Zero Day: Grimsby, ON

Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2023

This is another zero day where I was staying with friends.  I'm always hesitant to share details about my stays with friends, and especially when children are involved, so you'll have to settle for vagaries again this day!  (Note: Having just finished the post and seeing it's 1500 words...maybe I lied)

I woke in a bed.  Another good day!  I'd slept really well, and it had now been 5 nights now since I'd slept in my tent (or been burgled by raccoons!).  I headed upstairs to see if anyone else was awake yet and found one of the children waiting at the table for breakfast.  I helped fix her a bowl of cereal and we started the day.

Others started waking and this included Heather, who had a bag of oats ready for me.  It turns out that Heather had been reading my blog and had been paying close attention!  I prepped some oats for everyone while Heather cut up fruit and put out some other toppings.  Of note here, the Niagara region is one of the great fruit growing regions of Canada and the peaches are just coming into season.  I've been waiting for this for a LONG time on this trip!

After breakfast we prepped for a trip to the beach.  Heather - being a close reader of the blog - knew of my weakness for bakeries and pastry and already had a spot in mind.  We needed a second vehicle as there wasn't enough space in the van, and this gave me a chance to see Jon's mom again.  It had been quite a long time, but I was happy I got to see her while I was in town!  We packed up and drove to Port Dalhousie, Ontario which sits just outside of St. Catherine's, Ontario on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Once we arrived I spent some time watching the boats at the marina with the kids while Jon and Heather got the kids and kit out of the car.  I quizzed the kids on their boating knowledge and they even taught me a thing or two!

We then walked over to a local bakery called Budapest Bakeshop where they make a type of "cake" unique to Hungary called chimney cake.

They are dough rolled onto a stick and cooked.  This is not a generous description, but the result is a pastry that pulls apart and can be filled with anything from flavoured fillings, coated with different toppings, or used to make sandwiches (we had all three!).  Heather and I stood inside ordering while some of the children stared inside intently...and this is one of my favourite photos of the trip.

From here we went down to Lakeside Park, a beach on Lake Ontario.  This park is notable as Rush had a song named for it!

The day was hot.  I mean REALLY hot!  And the humidity wasn't helping either.  But the beach was the perfect spot to weather the heat.  We had our lunch picnic style and the kids went down to the water and started swimming.  We took turns gaurding the food from the gulls and watching the kids.  I went out and stood in the water for a while and admired the lakers in the distance, while taking some time to appreciate that this is likely the most Southern point I will visit in Canada on this trip!  Jon and I spent time talking as we stood out in the water and cooled down.

When we were ready to go we packed up and drove back to Grimsby.  It was late afternoon and we had to get back because I was expecting a guest.

And now it's time for me to talk about...

This is going to take a lot of background to properly appreciate, but we'll begin...

In 2018 I fancied myself as a long distance hiker and - having never really done any serious hiking before - started by hiking 430km across the state of Vermont.  I did the first half of the trip almost entirely alone and was supposed to be joined by my father for the second half.  I met up with dad about 7 days into the hike but he injured his knee and had to stop.  I seriously considered quitting the hike at that point but eventually decided to keep going.  The next day I met another hiker and sat for lunch with him.  We clicked and kept hiking together for two days.  I then took a day off with my parents while he kept hiking.  When we parted we took a picture together.

In long distance hiking, you go by a "trail name" that is either chosen by you or given to you by other hikers.  I knew him only as "Skipper" and he knew me as "Trader."  On my day off I was planning to go searching for a particular beer that is rare and difficult to find.  I'd told Skipper about it before we parted and he was excited as he'd had the beer before and wanted to go find some when he finished his hike.  After we parted I felt terrible that we hadn't exchange contact information as I'd felt a real connection with him, and so I formulated a scheme to buy the beer and send him some.  Though I didn't know his name, we'd talked quite a bit about our respective lives and so I set about doing some research online...but couldn't find him.  However, he'd made mention of a company his wife owned and through that I was able to contact her and get an address to send the beer.

A few days later he took some time off the trail and went home to find the beer waiting for him.  He now had my contact information and got in touch, we reconnected on the trail.  Another coincidence of this is that I had left a piece of clothing - a buff - at a shelter on the trail when I hung it up to dry and forgot it.  When I met back up with Skipper and told him about this, he pulled it out of his backpack and gave it back to me.  He'd seen it and assumed someone had left it behind.

We finished the trail together.

And that's how I met Dennis...who I am forever calling "Skipper."

We last saw one another in 2018 when he dropped me off at home after the hike was done.  We've kept in touch with the occasional email at Christmas, but haven't seen one another since then.

Fast forward to this trip and the email I sent out to friends and family announcing I was biking across Canada.  I included Skipper in the email because he was a fellow adventurer - he's hiked The Appalachian Trail almost two times now - and I wanted to let him know what I was up to.  He replied and let me know that he'd just recently bought a touring bike and had started taking trips.  I'd offered to let anyone join me, and Skipper took me up on it (I was very happy he had!).  We agreed to meet in Grimsby and he is joining me until somewhere in the Maritimes.

So this was the day Skipper was arriving!  Jon and Heather had graciously agreed to host us both.  Skipper had biked across New York state on The Empire Trail and crossed into Canada at Niagara Falls for our reunion.  Remember how I said it was unreasonably hot?  He'd been biking all day in that.

Just before 5pm, he arrived.

For the remainder of this blog, I will refer to him as Skipper...but you can think of him as Dennis.

We had a happy reunion and immediately set to getting him cooled down and hydrated.  Heather and Jon had dinner ready and we all sat down and exchanged stories and heard about Skipper's trip across New York along the Erie Canal.  After dinner we tried some of the desert varieties of the chimney cakes and I led the family in a taste test.  The result was a toss up between cinnamon sugar flavour and the key lime chimney cake!

Jon, Skipper, and I went for a beer at a brewery in Beamsville, Ontario where Jon grew up.  I was happy to visit it again as it had been years since I'd been through the town.  At this point let me praise the Niagara region for it's small towns.  It began as a fruit growing region and now spends a lot of its efforts growing grapes for wines...but the region is beautiful farm country along Lake Ontario and the small towns of the region are historic, picturesque, and wonderful.  If you get a chance, go get lost around Jordan or Lincoln or Beamsville and enjoy every moment of it!

After beer we went back to Grimsby and it wasn't long before we were tucked safely into bed for the night.  It was another big day of reunions and friends.  I'd really been hoping to spend some time with Jon and Heather and the kids, and the day at the beach was the perfect opportunity!  And for the first time in 5 years, I was reunited with my old hiking friend with the promise of one more big adventure!