Gore Bay to Spanish to Blind River to Richards Landing

Day #681; Loop Miles to Date = 8,176

We were able to depart Gore Bay on Friday morning, although we had to leave at dawn in order to beat the incoming weather system. It was either this, or we would risk getting stuck in Gore Bay for multiple days. It was a bit sporting for the second half of the trip, but quite manageable. We were very glad that we decided to do this, because, the winds came in as predicted. This leg allowed us to cross from the southern side of the North Channel to the north side, which was where the rest of our stops were planned.

Sunrise leaving Gore Bay...it was nice and calm here since the winds were out of the south and we were on the southern end of the bay.

From Gore Bay, we transited north to Spanish...yes that is the name of the town. There wasn't much going on in Spanish...just a place to stop along the way. We snagged a ride into town (it was well over a mile) to walk around and grab a bite to eat. Just a small worn out town with not much of any commerce.

However, after an early dinner, Sandy took a stroll to look at a burned out building that we had passed by on the way into town. Evidently, there were 2 schools that at one time were operated on the property a bit behind the marina. One was a girls school, and one was a boys school run by the Jesuits. The girls school had burned down, and the boys school had simply been abandoned. And sadly, the stories about life at these schools was disheartening. Their primary purpose when established was to offer a place to "educate" the children of the surrounding Native American population. Even though the story is not a happy one, the walk was enlightening, and there is now a memorial erected, and as well some beautiful gardens on one of the properties that appears to be a residence of some sort.

 

View of Spanish Marina from atop the hill.

The markers for the memorial to the students.

 

A local artist is in the process of adding to the memorial with this carving...called "Free Spirit".

 

What remains of the Boys School.

 

And the beautiful gardens!

 

From Spanish, on Saturday we traveled to a marina at Blind River, another very small town. This one was stuck in the 1960's as the large Lumber Mill here closed down in 1964. For the first half of the 20th century, it was a thriving area, but sadly no longer. We again snagged a ride into town, found a place to eat for dinner, and then walked back to the marina, enjoying our last taste of Farquhar's ice cream! It's not quite as delicious as Kawartha, but it is really, really good.

On Sunday, we planned to move to Thessalon, yet another small coastal town. The weather has continued to be unsettled, and we saw that there was more wind on the way, but that early on this day was perfect for travel. However, here is what it looked like as we left Blind River...

We could barely see Act III only 100 yards ahead.

Our last view of land for a couple of hours.

So yes...fog, and plenty of it. The good news was that once we cleared 1 set of buoys, all we had was open water, and it was incredibly calm. With our radar and AIS, we felt comfortable and safe for the few hours that we expected the fog to last. Sure enough, we emerged from it within a couple of hours, and it turned into a gorgeous travel day. It was so nice, and the water so flat, that we changed our plan and chose to double our travel day and skip Thessalon. We stopped briefly at Thessalon to walk the pups, and from what we saw, we missed absolutely nothing by not staying here any longer. It was a 60+ mile day, but worth it to get a bit ahead on our schedule.

After the fog, it looked like this...beautiful.

One of the last cottages that we will see in Canada...note the Canadian and US flags are both flying...not at all uncommon here.

A small lighthouse up on a bluff that we passed coming into Richards Landing.

 

 

So at the end of the day, we docked at Richards Landing (that's the name of the town and the marina). We found this stop to be a cozy little town with a few shops, a grocery, an eatery, and of course...an ice cream shop. As this is being penned, we have had dinner, and have yet to decide if we have room for ice cream.

 

The small café where we had dinner...a bit of a time warp as yet another "joint" that made you feel like you had stepped back in time.

We don't usually include pictures of food, but Rob's dinner was the special here...a breakfast poutine. It had hash browns, layered with cheese, with chopped ham and bacon, egg, and topped with hollandaise..,this is the half portion.  Absolute YUM! Sandy had home made pancakes with locally made maple syrup...also delicious.



So in the morning we plan to make our way to Sault Ste Marie, and check back in to the USA. We've been in Canada for 60 days, and have traveled 764 miles here thus far. It has been an absolute treat, and probably our most favorite segment of our Loop trip.

A couple of bonus pictures that we forgot to include in our last post. On the hike up to Bridal Veil Falls, we found some Fairy Homes! What a cute idea this was, most likely to hold the interest of small kids who were making the hike. Here are just a couple of them...we saw about a dozen or so.

So...all for now folks...our next posting will be when we are back on home soil. Onward we go!