Barrie and Penetanguishene – Day 3

We were up at 7:30 again. A typical hotel buffet breakfast was included in the room rate. We were quick to eat and pack up and outside ready to go at 8:45 AM. 

We had arranged to meet Sharry and Ron for coffee at Grounded Coffee Company. We barely had to pedal the 3 km downhill to the waterfront. We used the extra time to visit the murals Ron had shown us last night.

We passed the ubiquitous small town Ontario Carnegie library. Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish American businessman and philanthropist. A total of 2509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929. There were 125 built in Canada, 111 of which are in Ontario. This particular Carnegie library building has been repurposed into a home decor shop and café, known as Olde Town Library. 

These are just two of the many murals we passed. 

We then rode out on the pier to get a daytime view of the “Huron Native and Jesuit Priest at Sainte-Marie” mural, which measures 80 feet by 250 feet, making it the largest outdoor historic mural in North America. The mural depicts a Jesuit Priest and a Huron Native gazing from a hilltop over the Wye Valley and into the nearby village of Saint-Marie, as it would have appeared in 1640. The light was perfect, and the water reflective.

We rode back north on the pier and stopped at this beautiful sculpture of a trumpeter swan by Ron Hunt.

Ron and Sharry were picking up their coffee when we arrived at Grounded. Their famous scones had already sold out, but their cookies looked very good so we each bought one for the road.

We had another enjoyable visit. When Midland Ski and Bike, across the street from the coffee shop, opened at 10 AM we went to see if I could replace my mirror. They had bar end mirrors and helmet mirrors, but none for glasses. I tried to see if the helmet mirror would work for me, but I was uncertain, so I didn’t get it since I have another glasses mirror at home.

We set out on the  Midland Rotary Waterfront Trail, a paved 8.5 km multi-use path.

In this section the homes on the right have private water access on the left. Fortunately, the town carved out the space for the trail in between.

That’s led us to Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. This was Ontario‘s first European community, and was the headquarters for the French Jesuit mission to the Huron-Wendat people. It was founded in 1639 and ended in 1649 when members of the mission community were forced to abandon and burn their home of 10 years. 

The sun was directly behind the site and made it very difficult to photograph. We didn’t have time to explore the museum.

This is the Martyrs’ Shrine Midland. Construction began in 1925 and took one year to complete.

We planned a direct road route back to Barrie. We passed the beginning of the Tay Shore Trail, part of the Simcoe Loop, on our way to the road. It would have made for too long a ride for the day for us to continue following the Simcoe Loop.

It was the day of hill climbing with 642 m of climbing and 66 km of distance. There were a couple spots where we had to walk.

This beautiful tree was at the top of one of the climbs where we stopped to catch our breath.

Lunch was in Hillsdale. The Hillsdale Old Corner Store shared a building with a pizza shop at the main intersection. We spread our business across both.

We passed this interesting building on the way into Hillsdale and a Brampton Brick location, just south of Hillsdale.

At the top of another steep climb, there was an old cemetery where we stopped to rest. This gravestone tells the story of how common deadly childhood disease was prior to modern vaccination.

We had to make another detour as we were getting close to Barrie because of a road being completely dug up. It took us twice as far as the planned route, and onto a climb on Bayfield Street, which was like like a highway at this point. At the corner where we got back to the planned route there was a Giant Bike Store. We decided to turn in and have a look around, and have another rest. Cindy bought some chain lube and a couple Presta to Schrader stem converters. 

Shortly after leaving the bike store, we entered the Simcoe Forest Hickling Track which has a recreational Trail, which is apparently part of the Trans Canada Trail. It started out all right, but soon deteriorated into single track mountain bike climbs, which were impossible for us to ride with our loaded panniers. I wouldn’t take that route again.

It did roughly follow an undeveloped road allowance for Anne Street which was a pleasant street on which to ride into Barrie.

Fortunately, the last few kilometres to Gail‘s condo were downhill since she’s on the waterfront. We were both very glad to get off our bikes with over 100 km completed for the day.

Gail met us outside the garage and gave us her key fob and keys to the guest suite. We secured our bikes and I went upstairs for the bundle buggy of linens. We then had a refreshing swim.

The three of us went out to dinner at Barnstormer’s, a local brew pub. The fish tacos were good.