Ron Baylis

Alumni Type: Immigrant
Port of Entry: Halifax, Pier 21
Date of Arrival: March 26, 1964

I arrived at pier21 on March 26 1964 and took the train to Toronto where I was met by my aunt who had been living in the leaside district of Toronto and had bought a house there for $14,000! I stayed with her for 2 months until I moved in to an apartment with 3 men I had met. I worked for 3 companies during the next 10 years and joined tennis and badminton clubs. One day I was invited to go on a moonlight hike on the Bruce Trail which is near Toronto. I enjoyed it so much that I joined the Toronto Bruce Trail Club which provides a program of hikes each weekend led by Club leaders. After a while I became a leader and organized a weekend of hiking staying at a lodge which provided accommodation and meals for the 50 people who came on the trip. I organized several more weekend trips during the coming years all of which were well attended.

In 1977 I was working for BP as a sales rep. when the company downsized the department I was working for and I was let go. I decided to try organizing weekend hiking trips as a business naming it “Comfortable Hiking Holidays”. In addition to weekends I added a 2-week trip to England staying at a big country house, hiking in the surrounding countryside. This trip was so successful that in the coming years I was able to add hiking holidays to the Rockies, Austria, the Finger Lakes in the U.S., Hawaii, Crete, Corfu, New Zealand etc. and even Winery hikes in the Niagara area. I even met my wife on a Bruce Trail hike so she was able to be my assistant leader. I continued the business for 20 years so in 2003 I decided to retire and sold the company to the couple who lived next door and they have continued to run it with great success.