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| Big Chute! |
I made my way over to the Bath House and was delighted to find that the already good Provincial Park showers had been enhanced here with the addition of a plastic foot mat that drained away water nicely from the vestibule area, and a little shelf on which to rest one's soap whilst showering; small improvements perhaps but useful all the same. Extra points go to Mara for these embellishments I think.
Once in the land of the living (that is showered and shaved), I made may way to the nearest Tim Horton's to procure some breakfast comestibles. It was one of those double drive-through places but that didn't stop the queues snaking around the car park. Being as sharp witted as I am I got out of the car and ducked into the shop to make my purchase, but as is usual in these cases, when I'm faced with a big decision on what to get I went to pieces. The two toasted bagels should have been buttered, I forgot Mrs T's Fruit Muffin and ordered myself a smaller coffee than I'd intended. Mind like a steel trap, me.
So to the business of the day. Firstly, a trip to Lock 45, the northern terminus of the Trent-Severn Waterway at Port Severn. You may know that I'm a canal nerd and that we'd enjoyed a few days boating on the mid section of the Trent-Severn a few years back. At the time we lacked the courage to strike north as we were afeared of going onto Lake Simcoe as it's big and sea-like, and that it lay between us and Port Severn. Of course, we didn't really have the time, either, but it sounds more exciting to say that we were scared of the waves on Lake Simcoe. Anyway, we promised ourselves a trip to Port Severn one day and today was that day. It turned out that the town itself was little more than the lock, a marina and a General Store, but it was very pleasant all the same. Parks Canada run the lock, as they do the whole waterway, actually, and I was rather hoping to watch some Parks employees sweating over the gate paddles and the gates themselves but it wasn't to be - no boats today - so we sloped off after rattling off loads of photos.
Next stop was Lock 43, up at Big Chute. It's not actually a lock but an inclined plane, using a big carriage thingy on rails to lift the boats out of the water and transport them up or down the 60 foot height difference between one lake and the next. Because it runs on rails, the whole contraption is known as The Big Chute Marine Railway, which I suppose it is, really. The photograph at the top of the page shows the carriage descending into the water at the bottom of the track so that the little motor boat can drive off downstream, that is if the two people on board the boat could stop kissing each other long enough to drive anywhere! I should put more photos up but the Internet situation here isn't great so uploading is problematical. Anyway, it was jolly nice to see the Marine Railway in action and I was glad we'd made the effort to get there.
The drive to and from was good, too, as it was through a land of rocks, lakes and trees; real Canadian Shield territory. It was also Cottage Country, which means big expensive houses by the lakes; how the other half live, eh?
Next we went south and west to the port town of Midland, which is nestled on the southern edge Georgian Bay. Its Main Street (actually called King Street) was broad and ran gently down to the Harbour at the bottom. I say harbour but as is the case with most former working harbours, it's now home to lots of small and expensive pleasure craft and is known as a Marina. Not that I'm complaining, you understand, it's always good to see things so bouyant. Bouyant. Boats. Geddit?
There was at least a big, working grain elevator at one end of the harbour. There were no freighters there at the time but it's clear to see how Midland connected to the Great Lakes, Canada and the rest of the world.
On more important matters, we scouted out a decent Italian restaurant and a nice cafe and food place called Ciboulette et Cie. It was quite posh but the range of snazzy food available was excellent, even if the prices were not. Lily's restaurant served us up some lovely dishes, even if the one had wasn't the one I ordered. The error was made as one of the kitchen team was having to do front of house stuff and was quite ticked about it. Still, no harm done and she even offered to buy me some ice cream as recompense.
I think Midland is starting to cater for the boaters and that's why the place seemed "up and coming" (read "getting expensive"). We liked the place and will be back, I'm sure, although I can't imagine the place in February.
Back in Orillia, we decided to have a close look at the Ospreys that were nesting on a telegraph pole close to Mara Park. There were actually two nest sites within a few hundred yards of each other, one with three chicks the other with one (that we could see). The parents were taking it in turns to fly for food as the chicks were big and probably not too far off leaving the nest. we used our camera's big lens to have a closer look and to snap a few pictures; again, I think uploads will have to wait until we get home. It was just fantastic to get so close, though.
So that was our day. None of the predicted storms showed up and it remained hot and humid all day, which is wahy we finally saw sense and put the cool air on in the trailer; bliss.
Tomorrow? It's weather dependent. Check back to see if it rained!
