Manitoulin Island - Day 1

Manitoulin Island (from Wikipedia):

it is the largest lake island in the world, large enough that it has over 100 lakes itself. In addition to the historic Anishinaabe and European settlement of the island, archaeological discoveries at Sheguiandah have demonstrated Paleo-Indian and Archaic cultures dating from 10,000 BC to 2,000 BC.

We have a 4 day 200+ km loop planned to enjoy the beauty of Manitoulin, and her many lakes. 

Starting in Kagawong, we had the use of a (friend of a friend's) cottage to park our cars and have a fresh start this morning.  An early morning awakening to many beautiful bird calls. The Merlin app helped us identify some of them. 

And then we heard the distinct call of the Sandhill crane - we have seen quite a few now, in farmers fields. 

We also had a few deer drop by to say good morning, after a peaceful night overlooking the water, it was time to get going. 

Breakfast in a cottage, with the use of a kettle, is always a treat.  We packed up and started our adventure down their flower covered driveway, and hit the road. 

We had interesting cloud cover all day, with some clouds threatening us, but no real showers ever happened because we had our rain gear ready and our phones in ziplock bags. 

This north eastern side of the island has lovely farmland and rolling hills.  We were happy to be on big clean shoulders of the busier roads (above), and quiet country roads (below).

And we saw more Sandhill cranes fly over us. They are just visible in this photo. 

We cycled about 50 k today (I did not start my Strava properly 😳) and rode into our campground (Batman Family Campground) to find a very friendly greeting - they deliver firewood to your campsite, and serve ice cream and frozen yogurt. Yes. We are happy here. New discovery! Algonquin Canoe ice cream - vanilla, with real Ontario maple syrup, chocolate sauce swirls and caramel centered chocolate canoes😍. 

Today has been a day of lovely scenery and friendly locals. 

We had duck visitors at our campsite, we named them breakfast, lunch and dinner. They didn't stay long 😉

The scene in the Rec Room was a little less friendly with a hot air hockey match happening. Look out Paris 2024, we might enter a team. 

We are settled in and we are prepared for rain.  

Sleep well. The rain has started, and the gentle patter on the tent is soothing not stressful.