Nicholas Ruddick
“I’d had a copy of Nicholas Ruddick’s book, The Bruce Trail End to End: Niagara to Tobermory the Hard Way, on my Kindle for some time. Earlier this year, I finally read it. And what delight it was. The 446-page book!! is really Ruddick’s blog in book form, complete with images of what Ruddick spied along the way. While I read it on my Kindle, I suggest it would be a better read in paperback or on Ruddick’s website. The reason this is so is because of the wonderful photographs. And as is the custom for many blogs, each photo is described in Ruddick’s friendly, succinct style. … It’s a great read if you love the Bruce Trail as much as I do and a must read if you are planning an end to end hike yourself.” — Nicola Ross, author of the Loops & Lattes hiking guide series
This book was chosen by the Bruce Trail Conservancy to represent the Bruce Trail at the Online Book Fair organized by TMI Trail of Taiwan in 2021.
When they retired, Nick and his old friend Mike both moved with their wives from Regina, Saskatchewan to southern Ontario: Nick to Dundas and Mike to Hamilton’s lower city. Nick (then 65) had been a university professor and Mike (70) a senior civil servant, and in spring 2018 both were in need of a new challenge. Though neither had any experience of long-distance hiking, they decided to take on the Bruce Trail end to end. The Bruce, which follows the devious course of the Niagara Escarpment for 890 kilometres/553 miles through southern Ontario, is Canada’s oldest and longest waymarked hiking trail. Two and a half years later, after battling rocks, roots, heatwaves, mud, ice, noxious insects, and their own mortality, they managed to complete the Trail … in the middle of a pandemic. Was it all a nightmare? No, it was one of the greatest experiences of their lives. This book, illustrated with more than 300 colour photographs, is Nick’s opinionated photo-documentary of what they encountered and endured on the long, hard, but utterly inspiring journey from Niagara to Tobermory. If these two could do it, perhaps you can too.
The Bruce Trail End to End: Niagara to Tobermory the Hard Way (Wilmar Editions, 2021) is a slimmed-down, buffed-up version of Nick’s popular 72-part online photoblog. It comes in two formats:
The paperback is divided into 9 chapters, each based on a Bruce Trail Club Section. It also contains an introduction, a conclusion, and an index. There are over 300 high-definition colour photographs, with captions varying from one sentence to one page in length. It makes a great gift for anyone who is contemplating hiking the Bruce end to end, or a fine keepsake for those who have completed the Trail. 6” x 9”. 301 pages. ISBN: 979-8701140552. $49.00 or less from Amazon.ca. The Amazon listing allows you to Look Inside the book.
The ebook contains the same material as the paperback except for the index. An economical alternative, it is delivered instantly by Amazon worldwide, and can be read on a computer, tablet, Kindle reader, or smartphone. $10.00 from Amazon.ca.
Holmström Ruddick 