One’s destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things.
henry miller
Oh, what a beautiful sunrise as we awoke to the sounds of the local rooster. However, what a wonderful sleep listening to the waves off of Lake Erie. Today’s adventure will take us to Pelee Island with the first stop Leamington Ferry for the 10 am ferry. Now, to save us some money and the possible disappointment of not getting Winne on the ferry we took our bikes and walked on to the ferry!! $22.50 each way was great. The island is 28 km to circle the entire island and we only had three hours before the return sailing with a number of places we had to see! Jo strategically planed how to get the whole island explored in one day. So, we were off the ferry by 11:50, and off we go! Jo had Sam, the bike GPS, and had it down to a science as she was not missing the ferry back, lol.
Our first stop was the “The Bakery” Canada’s southernmost Bakery and eatery and voted number one on the island (it was the only one but was also very good!). We felt like food critics ordering 6 different things to try. You know it – Carb load to get the energy to do the whole island. It was a definite 5/5 stop!! 30 minutes off the clock … go go go ….
We stopped at a few beaches – Sunrise Beach was actually I thought the most beautiful. Ok, a little mishap with directions but we did get to Fish Point Reserve which is the location of Canada’s most southerly inhabited point. Jo didn’t plan for the fact that you had to walk 20 minutes to get there. Ummh, another 20 minutes walk/hike, 5 minutes for pictures and 20 minutes back – yep it will all work out!
Oh yeah, watch out for snakes. Seriously?! Yikes!! Now we headed out on the trail. The first part was amazing, well marked and somewhat groomed but the last part of it was not marked, not groomed, trees down everywhere and no direction signs. Steve’s GPS on the phone kept saying how far we were and he wanted to turn back but Jo had a timer set on the watch and we still had over 2 minutes to find this point and she (I) did not come all this way to turn back now. She was not giving up. We did have to climb over a bunch of trees and debris but she found it with 1 minute to spare!!! Well, we ran out to the point, got our shoes wet, took our Kodak moments, collected a small tigers eye rock off the most southerly point and headed back to the bikes. Yep, we did it!! Got the pictures to prove it.
Ok, time is running out and our next stop was to get the return tickets – now the process for ticket purchase is a story for another day. We passed by the Pelee Island Winery and said we’ll come back after we get the tickets, but oh the Stone House 1891 Brewery – imagine Canada’s most southerly brewery. So, we had a decision to make as we only had time for one stop. B “Beer/Brewery” is before “V’ Vineyard and “W” Wine – so “B” comes first and the brewery wins. Logical, right? But we did have time to go back and have a quick photo op by the Pelee Island vineyard. looked like a lovely place!
An extremely fun day! Definitely a place you should come and visit if you ever have the chance! Should we do it again, we’ll plan ahead and book a campsite!