Today I woke up to the crow of a rooster. We’ve past old barns around here but haven’t actually seen any of the animals other than horses and grazing cows. It was a slow start because we went to bed late last night without making a plan for today. I decided to swim as a workout today and chose the lake we’re on as the lake of the day. It was a bit of a disappointing lake to swim in. Fairly shallow, muddy/sandy and weedy. The sandy bottom made for a cloudy swim, so nothing interesting to look at during my swim. I did like the calmness and having an island a couple hundred metres away to have a distance to go back and forth to. After the swim, we got online and looked at places near by because I had done so much driving yesterday, I wanted less of it today.
We decided to drive to Foley Mountain in Westport, taking us a little over 40 minutes. As you drive you see these houses so far from neighbours and miles from everything. Chris and I made up stories about what brought them there, what they do and how they would deal with their car not starting!
We got to the conservation area and went for a short hike through Canadian shield, granite rock and pine needles under each step. We ate our lunch at a beautiful view point at the top of Foley mountain over looking the Rideau lake and the town of Westport. At this view point we chatted with a couple of cottage owners from the area and they suggested some local attractions that were off the beaten track.
We drove to an old lock called Stone Arch Jones Falls Locks. Chris was really into it and we walked around, to see every angle of it. It was pretty amazing and we spent quite a bit of time there. On the way back, we stopped at another lock which was next to a fancy resort. That lock (Chaffery Locks) had a lot tourists so we didn’t stay long.
Time goes by so fast on holidays. Driving places, exploring, hiking, meals that’s all there is and yet the day is gone before you know it.