Ontario oratorio - Stratford, Canada
Stratford, Canada
June 4, Day 59. Perth, ON
Today was just a nice relaxing drive along the scenic route parallelling the Rideau Canal, with stops in Merrickville and Smiths Falls. Merrickville was prettiest, with a small stretch of 1850s downtown buildings, and traditional old lock systems. Smiths Falls was not as pretty a town, but it had a more modern lock with hydraulic operations to observe, as well as a nice little museum dedicated to the Rideau Canal system.
Our stop for the night is Perth, camped in a large grassy public campground on the Tay canal. The park is called “Last Duel Park” because it is the site of the last known fatal pistol duel in North America, in 1866. It was two gentlemen fighting over a woman. Supposedly the best man won, but it was not, apparently, a happy marriage.
We’ve been to Perth a couple of times before, and it is a delightful little town with old and quaint shops in its small downtown, and some nicely preserved sections of the Tay lock system.
June 5, Day 60. Almonte, ON
OK, this is fun! We are camped in the fairgrounds at Almonte, ON, about 30 kms north of Perth, with some 100 VW camper vans! There are as many as 200 expected.
This is the 15th annual “BusFusion” event for VW campers. The “fusion” reference is that it is a general invite for all types of VW busses and campers. The “Vanagon” type of camper, like ours (1980 to 1990), is by far the majority here, but there are also a dozen or so “bay window” models (1968 to 1979) and I have seen three “splittes” (1967 and older). There are also a dozen or so European types, and a few larger campers like the Rialta and Winnebago. There are also three nice old Beetles crawling around. Today has been mostly settling in and schmoozing. At least a quarter of the vans are Quebecois, which makes the schmoozing a little more challenging, but still fun. So far we are by far the most distant participants, but we have seen couple of vans from New York, a New Jersey and a Connecticut.
There are a few planned activities… a music jam this evening, and a semi-professional band tomorrow night, some kind of scavenger hunt and a puppy walk, some prize draws and communal dinner. The town itself is very pretty, on a river with some pretty falls… an old woolen mill from the 19th C, now antiques shops and restaurants which we will check out tomorrow.
Unfortunately it is raining a bit this evening, but sun expected tomorrow. We have heard about the heat wave in BC. Who’d have thunk that we would be here in sweaters and rain gear while you guys are sweltering!
June 6, Day 61. Almonte, ON
Second day at BusFusion. Maybe I am cured of my obsession. What is the psychological theory of overexposing to an addiction in order to cure it? There are some 200 various VW vans here now of all ages, shapes and sizes. Ditto for the people, but triple the numbers.
The weather today is nice and sunny, but still surprisingly cool… down to 7 overnight and high of 15 even with the sunshine.
We are still enjoying being here, but to avoid overexposure we did some sightseeing off campus most of the day. This morning we rode into the pretty little town, exploring the residential area. It is as pretty as the downtown, with nicely kept old houses, some of brick and some of wood, on nicely kept grassy little lots. It seemed to be a special Saturday of lawn sales which we browsed casually. Then to the downtown for coffee, and browsing of the antique shops and galleries of the town’s renown. Lots of great stuff that we didn't buy.
Back to the festival grounds for lunch and some van viewing, and then off on our bikes again to check out the “Mill of Kintail”, not to be confused with “Mull of Kintyre”. This historic park and mill building were about 8 kilometers out in the country, so we had a good look at the typical central Ontario farmland while riding. It was mostly corn and grass fields, but with the occasional historic old church and historic signpost saying so and so’s old house used to sit here.
The mill site was in a small wooded valley. As we arrived we noticed a wedding being set up in a pavilion on the way down to the old mill house, so there was a bit of entertainment with the singer and guitarist warming up. The old stone mill house was converted to a summer home in the late 1800s by Robert Tait McKenzie. Apparently he was a noted physician, physiotherapy developer and sculptor, with some very significant installations in Stockholm, London and Philadelphia. The main floor and upper floor was dedicated to McKenzie, and the lower floor was dedicated to his friend, and another Alamonte native, James Naismith. Do you recognize the name? He is the inventor of the game of basketball.
We are back at the festival site late afternoon, and relaxing while we await the evening’s festivities. There is a communal dinner in the Ag Hall, followed by awards and raffle draws (we have bought a few tickets). Then at 8:30, a semi-professional band and general jam at the campfire.
June 7, Day 62. Toronto, ON
Well, we are not quite IN Toronto yet, but are in Greater TO in a surprisingly pretty and peaceful grassy little campground right on the Rouge River about 35 minutes shy of downtown. It is run by the city’s conservation services, so is relatively cheap at $35 for a site with electricity. Surprisingly there is no wifi at all, so this post will have to wait another couple of days.
Last evening at Bus Fusion was somewhat annoying… very poorly organized door prize draw that went on for more than an hour… scheduled to be only 30 minutes, and eating into the band’s time. Then the music organizers from Bus Fusion decided that they would play some numbers with the professional band which took away the focus of the music. That said, when they did get the mood going, there was great dancing for an hour or so before us old guys turned in.
Today was mostly driving, but very pleasantly so… first through rolling brush farmland spotted with little general store type townships, then through marshlands with rock upcroppings, and beaver lodges.
Our main goal for the day was to meet Bill Osmond about some Rover parts. I had a bit of contact with him before departing Gibsons when he posted an announcement on the Rover Club list that the Ontario Rover Club was disbanding and had a stock of parts to give away. I contacted him again a few weeks ago when it became apparent that we would be going through Peterborough on the way to Toronto. It turned out that he was not actually in Peterborough, but was near Warkworth, a rural village 50 kms east of Peterborough.
Because Bill was not going to be home until after 3:30 we drove on in to Peterborough in the early afternoon to have a look at the famous elevating locks. It really is quite a spectacle! essentially what one sees is the historic Trent canal suddenly coming to an abrupt halt at a steel barrier 60 feet or so above the lower canal. The halting place is really a water tight chamber the same width as the canal, about 6 ft deep, and maybe 100 ft long. When the boat is in place and tied up, a water tight gate is closed at the stern end of the boat. Presently the whole chamber begins to descend… water, floating boats and all, until it sits down at the level of the lower canal, at which time the forward gate opens, and the boat carries on. There are actually two side by side elevating chambers with a huge hydraulically operated piston mechanism under each, so that the weight of the upper chamber pumps water into the piston of the lower chamber which then is counterbalanced and ascends. The only catch to make the whole ingenious system work is that the descending chamber has to have an extra foot of water level so that it weighs more than the ascending chamber, and they don't just stop when they meet halfway.
From Peterborough we had to backtrack about 40 kms eastward, and way out in the rolling countryside. We had no idea what to expect, but discovered a charming couple, maybe a bit older than us, in a house made with dovetail, hand-hewn logs and beams, on a rural acreage with some outbuildings which stored his cars and parts. It also turned out we had many interests in common… the Rover cars, art, travel, and amazingly, Volkswagen Westfalia vans. They had had a 1990 Westy for some 20 years, and had just sold it a few weeks previous to our visit.
After some initial chat, Bill and Bill went to look at the cars and parts that he had to offer while Pat chatted enjoyably with Jane. Bill has a complete and well running 1986 Rover SD in very nice nick, a very rare Canadian import which he is offering for sale. He also had a 1958 P4 100 which he has been restoring from the frame up. This is the same model as we have. It still needs some assembly, but it is a beautiful two tone car with sandy beige up to the “belt line”, and a gorgeous deep maroon on the hood, trunk and roof.
The parts that he has belonged to the disbanded Rover Ontario group, and he is giving them away for free. There is quite an inventory of trim pieces, some mechanical bits and pieces, and some large body items such as two full sets of doors, an engine hood, grills and hubcaps and a full set of interior seats of green leather.
There was nothing that I particularly need for my car… indeed, I don’t really need anything as my car is quite complete. But the parts really would be worth moving to BC as there are enough Rover sedans in BC to make it worthwhile. That said, the logistics is the problem. How to get such bulky items to BC, especially from his shed 100 kms from any big city. My plan is to research shipping options and then see if the Rover Club or the Old English Car Club in BC might be willing to finance the shipment, in which case I will offer to be the “curator”.
We said our good-byes, with hopes of meeting up again sometime, late in the afternoon, and drove another hour and a half in fairly dense end of weekend traffic to Glen Rouge Campground, about 30 kms short of Toronto. It was recommended by Bill Osmond which is much appreciated because it is nearer Toronto than the one we had planned, and is in a beautiful pastoral little valley of the River Rouge, in spitting distance of the 401 but totally secluded. It is one of the nicest little campsites we’ve had.
June 8, Day 63. Toronto, ON
We “did” Toronto in a day. I guess it is our Vancouver loyalty that leaves us a bit uninterested, and also we did not want to spend the money and time to do some of the cultural events which really define Toronto. It was still a fun day, but we are ready to move on tomorrow. It may also be the weather… it poured with rain last night, and was still rainy in the morning. It had dried out by the time we were on foot and bike though.
We spent the morning visiting Robert and Kerryn Graham in their nice little Coop apartment in Old Town, right in the centre of the city and just a few blocks from the lakefront. Robert is the son of Bob and Joy Graham who were very good friends in our first few years in Gibsons, and who moved back to Australia around 1990. Robert and Kerryn immigrated to Canada around 2000, and lived in Gibsons for a year or so, with Kerryn learning pottery from Pat, They also did some housesitting for us at the time. Some of you will remember them. Robert is a musician, earning his living as a musical director for some choirs and theatre groups, as well as doing some teaching. Kerryn is an artist… had done some ceramics over the past few years, more recently painting and computer graphics, but she also does quite a lot of community service work on paid contracts and voluntary.
Twelve year old Scarlett, and 10 year old Clark came home for lunch so we got to meet them again. They are all coming “home” to Gibsons for a month or so in July’August this year, so some of you will see them.
After lunch, Kerryn took us for s stroll through the “Distillery District” which is just a couple of blocks from their place, It is a great development, installed on the site of a huge old brick distillery complex, now converted to shops, galleries and restaurants. The shops are all high design oriented, so a great experience.
In mid afternoon drove over to Kensington Market which was quite a disappointment… it has become quite rundown, and is just a madcap assortment of surplus clothing stores, cheap eateries and purveyors of sunglasses and kitsch. Pat said it reminded her of the middle east.
So, as usual when bored, we dismounted our bikes and set off, this time along the lakefront. This was very much more interesting, though we did still find it to be a hodgepodge of construction upgrades, big name hotels, ferry docks, and a few parks. The saddest part was the once vibrant “Ontario Place” at the western end of the riverfront, which is now quite neglected and decrepit… I guess it is a product of the Mike Harris/Rob Ford budget cuts. The other serious bother is the “City Airport” which sits on an island just a couple os hundred meters across the harbor. It is quite horrific with its noise, jet fumes and ugly hangars and warehouses. Thank heavens Vancouver never built such a monstrosity. Speaking of monstrosities, apparently there is serious planning to remove the appalling Gardiner Expressway which sits above the lakefront, so maybe our next visit to TO will be more appreciative.
Westward Ho tomorrow.