Exploring Churchill’s rugged beauty by bike (just watch out for polar bears) | Canada Voices

On a sunny July afternoon in Churchill, Man. – and at 14 Celsius it feels positively balmy by local standards – I’m out for an e-bike ride with the Daleys, father Dave and daughter Danielle.

That’s right: a bike ride. After travelling all this way to a remote northern outpost better known for polar bears and beluga whales, I’ve come to explore the Hudson Bay coastline on two wheels.

We’re cruising around town, checking out colourful murals, the harbour and Cape Merry, the rocky point at the edge of town where the remains of an old stone battery overlook the mouth of the Churchill River.

Mr. Daley points out where some of the earliest settlers built their homes and the shoreline where his own family once lived. A lifelong Churchill resident and a pioneer in Indigenous tourism, Mr. Daley has spent decades guiding visitors across this rugged northern landscape. Through his company, Wapusk Adventures, he’s best known for dogsled tours that run in winter and summer. Ms. Daley has helped expand the family business with guided e-bike tours in town and, for those a little more adventurous, along Hudson Bay.

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As we head out along Coast Road, a vast stretch of tundra lies between the road and the bay. It’s covered in moss, low shrubs and scattered boulders. Fireweed is in bloom, streaking the landscape with bright magenta-purple. It’s an unexpectedly beautiful sight in this stark landscape.

We pull over and Mr. Daley stops beside a patch of Arctic cotton grass swaying in the wind. He brushes his hand across the soft white tufts.

“If Churchill was a candle,” he says, “this is what it would smell like.”

Travelling by bike slows everything down. You hear the waves. You smell the wildflowers. You notice things you’d miss through the window of a vehicle.

And out here, there’s something else to watch for.

Polar bears.

“Keep your eyes on both sides of the road,” Ms. Daley says as we pedal into an area locals call Polar Bear Alley – a stretch of roadside boulders covered in decades of colourful graffiti left by visitors passing through town.

“And if you see a bear,” she adds, “get behind Dave.”

She pauses.

“He’s got the gun.”

This is clearly the only tour in Churchill where you hope you don’t see a polar bear.

Before the trip, my friend Phil Hossack – a veteran photographer who has shot images all over the world – described Churchill to me as “exotic.”

I now better understand what he meant.

Getting to this remote northern town is a journey in itself.

Most visitors arrive by plane. I came the slower way – a 44-hour ride from Winnipeg on VIA Rail. The train runs twice weekly, leaving Winnipeg on Tuesdays and Sundays and returning from Churchill on Thursdays and Saturdays.

The train carries an eclectic mix of travellers: tourists heading north in search of polar bears or beluga whales, locals returning home after medical appointments or shopping trips in the city, and everyday people from across North America – many of whom could never afford a high-end fly-in Arctic safari.

One of the pleasures of the journey is chatting with fellow passengers about what brought them to Canada – and Churchill in particular.

Among my fellow passengers is an elderly man from Washington state on a personal mission to dip his toes into some of the world’s great bodies of water. Hudson Bay, he tells me, will be his latest.

Others include a nurse from Harrisburg, Pa., who has begun travelling to places threatened by climate change; a young woman from Florida celebrating her birthday with a solo adventure; and a group of University of Toronto students travelling north for a two-week field research course.

Underneath the sound of pages turning on books, the rattle of the tracks, the occasional conversation between passengers and the tooting of the engine horn, there’s a sense of quietness. It’s soothing.

At one point the train waits unexpectedly in Canora, Sask., to allow a freight train to pass. Advised the delay will be about an hour, passengers were allowed to disembark and many of us wander into the small town and discover an ice-cream shop.

And there’s plenty to see. Much more than you would see from 30,000 feet.

The train rolls through farmland and wetlands before pushing north into thicker forest and muskeg. At one point it slows for a moose standing stoically in a canola field near the Saskatchewan border, the animal apparently undecided whether it prefers Manitoba or Saskatchewan.

By the time the tundra finally comes into view and the train pulls into Churchill early in the morning, the journey itself has become part of the adventure and it makes the destination feel earned.

Truth be told, Churchill had never been high on my travel list. Living in Winnipeg, the idea of venturing even farther north never held much appeal – polar bears, belugas and Northern Lights notwithstanding.

But when I heard about a bike tour along the Hudson Bay coastline, and that I could get there by train, my sense of adventure was engaged. Churchill has also been in the news lately amid renewed interest in the Arctic and the town’s port, which made the timing feel right.

The trip delivered plenty of rewards. I watched beluga whales swirl around our boat in the Churchill River and, yes, I did see a polar bear – from a safe distance on a tundra vehicle, not from the bike.

Mostly, though, I discovered what a cool little place Churchill is – its people, its history and its wild setting on the edge of Hudson Bay.

And it definitely left me longing to see more of Canada’s North.

If you go:

Wapusk Adventures offers guided e-bike tours in and around Churchill, including rides along the Hudson Bay coastline. Tours are $139 and are led by long-time Churchill guide Dave Daley and daughter Danielle Daley. More information: wapuskadventures.com

While most visitors reach Churchill by air, VIA Rail’s train is the only overland route to the remote town and offers a slower, more scenic journey. The full 44-hour trip from Winnipeg operates twice weekly year-round, with return economy fares starting around $323 in summer. Sleeper berths start around $577, while private cabins begin at approximately $719.

Travellers looking for a shorter and more affordable rail option can drive about eight hours from Winnipeg to Thompson, Man., and board the train there for the final 16-hour journey north. Economy fares from Thompson typically start around $75, with sleeper berths beginning around $300. More information: viarail.ca

The writer was a guest of Travel Manitoba and VIA Rail, which did not review or approve this article. Stories are based on merit; The Globe does not guarantee coverage.