I have been travelling to Ontario every summer for the past 8 years to our cottage in Red Bay Ontario. Red Bay is located on the Bruce Peninsula (the “Bruce” as they like to call it) that jets out into Lake Huron. On the eastern shores of the peninsula is the massive Georgian Bay and on the western side is Lake Huron facing Michigan. But this blog post is not about our cottage but our first tour of Manitoulin Island at the northern tip of the Bruce. It is know to be one of the largest fresh water lake islands in the world.
Map of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario
Our trip was on August 6th, 2013 and the weather was unseasonably cold. Our plan was to catch the 7am Chi Cheemaun ferry from Tobermory to South Baymouth on Manitoulin, so we needed to be up at 4am for the hour long drive from our cottage. Mark was not too happy when the alarm I set didn’t go off and we awoke around 530am. but it turned out to be a good thing as the weather was so lousy that day that we were happier to wait until the 11am departure.
We arrived at Tobermory around 9am by car and there was a cold wind blowing so my first task was to find something warmer to wear, so I bought a wooly pink scarf to wrap around my neck and head if needed on the ferry. Not like BC, you are not allowed to stay on the car deck while the ferry is moving. The ferry ride was uneventful but Lucy got lots of attention from one little girl that wanted to hold her and play with her for most of the trip.
Our first stop on the island was a old town called Manitouwaning which was a major shipping port in its day. We drove to Heritage Park where the S.S. Norisle is docked, which was a former cargo and passenger ferry in service from 1946 to 1974.
Then we drove to Mindemoya where we filled up the car with gas and then walked around and had some great fish and chips for a late lunch. One of the things that caught my eye in this little town (with a population of less than 2,000 inhabitants) was this fence.
Amazing rock fence in Mindemoya on Manitoulin Island.
This fence went the full length of the street and I was amazed at workmanship that went into building it. All of the rocks were of similar size and were meticulously laid in cement to create the posts and base which went around the entire property. It is obviously a labour of love ! I am not sure where my love of rocks came from but I remember many summer days as a child sitting along the shores of the Shuswap Lake and picking up rocks and looking for unusual shapes and figures in them. Now whenever I walk along a shoreline my head is down looking for interesting rocks that catch my eyes and feel smooth and soft to touch.
To be continued …..