Part Five: Ontario. Chapters Four and Five, Lindsay to Tobermory, 1710-2135km.
We had a few lovely rest days at Belgian Haven in Lindsay, having a chat with the pony club kids and enjoying some down time. But we needed to get around Lake Simcoe to continue our way towards Tobermory, and it was quite a detour as we headed around the north side to avoid the busy built up areas and towns further south.
We jumped back on the rail trail for half a day, before taking quiet roads towards Kawartha Lakes, where we had a lovely night sheltering from the cold and rainy at Cathie's place. Dorothy walked the whole day with us from Lindsay, which was such a nice send off! From Cathie's place we headed up into the alvar, a conservation area of native grasslands growing in shallow limestone soil. It was such a beautiful area, with some lovely campsites, and Doe brought us lunch for the next two days! How great is that!!
We crossed Highway 11 near Washago, then scooted back onto a rail trail for half a day to arrive at Sheri's place near Coldwater, where we feasted and restocked on feed. This area on the west of Lake Simcoe is busier, and it took some careful planning and lots of local knowledge to find a safe, quiet route down to Apto, where a long day saw us met on the trail by Charlene and Joe, who escorted us through some beautiful forest trails to arrive at the back of their property, thereby avoiding some heavy traffic. From there, we continued to weave our way towards the Bruce Peninsula, following the sideroads and backwaters.
Our little taste of Fall was replaced by an Indian Summer - everyone qas quite excited for the return of hot days, but I would like Fall to come back, please and thank you!
Summer continued to burn with a vengeance as we travelled through the beautiful rolling hills South of Collingwood. The leaves were just starting to turn, and this piece of country was just stunning, with quiet roads and picturesque farms, and of course many pretty sunrises as we were getting underway early each day to beat the heat.
We had the great pleasure of staying a night with Katrina and Giles, who own and breed Akhal-Teke horses. It was so impressive to meet one of their majestic stallions! From there we pushed on to Chatsworth, where we were picked up by Pete and Kim, and taken around the busy areas of Own Sound to have a few days off. The hot weather and nearly two weeks of travel had gotten to us all, and we enjoyed some downtime to rest. The boys were lucky to get some Emmett treatment from the legends at !!!, who were able to squeeze us in at short notice. Wilson pretended to hate it, but deep down he loved it 😉
My amazing aunt and uncle, Cindy and Mark, came all the way over from Australia to spend a few days with us and meet the boys in person. We did some exploring around the peninsula and it was nice to be a regular tourist for a while!
From there, we continued our way up towards Tobermory, avoiding the highway and taking a winding route along the coast. It a momentous moment when the boys had a drink out of Lake Huron! We had a few rough trails and an unpleasant kilometre of picking our way through rocks, boulders and slippery slabs as we joined up some side roads by going off track around the shore - probably something I wouldn't recommend! We finally arrived at Harmony Acres Campground, where we're haveling a few days off before catching the ferry over to Manitoulin Island and continuing on our way towards Sault Ste Marie ✨