Black Bear, Two Beavers and Lakes

Bonjour Québec

Bay of Quinte sunset - our last stop in Ontario

Nous sommes maintenant en Québec - le Français-parlant centre du Canada.  And it is very obvious.  Unlike other provinces, the signs are in French only, not French and English.  Some of the drivers think they are in Paris, so yes, very French.

I started writing this blog from Algonquin Provincial Park (PP) Ontario, an area we last visited in 2000 when we came for a family holiday from the UK.  

On that trip we planned a week in a 'cottage' on Lake Vernon in Huntsville, before driving to Vancouver for the second week.  That journey had we done it, has just taken us a leisurely six weeks and 7300km. It wasn't a couple of days drive.   In the end we used Huntsville as a base and explored Muskoka and the Algonquin PP when we saw our first ever moose, in fact several of them in a herd; if that is the right collective noun. 

The 'cottage' was a six bedroom house on the lake edge with a dock, set in several acres.  It was enough to start our love affair with Canada, now some twenty five years later .......

Going back a few days, our stop after Wawa, on Friday July 11th was Chutes Provincial Park, an overnight break in the journey to Sudbury.  On our drive we spotted a couple of beavers on one of the many lakes we passed and a black bear in somebody's extremely large garden (it was garbage collection day!).

Chutes, like most of the provincial parks, was well laid out and organised.  We hiked, Jack swam, we admired the waterfalls and could have spent longer there. We have not yet found a Provincial or National Park that has not been an amazing representation of Canada, or the outdoor camping lifestyle that is such a dominant feature of the country.

Our layover at Sudbury was an opportunity to catch up with Lizzie's parents who we last saw in Whistler in 2020.  In Feb of that year we were there to check out the Audain Art Museum, Nick and Lizzie's wedding venue for the summer of that year.  Within a few days of arriving back in the UK on 28th  February, the world went into Covid lock-down, weddings were postponed and travel plans turned upside down.  

We had a great few days meeting the family, though sadly we had to endure the worst campsite of the journey so far.  It was conveniently located for our Sudbury visit, family time, Tundra service, dog routine vet visit for monthly arthritis shot, RV repair, except the technician never turned up, didn't return calls and only offered cursory one line email replies.  

The Tundra service was straightforward, but the brake judder, first reported to the Northshore Toyota dealer on its post-delivery inspection in April (no fault found) then again at the full service in May before our departure (wheels switched round and rebalanced), turned out to be warped rotors (discs to Brits), which were too far out of true for them to be skimmed.  A warranty claim has gone in to Toyota, but I've had to shell out $800 until the claim is approved.

If a couple of our past campsites were tightly packed, the Sudbury site aced the prize.  A combination of permanent RV's, the majority with gardens (plastic flowers and gnomes!), decks featuring washing machines, sheds, sunrooms and paved parking with spaces for visiting RV's,  and all this just yards from the highway, oddly.  In fairness, everybody we spoke to was pretty friendly, but it wasn't relaxing and didn't feel overly safe.

Sudbury is known as a mining town as well as home to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the equivalent of HMRC in the UK.  Mining is principally for Nickel and Copper, 'with significant deposits also containing cobalt, platinum group metals (PGMs), gold, and silver. The Sudbury Basin is known for its rich concentrations of nickel-copper sulfide ores, which formed from metal-rich liquid that separated from molten rock after a meteorite impact'.

Having avoided wildfires until this point, Sudbury was enjoying an 'air quality alert' as northerly winds were bringing smoke down from the North of the province.  Though extremely hazy it didn't smell particularly smokey.   

Kids waterpark - nah - grown-ups too!

Like much of Ontario, Sudbury is surrounded by lakes and even has a downtown lake of its own (think Serpentine but bigger).  Ramsey Lake, a 792 hectare expanse of water has a yacht club, canoeing and the most amazing inflatable water park, that looked brilliant fun. Sadly I forgot to take my trunks on my boardwalk stroll with Jack.  

After a lovely few days we were sorry to leave our good friends, but not disappointed to be leaving the campground.

Our next stop was Canisbay Lake Provincial Park in the heart of the Algonquin.  It has to be one of the most beautiful provincial parks in Canada.  Our only challenge was our camp spot that was about as level as the Himalayas, full of rock and tree roots and had three large trees positioned across the entrance, one either side and one in the middle.  Driving in forward nearly took the side off the trailer (no damage sustained), backing it in from the other end took several goes to get the trailer anywhere near level.   

The lake was warm, huge (at 164 ha) but only lightly used despite the camp being pretty full.  Had we been there for more than a night we would have made more use of the lake beyond Jack's daily dips.  Canoes were available but power boats banned.

The drive out of Algonquin was quiet, with little traffic and the familiar mix of forest, lakes, creeks, reed beds and more of the same.  We wanted to avoid Toronto (been there, done that) so took a more easterly drive via Parry Sound down to the top of Lake Ontario, and across a bridge to Prince Edward County.  At this point, we were some 3/4 of the way across Canada, having driven 7500km.  The campsite was spacious and our own pitch looked out onto the Bay of Quinte, part of Lake Ontario.  

We were now into Ontario wine country, rude not to!  We had our first tasting at Three Dogs Winery a couple of kilometres up the road and came away with a case of wine!  And then two more tastings the following day at The Grange at Prince Edward Winery and Closson Chase, our favourite.  More wine acquired.

Prince Edward County feels like an island, though it is physically connected to the mainland, just. 

Prince Edward County

We spent Thursday exploring the "island", over a 200km round trip, and visited the three main towns of Bloomfield, Wellington and Picton.  They all had huge character with many Heritage homes, built around the mid to late 1800's, with ornate porches, decks and even the roof fascia boards.  At 30c it was too warm for hikes, so the town visits were interspaced with vineyards, swims for Jack and just enjoying the beauty of the area in an air-conditioned truck!.

Typical PEC architecture

One amusing highlight was coming across a Cronk's Haulage truck.  It is rare to find any other Cronk's.  I did knock on their home/office front door to say hi, but Scott and Christina Cronk were at work, though the kids were amused a Cronk with a funny accent pitched up! I left my contact details but have heard nothing back.

Checking out of the campsite, Fred happened to mention to the owner that we had stumbled across Cronk's Haulage.  "Cronk" he said, "very common around here".  COMMON!!!???  

It turned out Cronk's were early (loyalist) settlers in the area (1790/1800's) and there are now many families: Scott & Christina Cronk (running haulage), Bryce Cronk (running Picton Farm Supplies), Frank Cronk (one of the very first settlers who was the ferry master for the ferry service he established before the bridge was built), plus Cronk-run rental accommodation, even a cemetery named after Lazier Cronk, which has ten Cronk residents - the list goes on.  

It seems there are more Cronks (and ex-Cronks) in PEC than I have ever known in the UK or elsewhere for that matter. The original Cronk homestead still exists, but updated and recently sold to a first non-Cronk owner. 

Frank Cronk waterfront homestead - modernised

Friday 18th is goodbye Ontario and bonjour Quebec (province), pronounced 'keh bek' if you are a French speaker.  I've clearly been pronouncing it incorrectly all these years.  

Our first stop was just outside Montreal at Parkridge Domaine des Erables.  Interesting place.  It clearly caters for many Quebecois who use the place as a seasonal summer retreat.  Everywhere was well manicured, there was an active social programme (which we avoided), golf buggies are the form of transport and clearly many people adjourn here for the summer.  Many should get of their buggies and walk!

More to follow on Quebec next time.

 

The old hospital, Sudbury - the colour scheme divides opinion

Big Red (the Lab) - who was just as nice as their Big Red wine (think East bank Bordeaux)

Typical roadside lake, reeds, waterlilies and mosquitoes

Closson Chase vineyard

Love the road bridges

Holiday traffic!

Campground in PEC - Jack took great interest in the Canada Geese

Sunset over the Bay of Quinte

Hours later it was "batten down the hatches" with strong wind coming across the Bay

Sand dunes at Sandbanks Provincial Park in Prince Edward County,
reminded us of similar 50ft high dunes in France

Former chapel, now Closson Chase owned

Well it is called Prince Edward County!

Jack in his favourite place

Wellington Park bench

Wellington