Tue 20 July: Terrace Bay ON to Wawa ON

Quite a short journey today, since the next 100 miles is through a national park and has no hotels. So we were faced with the choice of a short ride or rather a long one. It was a good choice, since the weather was less kind.

We don’t really understand rain in the UK. Not proper continental thunderstorm rain, anyway. The sort of thing that soaks you to the skin in seconds. We saw it building, and stopped in time to instal rain covers on the luggage, and to put on waterproof jackets. We aren’t carrying waterproof trousers, on the grounds that our jeans will soon dry out. Luckily we reached a gas station before the worst of it, and scurried inside for shelter, and perhaps a coffee and bun whilst we waited. I’d paid for the fuel, but before we could get our refreshments there was a nearby lightning strike and the power went out.

It came back on after about half and hour, so we got our late lunch, and set out into better weather. We got caught by one more thundershower, but it was fortunately short-lived. Although our gear is pretty good, it’s not fully protective. Every motorcyclist will know that slightly unpleasant sensation of cold water trickling into the boots, around the collar and down the chest, and perhaps worst of all funnelling itself around the petrol tank and into the crotch of the trousers.

But an hour later the sun was shining again, we’d dried out and so had the roads, and it was as if the rain had never happened.

We’re staying in the delightfully-named Wawa tonight. Apparently Wawa means Wild Goose in the Ojibway language. I suspect it was derived from the distressed noise that the Ojibway people made when they stepped in goose poo in their nice new moccasins.

We also found out this evening the meaning of the little cairns that we’d noticed along the way. They are called Inukshuks, and were traditionally used to indicate a favourable route. Some are just piles of stones, others are like simple human figures.

It’s been a good day for pictures, in spite of the rainy interlude, but I’ll sort them out for a later posting.

Tomorrow we drop down to Sault Ste Marie, and head eastwards across the top of Lake Huron.