c2c-2023

Day 66: South Baymouth, ON -> Chatsworth, ON

Jeremy takes another ferry crossing, gets rained on 6 separate times, and reaches Southern Ontario

Jeremy Stuart

Jul 30, 2023 • 6 min read

Date: Thursday, July 20, 2023
Start: South Baymouth, ON (John Budd Memorial Park)
End: Chatsworth ON (Sunny Valley Park Campground)
Distance: 120km

The day started off in the sheltered area I was telling you about in South Baymouth. In the camping park was this kind of event space with a tin roof and picnic tables. There was a tiny stage and I setup my tent in there to stay out of sight (remember I set it up in the dark). When I woke, I found that it had barely rained at all overnight. Unfortunately this meant it was likely going to rain on me during the day. But I had managed to keep my tent dry!

I packed up, and headed into town. The ferry terminal is the focal point of the community as it keeps people coming and going. I bought a ticket and took the opportunity to walk along the water before the rain showed up.

I went to a local restaurant for a breakfast of strong coffee and French toast. As I sat and ate, the clouds opened up. A HEAVY rain started to fall and drenched everything. It did so for about 30 minutes.

The ferry to Torbormory, the MS Chi-Cheemaun

No pictures of us loading, because it poured on me two more times as I stood at the quay and waited for the ship to unload.

The storm was pretty big, but we still barely felt it on the ferry

Bow of the ferry with our destination in the distance

While on the ferry I blogged, this is where my bike lived down the vehicle hold

Once we unloaded I realized I was on the Bruce Peninsula! And you know what that meant?

I WAS OFFICIALLY IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO!!!!!!!

I put all my rain gear on and when we unloaded the sun came out. I melted in my gear.

The ferry crossing started at 11am and took about an hour and a half, and I made it to Tobermory just after 12:30. After unloading and changing back out of my rain gear it was about 1:30. I once again had a shortened day to try to get some distance in. My goal was at least Wiarton, Ontario. This would make for a longer day into Guelph and my couple of days off. I started pedaling!

The heat and humidity were now far beyond anything I'd experienced so far in the ride. But that's what I was expecting from Southern Ontario. I'd been dreading it the entire ride...

Not long after the ferry I hit another milestone: 6000km total for the trip.

I didn't have much time to celebrate though...I had to keep biking!

The highway down the Bruce Peninsula went directly through the centre of the peninsula...and there wasn't much to see other than farm land, but I do loves me some farm land!

You see signs like this for local issues all the time...this one made me laugh quite a bit

After 77km of riding, I rode into Wiarton. Or I should say I coasted into Wiarton. It sits at the bottom of a mighty hill!

I stopped in Wiarton to consider what I was going to do. There was a municipal campground here by the water and a storm was moving in. It was 5pm and if I stayed the night it would mean 165km into Guelph the next day and I didn't want to do that. I looked around Wiarton and sat in a covered spot while the rain fell and ate some food.

Wiarton is home to "Wiarton Willie" which is the groundhog that predicts if winter is going to be longer or shorter in spring. I have no time for such nonsense...but apparently I had time to go see the little devil and the town is filled with groundhog themed stuff. It's a regular Canadian Punxsutawney.

Turns out the groundhog didn't want to be stared at by people...or kids...or the dogs they all brought over with them for some reason!

After eating I felt a bit better and decided to bike to a campground just outside Chatsworth, Ontario. This would mean biking until sunset again, and I wasn't too enthusiastic about it...but I hit the road anyway! I had another 50km to go.

There aren't any pictures of this section. I was seriously tired and don't think I had the wherewithall to take any. I passed through small towns and picturesque farmland though, and the roads got busier as I biked along. The day was also melting away. I was likely going to arrive after sunset again.

And sure enough...I did. The campground didn't have any obvious office and I couldn't find anymore. It was FULL of RVs though and heavily treed with a pond. I reserved a site online and went to the tenting area which was next to the pond...and was immediately beset by a cloud of mosquitos. They were worse than Northern Ontario. I put on my rain gear and it was a good thing too because it also started raining.

So I setup my tent in an absolute hurry and it was almost pitch black by the time I got it up. But it wasn't too wet! I then went for a shower because I desperately needed it. When I got back I gave up on the idea of eating any dinner and went straight to bed. It was pouring. I was tired. The mosquitos were relentless. And it was pitch black.

I heard people in the RV section hooting and hollering and the sound of the rain on the tent was loud...so I put my earplugs in for the night and fell asleep.