Wednesday April 29th 2015 149198
Today we are heading to Rodeau Provincial Park, near Chatham, Ontario. We have not camped around this area before, so should prove interesting.
We left Durham about 9.30 a.m. in sunshine.
Very quiet on the roads today. As you all know we do try to stay off any major highways.
Travelled through some of West Grey, Wellington, Perth, Middlesex and Elgin Counties. Went through the small town of Wartburg. Not a bad little town, despite its undesirable name.
The areas of Perth we travelled through were mainly farmland, and it occurred to us that Perth County had declared April 29th 2015 to be their County Manure Day. I will say no more, except, we do not have any sinus problems at this time!
Took a drive through St. Mary's. Now that was a good looking place. We really enjoyed that. Then just meandered along the country roads to Rondeau Park.
This is a very well laid out park. One side of the park is on Rondeau Bay, while the other side is on Lake Erie. Consequently it was like being on an Island.
Most sites here were slightly different to what we are used to. Although good size sites, there were not so many trees.
After lunch we made our way to Rondeau Bay, where we needed our winter jackets. If only we had bought them with us. The wind off the bay was quite cold.
From the Bay we headed towards South Point Trail, which turned out to be quite sheltered, making for a far more comfortable walk. A very easy trail to follow too.
Then we headed on to The Spice Bush Trail, which turned out to be very interesting, consisting of a regular walking trail.
And several board walk trails.
This trail is know as the Carolinian Forest area, and is riddled with many different species of wild flowers, ferns and fungi.
Although it was a little early to see many of the flowers in bloom, there were a few beginning to appear.
The Trillium was just coming into bloom.
There is also a good amount of swamp area on this trail.
At the end of the trail the walk continued along Bennet Avenue, where even more Trillium lined the edge of the road.
That led us to Lakeshore Road where there were many lovely cottages and properties.
We really liked this log one. Although a lot of work had been done to and around this cottage you could still see some of the original logs. It was really very impressive.
It was quite a long walk but we finally found beach access #10 and were lucky enough to walk a very quiet beach in brilliant sunshine, heading in the direction of our camp site.
After a total of about two and half hours hiking we made it back to our site safe and sound and ready for some relaxation and a bevvy.
It had turned out to be a fun afternoon and very interesting walk.
A great BBQ Supper and a good campfire for the evening, completed the end of, once again, a very enjoyable day.
Thursday April 30th 2015.
Beautiful bright sunny morning, however, the forecast is for 60% rain showers today. So we had to have breakfast and hit the trails as quickly as we could.
The Harrison Trail runs almost the length of the Park and is 8 km in length, one way. Then naturally a further 8 km to get back.
It was a very well groomed trail and made for very easy walking.
The Black Oak Trail was several km along the Harrison Trail.
The Black Oak Trail was a 1.5 km loop, and renowned for the amount of song birds hat frequent the area. It was a rugged narrow trail, but fairly easy to get around.
Although not a lot of different song birds out there today, we did see Blue Jays, Cardinals, Robins, Sparrows, Red Winged Blackbirds and several different types of Finches. Who moved so quickly it was too difficult to try to identify them. We did get to see a Flicker and a pair of very large birds, who had a nest at the top of an extremely large, tall tree. They did resemble an Eagle, but we do not know if they actually were Eagles.
We did find a very interesting tree that had been hit by lightening and was actually in two separate pieces, and looking very charred.
After the Black Oak Trail we got back onto the Harrison Trail. This portion of the trail had many bends in it. It did seem strange to see this sign on a trail. It did remain to be a very well groomed trail though.
Then we headed to the Lake Erie Shore again.
Lunch time, about 1.30 pm, when we got back, and also time to relax. Lucky for us the rain had held off.
However, the rain started about 3.30 pm. Not heavy rain, but it made it cool enough to sit inside for a while. The rain showers continued for a couple of hours.
The rain did not deter the animals at all. A couple of rabbits were running around the site opposite us, a deer wandered around the bush at the back of our camper and a cheeky raccoon came around to see what could be salvaged. Too bad there were so many raindrops racing down the windows. We couldn't get any pictures.
By dinner time the rain had stopped and it had dried up nicely, so after dinner we managed to sit around the camp fi9re, where it felt even warmer than it did the night before.
By 10 pm the night sky had cleared and a few stars and bright moon were visible.
OK, another really wonderful day!
Friday May 1st 2015 149475
WOW, woke to lovely bright sunny day, and definitely considerably warmer than yesterday. Too bad we are heading home today. This happens so often the day we are leaving. It turns out to be beautiful and we wish we were staying. However, no problem we can return whenever we wish.
Sat out in the sunshine after breakfast enjoying the sounds of so many birds. I guess the rain yesterday bought all the birds out today to enjoy the sunshine.
Chipmunks and squirrels were running around while we ate breakfast. We've got used to BBQ breakfast again right now so we hope the weather will allow us to do this when we get home.
Finally time to head out. We decided to stop in St Thomas for a while. It was an interesting town. The down town was quite large and vibrant. Very good to see that.
So on our way again. This time heading towards Stratford for lunch. We have always enjoyed Stratford and haven't been there for several years. As it turned out today was not the best time to visit. The weather was excellent but the Theatres were extremely busy, making parking along the Avon River virtually impossible. So we had our lunch a little further up steam. No swans or ducks to be seen here. Regardless, it was still fun.
From there we drove into Guelph to visit with friends, Bernie and Karla. Unfortunately Bernie was working but Karla was home so we had a really good visit with Karla. We hadn't seen them in almost a year.
Then of course, road time again. This time the destination was to be Durham. As is often said, it is not the destination that is always exciting, it is getting there.
It was a good drive too. In fact the whole drive, for the day was really good.
To make a perfect ending to a perfect trip we stopped at Riverside Fish N Chips in Durham to collect our supper. I can assure you this is always delicious.
Now counting the days leading to the next trip. See you then!
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