Long Point Provincial Park, ON to Port Stanley, ON

July 11, 2017

Day 12 - Urban Wild Camping

Sunny hot, no wind.

It’s a great day when the wind turbines are not turning.

You don't know how big these are until you stand next to one.

We got up early and left just after 7 a.m. heading out on Hwy 42. Arriving in Port Burwell about 9:30 a.m., we ate a second breakfast at the Lunch Box, another great cheap breakfast.

The Lunch Box, call in for a great breakfast and a yarn with the local farmers.

Once the lighthouse opened at 10 a.m., we did a tour of the lighthouse where we got to climb the tower and also visit the Marine Museum.

The wooden tower was completed in 1840 and still stands to this day as the oldest wooden lighthouse on the Canadian coast of Lake Erie.

In 1899 the breakwater piers were extended at the entrance to the harbor. The Pennsylvania-Ontario Transportation, who operated a railroad car ferry between Ashtabula, Ohio and Port Burwell, built a pair of range lights on the east pier in 1906. in 1930, a new light was also established at the end of the west breakwater.

The wooden lighthouse was decommissioned in 1962.

Today, the Outer West Breakwater Light remains active. The concrete pyramid West Breakwater Inner Light is still standing on the end of the old west breakwater but is no longer active.

Port Burwell Lighthouse. View out to harbor. Harbor lights at end of each pier.

Long Point lens on display at Port Burwell. The first lighthouse on Long Point was built in 1830, replaced in 1916 and automated with a solar light in 1989.

Ashtabula steamer. we visited Ashtabula, NY earlier on our trip.

Ashtabula. Steel twin-screw railroad-car ferry. Built at St. Clair MI by Great Lakes Engineering Works. Launched May 12, 1906. Spent her entire career carrying railroad cars across Lake Erie between Ashtabula OH and Port Burwell ON. Sunk Sept 18, 1958 in collision with str. Ben Moreell in outer harbor, Ashtabula OH. Raised and towed to her slip at Ashtabula, where she was scrapped by Acme Scrap Metal Co. in 1959. Her captain committed suicide before the Dec 10, 1958 U. S. Coast Guard hearing on the accident.

After climbing the tower we rode down to the Port Burwell Harbor Lighthouse on the pier.

Port Burwell Harbor Lighthouse. Burwell Lighthouse on the hill in the distance.

We left Port Burwell around 11:30 a.m. and rode through to Port Bruce where we found a small restaurant on the beach and had a soft drink each.

Once we reached Port Stanley, we stopped at the coffee shop to see about options for accommodation, where we spoke with Michaelle who advised it would be OK to camp at the small beach or perhaps ask over at the Royal Canadian Legion.

Port Stanley was the busiest town we had visited on the north shore. Very touristy with a lot of people around. We decided to wait to see if a warmshowers host was available so went to the Little Beach on the east side of town for a swim. While there we also took some photos of the Port Stanley Lighthouse across the river.

We them rode over to the main beach and checked out the Port Stanley Lighthouse.

The first lighthouse at Port Stanley was erected somewhere around 1837. In 1861 a severe storm caused a vessel to run into and destroy this lighthouse. A temporary light was in place until 1881 when a new light was contracted on the west pier.

In 1905 Port Stanley was the Canadian terminus for a car ferry service across Lake Erie run by the Pere Marquette Railway. A new concrete lighthouse was built on the newly built L shaped breakwater in 1909.

In 1934, a new light was established on shore to form, with the breakwater light, a set of range light.

The lights today are the 1909 concrete tower on the west breakwater and a small tower on the est breakwater.

Port Stanley Lighthouse. Practical but ugly.

Port Stanley Lighthouse. Small light marking east pier.

Then back to the east side to eat at 782 Tap House for pizza and a beer.

At dinner, the waitress who started telling us about her planned hike along the Pacific Coast also said it would be OK to camp on the beach.

However, we decided to go try to find someone at the Royal Canadian Legion. As I walked up I immediately met Mark, Brenda, Carole and Scott. Brenda ran the place and said it would be OK to camp out front on the lawn and Carole & Scott also offered up their back lawn.

We decided to try the lawn and had some time to kill before dark so rode over to the main beach then back to get some ice cream.

I didn't take a photo of the proposed camp site at the Royal Canadian Legion, this is off google.

About 9:30 p.m. when it was dark enough we rode back to the Legion and run into Jim who lived next door. Jim offered his lawn which was even better so that’s where we landed for the night

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Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 506 miles (814 km)

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