Interlake Route

The Interlake route follows the western shore of Lake Winnipeg north through Netley March and Gimli to the Hecla Provincial Park.

When in 1875 Iceland suffered intense and destruction volcanic eruptions many of its people chose to leave their beautiful but bleak homeland in search of a similar but more hospitable country where they could carry on with their farming and fishing. Liking what they saw of Manitoba, with its broad fertile prairie and many lakes they settled around Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba.

The first stretch of the Interlake route along the western shore of Lake Winnipeg takes in what was once New Iceland, an independent territory where lived and ruled the descendants of those first Icelandic settlers, and where their Icelandic traditions still live on today. It is worth making a stopover in one of the Icelandic-style vacation resorts that have sprung up amidst the forests of spruce, aspen and Scotch pine. The lakes provide excellent swimming and sailing, and there are small car-free islands where moose and bear can be encountered, while in spring the skeins of geese and duck fly in to breed. The landscape is at its most scenic in the autumn, when the woods become a riot of color and the ripe corn stands high in the fields.