Canada 2019 - Day 12 Tillsonburg to Port Dover

July 28 - Sunday
Tillsonburg to Port Dover

It rained overnight but it was dry and the sky was getting blue as we headed east.

The same could not be said of the lake shore around Sand Hill Park. We are SOOOOO glad we  changed our planned route yesterday!!

This house is just one example of some very intricate brick artistry in this stretch.

What a great way to put out the messages.

Tobacco used to be the main crop in the area and still covers some significant acreage.

It is an heritage that Delhi has embraced. We found out later that they are known for very high quality tobacco that mainly goes to Asia these days.

Today Norfolk County is also known for the wide variety of fruits and vegetables that it grows.

We had a tailwind all morning but at Simcoe, after our lunch break, we were turning south.That made the trees along the Lynn Valley trail a good windbreak. Hopefully the ticks aren't really THAT big.

They are serious about non-motorized on this trail.

Always nice to see fellow trail users, especially the young ones.

The end of the trail in Port Dover.

If you need ANYTHING washed this is the place to do it! The adjacent gas station let us use their restroom to change clothes.

Wayne started his laundry at the same time. He kept us entertained with his life stories the whole time except when we went next door to the gas station to get an ice cream. He is in his 80's. He traveled all over the country doing equipment installations during his career with the phone company.

We are staying in  a Bed and Breakfast tonight so are surrounded by a lovely yard.

Haven't seen one of these in awhile and this one actually works.

Our host recommended The Fisherman's Catch for dinner and it was an excellent choice. 

We wandered around the waterfront for awhile after dinner with a lot of other people....

....and gulls.

Out to the Port Dover Lighthouse and back. Then we spent the rest of the evening almost finishing the road trip part of the blog....only a LITTLE behind! 

Canada 2019 - Day 11 - Port Stanley to Tillsonburg

July 27 - Saturday
Port Stanley to Tillsonburg
A slight diversion

There were 2 ways out of town. The first one went straight up. We took the second one.

Canadian maple leaf barn quilt.

There is a nice mix of natural areas with farm fields around here.

The first road that we took east turned to gravel after a couple of miles so we turned north again. This set up a pattern for the day.

Howe Family Farm Market. During our break here we decided that the predicted thunderstormy weather was not conducive to camping tonight as we had originally planned to do at Sand Hill Park on the lake shore. Since we were already pretty far inland we found a place to stay in Tillsonburg. (Popsicles don't count as ice cream so we didn't break the "No Ice Cream Before Noon" rule. 😉)

It looks like tobacco. Do they grow it this far north? 

This decision also meant we were riding through a lot of farms with no handy parks so this set of mailboxes in the shade was our lunch stop. It was pretty warm and muggy so we focused on getting to town and didn't take any pictures after this. Tillsonburg turned out to be a good place to resupply a few things like sunscreen which is essential! 

Canada 2019 - Day 10 - Blenheim to Port Stanley

July 26 - Friday
Blenheim to Port Stanley

Justin, Liz, Yoga, and Keanna arrived late last night (8:30) and plan to do 112 miles today so they are getting an early start. We barely caught them and it is only 6:45! They are University of Connecticut medical students. They started in Anacortes, Washington 45 days ago so are quite seasoned tourers at this point. We wished them a safe journey like so many people have done for us.

We were back at the golf course for breakfast (The motel was 1.5 miles from town). They gave us great service despite preparing for an invasion of golfers in the next hour. They even made us special order peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our lunch.

Japanese Canadians also got relocated during World War II. They weren't interned but it still reminded us of our visit to Manzanar Internment Camp in California.

First potential snack stop, Crazy 8 between Morpeth and Clearville....it opens at 10 am and it is only 9:30.

Second potential snack stop, Take A Bite near Port Glasgow - they are not open yet either but let us use the restroom and refilled our water bottles for us. It is 10:40 and they open at 11:00.

Had lunch at Dutton Dunwich roadside park which was very open and had an outhouse.

St. Helen Catholic Church in Wallacetown. That is also the name of our home parish!

This was a real hill. After all the flatness of the past week it was a good test of our legs and lungs.

Port Stanley

It still has a fishing fleet but not nearly like the days when it was the largest fresh water fishing fleet in the world.

Many of the older homes are now inns or restaurants in the area close to the port.

Harvesting a lot of ice went right along with harvesting a lot of fish.

This mural commemorates the successful rescue of sailors from a US ship run aground by a fierce gale in October 1902.