.
http://world.altavista.com/
The machine translations are often a bit weird, sometimes pretty funny. One I especially liked from the page we're discussing is this requirement for a candidate:"to have already lived of the diversified experiments of full air". Sounds like a good condition for anyone.
________
XL600R
 
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They're on their way

I was biking back from work the day before yesterday, using the bike path that runs along the north shore of the Ottawa river near the city of the same name. There is a lookout spot at a turn of the path near Des Chênes rapids where I usually expect to see spandex-clad inline skaters relaxing and swigging water.

Instead, that day there were a dozen or so hippie types crouching in the grass, strange clothes, strange people, they had a fire on, some sort of improvised shelter... what the hell is going on here, have they come from the moon? Hey, they have a canoe too!? At which point I remembered this thread.

I stopped and had a quick chat with a few of them. They were having supper, had had a rough day (windy) but seemed in a good mood. There was no filming crew in sight - apparently they stick around when it's nice but go back to the hotel when it's not. On the river they have 2 zodiacs following the canoe, and no, they don't use paddles for the zodiacs.

I wished them a good trip and went my way, half-wishing I was one of the paddlers instead - no wind in my dreams...

Martin

P.S. Sorry, I forgot to check out the canoe.
 
That was a rare and chance encounter!

From what I've seen in photos, the canoe looks pretty good. Almost as good as my paddles that go with it ;)
 
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