Friday 31st May - A wild Goose chase to Saulte Sainte Marie

Another grey damp morning greeted me. I therefore dressed ready for a day like yesterday – warm but wet – and set off, fortified – not – by a continental breakfast that most on the continent of Europe where I guess the phrase came from – wouldn’t recognise!

The Trans Canada turns inland at Marathon before hitting the shores of Lake Superior again at Wawa – I kid you not, a town so great they named it twice.

First stop would be White River, home town of the real Winnie (as of the-pooh!) and on the way I hoped I would see some more wildlife.

Well I didn’t, I saw rivers, and lakes and islands and bridges but no wild-life.

On arriving in White River I was immediately met by signs advertising its connection with Winnie-the-Pooh  but not a lot else.

 

I was re-reading my blog today and realise that I am going on a lot about how disappointed I am in some of the towns. Been thinking about this and it is something to do with the fact that the towns are, or were, company towns. People didn’t just move here, the towns were created by companies purely for the purpose of business, be it railways, portage, steel, paper, timber etc. The company found the spot on the lake shore and then got people to move there to work for them. In a lot of those places the original industry or service has diminished so the township is trying to re-invent itself to survive.  There is now sailing, fishing and hunting with all the big flashy advertising boards with bronzed people with white teeth having a great time. In reality though, at this time of year, that isn’t evident and all that there is is the decaying infrastructure. A bit like our steel and mining towns – without the sailing, hunting and fishing of course – unless you count our carp ponds!!!   The shore line though, and I think this is where my disappointment lies, is not beach or promenade but either the factory or port or the remains of the factory or port.

Anyway, back to Winnie, if you want the full history this is a good link http://www.whiteriver.ca/article/winnie-the-pooh-6.asp  I was a bit concerned about the soldier that donated Winnie to London Zoo but apparently he did survive the First World War and returned – without Winnie – to Canada.

It was good fun though and I met a couple at the statue, Annette and Andy – they took my picture – who had come over to Canada  from Ireland and England, in Andy’s case from Sheffield in 1957 when he was 5.

 

The town was trying to start a Railway museum I think but was stretching the criteria a bit – sorry, but this is hardly TWO trains guys …

 

Then on again to Wawa and the World Famous* (*see below) Goose!

My moose hunting skills had increased significantly now having seen the one yesterday. I now realised they liked the more lush greener grass at the side of the road and outside of the conifer forest. So, although I searched creeks etc..... 

                                       I kept my eyes on the grass verges most of the time. Which is why it took me a while to realise that this floating driftwood was moving just a bit too purposefully.

What a sight, how lucky am I, a bit far away I know but was able to follow it all the way across the lake and out the other side.

 

Then on to Wawa and the mystery of the Wawa Goose. Didn’t actually think there was a mystery as I rode south. Had heard that there was a big statue of a goose there – Wawa means goose in the native language – and that it was erected in 1960 to celebrate the completion of the Trans-Canada Highway in this area. Was therefore very excited – I know it doesn’t take a lot – to see the unique statue looking down at me through the rain and mist.

 Number 1 The current Official Wawa Goose.

Then rode on into Wawa to try and find somewhere dry to eat and, well..

Number 2  Dodgy Goose

geese are a bit like buses obviously, none around and then along came three at the same time – although admittedly I think number 2 is a bit of a ringer, looks more like a pigeon.

Number 3 Original Official Goose

After a bit of research I find that number 3 is the original goose, but being made of chicken wire and plaster it wasn’t built for the Canadian winters and was replaced in 1963 by number 1 which took pride of place at the entrance to the town. It has been rescued from storage/dump and put up by new owners outside their store. 

 No idea what the background to number 2 is but I wouldn’t give up the day job if I was its creator.

So much pleasure from a goose!

and to think in Arizona I wished for rain.....

Not much else to say about the day really other than it continued to reveal wonderful scenery and views as I rode along the shoreline of Lake Superior and through National Parks. The fact relating to The lake are staggering – surface area of 31,700 square miles, distance around it 1300 miles, maximum depth 1,276 feet. It is the largest freshwater lake in the worlds and holds 10% of the world’s surface fresh water. Probably the first thing I’ve come across this trip which is the world famous….

At one point I crossed Chippewa Falls which are apparently at the exact halfway stage distance wise of the Highway. A long way east of the longitudinal centre of Canada isn’t it which shows the winding nature of the road here compared with the straight slog across the Prairies.

By the time I pulled into my overnight stopping place, Saulte Saint Maria - and even this place had its Moose...

 

                            the sun had come out and it was wonderfully warm evening. 

Don’t know if I will see it tomorrow but there is a bridge here which crosses to the USA over the St Marys River which joins Lake Superior with Lake Huron.

 

 

Thursday 30th May - Down to Lake Superior

Up and out this morning before sun up – not that there was any sun to get up all day – well until about 5pm when a very weak one broke through.

Reason for early start was 2 fold, i) I wanted to try and see some wild life and ii) the room at the motel was not one to hang around in.

It rained on and off most of the day and the cloud base was so low that I drifted in and out of fog and mist.  I was happy enough though – disappointed that I wouldn’t get the best of views perhaps but at least the rain was washing the flies of my teeth. By dinner time though I thought I would be trying to make some positives about the “misty views” etc.

But hey, the day turned out to be filled with all kinds of surprises.

This is the town – all of it – that I’d stayed in last night – they all read well in the blurb but somehow miss the spot.

 

I was heading first of all for a place called Thunder Bay and setting off early, as I did, I promised myself a Canadian breakfast there of eggs – over hard – see getting all the jargon – ham and home-fries.  I got that and it was good.

After riding for a little while the dual carriageway changed to an ordinary 2 way road and remained like that, except for a few passing places for the rest of the journey. In some places you could see where the original road had gone before any upgrades and those are always interesting routes to take – even if most meant doubling back eventually.

 

 But I was in  no hurry and keen to spot some kind of critter.  I accept it was early but I was still mostly on my own and this is a main cross country link!

 

I was fascinated by the lichen. Yes, we’ve all seen it but this stuff was so thick and scaly, no it wasn’t moss – I’d ask Roger again but if I carry on he’ll want paying as an advisor.

 

I got excited by the signs – I know sad – and slowed down even more to peer into the undergrowth, which was silly really as moose are the size of, well moose.

 

I was intrigued by this church but it was at the other side of a railway track with no obvious crossing. Wasn’t too far from these abandoned stores so wonder if there was an old town here once - now long gone. Real cowboy town buildings aren’t they.

Then – a time zone change! Why can’t they all be like this and then everyone will be clear. There was this plaque there too about Sir  Sandford Fleming – no I hadn’t heard of him either – but he was born on Scotland and responsible for “inventing” the Standard Time Zones – probably fed up of making a prat of himself in hotels!

 

Met a policeman at this stop whose father came from Bradford but he, the policeman, had never been to England to visit, probably for the best!

The road was going on and on and up and down and my eyes were going from side to side like an ”Eagle Eyes” Action Man. 

 

 It paid off though because I saw this chap in time to stop. No idea what he is – looks like a black fox but they don’t seem to exist. He was obviously rare though and had few friends as he came closer and closer and if I’d opened my pannier I think he would have jumped in.

 

Thunder Bay was another disappointment – perhaps the gloom again taking the shine off any attraction it had.

Just before Thunder Bay the 2 divided North and South routes re-joined and ran along the northern shore of Lake Superior. I was excitedly anticipating my first view of this vast lake but when it came it was snatched through trees and partially hidden by the cloud. What I could see though was beautiful – not any great impression of size because at that pint there was “The Sleeping Giant” peninsular running across the view and then various small islands just off-shore.

I liked this sign, twee as it may be...

 

As a rode along the trees suddenly changed colure to a really spring-like light green, the photo probably doesn’t show it but the colour change was spectacular.

 

 I carried on enjoying the ride but wary when the cloud got a bit thick especially as the road got narrower and began to hug the cliff side more.

Even the coffee stops were lonely affairs...

                  except the lady owner here told me a lovely story about a book called Paddle to the Sea which I'll explain tomorrow.

 

 

 

On I went with Assistant Lookout Frog on duty – he lost his Navigator status when he got us lost on the way to Steinbach.

Got stripes back though when he spotted this chap (or chappess – how do you sex a moose?) 

 

Watched it for quite a while and was fascinated when it knelt down to eat – which answers that earlier question about knees.

 

The excitement builds up too about Winnie-the-Pooh and Lyndsay makes a good point – where did his second name come from?

 

Maybe we’ll find out tomorrow – hang on in there with me.