We spent a couple of days doing nothing but walking dogs, having home cooked food and generally catching up on sleep! We found a couple of great parks in and around Peterborough, went to see a film (Shorts) about a magic wishing stone .. good fun; went on a search across the town for more medicine for Stormy who takes a liquid glucosamine medicine for his sore joints. Finally early on Tuesday we set off for the Blue Mountains. We stopped of in a park in Orillia for boiled eggs and carrots. There was a small beach by the lake and we spent about an hour making a waterway for the water from the beach shower to get down to the lake water's edge. Since Tris had such fun on the beach we decided, once we had found a motel in Collingwood; to go down to Wassaga beach. Tris and Celso went for a swim in Lake Huron. Close to shore the lake bed is really slimey because the sand is so fine, and the waves mean that the water is full of sand all the time, but further out the water gets really clear but the bottom is still slimey. The sun shone, the wind was blowing so that it wasn't too hot and we had a grand afternoon.
Later we went to a steak house and were fed obscene amounts of food. Tristan started with snails in garlic (see photo), followed by the biggest child's meal I have ever seen, a huge pork chop (enough for 3 people), chips (enough for at least 2), and a help yourself salad. Celso and I both had the special, soup, salad, the biggest steaks you have ever seen, pie and tea. Most of mine went into a doggy bag. It's rediculous the amount they give you... but Celso was in heaven!
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Sunday, 23 August 2009
Warsaw Caves - 22nd August
What a great lie in... apart from Lulu who kept on climbing on the bed and collapsing on our feet or Stormy snorting in his sleep. I think we're going to shut them out tonight!
A relaxing breakfast and then we got ready to head off to the Warsaw Caves National Park about 1/2 hour out of Peterborough. We packed nuts and fruit and water for the dogs and headed off. It wasn't what we expected at all. The caves are up to 100m long / deep and are not guided at all you just take a torch (which we had) and head in on your own exploring as deep and as far as you want. These caves were formed in the same way as the Bonecherre caves after the last ice age, but most of the system has collapsed. There are trees perched all over the rocks; their roots are really shallow because of the rocks so they tend to fall over really easily. We didn't go too deep as it was really slippery inside from the rain last night, but there were a few very muddy explorers around. We walked along a trail to the kettles; evidence that the whole area was once under a huge river. The kettles are holes drilled into the limestone rocks by whirlpools and eddies carrying debris in a river. They ranged from a diameter of around 5cm up to over a metre wide and about 3m deep (see the photos). We ate our fruit and nuts by a river whilst Storm (once again) played in the water. A really beautiful place to spend a few hours as you can see from our photos.
Tristan found the most beautiful millipede; on our way back to the car; with go faster stripes in vivid orange.
Then back home and another home cooked supper. We watched the Importance of Being Earnest (again), which I love and generally slobbed about. MARVELOUS!
A relaxing breakfast and then we got ready to head off to the Warsaw Caves National Park about 1/2 hour out of Peterborough. We packed nuts and fruit and water for the dogs and headed off. It wasn't what we expected at all. The caves are up to 100m long / deep and are not guided at all you just take a torch (which we had) and head in on your own exploring as deep and as far as you want. These caves were formed in the same way as the Bonecherre caves after the last ice age, but most of the system has collapsed. There are trees perched all over the rocks; their roots are really shallow because of the rocks so they tend to fall over really easily. We didn't go too deep as it was really slippery inside from the rain last night, but there were a few very muddy explorers around. We walked along a trail to the kettles; evidence that the whole area was once under a huge river. The kettles are holes drilled into the limestone rocks by whirlpools and eddies carrying debris in a river. They ranged from a diameter of around 5cm up to over a metre wide and about 3m deep (see the photos). We ate our fruit and nuts by a river whilst Storm (once again) played in the water. A really beautiful place to spend a few hours as you can see from our photos.
Tristan found the most beautiful millipede; on our way back to the car; with go faster stripes in vivid orange.
Then back home and another home cooked supper. We watched the Importance of Being Earnest (again), which I love and generally slobbed about. MARVELOUS!
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Bonnechere caves 21st Aug
A quiet day today. We got up and went to have breakfast in the restaurant attached to our motel. It was supposedly famous for schnitzel, so we had to try a schnitzel breakfast and a normal fry-up breakfast between the 3 of us. They were enormous; each had 2 eggs, ham, 2 rounds of toast and sauteed chips, and then the schnitzel had schnitzel (of course, which is pork tenderloin, tenderized, then covered in breadcrumbs and spices, and fried) and baked beans. The other breakfast had 2 sausages and bacon. We stuffed ourselves but could not finish.
We drove for 3/4 hour to the Bonnechere caves near Eganville and wandered along the river that had formed the caves for about 15 mins waiting for our tour time. John took us and another 10 or so visitors through the history of the site; they had an amazing fossil collection from way before the dinosaur period when there were no land animals yet and that area was under the sea. Then we went down into the caves (which are very young in geological terms) formed after the end of the last ice age about 11,000 years ago. The stalactites were small (the largest about 15cm) and the only stalagmites were ones that had started in 1965 when the person who found the caves pumped out the water that was flowing through and built some dams to keep it out. They were about 2mm high! The story of the caves discovery was a great one. In the mid 1800s when the river was mapped it had been noted that some water from the river went into a cave and no exit of water was noticeable but nobody had done any further investigating. In the 1950s a local man, Tom, found a copy of the map and decided to investigate. He didn't tell anyone where he was going but he found a sinkhole (where a cave roof has collapsed) and lowered himself down on a rope. He couldn't get very far because if was so dark and the water was so high but he decided to come back the next day to explore further. This time (again not telling anyone where he was going) Tom brought a small dingy, a flashlight and a camera (which he had borrowed from a neighbour). He tied the rope to a tree and round his waist and down he went. Tom sat in the half inflated dingy (the tunnels were to tight to allow him to inflate it fully) and he let himself drift down a tunnel full of small brown bats; he threw glass flash canisters against the walls to give himself light to take photos. Suddenly the water became a violent twisting whirlpool and he could see that there was no further head room above the water, the water and he in his little dingy was being sucked down. He had to grab hold of something to stop himself being sucked under, flashlight or camera had to be sacrificed.... the flashlight went as the camera was not his.... and he grabbed onto a stalactite. Tom then had to drag himself in the pitch black up stream, through the now very angry Little brown bats, to the sinkhole to escape.
We were treated to the darkness he had experienced when John turned out the lights. You couldn't see your own hand in front of your face.
After his escape Tom decided to try to empty the caves of water and he built dams to prevent most of the water entering and set up pumps to get rid of the water. He pumped for days and days but the water level didn't seem to be going down. Eventually he called in some divers to try to find the source of the leaks. Down they went and they found that the pump piping had been cut clean through with huge teeth marks.... a cave monster? ... no ... just a pair of beavers who had made their lodge inside the cave and who obviously objected to the drainage attempts. The piping; with teeth marks; is now a proud exhibit in the little shop attached to the site!
Our adventure over, we started our journey back to Peterborough. We are going to take up the Wilsons' kind offer of the use of their house whilst they are in the UK to have a few lazy days with home cooking and a few lie ins!
Of course the dogs were mighty pleased to see us and we went for a good walk before chicken stew and rice, shower and bed. (Lulu is a very determined little madam, she had to be removed from the bed several times before she realised that she was not going to get a moments peace!)
We drove for 3/4 hour to the Bonnechere caves near Eganville and wandered along the river that had formed the caves for about 15 mins waiting for our tour time. John took us and another 10 or so visitors through the history of the site; they had an amazing fossil collection from way before the dinosaur period when there were no land animals yet and that area was under the sea. Then we went down into the caves (which are very young in geological terms) formed after the end of the last ice age about 11,000 years ago. The stalactites were small (the largest about 15cm) and the only stalagmites were ones that had started in 1965 when the person who found the caves pumped out the water that was flowing through and built some dams to keep it out. They were about 2mm high! The story of the caves discovery was a great one. In the mid 1800s when the river was mapped it had been noted that some water from the river went into a cave and no exit of water was noticeable but nobody had done any further investigating. In the 1950s a local man, Tom, found a copy of the map and decided to investigate. He didn't tell anyone where he was going but he found a sinkhole (where a cave roof has collapsed) and lowered himself down on a rope. He couldn't get very far because if was so dark and the water was so high but he decided to come back the next day to explore further. This time (again not telling anyone where he was going) Tom brought a small dingy, a flashlight and a camera (which he had borrowed from a neighbour). He tied the rope to a tree and round his waist and down he went. Tom sat in the half inflated dingy (the tunnels were to tight to allow him to inflate it fully) and he let himself drift down a tunnel full of small brown bats; he threw glass flash canisters against the walls to give himself light to take photos. Suddenly the water became a violent twisting whirlpool and he could see that there was no further head room above the water, the water and he in his little dingy was being sucked down. He had to grab hold of something to stop himself being sucked under, flashlight or camera had to be sacrificed.... the flashlight went as the camera was not his.... and he grabbed onto a stalactite. Tom then had to drag himself in the pitch black up stream, through the now very angry Little brown bats, to the sinkhole to escape.
We were treated to the darkness he had experienced when John turned out the lights. You couldn't see your own hand in front of your face.
After his escape Tom decided to try to empty the caves of water and he built dams to prevent most of the water entering and set up pumps to get rid of the water. He pumped for days and days but the water level didn't seem to be going down. Eventually he called in some divers to try to find the source of the leaks. Down they went and they found that the pump piping had been cut clean through with huge teeth marks.... a cave monster? ... no ... just a pair of beavers who had made their lodge inside the cave and who obviously objected to the drainage attempts. The piping; with teeth marks; is now a proud exhibit in the little shop attached to the site!
Our adventure over, we started our journey back to Peterborough. We are going to take up the Wilsons' kind offer of the use of their house whilst they are in the UK to have a few lazy days with home cooking and a few lie ins!
Of course the dogs were mighty pleased to see us and we went for a good walk before chicken stew and rice, shower and bed. (Lulu is a very determined little madam, she had to be removed from the bed several times before she realised that she was not going to get a moments peace!)
Thursday, 20 August 2009
A day out in Montreal - then the road to Renshaw
We the made our way; on the very efficient and frequent Montreal metro system; to Viau on Eastern side of Montreal where the Olympic Stadium is situated. We went into the Biodome, a climate controlled building with 4 different habitats inside representing the 4 different climate areas in the Americas. First rainforest.. really humid and hot and with Capybara, parrots, a two toed sloth, caymen and a multitude of fish, trees and plants. Then temperate forest with otters, beaver, more birds, plants and trees. Then tundra.. cold and dry with puffins and other sea birds, an enormous aquarium with the most gigantic sturgeon and other sea fish and a rocky sea shore with an enormous variety of different sea cucumbers, crabs, anenomes and starfish. Finaly arctic (fortunately behind glass so we didn't freeze) with penguins, Rockhoppers and Humboldt. The best bit for me was the above and below water veiwing of the beaver swimming around and finally going up into his/her lodge. He/she looks like she has her lips pursed into a kiss and she holds her front paws close to her chest as if holding the reins of a pretend horse (or praying), then a lazy flick of one back webbed foot propells him/her smoothly but with speed through the water. The penguins also put on a show in their above and below viewing tank too, whizzing around making leaps up out of the water and finishing by leaping up onto the shore to land neatly upright (except for one that toppled over and then looked around self consciously, reentered the water, did one loop and repeated its exit, perfectly this time; as if to prove that really it could be done!)
Following this we walked about 10 minutes up to the Botanical Gardens and spent an engrossing 1 1/2 hours in the Insectarium with the largest collection of creepy crawlies I've ever seen (heaven for Celso). My favourites were the scarab beetles in green and orange (I've seen them in films of Egypt before and always thought how fake they looked but they really are that brightly coloured and really shiny.)
Celso insisted on buying a packet of crickets (dead and roasted, cheese and bacon falvour) to eat, and Tristan reminded me how I'm always telling him to give new things a try, at least a small taste I say; and so I couldn't really back out of having a little nibble... tasted like dry cardboard and the boys didn't think much of them either.
We headed down to the old quarter and wandered around the streets filled with market stalls, street performers and artists. The grand hotel was being worked on with scaffolding covering it but, because it is meant to be one of the finest buildings, the scaffolding was then covered in a sheet with a picture of the building on.. Weird. There were street cafes, a man playing the accordian and an old woman trying to do some sort of sexy dancing to accompany him (but she looked more like she was having some sort of fit). Celso spent an age looking at wrist bands whilst Tris and I wandered the shops and listened to an Andean group playing traditional panpipe music.
We then walked up to the Chinese district and looked in loads of little shops. There were loads of Bhuddas (whose tummies we had to rub) and Celso wanted to get a Samurai sword but fortunately we have to fly into the US and I convinced him it would not be allowed. We found a Chinese restaurant filled with Chinese people so we went in and had an enormous meal, half of which we ended up taking home in a doggy bag. My fortune cookie said that I was going to travel!
Thursday. We left Montreal and headed back West towards Ottowa. About half an hour into our journey we saw a sign for the Arbraska adventure forest, with a picture of a man balancing on a rope strung between trees. We decided to go and investigate. You'll have to see the photos to really get the picture! I actually managed to get up into a tree, cross ropes and ladders and other wobbly obstacles in between trees and descend by zip wires. Celso and Tristan did a further 3 courses that went far too high for me to even contemplate. Exhilarating, scary, tiring, hand aching (from all the gripping on) and great fun. 3 hours later we were on our way again and finally we reached Renshaw having driven through Ottawa and deciding that we really didn't want to spend any more time in the city at the moment.
Following this we walked about 10 minutes up to the Botanical Gardens and spent an engrossing 1 1/2 hours in the Insectarium with the largest collection of creepy crawlies I've ever seen (heaven for Celso). My favourites were the scarab beetles in green and orange (I've seen them in films of Egypt before and always thought how fake they looked but they really are that brightly coloured and really shiny.)
Celso insisted on buying a packet of crickets (dead and roasted, cheese and bacon falvour) to eat, and Tristan reminded me how I'm always telling him to give new things a try, at least a small taste I say; and so I couldn't really back out of having a little nibble... tasted like dry cardboard and the boys didn't think much of them either.
We headed down to the old quarter and wandered around the streets filled with market stalls, street performers and artists. The grand hotel was being worked on with scaffolding covering it but, because it is meant to be one of the finest buildings, the scaffolding was then covered in a sheet with a picture of the building on.. Weird. There were street cafes, a man playing the accordian and an old woman trying to do some sort of sexy dancing to accompany him (but she looked more like she was having some sort of fit). Celso spent an age looking at wrist bands whilst Tris and I wandered the shops and listened to an Andean group playing traditional panpipe music.
We then walked up to the Chinese district and looked in loads of little shops. There were loads of Bhuddas (whose tummies we had to rub) and Celso wanted to get a Samurai sword but fortunately we have to fly into the US and I convinced him it would not be allowed. We found a Chinese restaurant filled with Chinese people so we went in and had an enormous meal, half of which we ended up taking home in a doggy bag. My fortune cookie said that I was going to travel!
Thursday. We left Montreal and headed back West towards Ottowa. About half an hour into our journey we saw a sign for the Arbraska adventure forest, with a picture of a man balancing on a rope strung between trees. We decided to go and investigate. You'll have to see the photos to really get the picture! I actually managed to get up into a tree, cross ropes and ladders and other wobbly obstacles in between trees and descend by zip wires. Celso and Tristan did a further 3 courses that went far too high for me to even contemplate. Exhilarating, scary, tiring, hand aching (from all the gripping on) and great fun. 3 hours later we were on our way again and finally we reached Renshaw having driven through Ottawa and deciding that we really didn't want to spend any more time in the city at the moment.
Monday, 17 August 2009
On route and in and around the St Lawrence river - days 20-22
After a cup of tea sitting out in the garden we said our farewells and got on the road (we intend to go back to Paul and Gilly's in a week or so to take the dogs for some long walks - they are going to be fed by neighbours for the 3 weeks the Wilsons are in the UK).
After about 1/2 an hour we passed the Indian River Reptile zoo and of course we had to stop and take a look. It is the only accredited reptile zoo in Canada and gets rescue animals from all over the country. It also has a pair of Tamarind Marmosets for a breeding program.
There were an enormous number of snakes, lizards and turtles; Celso would just look at them and say their name and a bit about them, however I had to spend longer looking at all the info on the enclosures. The best bits, I think, were the American alligator and a Central American crocodile. They each had inside-outside enclosures, but fortunately for us they were both inside in their swimming pools on the other side of floor to ceiling glass. It meant that we could see them just floating in the water from both above and below the water line and get up nose to nose with them.
There was a small encounter with a baby alligator (called Chomper I think) and a 2 metre Boa called Friendly. Not as good, or hands on, as the encounters that Celso does back home.
After about 2.5 hours we were back in the car and we made our way East to Kingston, where Lake Ontario meets the St Lawrence river. We drove around to take a bit of a look, stopped at the tourist office to find out what we shouldn't miss and visited a shop selling fair trade goods. Many of the carvings in stone were by a man from Zimbabwe, we watched him at work and marvelled at the amazing detail in his pieces. In the shop they also had defunct trillion dollar notes from Zimbabwe which they sell and then ship American dollars back to the country in the hope that it won't devalue.
We found a motel and Celso and Tristan went for a swim in the pool whilst I read my book. Then we went out for an amazing lobster, shrimp, scallop and crab dinner in a restaurant called Red Lobster.
Finally at 9pm we went on a guided ghost walk of central Kingston by lantern light. We learnt about all the ghost sitings and some of the facts behind them. There are several haunted B&Bs, one in which young children are found crying in peoples rooms in the middle of the night, another in which an old lady goes through all your things. A hanged man leaning against the old gaol wall, always in the same spot, when they tore down the wall about a decade ago, a coffin with a hanged man inside was found bricked up in the wall at that exact spot.... since the body was given a decent burial there have been no further sitings. There is also Theresa, a woman who approaches people in an alley and asks them to help her find her bone. She has also saught the help of people in the local buildings, she tells them she was murdered whilst pregnant and that her body is in the basement; she asks for their help in giving her remains a decent Catholic burial.
Tristan was a little bit spooked by the end of the walk, but some curious things happened during the walk... as we passed one house a man was standing behind an open door sharpening a knife.. the noise and his sudden appearance made quite a few of us jump. Another woman fell over for no reason at all, and the dark alleys we walked through were stinky enough to give anyone a shock!
The next morning; after a breakfast in our motel; we hit the road about 40km East up the St Lawrence river to a curious little town called Gananoque. We bought tickets for a boat tour around the 1000 islands (in fact nearly 1900 islands that are situated in the first 20km of the St Lawrence from Kingston eastwards) but we had about an hour to kill so we wandered around the town which was full of artists studios and curio shops. We found a gallery with beautiful Inuit carvings and Celso couldn't resist... and so our first package is wending its way back to the UK by sea-post.
The cruise was amazing; it included islands with nothing on them at all, small outcrops of rock with a solar powered mini lighthouse complete with occupied Osprey nests on top, islands with a single weatherboard residence, larger islands with several houses and a supply of electricity from underwater cables and then there was millionaires row... the most bizarre of which was Boldt castle with a silly looking fake castle and the most enormous boathouse... it was built by the owner of the Waldorf Hotels for his wife but she died before it was completed. We passed under the most enormous bridge that crossed from Canada to the US, I don't think I've ever seen such a high bridge but it has to be that way to allow the sea fairing ships to get through down the St Lawrence and then into the Great Lakes.
Seagulls accompanied us on the boat flying in the updraught over the ship, they just seemed to hover there without having to put in any effort, I suppose it's a bit like dolphins riding the bow wave.
It was Tristan's turn to decide where to go, so he took us East along a small road that hugged the bank of the St Lawrence to a further bridge that crossed over to the States. We found a little family run motel that had access to a river flowing into the St Lawrence where Celso could go fishing... and at last he caught a decent sized fish (as well as some tiddlers) and he cooked and at it that night. We also cooked up sweet corn and feasted. Whilst fishing he was visited by an American mink (Celso had to do lots of internet research to find out that that was what he was... it is also the same animal I saw in Algonquin) who hissed at him and swam past slightly further along the bank. Celso chucked him one of the tiny fish that he had caught and he sat munching under the rocks making a terrible racket cracking through the bones and chewing loudly like a teenager chewing gum with their mouth open!
Today we drove to Montreal along the tiny country roads again. We stopped at Campbell conservation area and took a walk through some marsh land where there were abundant frogs. They had green tops and yellow throats and were up to 15cm long. They looked like some sort of porcelain imitations because the colours were so bright! Half of the walk was over a boardwalk through the middle of the marsh. We saw an amazing fluffy headed, curve beaked, small heron like bird and another small wading bird (a bit like a coot) that could run over the surface of the water. I was also shocked by a snapping turtle that poked its head up under my feet. We sat and ate boiled eggs, carrot, celery and cucumber sticks, cheese and yoghurt and fresh fruit in the middle of the marsh and then wandered on our way.
Montreal reminds me of Paris in that it is really poorly sign posted and frustrating to find anything. Signs are only posted right on junctions so if you are in the wrong lane their is nothing you can do about it. They also have signs that disappear for a long time. e.g. you follow a sign for an information office and they have a sign at each intersection for quite a long way and then the road splits in 2 and their is no indication of which way you should go.... SO FRUSTRATING. Any way we are now ensconced in a motel and ate VERY well in a local Vietnamese restaurant for under £20. Tomorrow we will go and see the sights and decide whether we agree with Montreal's claim to be the most cosmopolitan Canadian city.
After about 1/2 an hour we passed the Indian River Reptile zoo and of course we had to stop and take a look. It is the only accredited reptile zoo in Canada and gets rescue animals from all over the country. It also has a pair of Tamarind Marmosets for a breeding program.
There were an enormous number of snakes, lizards and turtles; Celso would just look at them and say their name and a bit about them, however I had to spend longer looking at all the info on the enclosures. The best bits, I think, were the American alligator and a Central American crocodile. They each had inside-outside enclosures, but fortunately for us they were both inside in their swimming pools on the other side of floor to ceiling glass. It meant that we could see them just floating in the water from both above and below the water line and get up nose to nose with them.
There was a small encounter with a baby alligator (called Chomper I think) and a 2 metre Boa called Friendly. Not as good, or hands on, as the encounters that Celso does back home.
After about 2.5 hours we were back in the car and we made our way East to Kingston, where Lake Ontario meets the St Lawrence river. We drove around to take a bit of a look, stopped at the tourist office to find out what we shouldn't miss and visited a shop selling fair trade goods. Many of the carvings in stone were by a man from Zimbabwe, we watched him at work and marvelled at the amazing detail in his pieces. In the shop they also had defunct trillion dollar notes from Zimbabwe which they sell and then ship American dollars back to the country in the hope that it won't devalue.
We found a motel and Celso and Tristan went for a swim in the pool whilst I read my book. Then we went out for an amazing lobster, shrimp, scallop and crab dinner in a restaurant called Red Lobster.
Finally at 9pm we went on a guided ghost walk of central Kingston by lantern light. We learnt about all the ghost sitings and some of the facts behind them. There are several haunted B&Bs, one in which young children are found crying in peoples rooms in the middle of the night, another in which an old lady goes through all your things. A hanged man leaning against the old gaol wall, always in the same spot, when they tore down the wall about a decade ago, a coffin with a hanged man inside was found bricked up in the wall at that exact spot.... since the body was given a decent burial there have been no further sitings. There is also Theresa, a woman who approaches people in an alley and asks them to help her find her bone. She has also saught the help of people in the local buildings, she tells them she was murdered whilst pregnant and that her body is in the basement; she asks for their help in giving her remains a decent Catholic burial.
Tristan was a little bit spooked by the end of the walk, but some curious things happened during the walk... as we passed one house a man was standing behind an open door sharpening a knife.. the noise and his sudden appearance made quite a few of us jump. Another woman fell over for no reason at all, and the dark alleys we walked through were stinky enough to give anyone a shock!
The next morning; after a breakfast in our motel; we hit the road about 40km East up the St Lawrence river to a curious little town called Gananoque. We bought tickets for a boat tour around the 1000 islands (in fact nearly 1900 islands that are situated in the first 20km of the St Lawrence from Kingston eastwards) but we had about an hour to kill so we wandered around the town which was full of artists studios and curio shops. We found a gallery with beautiful Inuit carvings and Celso couldn't resist... and so our first package is wending its way back to the UK by sea-post.
The cruise was amazing; it included islands with nothing on them at all, small outcrops of rock with a solar powered mini lighthouse complete with occupied Osprey nests on top, islands with a single weatherboard residence, larger islands with several houses and a supply of electricity from underwater cables and then there was millionaires row... the most bizarre of which was Boldt castle with a silly looking fake castle and the most enormous boathouse... it was built by the owner of the Waldorf Hotels for his wife but she died before it was completed. We passed under the most enormous bridge that crossed from Canada to the US, I don't think I've ever seen such a high bridge but it has to be that way to allow the sea fairing ships to get through down the St Lawrence and then into the Great Lakes.
Seagulls accompanied us on the boat flying in the updraught over the ship, they just seemed to hover there without having to put in any effort, I suppose it's a bit like dolphins riding the bow wave.
It was Tristan's turn to decide where to go, so he took us East along a small road that hugged the bank of the St Lawrence to a further bridge that crossed over to the States. We found a little family run motel that had access to a river flowing into the St Lawrence where Celso could go fishing... and at last he caught a decent sized fish (as well as some tiddlers) and he cooked and at it that night. We also cooked up sweet corn and feasted. Whilst fishing he was visited by an American mink (Celso had to do lots of internet research to find out that that was what he was... it is also the same animal I saw in Algonquin) who hissed at him and swam past slightly further along the bank. Celso chucked him one of the tiny fish that he had caught and he sat munching under the rocks making a terrible racket cracking through the bones and chewing loudly like a teenager chewing gum with their mouth open!
Today we drove to Montreal along the tiny country roads again. We stopped at Campbell conservation area and took a walk through some marsh land where there were abundant frogs. They had green tops and yellow throats and were up to 15cm long. They looked like some sort of porcelain imitations because the colours were so bright! Half of the walk was over a boardwalk through the middle of the marsh. We saw an amazing fluffy headed, curve beaked, small heron like bird and another small wading bird (a bit like a coot) that could run over the surface of the water. I was also shocked by a snapping turtle that poked its head up under my feet. We sat and ate boiled eggs, carrot, celery and cucumber sticks, cheese and yoghurt and fresh fruit in the middle of the marsh and then wandered on our way.
Montreal reminds me of Paris in that it is really poorly sign posted and frustrating to find anything. Signs are only posted right on junctions so if you are in the wrong lane their is nothing you can do about it. They also have signs that disappear for a long time. e.g. you follow a sign for an information office and they have a sign at each intersection for quite a long way and then the road splits in 2 and their is no indication of which way you should go.... SO FRUSTRATING. Any way we are now ensconced in a motel and ate VERY well in a local Vietnamese restaurant for under £20. Tomorrow we will go and see the sights and decide whether we agree with Montreal's claim to be the most cosmopolitan Canadian city.
Saturday, 15 August 2009
With the Wilsons in Peterborough days 18-19
We met Gilly (my first cousin once removed (great Aunt's daughter)) in the car park of our motel at around 9:30am and followed her back to their amazing home where we were offered the basement to stay in. We were greeted enthusiastically by their 2 dogs, Lulu, an American Cocker spaniel, and Storm, a huge Rottweiler Labrador cross. The house has the most amazing garden (which has achieved Canadian Wildlife status and has featured in the newspaper) it has a pond with a plethora of frogs (what is a group of frogs called? A croak of frogs?), toads and salamanders, the largest variety of plants, black squirrels, chipmunks, birds-a-plenty (including woodpeckers and hummingbirds) and an amazing array of ornaments such as a brass coloured pelican, a metal stork and a Buddha!
We were treated to a breakfast of bacon omelette, mushrooms, tomatoes and beans, followed by toast (pumpernickel bread, which I hadn't tried before but it's delicious) and marmalade, and then fresh raspberries and cream.
AND so we were set for the day....
we went off into town to go on a boat trip over the highest lift lock in the world. We passed first through a lock very much like the ones in England, except that the boats were tied to vertical poles whilst inside so that, as the boat moved either up or down, the rope just slid up or down the pole. Then we approached the lift lock; it was like one of those old weighing scales where when you push down one side the other side goes up. 2 huge basins were each atop an enormous piston; we entered the lower basin; we were in a 20 to 25m boat and another smaller, perhaps 5m boat, also entered at the same time and there was still room for more. A gate was closed behind us and a lift worker walked along the length of the gate unceremoniously dumping fish; that had been caught in a hollow at the top; over into the basin with us using a shovel.
More water is then allowed to flow into the top basin and because of the imbalance in mass the top basin moves down on its piston whilst the bottom basin moves up. We were raised through 19.8m in a matter of seconds. The lift has been in use for over 100 years and in that time there have only been 2 accidents when the back gate opened as the basins were moving so that all the water flowed out leaving boats hanging by their moorings! These accidents happened after modifications to the safety system on the gate closure mechanisms changing them from manual to mechanical hydraulic systems. They now have reimplemented the manual locking system as well as the mechanical one.
We passed the original Quaker Oats factory that has been on that site for nearly 150 years, and also learnt about the way that the canals are constructed over here. The banks look a bit like dry stone walling, with a series of flattish rocks sitting on top of each other... this system has been used as far back as in ancient Egypt where they used it along their irrigation canals. The energy from the wake of passing boats is absorbed by the cracks between the rocks and there is very little erosion. I wonder why we don't use this method in the UK instead of that boarding that is always put up, the bank is just eroded behind it anyway!
After a trip of about 2 hours we wandered around the marina for an hour looking in the shops and sitting in the shade in the park. The temperature has risen in the last couple of days to around 31C - a bit too hot to be doing too much (for me anyway).
We returned to the house (to yet another enthusiastic welcome from the dogs) and found Paul (Gilly's husband) had returned from his golf and we sat around chatting for ages and then all went out to a pub for supper and locally brewed organic beer.
We slept well!!!
Today, after another generous breakfast, we made sandwiches and boiled eggs and then took the dogs to go and visit Petroglyths National Park. Gilly and Paul were packing and organizing for their trip to the UK (they leave tomorrow), so it was just us and the dogs. The petroglyths is the site of ancient aboriginal rock art, some has been dated at around 1000 years old and consists of lots of snakes, turtles, fertility symbols, a rabbit like figure who is a sort of spirit of mischief and several large triangular shapes. It is a sacred site to the local Indian population and so we can't share any photos with you as photos were not allowed, and we had to leave the dogs tied in the shade of a tree nearby as they weren't allowed near the site either. There were a couple of offerings at the site but we didn't actually see anyone there at all. After contemplating the art we took the dogs on a hike to a nearby lake and ate our packed lunch in the shade of the trees whilst Storm raced around in the water collecting thrown sticks... Lulu, however, was far to regal to get involved in such nonsense.
At 3pm we met with Gilly (at a prearanged restaurant car park!)as we had been invited to Gordi and Tessa's (friends of the Wilsons) house on Clear Lake to go swimming and go out in their speed boat. What a great afternoon, even though the engine on the boat conked out and we had to wave our arms madly at a passing boat to get a tow. The water was warm, the sun was shining, the house was amazing. Celso has been enquiring about house prices.....
Back at Gilly and Paul's again we drank beer and ate a delicious supper of corn on the cob and shepherds pie, and now we are exhausted... again
What fantastic relatives I have!
We were treated to a breakfast of bacon omelette, mushrooms, tomatoes and beans, followed by toast (pumpernickel bread, which I hadn't tried before but it's delicious) and marmalade, and then fresh raspberries and cream.
AND so we were set for the day....
we went off into town to go on a boat trip over the highest lift lock in the world. We passed first through a lock very much like the ones in England, except that the boats were tied to vertical poles whilst inside so that, as the boat moved either up or down, the rope just slid up or down the pole. Then we approached the lift lock; it was like one of those old weighing scales where when you push down one side the other side goes up. 2 huge basins were each atop an enormous piston; we entered the lower basin; we were in a 20 to 25m boat and another smaller, perhaps 5m boat, also entered at the same time and there was still room for more. A gate was closed behind us and a lift worker walked along the length of the gate unceremoniously dumping fish; that had been caught in a hollow at the top; over into the basin with us using a shovel.
More water is then allowed to flow into the top basin and because of the imbalance in mass the top basin moves down on its piston whilst the bottom basin moves up. We were raised through 19.8m in a matter of seconds. The lift has been in use for over 100 years and in that time there have only been 2 accidents when the back gate opened as the basins were moving so that all the water flowed out leaving boats hanging by their moorings! These accidents happened after modifications to the safety system on the gate closure mechanisms changing them from manual to mechanical hydraulic systems. They now have reimplemented the manual locking system as well as the mechanical one.
We passed the original Quaker Oats factory that has been on that site for nearly 150 years, and also learnt about the way that the canals are constructed over here. The banks look a bit like dry stone walling, with a series of flattish rocks sitting on top of each other... this system has been used as far back as in ancient Egypt where they used it along their irrigation canals. The energy from the wake of passing boats is absorbed by the cracks between the rocks and there is very little erosion. I wonder why we don't use this method in the UK instead of that boarding that is always put up, the bank is just eroded behind it anyway!
After a trip of about 2 hours we wandered around the marina for an hour looking in the shops and sitting in the shade in the park. The temperature has risen in the last couple of days to around 31C - a bit too hot to be doing too much (for me anyway).
We returned to the house (to yet another enthusiastic welcome from the dogs) and found Paul (Gilly's husband) had returned from his golf and we sat around chatting for ages and then all went out to a pub for supper and locally brewed organic beer.
We slept well!!!
Today, after another generous breakfast, we made sandwiches and boiled eggs and then took the dogs to go and visit Petroglyths National Park. Gilly and Paul were packing and organizing for their trip to the UK (they leave tomorrow), so it was just us and the dogs. The petroglyths is the site of ancient aboriginal rock art, some has been dated at around 1000 years old and consists of lots of snakes, turtles, fertility symbols, a rabbit like figure who is a sort of spirit of mischief and several large triangular shapes. It is a sacred site to the local Indian population and so we can't share any photos with you as photos were not allowed, and we had to leave the dogs tied in the shade of a tree nearby as they weren't allowed near the site either. There were a couple of offerings at the site but we didn't actually see anyone there at all. After contemplating the art we took the dogs on a hike to a nearby lake and ate our packed lunch in the shade of the trees whilst Storm raced around in the water collecting thrown sticks... Lulu, however, was far to regal to get involved in such nonsense.
At 3pm we met with Gilly (at a prearanged restaurant car park!)as we had been invited to Gordi and Tessa's (friends of the Wilsons) house on Clear Lake to go swimming and go out in their speed boat. What a great afternoon, even though the engine on the boat conked out and we had to wave our arms madly at a passing boat to get a tow. The water was warm, the sun was shining, the house was amazing. Celso has been enquiring about house prices.....
Back at Gilly and Paul's again we drank beer and ate a delicious supper of corn on the cob and shepherds pie, and now we are exhausted... again
What fantastic relatives I have!
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Algonquin - days 14 - 17
Small amendments made after Tristan's editing
9:00am sharp we arrived at the Portage Store in Algonquin Provincial park where we had booked all the equipment we needed for a 4 day, 3 night canoe trip into the park.
Whilst Celso and Tris eyed up the fishing gear, I went to get all the permits (camping, fishing, parking etc). Then we were shown all our equipment, how to set up the tent, how to use the gas stove (but we never touched it and did all our cooking over and open fire), how to put together the saw, what all the food was; how to hang the food barrel so that bears and raccoons wouldn't get to it and finally how to load the canoe and paddle it.
And so we set off, me at the front (supposedly the power seat!), Celso at the rear in the steering seat and Tristan perched on a pack in the middle. We weren't very good at the old paddling bit, we weaved left and right up the first lake and I bashed my thumb against the side of the boat countless times. Fortunately it was slightly overcast because the paddling was hot enough work without the sun's heat too.
All that bad paddling aside the views were fantastic, when the lake was completely calm you couldn't tell where the woods ended and the reflections began. We had to do one portage... an overland walk carrying all the gear. Celso popped up the canoe over his head, Tris took all the paddles the water bottles and a small back pack and I took our big back pack on the first trip, then Celso and I returned for the food barrel and the tent and equipment pack. It was only about 370m but far enough just the same.
The water was sort of weak tea coloured but very clear, you could see the bottom when it was only about 3 metres deep but any more than that and it was just black. At times there were long grassy reeds, sometimes large boulders, waterlilies or just sand, and every so often there was a submerged tree trunk that warranted some nifty steering to avoid but that we had not yet mastered.
That first day we were overtaken by several other canoes but we didn't care, we were just taking all the vastness of it in, and I was getting used to trying to read the map when there were very few landmarks to allow you to get your bearings.
We found a place to camp which had a rocky shore where the fire could be made and a bit further back a more sandy area to set up the tent. It was nicely shaded by fir trees and had some very bold chipmunk residents that came out to visit. Celso disappeared into the woods bare footed to collect fire wood, he was in his element, loving doing all the manly stuff like making the fire, putting up the tent etc.
We were visited by a huge beetle, we had seen loads of what I think were Loons on the lake, a reddy brown ferret like creature that we think may have been a pine martin (we need to look it up) and loads of fish (Tris caught three little ones).
Celso went out in the canoe to go fishing and got better and better at steering (thank goodness). But no fish.
That night we saw some lights in the sky, we thought it might be the Northern lights, but when we returned to the Portage Store and asked, they said that we weren't far enough north and that it had been a meteor shower that had been going on for a few days. We also heard foxes screeching and wolves calling (or perhaps it was the Loons which we heard the next day).
The second day we went further on down a beautiful meandering river system that connected the lakes, it was so fantastic but very difficult to describe, just wilderness and silence, a turtle sitting on a log, the call of the Loons, some rocky streams with not enough water for us to paddle up so we had to jump out and pull the canoe up. We found a dead crayfish in a pool and so Celso turned over a few rocks and we found live crayfish about 6cm long, (not big enough to cook!). All in all just a unique experience.
We chose a site to camp that was up a dead end part of the lake, as far from anyone else that we could find. Immediately Celso sprung into action again to collect wood, even climbing trees to cut down dead wood (no live wood was allowed to be cut), build the fire, get the rope up into a tree for the food barrel. Whilst he was in the brush he found a huge pile of droppings that we decided were either deer or moose/elk, but we weren't sure.
There was a small pond behind a clearing where we set up the fire and the tent, it was full of frogs that were also leaping about in the undergrowth. The most enormous dragonflies (about 10cm long) and some amazing butterflies also greeted us.
I decided to wash some clothes in the lake from day 1 that were covered in pine sap and general grime and Tris and Celso went to explore another small stream that we could see on the map to see if they could find any more crayfish. After my clothes washing I stripped off to have a wash. I was just starting to enjoy my dip when a long (10cm) black thing with orange spots came wiggling its way (up and down wiggle rather than side to side) towards me. A leach - you've never seen me move so fast and then I decided to try and catch it to show the boys. A small bowl was nearby and I scooped it in but after about a minute of circling it decided to escape by sucking its foot to the bottom of the bowl and then pushing its other end up and over the side. I rushed and got a saucepan and put it in, but again it managed to push itself up over the side (probably 10cm high).... so I got the lid of the pan and shut it in. When the boys returned they had stories of leaches too. After that we saw them everywhere. They came when we washed up and I refused to get into the water again. Tris washed with water scooped from the lake and poured over him!
Again Celso did lots of fishing with no luck.
That night there was some loud snorting noises close to the tent. Later Celso heard a large animals foot/hoofsteps and then slurping (drinking?), he was a bit nervous thinking it might be a bear.. but in the morning the footprints told us that a moose/elk had visited us in the night.
We had left the pots and pans from the night before in the water by our camp site weighted down by a stone. We had cooked some sausages and the grease had attracted a crayfish to sit by our site and a host of leaches. Cornelius, the crayfish, gave us about an hour of amusement as he battled or avoided the leaches as they fought over a small piece of sausage. At one stage he grabbed the sausage and then appeared to flop over onto his back in sheer bliss as he curled his whole body around his prize.
The third day we left our tent where it was and went off to an island where Celso tried even more fishing and Tris and I lazed about reading our books or just dozing in the shade. Celso insisted that we go and leave some hooks over night in a reedy part of the lake close to the small stream where they had hunted for crayfish the day before, so he set up a line on a coke bottle that floated on the surface and attached it to some reeds so that it wouldn't float too far.
As we returned to our camp he also went to leave another line out in the lake, he dropped Tris and I off and was heading out when there was some loud chirping by some very angry birds (or chipmunks?) and some sploshing, and there about 30m along from our camp was the moose, just plodding along in the lake next to the shore, stopping to graze on this and that and basically minding his own business. We scrambled to action with the camera but only got a few blurry shots.
That night we also met a little squirrel, several frogs, one which unfortunately leapt straight into our campfire and sizzled, a pair of chipmunks and some seagulls. We left out some veg for our moose friend but he didn't return.
Last day.. up early, packed and ready to go by 8am. We checked Celso's lines and on the coke bottle line he had caught a small (15-20cm perhaps) catfish, Tristan christened him Spartipus as we set him free... Celso's one fishing success. We paddled back the way we had come but the water in the river part was much higher now so no pulling of the canoe required. However a fallen tree; that we had just passed underneath on the way up; was now impassable.... but Celso would not be defeated. Out came the saw and he attacked the tree until he finally managed to break it in 2 and he pushed half of it out of the way. We floated in style, congratulating ourselves on how easy the ride was compared to the outward journey. How wrong we were... when we hit the open water again the wind was full in our faces and the sun was beating down. It took us 5 hours of serious paddling to get back to the Portage Store.... tired but well satisfied with our wilderness experience.
Past midnight now in a motel in Peterborough. We are meeting up with Gillie Wilson for breakfast tomorrow. Tristan will need to read this and perhaps I shall add more tomorrow. There was so much that happened I am bound to have forgotten something.
9:00am sharp we arrived at the Portage Store in Algonquin Provincial park where we had booked all the equipment we needed for a 4 day, 3 night canoe trip into the park.
Whilst Celso and Tris eyed up the fishing gear, I went to get all the permits (camping, fishing, parking etc). Then we were shown all our equipment, how to set up the tent, how to use the gas stove (but we never touched it and did all our cooking over and open fire), how to put together the saw, what all the food was; how to hang the food barrel so that bears and raccoons wouldn't get to it and finally how to load the canoe and paddle it.
And so we set off, me at the front (supposedly the power seat!), Celso at the rear in the steering seat and Tristan perched on a pack in the middle. We weren't very good at the old paddling bit, we weaved left and right up the first lake and I bashed my thumb against the side of the boat countless times. Fortunately it was slightly overcast because the paddling was hot enough work without the sun's heat too.
All that bad paddling aside the views were fantastic, when the lake was completely calm you couldn't tell where the woods ended and the reflections began. We had to do one portage... an overland walk carrying all the gear. Celso popped up the canoe over his head, Tris took all the paddles the water bottles and a small back pack and I took our big back pack on the first trip, then Celso and I returned for the food barrel and the tent and equipment pack. It was only about 370m but far enough just the same.
The water was sort of weak tea coloured but very clear, you could see the bottom when it was only about 3 metres deep but any more than that and it was just black. At times there were long grassy reeds, sometimes large boulders, waterlilies or just sand, and every so often there was a submerged tree trunk that warranted some nifty steering to avoid but that we had not yet mastered.
That first day we were overtaken by several other canoes but we didn't care, we were just taking all the vastness of it in, and I was getting used to trying to read the map when there were very few landmarks to allow you to get your bearings.
We found a place to camp which had a rocky shore where the fire could be made and a bit further back a more sandy area to set up the tent. It was nicely shaded by fir trees and had some very bold chipmunk residents that came out to visit. Celso disappeared into the woods bare footed to collect fire wood, he was in his element, loving doing all the manly stuff like making the fire, putting up the tent etc.
We were visited by a huge beetle, we had seen loads of what I think were Loons on the lake, a reddy brown ferret like creature that we think may have been a pine martin (we need to look it up) and loads of fish (Tris caught three little ones).
Celso went out in the canoe to go fishing and got better and better at steering (thank goodness). But no fish.
That night we saw some lights in the sky, we thought it might be the Northern lights, but when we returned to the Portage Store and asked, they said that we weren't far enough north and that it had been a meteor shower that had been going on for a few days. We also heard foxes screeching and wolves calling (or perhaps it was the Loons which we heard the next day).
The second day we went further on down a beautiful meandering river system that connected the lakes, it was so fantastic but very difficult to describe, just wilderness and silence, a turtle sitting on a log, the call of the Loons, some rocky streams with not enough water for us to paddle up so we had to jump out and pull the canoe up. We found a dead crayfish in a pool and so Celso turned over a few rocks and we found live crayfish about 6cm long, (not big enough to cook!). All in all just a unique experience.
We chose a site to camp that was up a dead end part of the lake, as far from anyone else that we could find. Immediately Celso sprung into action again to collect wood, even climbing trees to cut down dead wood (no live wood was allowed to be cut), build the fire, get the rope up into a tree for the food barrel. Whilst he was in the brush he found a huge pile of droppings that we decided were either deer or moose/elk, but we weren't sure.
There was a small pond behind a clearing where we set up the fire and the tent, it was full of frogs that were also leaping about in the undergrowth. The most enormous dragonflies (about 10cm long) and some amazing butterflies also greeted us.
I decided to wash some clothes in the lake from day 1 that were covered in pine sap and general grime and Tris and Celso went to explore another small stream that we could see on the map to see if they could find any more crayfish. After my clothes washing I stripped off to have a wash. I was just starting to enjoy my dip when a long (10cm) black thing with orange spots came wiggling its way (up and down wiggle rather than side to side) towards me. A leach - you've never seen me move so fast and then I decided to try and catch it to show the boys. A small bowl was nearby and I scooped it in but after about a minute of circling it decided to escape by sucking its foot to the bottom of the bowl and then pushing its other end up and over the side. I rushed and got a saucepan and put it in, but again it managed to push itself up over the side (probably 10cm high).... so I got the lid of the pan and shut it in. When the boys returned they had stories of leaches too. After that we saw them everywhere. They came when we washed up and I refused to get into the water again. Tris washed with water scooped from the lake and poured over him!
Again Celso did lots of fishing with no luck.
That night there was some loud snorting noises close to the tent. Later Celso heard a large animals foot/hoofsteps and then slurping (drinking?), he was a bit nervous thinking it might be a bear.. but in the morning the footprints told us that a moose/elk had visited us in the night.
We had left the pots and pans from the night before in the water by our camp site weighted down by a stone. We had cooked some sausages and the grease had attracted a crayfish to sit by our site and a host of leaches. Cornelius, the crayfish, gave us about an hour of amusement as he battled or avoided the leaches as they fought over a small piece of sausage. At one stage he grabbed the sausage and then appeared to flop over onto his back in sheer bliss as he curled his whole body around his prize.
The third day we left our tent where it was and went off to an island where Celso tried even more fishing and Tris and I lazed about reading our books or just dozing in the shade. Celso insisted that we go and leave some hooks over night in a reedy part of the lake close to the small stream where they had hunted for crayfish the day before, so he set up a line on a coke bottle that floated on the surface and attached it to some reeds so that it wouldn't float too far.
As we returned to our camp he also went to leave another line out in the lake, he dropped Tris and I off and was heading out when there was some loud chirping by some very angry birds (or chipmunks?) and some sploshing, and there about 30m along from our camp was the moose, just plodding along in the lake next to the shore, stopping to graze on this and that and basically minding his own business. We scrambled to action with the camera but only got a few blurry shots.
That night we also met a little squirrel, several frogs, one which unfortunately leapt straight into our campfire and sizzled, a pair of chipmunks and some seagulls. We left out some veg for our moose friend but he didn't return.
Last day.. up early, packed and ready to go by 8am. We checked Celso's lines and on the coke bottle line he had caught a small (15-20cm perhaps) catfish, Tristan christened him Spartipus as we set him free... Celso's one fishing success. We paddled back the way we had come but the water in the river part was much higher now so no pulling of the canoe required. However a fallen tree; that we had just passed underneath on the way up; was now impassable.... but Celso would not be defeated. Out came the saw and he attacked the tree until he finally managed to break it in 2 and he pushed half of it out of the way. We floated in style, congratulating ourselves on how easy the ride was compared to the outward journey. How wrong we were... when we hit the open water again the wind was full in our faces and the sun was beating down. It took us 5 hours of serious paddling to get back to the Portage Store.... tired but well satisfied with our wilderness experience.
Past midnight now in a motel in Peterborough. We are meeting up with Gillie Wilson for breakfast tomorrow. Tristan will need to read this and perhaps I shall add more tomorrow. There was so much that happened I am bound to have forgotten something.
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