Sault Ste Marie to Manitoulin Island

Leaving the Sault we headed east, and stopped for a picnic lunch in Echo Bay. This is where the

designer of the loonie is from, and so the

town had him build a huge monument. It is next to a series of trails leading through a marshy area where many bird species can be viewed.

After about 70km we arrived in Bruce Mines, where we found a community campground. It was a very cute little town, and home of the worlds largest spider (in the womens washroom) and the worlds largest moth (in the mens washroom). We were lucky enough to hit Ontario during a dry year when bugs were at a minimum, but the rain has been coming, which means the bugs are too.

Along the way we stopped in Thessalon, to admire the shore. 85km the next day took us to Blind River, where we had arranged to stay with Warren and Sandy, through warmshowers.com. This is a website where long distance cyclists can connect, and stay with each other along the way. It was our first time using the site, and we were also the first people Warren and Sandy had stayed with them through the site. They ended up having their kids back at home, and it was pouring rain so we stayed with a friend of theirs in the same town. We were treated with a delicious dinner, and breakfast before we headed out again once

the rain stopped.

Continuing east about 80km, we got to Massey where Warren had recommended a restaurant called the Dragonfly. We had a great pasta dinner, and stayed in a small motel, as the only campground around was almost the same price.

The next morning we took a turnoff in Massey that led to a back road (also a tip from Warren) which made for much nicer cycling than the highway. The road took us to Espanola, where we joined onto the highway heading south to Manitoulin Island. 90km that day took us to Sheguiandah where we stayed at the Green Acres campground. Manitoulin Island is a cute little area, with lots of local arts and crafts, and super friendly people. It makes our trip so much fun when we get to chat with people along the way, and locals are a great source of information on what we have to check out.

In the morning we biked about 50km to South Baymouth on the tip of the Island to catch the Chi Cheemaun over to Bruce Peninsula. On the way we met up with our first cyclist heading our same direction, Pavel, and we made really good time, getting to the ferry terminal at 10am, an hour early. Big mistake on my part, because now that Luke knows we can travel that quickly, he thinks it should be a regular occurrence. We will see about that. The ferry took just under two hours, and we continued cycling on about 30km to Cypress Lake Campground where we set up camp, and then took off for a hike.