An afterthought...

It's been a fair few months since we returned from Canada and to be completely honest I don't think about it nearly as much as I thought I would.

Today whilst preparing for my next adventure to India (now only two weeks away) I found myself cleaning down Lizzies laptop. Whilst doing this I came across the 500 pictures I took over the course of my 2 weeks in Canada. It made me smile and brought back a lot of memories. It was then that I realised that I never shared what happened once we returned to Temagami. It must be said that the time at Camp Temagami was some of the most memorable of the whole expedition.

My memories slightly hazy now and I'm writing this more for me than anybody else, so I can hold on to the little that is left.

So without further adieu, Camp Temagami:
In total we spend 5 days on the little island on the lake. Our first task was to change a tire on the mine road (a 20km long track that leads to the boat launch.) This task was considerably more challenging on a big ass American pickup. In hindsight we should have seen this as a foreshadowing of the work that was to come.

After a 25 minute boat ride to the island Jim introduced us to Nick the camp director and we were soon put to work. I must say that over the next 5 days ray and myself worked ourselves hard doing a range of jobs from weeding, clearing trails and moving a massive 500 gallon fuel tank around. But we were compensated well in food, beds, views and excellent Canadian hospitality.

Considerably quicker than our trip across the lake the day before...

Camp Temagami's Island in the distance.

Our private "chalet."

Camp Temagami is also home to the largest camp fleet of wood canvas canoes in Ontario. With a fleet of 56 boats, all hand crafted and painted in camp colours. The dedication to preserve the traditional craft and skills required to use them is incredibly admirable. It took only 2 days before my urge to take one out for paddle took over. I was not disappointed.

Getting into the 14ft Muskrat.

Setting off for a trip round the island.

getting used to how it handles.

Ray enjoying the slightly more stable 16ft prospector.

Stretching his legs and enjoying the view.

Perfect lines on a wood canvas canoe.

After 3 days at camp Temagami we were warned of the imminent arrival of the "architects." Now I'm sure neither Nick or the architects will mind me saying this, but they seem to have struck up a pretty sweet deal. Every year the group of 5 travel north from central US for a weeks holiday at camp Temagami prior to the guests arriving on site. In exchange for a free holiday the architects draw up some plans and build something for the camp in return.

Having successfully cleared the US border (just.) The architects arrived the next morning. What an interesting bunch they were! The group consisted of 4 men in there mid 40 - 50s in matching t-shirts and already suitably bleary eyed. As well as the architects they had also brought Toronto Maple Leafs Ice hockey star David Clarkson. whos on a cool $5.25 million a year contract. Why the hell not?

David Clarkson.

Rumor has it the bunch have had there tools confiscated by Nick before lunch time in previous years! This year they managed to keep a low profile and built a brilliant new deck for the trip shed without any accidents. The only downside is it doubled the amount of pots that Ray and Myself had to wash.

Friday came round quickly and I was very sorry to say goodbye to Nick and Jim and the rest of the lads at Camp Temagami. I am sure I will be returning at some point in the future. Another boat trip soon saw us back at the Mine Landing and back in the rental car. We begun the drive south and found a quite road to hunker down for the night.

Tonight's luxury accommodation.

Ray tries really hard to pretend to be annoyed with me...
It never works.

The next morning we continued south to the town of Peterborough and the National Canoe Museum. Here we spent an hour exploring what the musuem had to offer before being treated to a private tour of the museums stock room. This old train warehouse stores an impressive 400 canoes that are not on show to the general public. In here you can find a wide range of craft, many with there own unique stories. I have tried to include a range of boats and where possible a little bit more detail on the boats.