TUESDAY JUNE 14th 2011 304550
We left Durham about 10.15 a.m. heading to Point Farms. Bright sunny day, but still a cool breeze.
Mike had spent a week or so previous to us leaving doing some maintenance, plus some body and paintwork on El Campista. Now time for a recreational break.
Some sad news first. Mike had to replace the soup can. It had managed 17,430 km, and then gave up. Not bad mileage out of a soup can though.
Great drive to the park. The roads were not at all busy. Took site #146, excellent site, some sun and shade for most of the day. All set up by 12.15 p.m. 304667
After lunch we took off exploring. Still bright and sunny, but also a very cool breeze off the Lake.
The scenery here was magnificent.
Now have to find our way down to the beach.
We took The Old Farms Trail to the beach steps. As you can see it is quite a way down to the beach. 130 steps down to the shore, and still great scenery.
One slight problem - that will be 130 steps back up to the trail!!!
The beach was deserted except for a lot of seagulls.O.K. Guys. Who can tell us what "a lot of seagulls" are? We know it is "a murder of crows", but what is it for seagulls?
We wandered the two types of beaches for an hour or more. To the right of us the beach was very flat, sandy and looked almost cultivated. The volley ball nets were all set up ready for beach volley ball.
To the left of us , past the "dog beach", it became very rocky and quite rugged looking. The type of beach you could find lots of "treasures".
Time to sit and enjoy some of the sunshine.
We wandered along the beach to to the next set of steps to get us back to the Trail. Yes, you got it - we had to climb up 130 steps to get there. Well worth it. The scenery, once again was breath taking.
From there we wandered the trail back to our camp site.
Then time for a relaxing drink, well deserved one after 260 stairs!!
Some of the treasures we found on the beach.
The drift wood was the best, don't you agree?
After a while of relaxing and reading it was time for another hike along a different part of the trail. Very cool breeze now, so we stayed "on the sunny side of the street".
Got back to camp about 1 1/4 hours later. By
6.30 p.m. the wind had died down and it was 4c warmer, now hit +18c. Forecast for us tomorrow sounds excellent, (to us that is. Not quite your temps in NC, Vince).
6.30 p.m. the wind had died down and it was 4c warmer, now hit +18c. Forecast for us tomorrow sounds excellent, (to us that is. Not quite your temps in NC, Vince).
Had great steak BBQ. Then had good campfire going, where we spent the rest of the evening telling stories and putting the world right.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 15th 2011
Our site was very shady first thing in the morning, so we slept in, as the sun was not streaming in the windows, screaming at us to get up.
Not a cloud in the sky when we ot outside El Campista. It was already at yesterday's high and just a slight breeze. Another good day to hit the beach.
All chores finished and ready to do the trails to the beach by 10.15 a.m. The sun had already warmed the beach. It felt more like summer, at last.
We hiked the beach as far as the park boundary, to the north. Then headed to the Ravine Trail, which really ended up going no where. So back to the beach
We hiked past the Dog Beach again, to the south, where once again we saw "a lot of seagulls" all together. Explored the rocky end of the beach one again, found even more "treasures".
Then we had to hike up 130 steps again. We will be very fit after this trip.
From the beach we headed back o the trails, but took a slightly different route back.
We took the Thomas Wright Trail. Here we found a large board explaining that Thomas Wright had built a resort Hotel here. Growing all the fruit and vegetables required for their guests and family. The Hotel was sold in 1893 when Thomas passed away. Sad to say that you really would not have know a Hotel even existed if it were not for the board.
From there we headed along the trails back to our site and time to relax before late lunch. We had been hiking for close to 31/2 hours. Spent most of the afternoon sitting in the sunshine reading and writing. - heaven!
Took another hike around the campsite trails, no more 130 steps to day.
Nice calm evening.
After BBQ sat around the camp fire.
Guess there is nothing left to be put right in the world now!
THURSDAY JUNE 16th 2011 304667
Cloudy morning but not cool, already warm, so we ate breakfast outside.
Then time to pack up and head back to the homestead. It's been a great couple of days, even the weather co-operated, until we were ready to put our awning away, then it rained! Oh well, that made gong home a little easier.
By the time we were back in Durham it was brilliant sunshine again.
Fabulous few days - where to next? Will let you all know, when I know. 304877
