We head east from our campsite, along road 60, through the beautiful Algonquin Provincial Park. This is (according to the AA) one of the 10 things not to miss in Canada. Sadly we haven’t had time to explore properly but we haven’t entirely missed it. This is much better than yesterday’s travelling, a very quiet, single carriageway road through forests that are just beginning to suggest that autumn is around the corner. It is another beautiful day; we pass lakes and rivers and logging lorries pass us. We see signs warning us to beware of deer and moose but our usual jinx on native wildlife (see previous holiday diaries) means that we see neither. We pause at the Lake of the Two Rivers and I have a quick paddle, expecting it to be very cold when in fact it was warm. We are supposed to display a permit in order to stop. We do have a piece of card given to us by the site manager. We have no idea if this constitutes a permit but we boldly display it anyway and hope for the best. Paddling does mean that I get sand between my toes, which inevitably ends up in the van – another reason why we should have gone for the very expensive valeting service.
We continue through lovely scenery (this is more like it) and stop in a lay-by, which are very few and far between, at Wilber Bay. A police car draws alongside. Are we to be arrested for an inappropriate permit? It seems they are not looking for us, phew – it is so easy to feel guilty isn‘t it? Understandably, the driving gets less pleasant again as we near Ottawa but we are on another lovely site. As we are here for two days I take the opportunity to wash some clothes. I had checked with the receptionist when we booked in whether or not it was permissible to peg out clothes on site, as on some UK sites this is not allowed. I might as well have asked if it was acceptable to launch a rocket from our pitch. She looked incredulous and hurriedly consulted the pitch information; clearly no one hangs out laundry in Canada. In the absence of instructions to the contrary, we can erect a washing line. The only trouble with doing the washing is that I am now left with a choice between wearing thick cords or thermal lined walking trousers. Neither seem an attractive option in this heat so I end up sporting Chris’ swimming costume shorts – tasteful!
The only van related issue we have had today is the inability to turn the radio off when it came on of its own accord. After mass button pressing it turns out that if you leave it alone for a while it turns itself off. This site has free wifi. At least it does if you stand on one leg at the top of a specific tree. I manage to identify the one bench where a signal is possible. As regular readers will know, for us a good holiday involves engaging with the local wildlife. I wish to place on record that sitting on a bench that appears to be the home of some unpleasant biting sort of termites does not come into this category, On a more pleasant note I did see a black squirrel and several chipmunks on site, It is apparently possible to take a great many very blurry photos of chipmunks without much effort.
The History Interpreter - Janet Few 