Fall Colours around Bayfield

Well, summer seems to be over. Cooler weather now, and fall colours. Our favourite time of the year!

Walking down to the nearby Lake Huron shore for a pretty sunset:

Cathie soaking up the sunset

This past Friday we took a day trip north along Lake Huron to the small town of Lions Head, on the Bruce Peninsula. We expected to see more colour change up that way, since it is north of Bayfield, but not too much up that way yet, with a few exceptions. It was a beautiful day for a drive though.

Near Sauble Falls

 

Near Oliphant, the lake Huron levels are still high this year. In years gone by we could drive out on sandy shore here:

Ready for even higher water levels

Looking out into the Bay at Lions Head you can see the colour changes are coming, slowly so far:

Beautiful clear Bay waters

Closer to home, work on the Bayfield River bridge replacement on Hwy 21 is progressing. A lot of foundation work has been done, with more concrete to come:

Looking under the temporary bridge to the new base

Pretty views you'd get from a boat going under the bridge

Still lots of boats in the water at Bayfield Marina

It's getting pretty right here at Bayfield Mews Lane too:

View from our back patio

Nearby Paul Bunyon Rd

And of course the ever-changing views of the Bayfield River outlet from the Pioneer Park lookoff in Bayfield:

One tiny-looking sailboat out there

 

Bayfield Square park

Today we needed some veggies, so headed south to a farm market we go to, Masse's. It's not far from there we get our eggs, so we have an excuse for a country drive once in a while (like we need an excuse!):

Nice rural views along the way

The egg outlet

G2G Trail ride - Walton to Monkton

Some colour along the Trail

The next leg on the G2G Trail (G2G) for us was the 20 km from Walton to Monkton. This would be a 40 km trip for us, since we need to ride back to the car park from as far as we ride. We both felt good today though, and it was another gorgeous fall day, so we gave it a try.

The parking area in Walton was busier than we're used to, I guess because it was Friday:

Another of those large grain elevators, in Walton

 The trail initially goes by another public trails area, adjoining an old gravel pit:

A lot of the trail was shaded by narrow bands of mixed bush, and generally well-surfaced. It's lovely not having to deal with car and truck traffic:

A nice rest area about halfway along

There are many views out into nearby farmland:

The corn's as high as an elephant's eye

A nicely-done newer barn

Harvested soybean fields on both sides here

The reddish pile is seed (winter wheat?) planted on harvested soybean field to the right

More colour by the Trail

Winter cover crop growing already

From Monkton, only 71 more kms to Guelph:

The Trail stop in Monkton is at the town Community Center area. At a welcome covered  picnic area there (also welcome were the open washrooms), we encountered a couple of interesting people:

To put our grueling-to-us trip today in perspective, meet Daley and Andrea. They had set out from Guelph today about 7 am, and were stopped here in Monkton for lunch, about 12:30. That was about 70 kms so far, and they were on their way to the Goderich end of the trail this afternoon, that's another 60 km or so. After meeting up with their respective spouses, they were all heading for a stay in Bayfield at an Air B&B. And they're still smiling...!

Andrea had done the same trip 2 weeks ago with her best friend, Daley's wife. No motors on their bikes.

With the Trail being run on an old defunct rail line, some of the trees at the sides of the Trail have been there a long time. We passed several apple trees along the way, likely some heritage varieties here:

A nearby soybean field harvest was underway, wasting no time with 2 large combines mowing down the beans and kicking up the dust:

Most farms don't make it easy to step off the trail and intrude on their farmyards etc. One place was an exception, even decorating for us transients:

The ride back to the car was pretty tough for us, with a bit of headwind kicking up, and the temperature getting up to 25C. I must admit we used the electric assist on the bikes more than usual on the return trip. Really glad to have had that option today!

Today's ride, in red:

G2G Trail ride - Blyth to Walton

The Trail parking area in Blyth, on Hwy 4. Not too busy today.

Monday was a day of the kind we look forward to every year - a sunny cool fall day, just gorgeous. We headed out for another leg of the Goderich-to-Guelph multi-use trail (G2G). This leg runs from Blyth to Walton, an easy 12 km or so (about 25km round trip). 

Looking along the trail from the parking area, we see a large feed mill, a common sight around here in farm country:

Further along the trail we pass another large feed/seed operation:

Corn and soybeans are the predominant crops in many of the farms. Here's a corn field with little green left in the plants. Corn harvest will likely start soon:

In the background you can see lines in the field where new drainage tile is being installed in the field. It seems unusual to add drainage tile to a field with this much natural slope. Maybe it helps reduce erosion on the slope?

Along the way we saw some wildlife:

Unusual to see a raccoon out in the open this time of day

We passed another landmark today:

Only 100 more km to Guelph!

Soybeans are ready for harvest now:

The darker brown in the foreground is ready to harvest.

Combine at work, kicking up some dust

This outfit is waiting to collect beans from the combine, once the combine hopper is full.

I had a chat with this farmer. He commented on the dust from the combine, showing how dry things are. They aim to harvest beans at 14% moisture. They are coming in at 12% though, and he gets docked a bit for that. That surprised me, I thought a bit dryer than "normal" would be a good thing. Lots of surprises today.

The combine cuts very close to the ground.

Here's the combine finishing a row. The hopper on top is getting quite full:

After turning he starts another row. Once the combine straightens out, the pickup wagon is there to synchronize speeds for the unload. On-the-go, as the combine usually doesn't stop moving:

Several trail signs indicate gates must remain closed:

Open today though...

The last marker close to Walton says Guelph is "only" 92 km away now. See how excited Cathie is at the thought :))

We won't be getting to Guelph today, for sure. Even though it was the easiest stretch we've ridden on this trail, with a good surface and no missing bridges etc, we were both under the weather a bit and it was a tiring ride. Something we ate the day before we think. No, not Corona symptoms!

Today's ride, in red: