July 9, 2017
Long Beach, ON to Peacock Point, ON
Day 10 - Cold Start
Sunny, Headwind
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Woke up after a restless night, other campers played music and partied until well after midnight. All quiet when I got up a 6 a.m. Needed my jacket this morning, the first time on this trip.
We left the camp a 7:30 a.m. and continued on Hwy 3 through Lowlands towards Dunnville. We took a short side trip on Pyle Road to see the Mohawk Island Lighthouse.
The construction of the Mohawk Island lighthouse commenced in the spring of 1847 and completed in 1847, but due to the late arrival of the lighting apparatus from England, its light could not be placed in operation until the spring of 1848.
Around the mid 1930's the lighthouse was automated and was active until 1969, when vandals smashed the beacon. A lighted buoy was established offshore to replace the lighthouse. This beacon is on display at the Port Dover Harbor Museum.
We rolled into Dunnville at 9 a.m. and stopped for a 2nd breakfast at the Flyers Café. Here we also caught up with stuff using their wifi. We are starting to get into the touring rhythm this week by stopping for a cooked second breakfast and this one was good one. We didn't do that too much in the first week and I think we were tired earlier in the day because of this.
Leaving Dunnville at 10:30 a.m. we went over the Grand River Bridge then immediately turned and headed west again as we had to make our way slightly westward to the Port Maitland Lighthouse.
We arrived there about 11 a.m. and took some photos. This was the first lighthouse we were able to ride out to on the pier.
In 1829, a feeder canal was built from the Grand River at Port Maitland to provide water to the Welland canal. A light was first exhibited at the Grand River entrance in 1846. A replacement lighthouse was completed in 1871 but this light was destroyed by fire on April 30, 1875. A newly constructed light went into service on October 1, 1875. In 1916 a rear range light was constructed.
Leaving Port Maitland, we rode due east on to reconnect with the ACA route.
By this time the wind had picked up and this stretch was directly into the wind. We caught the lake again at Lakeshore Road which wound its way around the lake. The wind full force in exposed areas or not so much when behind trees and houses. We lunched by the lake along the road and continued on battling the wind. Cameron was having a hard time of it so is was slow going. I saw 7 mph a lot on my speedo.
Sometime after Featherstone Point we left the route earlier to head north inland to Hwy 3 that would lead us to Selkirk. The winds were just as strong inland so probably didn’t make any difference. The one small store in Selkirk got our business, drinks and an ice cream each. The plan was to stay here and find some wifi but we decided to push on as we had about 7 miles to go and wanted to get done.
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We arrived at Peacock Point Campground at 4 p.m. and got ourselves set up. The camping options were get a site for $36 or camp over by the picnic pavilion for $12. Even though the picnic area was exposed to wind, we took the cheap option. The pavilion has power points as well so good for charging.
While getting set up for dinner, locals Lou and Bob stopped by for dinner at the pavilion. We got talking and they shared their salads and strawberry pie with us. Better than our usual pasta dish.
It will be a quiet night, not many campers nearby, only the wind and the waves breaking on the shore. Looking forward to a good nights sleep.
Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 411 miles (661 km)
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