Blogs from Ontario, Canada, North America - page 10

Cycling SC Johnson Trail – Paris to Brantford This is a stone dust trail connecting Paris and Brantford Ontario. It is NOT a rail trail so as a result there are a few steep hills. Trailhead: · Paris: Curtis Avenue, just south of Dundas Street East (park at the fire hall, 15 Curtis Ave. North) and cross Dundas street. The trail starts about 100 metres (30 Curtis Ave. S) · Powerline Road: SC Johnson Parking area, mid-way between Paris and Brantford on Powerline Road, west of Oak Park Road · Brantford: Kraemer's Way, west of Oak Park Road · Brantford: Limited parking at Wilkes Dam, at Lafayette Street and Dufferin Avenue The Trail: It travels through farm fields, and grasslands and provides scenic overlooks of the Grand River including a bridge over the river. A few ... read more

Saturday 18th May 2019 It is now two weeks since we left home so we are a quarter of the way through our trip. In some ways the time has flown, conversely, it seems ages since we left home! It has been two weeks of varied and rich experience, some quite unexpected (like discovering there were bears around where we were camping): “Travelling is about finding things that you never knew you were looking for” Anon When we got to Red Rock yesterday, we slept in a beautiful heritage building, the Red Rock Inn, jacuzzi bath and all; we enclose some photos of the Inn here in this blog, just to prove that we don’t always slum it and are not entirely crazy souls! Only now and again! The journey from White River to ... read more

Yesterday was pretty special. We went to visit the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation at M’Chigeeng near Lake Mindemoya on Manitoulin. Artists work there, reviving traditional work like moccasin-making, beadwork and fine jewellery and painting on skins, wood and stone. Beautiful craftwork. They run free sessions for school children there too. These classes are so important following on from years of suppressed cultural identity. Manitoulin children were sent away to Catholic residential schools from the 19thCentury right up until 1958. At these schools, where they spent ten months of the year without seeing family, brothers and sisters were segregated from the age of five, beaten if they were caught speaking the Ojibwe language and also frequently abused. The idea was to obliterate Ojibwe culture and the Catholic Church failed to apologise formally until 1996! Many First Nation people ... read more

When I was at Thameside Primary School in Caversham in Berkshire, I directed the children’s performance of “The Song of Hiawatha”, so I know a lot of the poem by heart and ever since arriving on Manitoulin Island, the words have been reverberating in my head. Longfellow, who wrote the poem in 1855, was writing about Lake Superior (which we haven’t got to yet): “By the shores of Gitche Gumee, by the Shining Big Sea Water” However, the Great Spirit of the Ojibwe people (Hiawatha’s people) lives on Manitoulin on Lake Huron. Manitoulin is named after the Great Spirit, Gitche Manitou, and his people, the Ojibwe First Nation are most important on this island. Before major construction or development, which is strictly controlled, the chiefs hold a pow-wow and consult <... read more

What a difference a day makes to the weather! Today was cold but dry, clear, sunny with a bright blue sky. Just perfect for our trip to Niagara! The Falls are about 150 kilometres from Toronto and the bus journey takes about two hours. When we got to Niagara, John and I just looked at each other in dismay: “they have ruined it” we said. The main street down to the Falls Parkway is much more depressing than the Lonely Planet indicated; at eye level one is greeted by amusement arcades, funfair rides, cheap gambling joints, some sleazy-looking accommodation and the all-important photo opportunity with a life-sized plaster statue of Jack Sparrow! Johnny Dep, not your fault but what the hell has “Pirates of the Caribbean” got to do with Niagara? Look ... read more