TDC Revisited Day 6 & 7

Sault Ste. Marie to Callingwood

In 2013, my Tour du Canada cycling adventure across Canada afforded a rest day in Sault Ste. Marie. This year, scheduling does not allow such a “luxury” and it was on to Callingwood, ON. For readers who may wish to read my original posts about the legs included in today’s drive, the links are:

As we had a rest day on Day 7, near Tottenham, I have included Day 7 in this post.

The drive from Sault Ste. Marie to Collingwood (north of Tottenham) turned out to be a very long day. We had to leave our hotel early enough to be in South Baymouth, on Manitoulin Island, by 2:30 pm at the latest, to catch the 3:30 ferry to Tobermory. So added to the drive was about an hour and a half wait for the ferry plus the nearly 2 hour ferry ride. Needless to say, there was very little stopping along the way for pictures.

One stop I did make, though, was near Pancake Bay Provincial Park, where we camped in 2013. Near the park was a collection of shops, including and ice cream shop, that a number of us rode to from the campground. They also had a “weather station”. I stopped to see if the weather station was still there, and it was.

I did make a stop, though, just after we crossed the bridge onto Manitoulin Island, at the ice cream shop. I had to have a cone for old times sake! In 2013, quite a few of our group stopped at this shop for a break, and an ice cream cone.

In 2013, we camped on Manitoulin Island, so didn’t have to ride that far to catch the ferry. South Baymouth is a picturesque little town with some nice restaurants opposite the ferry dock.

While having lunch on the ferry, Elaine and I got talking to a man at the next table. He indicated that he knew the captain and would we like to go up to the bridge. Of course we did. As a result, we both had photos taken of us “at the helm”.

When we got to Tottenham a couple of days later, we had a rest day. Many of the group, who lived in or near Toronto, went home for the day. I was fortunate to be picked up by two friends, Sandi and Stan, who lived nearby. I spent an enjoyable afternoon and evening with them. They drove me back to camp the next morning.

For this year’s trip, I planned a rest day for Day 7. After several long days it was nice to have a day in which we only had a very short distance between hotels. And the icing on the cake, we got to have lunch and a visit with Elaine, who lives in the area. While we have kept in touch since 2013, we have only actually seen each other one other time, several years ago, when Elaine was in Edmonton. It was great having a visit and being able to catch up! It’s amazing how I’ve turned into an old man and she is as youthful as ever!