Remember the Days of the Old Schoolyard....: Day 59 - another day off the bike in Prince Edward County - And Then We Pedalled...... Cross Canada 2015 - CycleBlaze
Remember the Days of the Old Schoolyard....: Day 59 - another day off the bike in Prince Edward County
A Cat Stevens day for me, going back to my first days of school 49 years ago in Picton.
It was another beautiful hot and sunny day and we spent it with Ann Marie as she graciously chauferred Kirsten and me around the county as I picked out places from my early childhood.
As I said before, when we moved here in 1966, the county was a very sleepy rural enclave. Very pretty with lots of fruit orchards and great beaches at Sandbanks and Outlet. The concept of grapes and wine and locavore restaurants were as alien as men on the moon. This was three years before Mr Armstrong changed the moon piece, however it would be at least another 30 years before the County started to change, but change it did.
The county is now filled with B&B's, great restaurants, vinyards and wineries. It still has the beaches and a rural feel, but I doubt you can get live bait here. Even the farmers here are probably drinking latte's now.
We started the day in Bloomfield as we were searching out the cheese factory my dad used to run here. The building still exists but it's no longer making cheese. That didn't stop us from finding other dairy delights though. Ann Marie took us to the best ice cream shop we've been to in a long time (and we've been sampling ice cream pretty heavily lately!)
If you are in Bloomfield, you've got to go to Slickers. Small batch homemade ice cream ... Today's special was rhubarb and ginger, it was fabulous!
Fantastic ice cream at slickers. Great way to start the day!
Next up was the Bloomfield bike shop to look for some reflectors or lights. Kirsten was rightly concerned that with my black bags and dark shirts that I was not visible enough to the other traffic. So in this small town we come across a fantastic little bike shop and pick up exactly what we need. We also could have picked up a few nice trikes, a co-motion tandem, a couple of nice Lightspeed Ti bikes. This was no small town bike shop, except it was! Great and friendly service from Rick and the rest of the crew at Bloomfield bikes!
We were then off to Picton to search out my old haunts. Amazingly, even though the town has changed so much, most of what we went looking for was still there. The United church where I used to go to Sunday School and where I remembered the impressive pipe organ; the park where my sister and I took Pedal Pushers courses and learned to ride bikes; Piction elementary school where I went to grades one through three; our house on Centre Street across from the school; the theatre where we used to go to matinees (I remember seeing the first Batman movie there, long before Tim Burton ever got involved). Kirsten and Ann Marie were very kind as I wallowed in the deep pool of nostalgia!
Picton United Church. We weren't a particularly religious family, but back in the '60's everyone went to church on Sunday
Some great stained glass in the Anglican Church. Today was the first time I had set foot in there. Good thing we did as we met John who gave us a good history on the church and we traded some good travel stories
Another church hall in Picton where I went to Cubs... All kinds of memories of working on badges ... I got a collectors badge for collecting the full Montreal Canadians hockey team on coins that came in cereal boxes! Amazing what you remember when you see something as simple as an old building
This trip down the nostalgia aisle made us seriously hungry so Ann Marie took us out to the Wapous Cider Company for a seriously good lunch. It was a stunningly beautiful day and the cider place is an old farm overlooking Lake Ontario. Old barns, outside patio under vine draped trellis, wood oven producing great pizza's ..... Perfect afternoon
Getting ready to order at the Wapous Cider Company
We finished up the day with a trip to the farmers market for some fresh stuff for supper and had another glorious night looking out over the Bay of Quinte!
Jacquie Gaudet"My sister and I took Pedal Pushers courses and learned to ride bikes." I find this interesting because I thought kids taking courses was a recent development and that our generation all learned to ride a two-wheeler with a parent holding the saddle and running until we got too fast and they let go. Reply to this comment 4 years ago
Lyle McLeodTo Jacquie GaudetYou can be sure that that our parents and older siblings did that too. Pedal Pushers was more about learning g the rules of the road and how to ride safely. Most of this went in one ear and out the other of one particular six year old boy though 🙄 Reply to this comment 4 years ago
