Day trip to Sauble Falls

The best colour of the day

Another nice fall day, another short day trip on a sunny Friday. We decided to make our way north to Sauble Falls, looking for fall colour changes. We saw quite a few changes, but most colours were somewhat muted so far, except for the lead picture in Ripley.

Not too far along we noticed a colourful farm stand in the morning light:

Sure hope this fellow is retired now

An eye-catching display

Maitland River. Gulls and ducks really seem to like the shallow waters in this stretch

 

A pretty little private pond looked like it would be a great place for a morning paddle:

Those grey lumps are Canada geese, soaking up the morning sun

and even more Canadas nearby, just quietly waking up

 

Lucknow was in a handy location for us. They have a good pharmacy on the main street I was happy to find. This morning I had opened up a small cut on my hand that had been healing up, and needed some small band-aids. 

The pharmacy is right next door to Green's Meat Market, a great place for various kinds of meats. Today's lunch included a couple of slices of thick and tasty back bacon we got there yesterday. We'll have to go back sometime, better prepared to stock up on supplies.

In a nearby store window

 

We had decided to stay some ways inland rather than driving up the main highway 21, so had a different view of some of the many windmills visible from Hwy 21. They must be adding more all the time:

Fall brings apple crops along:

An old-looking apple tree at the edge of a field

Not sure what variety, but a bumper crop

 

This old farmhouse looked like it would have been grand in its day:

We had brought some sandwiches with us for lunch, and as it was getting about that time we thought we'd stop somewhere. Plans do change. Since we were going to go right by the Lord Elgin restaurant in Port Elgin, we decided the sandwiches could wait for supper. It's not every day we can get Lord Elgin fish & chips:

 

Eventually we worked our way to Sauble Falls Provincial Park. We were aiming for a parking lot beside the river, just past a bridge over the river. Well that's now a controlled entry due to being part of the Provincial Park. A sign announced pre-registration is required, somehow. Only 1 car in the lot. 

So we backed up a bit and went in to the main Park entrance. This was manned, and our park pass got us in with no issues. A short walk got us to the falls:

The river below the falls. You can see some of the fall colours here.

A lone fisherman trying his luck

A few trails, some with boardwalks, give easy access to the river and falls:

On our way back south via Hwy 21, we stopped in at the main beach area in Port Elgin. Cool and breezy, but still nice in the sun:

Some migrating swans resting up in a shallow-water cove

Lots of wave action in more open water

A fellow was determined to take his sailboard out for a spin. It looked like it would need good balance and upper body strength, both to get it going and to keep it  going:

 

  

Local day trip to Little Lakes and Ball's Bridge

Maitland River

This time of year we like to do little day trips around our area. Fall leaf colours are just starting around here, a bit later than some earlier years. It was still a great day to roam around some back roads.

Even before we get to our nominal destination, it's an enjoyable ride:

From an active bridge over the Maitland River, lots of bird life

Someone has a nice back yard

Not too much colour yet around the Little Lakes, but starting to show:

Do you see the Heron?

 

Here's a fuzzy enlargement of the Heron

Ball's Bridge is a historical bridge over the Maitland River. So many of these old bridges have been demolished as they became unsafe for highway or even farm wagon loads. Luckily this bridge was saved in 2007, and has had some recent enhancements for recreational use. 

If you're interested in some bridge construction details and why it is of historical interest, here's a link to more info and more pictures:

 <Ball's Bridge History>

  

The bridge has been cleaned up since we were last here, maybe a year ago. It's a nicer picnic spot now, and we enjoyed our picnic lunch here.

It's great to see an old bridge repurposed like this. You can see that access for large vehicles is prevented, but pedestrians (and likely snowmobiles and ATV's) still have access. There’s even comfy Adirondack style chairs with umbrellas and little tables too:

The view while sitting in a chair is a bit limited...

Standing up improves the view :))

Someone built an Inukshuk from river rocks

The red chairs we used for our picnic lunch

 

Something has been added here we've never seen before, to help with launching a canoe or kayak into the river: 

It can even help for people in a wheelchair

The gravelled paths coming down to the dock and up to the bridge are reinforced with a plastic grid, helping with wheelchair use or even walking. The grid makes the gravel path much more stable.

Just a few hours on a nice fall day.

 

From Camping Transit PQ to home, 2 days

Sunday, Sep 13 

We took no pictures the last 2 days, at least none that were keepers. We did start to see some nice leaf colour starting to develop in some areas.  

Because we wouldn't be trying to get home today we had lots of time, expecting to stay overnight at the Walmart in Kingston, as we have done before. Before we got to Kingston we left the 401 at the Thousand Islands Parkway, and took the scenic route along the St Lawrence River. 

At one point we stopped at a nice lookout and got our lawn chairs out. We'd likely have a picture there, except we no sooner got the chairs set up than it started to rain. The rain continued off and on. I did get a decent nap, and Cathie got in some reading. 

In late afternoon we decided to head in to Kingston and get some supper. Wanting something different, we went to the Me Kong Vietnamese restaurant on Princess Street. Lots of younger people there, students maybe? 

No meal pictures even! Cathie had something lemony with pork and noodles, and a spring roll chopped up and added to the bowl. I had their version of Pad Thai with soy and chicken. Both were really good. We could only eat about half the servings, so had enough takeout for our first supper at home next day.

We did stay at the Belleville Walmart for the night, although it was a bit adventurous. Since the lot is owned by the city and posted for no overnight parking, Walmart can't officially allow overnight parking.  After talking with Walmart Service desk, I read between the lines and decided to stay, well out in the perimeter of the large lot, along with a few other vehicles, hoping to not get kicked out overnight. No problems though, a good quiet night.    

 

 

Monday Sep 14

We decided to take Hwy 7 from where we were, so took #62 north to Madoc and headed west on Hwy 7.  

We ended up going further south that we should have at one point, taking Hwy 7A westerly. But it all worked out well. Traffic was light, and roads were generally good. 

 

Trip distance: 5623 km

Average diesel price $2.50 Cdn/ltr, high was $2.96 /ltr in a Quebec fillup

Mileage average 8.6 L/100K , 27.4 mpg US 

In Ontario diesel prices were generally $2.35 to $2.50. The prices went up everywhere while we were away, so the return trip was more expensive than the outgoing. The van has a good long range which gives some flexibility as to where and when to fuel up. 

If you've made it this far, thank you for following!

 

 

From Camping Gaspe NB to Camping Transit near Quebec City

Sunrise at the campsite

A long travel day today. We hadn't really planned it that way, but it got us positioned to head home a day sooner than we expected.  Good weather today, a fine day to tour part of the Gaspe Peninsula.

 

The morning views from our Camping Gaspe site really made the site:

 

We mostly followed Rte 132, which runs along the Gaspe coast. It's not a high-speed road, with its hills and curves around inlets:

 

A lighthouse overlooking part of northern Forillon Park

No tours for us today

 

Much of the Gaspe drive has attractive rest stops spaced just a few kilometres apart. The drive is somewhat similar to the Cabot Trail around Cape Breton Nova Scotia. We stopped at several of the viewpoints along the way:

 

 

It really is a coastal drive. Sometimes roads look like coastal drives on a map, but disappoint in reality. When the winds are blowing here you can feel the salt spray. They weren't that strong today, but on our previous tour in 2014 they were, and the views are still there:

 

Contruction sometimes, repairing washed-our pavement

 

Sometimes see large ships navigating the St Lawrence River

 

As we approached Rimouski, still on Hwy 132 Ouest, we were thinking we were done for the day. Nice as Rte 132 is, it's tiring driving.

However at one point before we got into Rimouski, a road sign offered us a left turn to get to Hwy 20 Ouest, part of which makes up the Trans Canada in Quebec further west. We decided to try it, for the first time as we didn't know the option existed this far east. Slightly inland and still just 2 lane but clearly a main highway, Hwy 20 (Jean-LeSage Parkway) bypasses the rest of the towns on 132, and at Riviere Du Loup joins the Trans Canada, becoming a 4-lane highway. 

So we got much further than we expected, camping at Camping Transit again as we did on our way east, just east of Quebec City. All pictures today were from Cathie and her cell phone.