Part Five: Ontario. Chapter 3, Rail Trail Life, Crosby to Lindsay, 1441-1710km.
Living a dream life on the Trans Canada Trail! This is one of the few longer sections of the trail that allow horses, and we appreciated it every day!
From Michelle's place near Crosby, we headed off on the Cataraqui Trail, a lovely taste of the Canadian shield as we traversed lakes and rocks. We spent a beautiful peaceful night at Wilma's place right on the trail, before having a short day into Sydenham where Bruce and Michelle scooped us off the trail and saved us from a hot afternoon. Rested up and revived, we scooted along Westwards. I was getting worried about Wilson's back feet - unfortunately the new sized boots didn't seem to be working any better on his back feet (he really twists his feet when he walks), so I begun to make plans to get him shod. Fortunately for us, lovely legend Laura swooped in and saved the day - not only did she provide a lovely place for us to rest, she also worked tirelessly to find me a farrier and some sedative (because Wilson is a bit of a... Character 😉). It went super well, with farrier Dan handling Wilson's quirks like a pro!
We set out clippity clop with Wilson enjoying the freedom of his shoes but a bit uncomfortable on gravel still. We had an amazing camp at Joe's place by a beautiful lake, then pushed on along the rail trail until we reached Hoards, where the kind and generous Amy let us camp at her restaurant Chubby's, and I had a delicious dinner with one of the most impressive salad bars I've ever seen! Well fed, we headed off to Hastings and onwards to Peterborough, where the legend Dorothy picked us up to save us going through the city and took us to her beautiful property near Lindsay. The next day the boys enjoyed a day walking along the trail back to Lindsay naked and tack-free!
It's been a big week for us, but we're travelling well. The boys had a vet visit and their teeth done today, and we're enjoying a bit of a rest before heading off hopefully on Friday to make our way North of Lake Simcoe and towards to Bruce Peninsula.
Unfortunately Jack has just developed a bit of a saddle sore, so I'm working on a new solution/new saddle - hopefully we can sort it out tomorrow. It's kind of crazy how these issues can just suddenly pop up, even after such a long time on the trail! But as long as you can identify an issue and work to fix it, that's the most important thing to manage small problems and stop them becoming big ones.