Canada - Lake Ontario Paddle

Day 5 - Saturday 31 August

When in Canada paddle a canadian canoe.  And so we did.

The blog title is a little over doing it as we didn't venture far into Lake Ontario, in fact it was only Toronto's Inner Harbour, but I'm going for the 'I paddled on Lake Ontario story'.   We'd booked our hire slot and were to be taken across the Inner Harbour to the Toronto Island Park so we could paddle to our heart's content.

However whilst we were waiting we saw something familiar in the sky.

I did a double and treble take.  I was in Toronto and that appeared to the Red Arrows overhead.  I asked the skipper if it were the Canadian display team.  "They're called the Snowbirds," he commented.  Well, these certainly didn't look snow coloured.

It turned out that, yes, these were the Red Arrows who were on a North American tour.  In fact they'd been at Niagara Falls a couple of days earlier - that would have been a bit awesome to have seen them over the falls.

Our boat took us over to our canoe and off we set.

The Red Arrows continued their display whilst we paddled making this one of those 'right up there' memorable days - in a canadian canoe, in Canada, with the Red Arrows buzzing overhead.

Oooh look - a beaver-munched tree!

We paddled into a quiet cove and spied some waterbirds.

A great blue heron.

And an egret.

I'd spotted a light house on the map, so off we paddled.  Riona stayed in the boat whilst I hopped out at a pontoon to explore.  This is the Lake Light, one of the earliest on the Great Lakes, built in 1808.  It earned a reputation for being haunted when its first keeper mysteriously disappeared in 1815 and a skeleton was found nearby.

My patient boat handler awaited my return.

We then continued our exploration of the creeks and waterways that make up this island complex.  Toronto Islands appears to be well managed and ownership of the small island community of 600 cottages is restricted to a waiting list of locals.  There is no favouritism involved and houses are not sold privately, they have to be sold through the trust which regulates the prices.  You must use the property as your main residence: you are not allowed to buy as a holiday home or rent the property out.  Perhaps this should be rolled out for the Isles of Scilly...

Tortonto Islands certainly has a backdrop to write home about.

Riona's attempts at capturing a panaroma of the iconic skyline whilst floating on the lake proved amusing.

We finished our 2 hour slot and awaited our return to the mainland.

And then we were buzzed again.  These are not the Red Arrows so I can only surmise they are the Snowbirds, the other display team on the listings for the airshow.  Nice.

One back on the mainland we explored the Roundhouse.  These were unique circular buildings used to inspect, clean and repair steam locomotives: at one stage there were 3000 in North America.  This one has been preserved and we even had a little spin on the turntable.

More exploring on our last day.  Union Station.

We wandered the streets heading west to Kensington Market, a diverse and eclectic area of vintage shops, unique jewellery and hippy vibes. I loved the labyrinths painted on the pavements and roads.  And I loved this.

Another memorable day. :-)