Espinola to South Baymouth. DAY: 117.81km. ODO: 3,465km. AVS: 21.7km/h. MXS: 53.5km/h. ATM: 5:25:34.

There was no alarm clock in my room, and I suppose I was tired for only having had an intermittent sleep on the train the night before, for I slept like a rock, right until 9:00. After doing a much needed full re-pack and grabbing a wee bite, I didn’t get out of town until 11:15.

There is a lot of First Nations territory here, but the tourist brochures that I found don’t say a heck of a lot about the culture. One guide mentioned that the various tribes had been given almost all of the areas, a long time ago, but that the government had “re-opened negotiations” at some point, with result that much of that land was snatched back for white-guy industry and farming (my paraphrasing). On interesting sounding ven is the Wikwemikon Pow-Wow, but it is held in last July. The Wikwemicon were the only tribe that refused to participate in the governments’ re-negotiation, so they are still in possession of the original land, which is called “unceded”. It is quite a large peninsula on the east side of Manitoulin Island.

The island is quite hilly, and I had a light headwind, so I didn’t make the best time. I also don’t feel as though I’m at peak physical condition. I felt as though I might be fighting off a cold upon reaching Winnipeg, and pretty much everyone in Manitoba (and on the train) was coughing, so perhaps I am a bit run down.

Upon arriving in the town of South Baymouth, where the ferry departs for Tobermory on the mainland twice a day, I circled the town looking for suitable accommodation, and ran into another cyclist, who directed me to John Budd Memorial Campground. The cyclist, a gentleman from northern England named Noel, is riding from Vancouver to Boston. We had quite a good chat while I set up camp and had dinner.

Eventually, someone cam around to collect money, and the fee was only $5 per night. He only charged the fee once for Noel and I, so it was only $2.50 each. Not bad for a nice campground with the best hot showers I’ve seen in any campground – it was actually too hot at one point! (and better than some hotels I’ve stayed in, too). If only there were more of these.

The guy that collected the money stayed to chat a bit. He was there all summer to fish – I was surprised to discover that there are salmon in Lake Huron/Georgian Bay. The guy was complaining that there is a real problem with cormorants eating all the salmon, so that it is getting harder all the time to hit the five-salmon-a-day quota. He suggested that the government ought to do something, and compared it to the way the seals had destroyed the cod stocks on the east coast. I managed to hold my tongue through this until the cod bit.