20th Oct day 7 blond day

You might think it's a bit unkind of Carol but sometimes I am very much a dipsy blond, so when she said this morning I was to have a brunette day I had to agree with her. Good example was when I started packing I decided to cut out the labels, tags and hanger straps from of all my clothes to save weight. I thought this was very sensible given my weight restrictions for a 3 month trip but when I told Cheryl she said "honestly Mum you are bonkers". Of course she was right as twice I have realised when out and about that I have had my tops on back to front! Carol's suggestion for an idiots guide to dressing properly is to write a big B in the back of all my clothes, I may well take her up on it.

The morning got off to a slow start as we enjoyed chatting to a Canadian Christian couple at breakfast, Gary offered to take a picture of us together on the bridge outside the restaurant. There had been the most violent thunder, lightning and torrential rain the night before at dinner but the morning was much calmer.

We had decided to drive all the way up to the end of the Bruce Peninsula to Tobermory and hopefully take a boat trip. We should have listened to the subtle suggestions Gary and his wife were making about other beauty spots, but no these intrepid travellers were determined to get to Tobermory and take a boat trip. Thankfully we decided to stop at Isthmus Bay on the way. We asked a local guy the way to the bay when we got to Lion's Head. He couldn't believe we would want to see it, especially the lighthouse and tried to talk us into going further up the coast to a much bigger one. As we were undeterred he said "don't expect the carpet to be out".

When we arrived at the bay we couldn't believe how beautiful it was, if it was in the UK there would have been loads of brown heritage signs pointing us in its direction. We have learnt that the Canadians hardly advertise their major attractions at all. The water was so clean we even dipped our toes in.

We called at Miller Lake as Carol wanted to see a lake where you see it all, the scale of the others blow our minds. Then it was up to Tobermory - all I can say is it was shut, shut, shut. Even trying to find somewhere for coffee was a challenge. The ferry that goes from Tobermory to the Manatoulin Islands had stopped running the weekend before and the whole place had shut down. 

We managed to find a hotel which thankfully had wifi so I chatted to Simon and Cheryl which was fantastic but the food left a lot to be desired. How do you get greasy vegetable soup? If you asked for blueberry pie would you expect it to come with cream/ice cream? Let's just say it was all basic and so far it's been the only place that's been a disappointment on this holiday, so we can't complain.

It's a long drive all the way north but because we felt a bit cheated we drove down to Sauble Beach which is on the Lake Huron side of the Bruce Peninsula. A bracing walk along the beach was invigorating, for all the world this looks like a seaside place - but not so.

We returned to the hotel and had a fabulous meal to finish off our stay in this luxurious hotel.