Souris is a small town in south western Manitoba with a pretty cool claim to fame. The longest cable-stayed bridge in Canada (the Swinging Bridge) which crosses the Souris River. Souris is situated roughly 45km south west of Brandon and 65km north west of Boissevain.

My first trip to Souris Manitoba was a bit of a memorable one. It was the first time the wife and I went on an actual ride together for more than an hour and it was…pretty weird. I cannot remember what month it was but it was a warm, extremely bright, and sunny morning when we left home in Winnipeg, then 30 minutes later it started raining. Then it started snowing. When we rode home I had to stuff a couple of ice-cold bottles of water in my jacket to cool off from the heat. Weird, right?

The Swinging Bridge in Souris is an iconic destination to visit and even if you are not a fan of heights you should make the effort to traverse it. Or at least snap a selfie there and tell everyone you did it. Pretty awesome experience. The Swinging Bridge is over 600 feet long and has bridged the river for more than 100 years. If you are only able to make it to Souris once, make sure you don’t miss this Manitoba Star Attraction. Don’t just cross the bridge and run away though, stay awhile and enjoy the rest of the town.

My wife is a bit of a rock hound and Souris has a great agate pit to scrounge for some cool stone finds. Visit The Rock Shop in town to buy some nice finds or a bucket and a pass to go down into the pit to dig your own. We, of course, went into the pit. Motorcycle and all. The wife overloaded the saddlebags with far too many “precious stones”, stretching the straps to the limit. My wife was happy though so it’s all right. One of the finds was my now infamous “potato rock” which I keep on my desk as a conversation starter.

If history is what you are seeking out, Souris has you covered with three different museums to cover all your bases plus some beautiful historic architecture and monuments to visit. When the time comes to fill up on some food, there are some excellent options to choose from like The Dairy Bar, Woodfire Deli, and Antlers & Oak.

Unfortunately for me, all my photos of Souris have been lost in a digital void, leaving me nothing but memories. Which, I suppose, is a fine reason to go back and get new photos and make new memories. The Swinging Bridge in Souris is one of the destinations to visit to complete the Westman Manitoba by Motorcycle challenge.

Program Growth

With brand new locations in Western Manitoba and multiple specialized locations recognizing important Manitoba women there are even more great places to see in Manitoba in 2022. I cannot wait to see all the great photos from all the riders this year.

This year is full of changes to make this program better for everyone. In addition to the 2 new patches we have redesigned the 3 main patches (Statues, Parks and Monuments) and you will be able to claim either the old style while they last (to complete your set) or the brand new 2022 patch with the year as a part of the patch. We will also be holding off the patch mailing until the end of the year and doing it in one bulk mailing. We are doing this to reduce our patch and labour costs by doing it all at once.

Eat Sleep Ride

Many people have asked about being able to participate in Manitoba by Motorcycle on the free Eat Sleep Ride (ESR) app. There have been a few technical troubles and the fabulous team over at ESR have been taking care of them and expect the updated game to launch some time this week. If you have the app installed on your device, it will update automatically. Just keep your eye out for it. If you do not have the app you can download it from your favourite app store or click the image below.