As Channel 5's Extreme Frontiers series with CHARLEY BOORMAN starts next week, the actor and global adventurer talks about some of the highlights of his expedition across Canada

I’M NO stranger to the wilderness having braved some of the toughest terrain on the planet but I’ve never experienced anywhere quite like Canada.

On expeditions, such as motorbiking through Europe and Asia for Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor and across Africa during the Race to Dakar, I’ve whipped through a lot of countries quickly but one of the places I wanted to spend more time exploring was Canada.

For Extreme Frontiers I spent seven weeks travelling 10,300 miles across Canada’s 10 provinces, from the eastern Atlantic coast to the western Pacific and up to the territories.

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What struck me most about this country, apart from the friendliness and fierce national pride of its people, was the diversity of the landscape.

From the Scottish feel of Newfoundland to the forests and prairie lands of the central provinces, the majesty of the western Rocky mountains and the barren tundra in the north, Canada couldn’t be more different.

Here are some highlights:

GETTING HIGH IN ALBERTA

Scaling the 8,865ft peak of Mount Fable, 50 miles east of Calgary in Alberta’s Banff National Park, was incredible.

Situated in the Rockies, these peaks stretch for 3,000 miles and are so large they feel almost biblical in scale.

To my trainer Barry Blanchard, the stuntman who coached Sylvester Stallone in the film Cliffhanger, it was probably easy but when I reached the final narrow stretch of rock with a 1,000ft drop either side, I was petrified.

Barry looked like he was casually walking a dog but I was attached to him by a rope literally quivering and hanging on for dear life.

The elation and relief on reaching the summit was awesome and, as for the view, you could see how the tectonic plates had pushed the mountains up.

GOING DEEP IN LAKE HURON

Lake Huron is one of the world’s largest freshwater lakes spanning 23,000 square miles but it’s so vast you feel like you’re in the middle of an ocean.

We took a boat from Tobermory in Ontario to dive down to the Niagara II wreck.

I’m quite an experienced diver but the water was so cold I had to wear three wetsuits.

It was that sort of brain freeze cold you get when you eat ice-cream.

I spent an amazing 40 minutes 100ft beneath the water exploring this beautiful wreck.

NEWFOUNDLAND’S TITANIC ICEBERGS

We headed north of St Anthony where our skippers, the hilariously wily  Perry  brothers, assured  us  we'd find  icebergs the size of  Buckingham Palace that have floated over from Greenland’s glaciers.

Some are 20,000 years old and are used to provide everything from local drinking water to assisting in the production of beer.

Sure enough, our brave fishermen steered us right up alongside a staggeringly beautiful lump of ice.

We got close enough to chip off a block  which  we  used in sweet- tasting vodka and tonics.

 

SADDLE UP IN SASKATCHEWAN

Canadians love rodeo and the Calgary Stampede is the largest in the world.

I travelled to Maple Creek, 50 miles west of Medicine Hat in the province of Saskatchewan.

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Here I got a chance to ride one of the bulls, which makes riding a motorbike look like a piece of cake.

I lasted a whole seven seconds before landing on my derriere.

COMPLETING THE CIRCLE IN THE ARCTIC

The most remote place we visited was an Inuvialuit hamlet of 1,000 people called Tuktoyaktuk on the north-western tip of the Northwest Territories.

It’s on the Arctic Ocean north of the Arctic Circle and is so cold in winter you can drive up the frozen Mackenzie River to it.

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Each family is allowed to hunt whale to eat in the winter.

We visited in the summer by seaplane and camped on the beach.

● Charley Boorman was talking to NICK McGRATH

● Charley Boorman’s Extreme Frontiers, Monday, 9pm, Channel 5.

THE KNOWLEDGE

Canadian Affair (0207 616 9999/ www.canadianaffair.com) offers 10 nights in Alberta including three at Blackstone Mountain Lodge, three nights in Calgary with two days at the stampede and four nights in Maple Creek from £2,299pp (two sharing), room only.

Price includes return flights to Calgary and 10 days car hire.

Canadian Tourism Commission: 0870 380 0070/ www.canada.travel