Cross-Canada: Day 10
London to Toronto Distance: 227 Kms Time: Approx. 4 hours
We started off at the Wellington Road. S. Shell station in London where we met a loyal James Deeks, who has now been working for Shell for an uninterrupted 12 years. From here we headed back onto a now busy Hwy 401 east. There was the usual abundance of transport trucks heading towards Toronto, that in some places, slowed traffic as they attempted to overtake each other. We stayed on the 401 until we exited onto the 403 directing us towards Hamilton. Roughly half way between here and Hamilton we went through the town of Brantford. 
This town has several claims to fame. Alexander Graham Bell made his first telephone call from here to Paris, Ontario in 1876. It also has a number of notable people that were born there such as Hockey Legend Wayne Gretzky and Comedian Phil Hartman.
Further up the 403 we entered Hamilton a blue-collar, steel town. The city appears to be divided in two with the city centre and industry packed onto the shores of Lake Ontario and towering over the city is the Niagara Escarpment.Here sits most of the affluent residential areas overlooking the cityscape and Lake Ontario.
Once through here we noticed the dramatic change in our surrounding environment, gone were the farmer’s fields replaced now by heavy urban sprawl. The 403 changed to the Queen Elizabeth Way as we entered Burlington. Due to 
the congestion the traffic suddenly came to an abrupt halt. Lucky for us we only had to travel one junction until we exited and headed north of the city and onto Hwy 5 eastbound. Highway 5 runs north of the cities of Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga through mostly residential neighbourhoods. Along here you could really see the urban sprawl of the Golden Horse Shoe. The countryside north of all three places seems to be being gobbled up by vast new housing developments.
After Mississauga we headed back up to join a very different Hwy 401. Here the highway is huge, up to 10 lanes in each direction in places. Once on this really busy highway we noticed a dramatic change in peoples driving habits. It 
seemed that everyone traveling along had turned into raging devils, their manners and patience thrown out the window when they first cranked their engines. People were weaving in and out of the already slow moving traffic, as if their lives depended on getting to their destination. On a few occasions we passed the very same car that had cut us off five minutes before, in their eagerness to be ahead of us. We both agreed that Toronto wasn’t the best place to drive in when in unfamiliar surroundings. Luckily we have only one more day of this heavy traffic, noise and road rage!
Tomorrow is a maintenance day, but we will be back on the road on Saturday. We will have an update of our status tomorrow and let you know of some changes!
A big "hello" goes out to the people we met on route today!
James Deeks in London
