Storyline: Advantures in our back yard
Did you notice how vibrant the colours are this fall? Perhaps it is because of the dry summer/early fall. But there have been other dry summers and the colours have never been as bright and the trees so animated. We walk around our small neighbourhood over and over again, and every time we are surprised by the shape and colours of the trees in their persistent move to get naked and cover the ground with lovely carpet of yellows, oranges, reds and browns.
Perhaps mother nature is trying to bring more fun into our daily lives that are characterized by the frustration of perpetual lock downs.
At the beginning of October, we headed out for Gananoque again. I suspect that we’ll be visiting this place for a while for any minor problem that we suspect with Doranya. It was a bolt of our Lagun table that was seized. Being new to everything in this van, we didn’t want to apply too much pressure and break it,
so our fall colours tours evolved to booking a few days in the 1000 Islands Campground near the dealership,
and a stop in Cobourg’s Victoria Park Campground, which would have been impossible during the beach season.
The leg of our table was fixed in no time – we just had to apply more pressure we were told. But if they’d broken it in warranty it’d be their problem not ours.
Cobourg has been on our downsizing radar for a while, but as in the previous post with PEC we may be delusional about Cobourg too. We probably could down-price, but all houses that otherwise meet our requirements are way too big for us. Besides as with many other satellite towns in the GHTA (Greater Hamilton and Toronto Area) the Covid effect is on full display there too.
There is a pent-up demand from people now working from home and exiting Toronto condos for a house in the country with a backyard to weather the lock-down.
So prices have jumped significantly. Given that fact, we’d probably pass on it too. Contrary to the Smuggler’s Cove campground though, I wouldn’t recommend the Victoria Park Campground at all. The only plus is that it’s on the beach, if this is a plus.
It is a very small and crowded campground. Campsites are narrow and the infrastructure old. We had difficulty with their electrical outlet, the water tap was leaking and the holding tank dump station was a hole in the ground covered with stones.
We remember the city centre as vibrantly buzzing even on cold winter days. Not this time. It was quite sad to see how many businesses were closed, including cafes and restaurants. Perhaps they did not survive the Covid lockdown. But one of the restaurants we knew with a garden patio was open and we contributed to their Covid survival by having our lunch there, instead in the van. We shared the garden with just a few other customers.
In contrast to Cobourg, the 1000 Islands Campground was really nice. Being set in the forest, there are many very private spots, especially if you don’t require a full-service site. The trees’ colours were on full display and the grounds carpeted with their leaves.
I wish we had bikes to explore more. Although our van has a bike rack, bikes are in high demand (again the Covid effect) and we’ll have to wait till later to find the right ones.
It poured on the second day there, and we felt very comfortable in our small but cozy home.
On our way back, being my navigator, Alex led me along small country roads, winding up and down rolling hills, colourful trees, and even trying some gravel unmaintained roads.
That was mean Alex! (well, you need experience and confidence on unpaved roads if we ever intend to drive the Labrador or Dempster Highways, and these roads were nothing compared to those!! – A). It was a long but fantastic drive through Ontario farmlands that I’ve never seen before.
I still have no idea where I drove, but there wasn’t much of a traffic if any, excluding some farm machinery.
And without Doranya and all the time we now have in our hands to explore I would have never known how pretty Southern Ontario could be in the fall and probably all the seasons.
Alex: To drive from our home just north of Toronto, it’s about 280km/2¾ driving hours to Gananoque on the highway (freeway/expressway/motorway), 310km/4½ driving hours on the most direct surface roads, and 350km/5 driving hours by scenic route.
Wander a bit off the scenic route, make a few stops for lunch and photo opportunities, and our elapsed time on the road was almost 8 hours. It was worth every minute.
As Diana has written, the fall colours are exceptional this year, and we enjoyed them immensely through Doranya’s large panoramic windshield. It gave us a taste of what we hope is to come when we take our little home on wheels from coast to coast to coast, and perhaps even across the ocean to tour Europe in the coming years.
Covid-19 has closed the doors on some of our dreams and plans, but we’re hoping that others have been opened as a result.
The thought takes me back to the sign we saw on a wall in Malacca: “Attitude is the difference between an adventure and an ordeal”. I’ll now take a sip of wine and, with Diana, drink to our future adventures.
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