Our ride across Manitoulin Island (largest freshwater lake in the world) went very well. We left Providence Bay in a dense fog, which quickly lifted, and we found that the island has almost no traffic. The few cars we saw were very good about moving to the extreme left to accommodate us. Folks in Canada generally seem to be good to cyclists. The landscape is gently rolling, and the farms are quite beautiful. A signature feature here is the use of split cedar rails to make fences.

It also seems like many properties are for sale. Hard to make a living here, I suppose. This one farm house seemed especially bittersweet. The yard was completely overgrown, but the path to the door was still marked by beautiful roses the owners had planted.

We got caught in thh rain and were waiting it out under a roof at The Silver Water community enter.  A couple of homesteaders (Eric and Nancy) , stopped to ask if we knew that there was a restaurant a few hundred feet around the corner (these are rare).  They offered to drive us! but we just met them there and shared a light lunch.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get their picture.

We stayed at the Meldrum Bay Inn on the western tip of the island. If you want a great vacation, go there. Here is a view from the inn:

The bay is gorgeous, and the Inn is a delight. Shirin Grover

and her husband Bob are the owners, and the place is a beautiful historic landmark. The Inn has about 10 rooms, and is just wonderful.  Shirin had bent over backwards to accommodate the two crazy cyclists from the States, in too many ways to describe here.  She is one of the nicest hoteliers I have ever met. I STRONGLY recommend a stay at her wonderful Inn. The food is fantastic too (Bob is the chef). I finally had a chance to sample the local whitefish. It was perfectly prepared in a simple but delicious way that allowed the fresh local ingredient to shine through. The sides were perfectly prepared. What a find!

Out next step on the trip was to get to Cockburn (pronounced Co-burn) Island and paddle to Drummond Island, Michigan, USA. A very helpful man named Jim Noble carried us on his boat to the island and arranged for a ride to the west shore, where we were to start. (Jim couldn’t carry us to Drummond Island because of the international border and regulations governing crossings.) Skies were perfectly clear, and winds light. It seemed like perfect conditions. We had to ride on the tailgate of the truck, because our gear and bikes filled the back of the truck.
Unfortunately, when we got to the shore, the wind was howling out of the south, with whitecaps. (The channel runs north-south). If we were to paddle, we could easily be blown out into the main lake and need a coast guard rescue at best. We could see the island only about a mile away, and yet there was no way to get there. EXTREME DISAPPOINTMENT. Everything had gone so much in our favor until this moment. Our only realistic choice was to head back and take a different route. What was especially frustrating is that the winds back at Tolsmaville, where we had arrived by boat, were light and from the NE, exactly the conditions we needed.

The difference between one side of the island and the other was striking. As we took the boat back to Meldrum Bay, we crossed Missassagi Strait, and the winds there were again strong and from the south.

The two channels seem to have very different weather from the rest of the region. Oh well. We tried.