mhomac

July 21st Chi Cheemaun ferry

Final day in North Bruce.

We have thoroughly enjoyed being here…met many tremendous people, hiked lots of great trails….and enjoyed a very positive start to this adventure.

First ferry of the morning is 9am…and you have to be there an hour ahead…..( and highway 6 north is being re-surfaced…so extra time..!!!…6 am start for us…..MUCHO earlier than we are used to these days….

We were smart enough to hook the trailer up the night before so all we had to do was pull out…..Cape Chin mosquitos said a fond farewell by eating us alive…..( many bad words were said..I will admit..!!!)

Goodbye Cape Chin..a wee bit sad because its been fun…

Chi Cheemaun translates to Big Canoe , I’m told…

We got in the queue…and yes…we were easily the biggest rig there this morning….

The ticket gates are not that wide……came pretty close to taking out one of the concrete bollards….yikes..!!!

Beautiful day to be on the lake……

They pack ’em in pretty tight….!!!

The RV in front of us…..!!!!

I was pretty sure he was going to be scraping the wall on the way off….but no…….unscathed..!!!

More entertainment on the boat was some of the incomprehensible signage…!!!

Coming off the other side……wow what a landscape…….and magnificent drive……and if you want to see it…you will have to drive it…..LOL.

Its narrow, its hilly ( and then some) and there is not really anywhere one can pull off with a 30 ft rig….!!! Hence…few pictures….

Looooooooong straight (but not flat google…!!) road.

Little Current ( yes there is such a place….look it up on tripadvisor…!!!). The main attraction in little current is the swing bridge…..aka long narrow iron bridge only wide enough for one lane of traffic at a time……

And then more driving…..hilly, winding…..not great surface roads….and again…..no real opportunity to pull over with the rig attached. So we had to pass on some of the real beauty spots of Manitoulin….so we will have to come back to this spot…..

North, north then left turn onto the Trans Canada highway….

When you see, read or think the words “Trans-Canada highway”….it conjures a picture of a big , wide , flat multi lane highway does it not…..

The reality……is quite different……its a bit like the devils beeftub road…for those who know it…….only much much longer…..!!!

Entertaining driving……..

To our landing spot for the night at Serpent River campground…….lovely spot…..nice campground…..

I will have to add the pictures later…..my terrible internet connection in the Soo is making it difficult to upload pictures.

Lion’s Head Farmers market

We have been to this market every Saturday for about 7 weeks now. Many of them were assisting at the Paris Brew/Tagwerk beer stall….but we have become quite accustomed to having the green crepe from Crepetown for breakfast, egg pies from Tina the baker lady, veggies from Pierce at the Easy farm and generally shooting the breeze with the very lovely friendly vendors at this market……highly recommend it if you are in the area on a Saturday morning 9 am ’til noon.

Paris Brew/Tagwerk

Paris Brew/Tagwerk beers. If you have not had their beer yet you need to hurry over to Wincey Mill in Paris…..or stop in at the Lions Head farmers market on Saturday morning. Bright flavour, clean tasting beers….I’d like to say I have a favourite….but I like them all…!!

Random Ranch Alpacas

Yes, I know….trust me to find the lady with the lovely yarn.

This quite lovely lady is Random Ranch Alpacas……….(http://www.randomranchalpacas.com)

I admit I had to buy some….and having started to knit with it…I had to go back and buy some more. Her alpaca yarn is sumptuous, wonderful to knit with…it’s buttery and smooth in your hands as you ( I !) work.

Crepetown

I’m really going to miss this green crepe…..I kept telling the lady, I almost bought the market morning crepe quite a few times….but at the last minute always defaulted to the delicious green one…..mmMMMMMMmmmm…

Tina the baking lady

The baking lady, Tina, I’m not sure if her stall actually has a name….cos I’m usually just staring at the baked goods on her counter, and praying that the person in front of me doesn’t buy the last candied ginger scone..(to die for…!!)……and those little egg tarts….mmmmmmMMMMmmmm….

The Easy Farm

Pierce the veggie guy…(hope I’m spelling it right…I went for the Pierce Brosnan spelling ’cause he’s quite the handsome guy.😃)…….his salad greens are the freshest and tastiest I have seen/eaten in a very long time…we had to buy extra on Saturday b/c we won’t be here for next market…..totally impressed by the quality of his produce.

Natural Soaps & Body Products

Who knew that I would need any more soap (Joanne S…you know who you are..!!😂)

But this lady…we first found her on the road to Dyers Bay (yes the day I barely survived!!!) She has a campers soap with citronella…..seemed like a great idea (re Bruce bugs.!)..so we bought some…it smells really good actually….

She has some really interesting and glorious smelling products

Maple Syrup guy

He has maple sugar for sale….I made pancakes with it……oh boy…why did I not know about this stuff before…!!!!

Three Trees Art

These are the guys we found on East Road the day we biked to St Margaret’s Chapel.

Dharma farmer

We bought some fresh garlic to give it the olive oil treatment (preserving garlic).

Wow it was nice stuff…..

Jordan Wood Turning

I’m a real sucker for these hand turned bowls…I just wish I could justify buying on for the trailer…..

Big Mama’s

Spicy sauces R her……

The Bread Basket

You gotta be there early, she sells out quick….

…….and then….on the way home, we saw an open sign on the Bison Builders farm on East Road……

Lovely man at the farm….I know that I keep saying it…but we have met soooo many truly lovely people so far……

I thought the two guys there were brothers…..but turns out they were father son…..super nice guys……bought the summer sausage and some pepperettes…will report on them along the way…!!!

This was our last trip to the Lions Head farmers market…we are pulling out north on Wednesday…taking the Chi Cheemaun over to Manitoulin and then on up around Lake Superior…I will miss this market and the great people here….we might have to come back some time….but ’til then….here’s to the next adventure……

July 16th, Beginning in stile…..!!!

Just down the road from our current home, there is a spot on the road we pass, where, hikers park at the side of the road to access the Bruce.

So it seemed like a good idea to do a hike we could walk to instead of driving ….it was hard to find maps…Alltrails didn’t seem to have it listed….and the Bruce maps require a subscription to access them……fortunately tho…they often post them at the access points.

Of course this is not the one form where we accessed….but it is the map of the section we hiked.

We actually accessed where the P for parking is….

There is a stile with a sign telling you not to disturb the farm animals……when we crossed the stile…we stepped into a meadow populated by a large number of very large black cows…..who immediately all turned to look at us……and then start walking towards us…….

This may have been slightly more alarming than the bear incident…!!!

……and of course they don’t look nearly as intimidating in the pictures….but they followed us across the field and watched us go off in to the forest…(yes…I know …they probs just thought we were there to feed them……it was still a bit unnerving…!!!

Off in to the forest we go…..to find some unexpected little delights in the trees….

Wildlife that was not listed in any of the guides……but I don’t think they were dangerous..!!!

This day….on the mysteriously labelled ‘un-named trail’…….it was a slightly foggy, kind of overcast day which made the forest feel just a little more ‘magical’…or maybe it was the tone set by the gnomes.

I’m realising as I look through the pictures that we did a lot less big scenery shots today….and many more little details………it’s such a beautiful place…..

I tried…and failed to get pictures of the strange little bugs we were up against today….as we walked through the trees…there were funny little caterpillars worm thingies…(and they were yucky) hanging from single strands of silk…as you walk through them…you feel the whispery creepy silk across your skin…and then there are all these little inchworm things on your shirt and hat………it required the acquisition of a stick to wave in front to catch most of them before they were on you….I’m pretty sure they were harmless….but creepy…!!!

More fungi…….apologies for the multiple pictures…but they were sooo cool….

The un-named trail now has a name…!!!

…and more fungi……

…..and then…in the middle of nowhere there is this MCM house….and the path was almost photoshopped fake looking…..

If someone has the story on this I’d love to hear it…!!!

……late in the afternoon now…the mosquitos were starting to gather…and all of a sudden we emerge from the forest…and we are back at the farm at Cape Chin….

July 12th ..Emily comes to visit..😊

We had the great pleasure of greeting our first guest in the airstream. Our favourite Emily drove up to spend the day with us out on the trails. I hope she enjoyed it as much as we did.

It was a beautiful day….high of 24 degrees, unlike the horrific high 30’s plus humidity in Southern Ontario. We proposed the Dyers Bay South to Devils monument trail. This took us back to the rock with the rope that we stopped at on our previous trip to the Devils Monument……(our first experience on the Georgian Bluffs…..and pre-hiking boot purchase stage…!!!)

Dyers Bay to Devils monument, North Buce.

This image was taken from the free version of the Alltrails app , https://www.alltrails.com/?ref=header ……I’m seriously thinking about subscribing to it for the three bucks and change per month. This may become a future post……anyone who has any experience of it…would love to hear from you……

So…back to Dyers Bay we go…and I would have to say…Emily was suitably impressed by some of the inclines along the google mostly flat road…(re attempted wificide….. https://osteopraxisontheroad.movie/2021/07/02/june-30th-dyers-bay-bike-ride-aka-failed-attempt-at-wificide/ )

Emily’s Inukshuk…!!

Then back up to the Bruce Trail.

There were a few nerve wracking (for me) stops along the cliff edge….

She’s such a brat……love her dearly…!!!

We couldnt figure out how the kayaks managed to get into the water here….beautiful shot tho……

Devils Monument again…….this time we went all the way down to the shore…..to the spot where we had seen the kayaks further back…….its truly beautiful….tho a little busier..ie there were other humans there…!!!

and of course…the rock that we stopped at the last time…!!!

OOOOOoooo…another side trail….promising glacial potholes….how are we supposed to resist…….sign says its 730 meters…….if you were walking on a flat road…that would not be far……..

There were many cries of “are we there yet?”……mostly from me….!!!!

You don’t really get the sense of scale from the photographs…….its hard to imagine something so big and perfectly round and smooth being formed naturally…..impressive…

Back to the last unrelenting hike (slog!) to the truck.

What you don’t really get from the pictures……is that its not just the challenging bits we take pictures of…..the trail is unrelentingly challenging all the way…..hence the 3.2 km/h pace…..certainly on the peninsula portions of the Bruce that we have experienced…..thats what makes it so much fun….!!!

Time for a plunge in the lake……guy in the water said it was about 67F……it was brisk is all I will say…….

11th July Barrow bay and Gilhespy side trail.

This was a great one………this one was a recommendation from a local. We likely would not have found it without direction. The GPS was totally confused…couldn’t find it….but that may also be due to the seriously sketchy network connection (or lack thereof..) that exists up here.

Be warned this is going to be a long one with lots of pictures….it was a terrific day out..!!!

We set of on what promised to be a 10k+ hike with a couple of side trails thrown in to the mix….Nice little free parking lot ( bonus)…and the hike starts out on the road……..and then heads off in the direction of the coast….

Nice easy terrain…( or so we thought ) the first couple of kilometers were nice and flat…almost a groomed trail.

very different again…..

There are a couple of side trails on this section, The John Appleton and the Beth Gilhespy side trail that join together to make a more interesting loop.

Once we got in to the foresty bit, it became a lot more interesting….thankfully the local mosquito population seemed to be having a bit of a holiday today…..Either that or the new bug repellent lotion I bought at Can Tire works better than the old stuff…..!!!!

We had a couple of days of heavy rain so I was hoping to find some fungi about…

I was not to be disappointed.

And some interesting natural sights along the way……

………and then……..we get to the Beth Gilhespy side trail……which…on reviewing the description after the fact…….does say that it has a ‘challenging element’…………….

AAAAAaaaaargh…!! 47 steps down……( I counted them on the way back up.. .!!! )

….and then……

Well…..you just have to give it a go ….don’t you…!!!

Its definitely a bit of a challenge,,,,,,but great fun……our legs were definitely a bit on the wobbly side when we made it back up…!!!

And even after that there was still a bit of scrambling round cliff faces….not too many pictures…because by that time we were on tired legs and a bit more concerned about falling off…..

Oh boy we were tired at the end of this one…….and it looks sooooo unimpressive as a workout…!!!

So we trudged back in to Barrow Bay…..

…and then……we realised why Barrow Bay is so difficult to find………

July 9th St Margaret’s chapel, Cape Chin

St Margaret’s chapel, we drive by it every time we go into town, or go anywhere actually. Its just over 7km from our current location…so we decided to bike over to it for a closer look. ( St. Margaret’s Chapel (Cape Chin) – All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go – Updated 2021 (Cape Chin, Ontario) – Tripadvisor )

Pretty little church that is never locked apparently.

Lovely little place…..not necessarily the kind of place you would drive up here to see….but if you are in the area its most certainly worth the side trip to include it in your day. ( bonus…not just the church is open…but there is also an accessible washroom/outhouse onsite).

The stained glass windows all depict local flowers.

We stopped in at a local artists gallery on East Road just for a look….quite lovely prints and cards….lovely spot…

Since one of the themes of this part of the trip seems to be the varied terrains of this part of the country…I could not resist taking some pictures of the rock formations along the road on the way home. Some of them look (I think) like manmade brick walls…..(plus it gave me the excuse to stop for a couple of rests on the road home….don’t tell Scott….!!!!)

Preserving your garlic.

We started doing this when we started regularly going to local farmers markets and finding an abundance of top quality fresh produce.

Its a lot of work up front, but a great way to extend the possibilities when you are faced with gorgeous quality garlic at the farmers markets, or roadside vegetable stands ( or if you are lucky enough to have it growing in your backyard..).

Then…when you are busy in the kitchen producing gourmet food…..the work has been done to be sure you have the best ingredients at your fingertips ready to use (without resorting to commercially produced, questionably sourced staples)

We do this in two ways.

We roast large quantities of garlic (either local Amish, Spanish, or California). We have found (to our taste) that Mexican and Chinese is very bitter.
We crush it and preserve it in good quality olive oil. This is ideal for the trailer where we have limited space for storage and don’t always have access to fresh produce, but would prefer not to compromise on the quality of the food we eat.

Roasted Garlic

We were very lucky last year to be able to buy a large quantity of local garlic from an Amish farmer. (We bought about 30 pounds…!!)

We ( and when I say we….I mean Scott….!!!) roast the garlic in the slow cooker.

These bulbs were large, as you can see, 18 fit in the bottom of our slow cooker ( which was a 6 quart Ninja).

Cut the top off the bulbs and arrange them on the bottom of the slow cooker. Paint a little bit of olive oil on the top of each bulb, and sprinkle a little bit of rosemary (or herb of your preference).

Add 1 cup of cold water to the bottom of the slow cooker.

What Scott always did was then picked out the little cut tops of the cloves and put them in a glass bowl and covered them …to two thirds full of olive oil, with a little bit of herb added also. (seemed like a better idea than discarding them…!!!) and sit it on top of the bulbs in the slow cooker.

Lid on and cook for 4 to 5 hours on low. You can tell when they are done because all of a sudden you have this wonderful roasted garlic smell wafting through the house.

Now it has to cool…….so turn it off and if you have a back porch or somewhere outside secure from animals…..let it cool because the next thing you have to do is handle it.

The next bit is the laborious bit. PUT SOME GLOVES ON…!!! …..and carefully peel the paper off the cloves….we stack them , but don’t pack them too tightly or you will never be able to separate them….into boxes that then go in the freezer.

The little bits…!!

They get pureed and frozen in ice cube trays.

These little cubes are marvelous in soup…….or totally decadent mixed in to cream cheese or goat cheese……( I know this because……YUM..!!)

So any time we need garlic for a recipe we either use the cloves of roasted, or the crushed in oil…..makes life simpler ….and yummier.

Crushed garlic.

We have tried any different garlic tools……and this is by far our favourite. It is both easy to use and easy to clean.

This method uses 8 to 12 bulbs of fresh garlic. Peeled and then crushed.

Yield is about two cups of finished crushed garlic

The freshly crushed garlic is transferred into a box and mixed with olive oil until you cant get any more olive oil in. The garlic needs to be covered in the oil but no pooling of oil on the top.

This mix now sits in the fridge its better to leave it for about a month before using, this will soften the harshness of the garlic without sacrificing the flavour.

When a recipe calls for garlic I would substitute about a teaspoon of this crushed garlic per clove

July 2nd..return to the scene of the crime. Dyers Bay side trail

Canada Day, July first was a recovery day from the slightly challenging bike ride……..but the 2nd …we decided to drive back over to Dyers Bay ( with lots of oooooo’s and aaaaaahhh’s at the “undulations” in the road along the way.)

We had spotted another couple of side trails off the Bruce trail….so the mission for the day was Juniper Flats. The variation in terrains from one section to the next is both fascinating, and quite exciting…….it might take a very long time to get bored of the various walks and hikes in this area.

Warning……there will be lots of pictures in this post…..both because of the encouragement I have been receiving with some very positive feedback (thank you..)..and how fantastically beautiful the landscape is.

Starting off at the Bruce trail access 100 yards up the road from Dyers Bay.

Bruce leads onto the side trail. Another interesting aspect of these trails….aside from the challenging surface underfoot……is how winding the trail often is…..you cant see the next bit til you walk forward another 5 feet……and very often you stop and look up….momentarily convinced you have strayed from the path…..and see another ..very well placed blue or white flash ahead of you.

Bugs were not as bad today….either we figured out the frequency of re-application of the bug repellent….or it was just a bit windier today…!!

Yes….he found some sweet peas………!!!!

….and …of course….an abundance of juniper berries………

Finale to the day was another bit of a first with the airstream….

Just have to say….this is pretty cool……….just one more thing to love about our new home.

June 30th Dyers Bay bike ride (aka failed attempt at wificide )

We thought it would fun (!!!) to ride the bikes from here at Cape Chin down to Dyers Bay…..where the public boat launch is. Google maps said the route was fairly flat……let me just say…..google maps lied. The overall result may have been that we finished at the approximate elevation we started at……but flat……..it was NOT…!!! (LOL)

At least my phone was impressed…ie multiple trophies….what ever that means !!!

That little figure out there on the end of the pier is Scott on his bike..!!

Dyers Bay boat launch…its hard to really see how blue the water is….

A little further north…we cycled up the road a little ….cos it was so pretty ( and it was easier than the enormous hill back out of the bay…..did I mention I think he was trying to kill me today…!!!

….and that’s me….munching my granola bar….drinking my water and contemplating the torturous ride home….

I’m realising that we did not actually take any pictures along the route today……but take my word for it…….the undulation (!) of the road was …..well it was challenging……

We are planning a return trip ( in a motor vehicle next time to hit a couple of the side trails of the ruce from Dyers Bay……watch this space….

June 28th North Bruce extreme weight loss program.

Setting off on the other side of the road…..Otter Lake side trail…..just off Cape Chin North road.

So the walk today was to the other side of the road. Otter Lake side trail promised a 6.5 km walk. It was quite a bit flatter than the other side (Bard side trail) and about half the walk is exposed…through meadow and marsh, while the other half is in cover through birch and cedar.

Beautiful……..but the past couple of days we have had some pretty heavy rain……and while it is not nearly as warm as southern Ontario….the humidity is definitely quite high.

The moisture in the air contributes to the North Bruce extreme weight loss program…!!!!1. You are walking….which is burning some calories……2. I am quite sure none of the exercise apps have a measurement for how many calories you burn as you constantly brush your arms and head, swat your legs and generally flail your arms around to combat the seemingly coordinated attacks of first the deerflies which attack in the open terrain….mercilessly…….second…as soon as you enter shade….the deerflies stop (probably fly over the trees to wait for you on the other side..!!!)..and their best mates…the helicopter sized mosquitos take their turn….

The third part of the weight loss being the chunks of flesh and blood the aforementioned beasties butcher out of your arms, head, neck….or heck…they just plain bite you through your jeans…..

I was astonished there were not a million little holes incised out of the fabric of our clothing when we got back…!!!

Pretty terrain that is very reminiscent of parts of the highlands of Scotland..

Had to include the Monarch on the milkweed….

Surprising that you cant actually see the blooming blinking deerflies…..!!!

Electric blue dragonfly……hard to get pictures but these things were so prolific ….and pretty

These little electric blue dragonflies were everywhere…….apparently they prey on deerflies….I knew I loved these things…!!!

I had seen these on the websites as I was trying to identify the hedgehog mushrooms that we found on the Bard side trail…….it looked just like someone had peeled a clementine and left it sitting on the log….

Next post will be biking to Dyers Bay