THIS IS MY FRIDAY POST......WIARTON TO WIARTON WITH A BUNCH OF STOPS IN BETWEEN

KELLY'S PHOTO OF PHEEBS AT BERFORD LAKE NORTH OF WIARTON ONTARIO

 Luckily, we had a quiet night in the parking lot near a baseball diamond along a fence line a hundred yards or so east of Dockside Willies.  A cool crisp morning with heavy dew on the grass and morning sunshine climbing in the east.  Below are Thursday afternoon's Wiarton photos.  

ONTARIO'S BRUCE TRAIL RUNS RIGHT ALONG WIARTON'S SHORELINE

KELLY AND PHEEBS ON THE BRUCE TRAIL

WIARTON WILLIES KIDDIES WATER PARK

I BELIEVE THIS TO BE AN OLD TRAIN STATION

OUR QUIET OVERNIGHT StiPOT

We had the big wheels rolling about 8:30 Friday morning with our first two stops at Wiarton's Foodland and Tim Hortons for coffee to go.  Headed north out of Wiarton on highway 6.  Thanks to 'iOverlander' mentioning a scenic stop about 10 minutes up the highway (4.3 miles) we made a right hand turn at Mar onto the Mar sideroad, then another right turn on Berford Lake Road to Berford Lake Park.   What a hidden little gem this place this is.  Nobody there and the lake was as smooth as glass.  A great way to start one's day and I will let my photos show you around. 

STILL A TOUCH OF MORNING MIST ON THE LAKE

THIS FRESH DRINKABLE SPRING WATER RUNS 24 HOURS A DAY.....PEOPLE COME HERE FROM MILES AROUND TO STOCK UP ON THIS PURE WATER

KELLY FILLS A COUPLE OF OUR EMPTY WATER JUGS

YEP, TWO THUMBS UP FOR THIS GREAT SPOT

OH, AND THERE'S THOSE RED SHOES AGAIN:))

From Berford Lake Park we decided to head up along the Georgian Bay side of the Bruce Peninsula with the idea of reaching the Cabot Head lighthouse in Dyers Bay at some point.  Beautiful clear morning with very little traffic as we first rolled up highway 9 into a little place by the name of Hope Bay.  We had been here years ago one time remembering a stop at an artsy little place called, 'The Frog and The Nightgown.'  However, the craft store was gone now but at least scenic little Hope Bay was still there.

HEADING INTO HOPE BAY

KELLY CHECKS OUT SOME BOOKS AT A FRONT YARD LENDING LIBRARY

HAD A VERY STRANGE BUG RIDING ALONG WITH US THIS MORNING FOR AWHILE

THIS BUG SEEMED VERY ENAMORED WITH ITSELF IN MY DRIVER'S SIDE MIRROR

Continuing up the coast our next small cottage community was Barrow Bay.  Couldn't find a public lake access so we talked to a couple ladies out walking their dogs who told us of a road to the lake just outside of town.  So off we went.  Have to say here at this point how pleased we are with our little Winnie Wagon.  By the end of this day we had made more U-turns, wiggled our way in and out of more cottage driveways, and backed up more than we have done with any other vehicle.  And all with comfortable ease.  Of course with no tow vehicle behind us made all the difference too and our back-up camera was a big help as well.  Okay, back to Barrow Bay.  We followed a winding tree lined  road off the highway about a mile to the waters of Georgian Bay.  Reached a point right beside the water where further ahead travels were no longer feasible.  Got out here for a look around and had us snack before backing up a short distance and heading back up to the highway.

WE SURE GOT OURSELVES ON SOME SMALL SQUEEZY ROADS TODAY AND THIS ONE WAS NEAR BARROW BAY

HAD MY FINGERS CROSSED NOBODY WAS COMING THE OTHER WAY

FINALLY REACHED THE WATER'S OF GEORGIAN BAY AND FIGURED WE HAD BETTER NOT GO ANY FARTHER

DECIDED TO DO A BIT OF HOOFING

THIS BEAUTIFUL STONE HOUSE IS OWNED BY AN AMERICAN WHO, BECAUSE OF COVID, WAS UNABLE TO GET CROSS THE BORDER THIS YEAR   (THE LADIES TOLD US THIS)

THE COOL CLEAR WATERS OF GEORGIAN BAY

OKAY, TIME TO DO SOME BACKING UP TO GET TURNED AROUND

GOTTA KEEP THE RIG'S BIG MIRROR AWAY FROM THE LARGE ROADSIDE ROCKS ALONG THE WAY

WE ARE SO HAPPY TO FINALLY HAVE A RIG WE CAN GET INTO SMALL PLACES AND CONTINUE TO EXPLORE PLACES WE COULDN'T GO WITH OUR BIGGER RIGS

North of Barrow Bay we next drove through the lakeside village of Lions Head.  It's about mid way up the Peninsula and is probably the largest little village along the Georgian Bay side.  

ROLLING PAST THE BEACH AREA IN LIONS HEAD

From Lions Head it wasn't far up the coastline to another little cottage settlement by the lake called Dyers Bay.  We knew there to be a lighthouse near here and were determined to find it despite a couple wrong turns, some GPS confusion, backtracking, and half a dozen map puzzlements.  All normal parts of exploring around of course.  Finally reached the end of a no turn around road with barricades blocking a sandy road heading down towards the lake and the elusive lighthouse.  We could go no farther, the signs said the road to the distant lighthouse had been washed out.  We had to do some fancy backing up here and wiggle the rig's rear end into a cottage driveway to get ourselves turned around.  Our back-up camera was once more a big help here.  Once again we made our way back to highway 6 and continued north towards Tobermory.

DROPPING DOWN INTO DYERS BAY

LARGE PARKING AREA AT THIS BRUCE TRAIL TRAIL HEAD

AND THIS IS HOW HIKERS GET OVER FENCES

WE THINK THE ROAD TO THE LIGHTHOUSE IS DOWN THERE SOMEWHERE.....IT WAS

THIS WAS THE END OF THE ROAD FOR US AND WE HAD TO BACK OURSELVES OUT OF HERE

Out of curiosity we popped into the Cypress Lake Provincial Park camp ground along the way to pick up a brochure and ask a few questions.  This great camp ground was full of course so we'll have to do it another time.  Been there a couple times before and loved it.  Being it was Friday afternoon on a beautiful Autumn afternoon it was no surprise the camp ground was filled up.   Traffic soon piled up behind us.  Making a U-turn at the campgrounds gate office we headed the short distance back out to the highway.  Had noticed earlier that traffic heading north was picking up.  Even before reaching Tobermory we knew it was going to be a bust for us.  Too many people, too much traffic.  We did take a couple swings through this picturesque little harbor village at the tip of Bruce Peninsula but finding no parking space or wifi signal we decided to get ourselves out of there.  We'll come back another time, but not on a week-end.  We've been to Tobermory before a few times and it's a very picturesque photo oriented place with it's cozy harbor, many boats and Georgian Bay-Lake Huron scenery.  Well worth the drive to get there but maybe not so much on busy tourist week-ends.  Turning around we decided to head back down the peninsula to Wiarton and spend the night in the same spot we had been the night before.  We knew the wifi signal was good there.

ON OUR WAY TO TOBERMORY

THIS IS THE ONLY DRIVE-BY PHOTO I MANAGED TO TAKE OF PICTURESQUE TOBERMORY

HEADING SOUTH BACK TO WIARTON WE SAW A LOT OF WEEK-ENDERS HEADING NORTH FOR THEIR COTTAGES, CAMP GROUNDS, BOATS, AND TOBERMORY

Rolled into Wiarton somewhere around 4 o'clock and went straight away to our spot beside the ball diamond not far from Wiarton Willies statue.  We were tired and it was good to shut down after another great day.  Been fighting with my computer and Picasa photo editing program for the past couple days and I just didn't have the energy to spend the long hours I knew it would take me to put my post together.  It was about this time we heard a 'Hello' outside our door and this is how we met a long time blog reader from Tara Ontario.  Gary MacDonald, a farm owner and fellow RV'er had noticed our rig while out bicycling.  Gary and his wife have their 5th wheel parked at an RV Park nearby.  Nice to meet Gary and he extended us a gracious invitation to drop into his farm for a stay anytime we are in the area.  Thought that mighty nice of him to do that.  As the Sun finally set we later settled ourselves in for another quiet night.

THAT'S LONG TIME BLOG READER GARY ON THE RIGHT AND GRUBBY OLD ME ON THE LEFT

INSTEAD OF BACKING IN THIS TIME I NOSED IT IN TO GET AWAY FROM THE SUN'S HEAT POURING THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD

I hope to have today's post (Saturday) posted sometime Sunday afternoon and then my Sunday catch-up post posted Sunday night.  Well, that's what I hope to do anyway.........

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Visiting the modern art museum, a lady turned to an attendant standing nearby.  "This," she said, "I suppose, is one of those hideous representations you call modern art?"  "No, Madam," replied the attendant. "That one's called a mirror."

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