July 25 Friday – Idyll Glenn Campground, Lake Mindemoya, Manitoulin Island, ON

Were sorry to leave Thessalon, such a nice spot, very peaceful. The day was a bit gray, with odd bits of sun. Quite warm though. Found a neat store in Thessalon and Ian bought a good sweatshirt, the nights are cooling a little.
It felt good to be back on the road, and we took the Trans Canada Highway 17 East. Before long detoured to an antique store in an old 12 sided barn, about 60 feet tall in the middle, fascinating place. The structure was about 100 years old, had big gaps between the vertical panels, but as the owner said..”I don’t open in the winter!”.
The countryside is very rugged, huge granite type rocks, exposed where the highway has been cut through, and many lakes and small ponds, typical Canadian style with trees all around. Then it would open up into clearer land, which was just growing hay, no stock anywhere. The wildflowers on the roadside are a picture….although no pull off areas to stop and take photos!
Passed through many small towns, built around the forestry industry, with small mills.
Turned off the main road onto 6 and stopped at a reasonable size town, Espanola, for lunch. It has a huge pulp and paper mill which the town survives on. See quite a French influence here, signs are multi-lingual. We understand there is more of a French influence in Northern Ontario, than Southern. Needed to find a wifi spot, went into a little café intending to get a coffee, but as it was almost 2, ended up with a nice lunch and drinks of iced cold tea. All very nice. They were so nice, and brought us out a piece of Tarte Chocolat to sample…couldn’t refuse, but the waistline didn’t really need it. Just divine…eat your heart out Nicky and Janine!
Through some fabulous country, picture postcard stuff, rocks, lakes and reflections to Manitoulin Island. Crossed over on a bridge and into the main town of Little Current, where there is a sizable marina. Every hour the bridge swivels 90 degrees to open up and let the yachts and boats out onto Lake Huron.
A lot of the tourism here is based around the Indians…or “Aboriginal” as they call them! Not sure where that comes from.
Ready to find somewhere to stop, but the “navigator” (not Jilly this time) had a few hiccups and we went in circles for awhile, found a number of metalled roads,but finally found quite a nice spot on Mindemoya Lake although quite a strong wind. Settled in, then discovered I had a wifi link through someones unsecured network. Once again great to catch up with people who were onine, and heard that a huge storm is hitting NZ. Will be checking it out in the morning.

Comments