81.1 miles, 2,630 ft ascent
Tonight we will be staying in a campground adjacent to the First Nations Sheguiandah land holdings on Manitoulin Island. This will be a unique experience. Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron is the largest island in the world that is surrounded by fresh water. To get to the island today, we pass over a swing bridge that allows boat traffic through a channel. Tomorrow we will take a ferry back to the mainland.
We awoke to a huge clap of thunder followed by rain falling in buckets. Radar showed the band of thunderstorms to be very wide, so it appeared that it would take at least an hour for the worst of the storm to pass. Because I had galley duty for breakfast, I broke camp before the heavy rain and stayed quite dry in the trailer.
About 1/3 of the way through today's ride, I stopped to use the washroom and have coffee and strudel at a cafe. I took no photos while it was raining. I hoped to get photos of First Nations billboards and signs, etc. as I pedaled.
After it had dumped a good 1 to 2 inches on us, the rain finally stopped .Once the morning thunderstorm passed, there was little rain for the remainder of the day. We dodged a bullet. The day's headwind was insignificant compared to the storm.
We rode on to Manitoulin Island via this swing bridge.
In the photo below, the swing bridge is rotated open to allow a sail boat to pass, and one can see windmills in the background. I was surprised that we saw no windmills on our route through the prairie provinces. Our prairie states in the US, specially Kansas, are full of windmills.
This was our first glimpse of Lake Huron before we crossed the swing bridge onto the island.
There were a number of First Nation signs along our route and many First Nation communities on Manitoulin Island.
Visit again tomorrow to see pictures from our ferry ride and hear more of our Canadian Saga!
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