Here I am about to leave.The first day of the trip was beautiful, sunny with a light breeze. I left home at 7:30 am Tuesday and had my first rest stop in Guelph at the park that runs along the Speed River. A quick Horton's snack, a few pictures and I was on my way to the next stop, Elora at the gorge. I stopped in at the Conservation area and got a small map to the local free park in town.
While running through Arthur, I had a small mix up with "Concession 2" versus "Sideroad 2" but soon had the problem solved out after a few km run down a gravel road (yeech).
The next stop was at Eugenia Falls, a small park overlooking a nice set of waterfalls. This was also at the beginning of the Beaver Valley Road. A wonderful run through ski country, up and down and twisting this way and that until you pull into Thornbury. At this point I was about an hour behind schedule so I passed on the bay road in Owen Sound and went straight on through to Wairton. After climbing the hill I turned off on to Reg Rd 9, to Lionshead. Some of the beginning scenery was quite nice around Colpoy Bay, and the beach was nice at Lionshead, but the road itself wasn't that great.
When I arrived at Tobermory I had missed the ferry by 30 minutes, and when I read the website prior to leaving I had misread the schedule, I had to wait 4 hours for the 8:00 pm sailing. I was the first bike in the motorcycle lane waiting to board so I went for a walk through town, had a $12 fish & chips and when I went back for the loading there was only one other bike, an older Yamaha. The young guy riding it had just got his license and was going to meet his girlfriend at South Baymouth. It was a wonderful trip across, watching the sunset and cooling off with the breeze blowing . When we arrived at the dock it was 9:45 so the trip was dark and the bugs were unreal. After so many hours in the saddle, getting bug splattered, and even seeing a pair of black bears cross the highway I decided that I had to pull into the motel in Little Current at almost 11:00 pm For $61 I got a postage stamp sized room with a ceiling fan instead of air-conditioning.
I awoke the first time at 2:15 to the crash of thunder and after tossing and turning all night I finally got up at 7 am got ready and sat and watched the rain come down and watched the Weather Channel. It said that the rain was going to keep up all day Wednesday and Thursday too. At 10 am I figured "what the hell" saddled up and off I went. There is a bridge that rotates to allow boat traffic and during the pouring rain I found out that it was made of planked wood with potholes big enough to hold a tire, and some you could see the water down below!! Talk about unsafe! This was an omen of the day about to come, 6 hours of highway riding in a downpour. Needle face, clothes soaked through, boots full of water and leather jacket weighing about 100 pounds. After the third set of full body shivers I decided to pull into Parry Sound to find No Vacancy signs in all the motels. I had to bite the bullet and drop $145 for the 4th choice and jump into a hot bath. I spent the evening at the local laundromat trying to dry my sodden mess. I think I have written off the leather jacket.
Thursday was an enjoyable ride home with only a few brief splatters until I was coming down Diltz Rd, with 5 minutes left and it started to rain yet again. It was also my first trip down the 400, across the 407 and then the QEW riding the bike. Luckily it wasn't that busy, so I just cruised in the slow lane at 100 kph and watched the packs of vehicles approach in the mirrors, fly on by and then peace until the next group. It wasn't that bad, just staying on your toes for the trucks.
All in all it wasn't a total loss of a trip, but Wednesday truly was the ride from hell.... not soon forgotten! After 3 days the final total was 1350 km.
While running through Arthur, I had a small mix up with "Concession 2" versus "Sideroad 2" but soon had the problem solved out after a few km run down a gravel road (yeech).
The next stop was at Eugenia Falls, a small park overlooking a nice set of waterfalls. This was also at the beginning of the Beaver Valley Road. A wonderful run through ski country, up and down and twisting this way and that until you pull into Thornbury. At this point I was about an hour behind schedule so I passed on the bay road in Owen Sound and went straight on through to Wairton. After climbing the hill I turned off on to Reg Rd 9, to Lionshead. Some of the beginning scenery was quite nice around Colpoy Bay, and the beach was nice at Lionshead, but the road itself wasn't that great.
When I arrived at Tobermory I had missed the ferry by 30 minutes, and when I read the website prior to leaving I had misread the schedule, I had to wait 4 hours for the 8:00 pm sailing. I was the first bike in the motorcycle lane waiting to board so I went for a walk through town, had a $12 fish & chips and when I went back for the loading there was only one other bike, an older Yamaha. The young guy riding it had just got his license and was going to meet his girlfriend at South Baymouth. It was a wonderful trip across, watching the sunset and cooling off with the breeze blowing . When we arrived at the dock it was 9:45 so the trip was dark and the bugs were unreal. After so many hours in the saddle, getting bug splattered, and even seeing a pair of black bears cross the highway I decided that I had to pull into the motel in Little Current at almost 11:00 pm For $61 I got a postage stamp sized room with a ceiling fan instead of air-conditioning.
I awoke the first time at 2:15 to the crash of thunder and after tossing and turning all night I finally got up at 7 am got ready and sat and watched the rain come down and watched the Weather Channel. It said that the rain was going to keep up all day Wednesday and Thursday too. At 10 am I figured "what the hell" saddled up and off I went. There is a bridge that rotates to allow boat traffic and during the pouring rain I found out that it was made of planked wood with potholes big enough to hold a tire, and some you could see the water down below!! Talk about unsafe! This was an omen of the day about to come, 6 hours of highway riding in a downpour. Needle face, clothes soaked through, boots full of water and leather jacket weighing about 100 pounds. After the third set of full body shivers I decided to pull into Parry Sound to find No Vacancy signs in all the motels. I had to bite the bullet and drop $145 for the 4th choice and jump into a hot bath. I spent the evening at the local laundromat trying to dry my sodden mess. I think I have written off the leather jacket.
Thursday was an enjoyable ride home with only a few brief splatters until I was coming down Diltz Rd, with 5 minutes left and it started to rain yet again. It was also my first trip down the 400, across the 407 and then the QEW riding the bike. Luckily it wasn't that busy, so I just cruised in the slow lane at 100 kph and watched the packs of vehicles approach in the mirrors, fly on by and then peace until the next group. It wasn't that bad, just staying on your toes for the trucks.
All in all it wasn't a total loss of a trip, but Wednesday truly was the ride from hell.... not soon forgotten! After 3 days the final total was 1350 km.
