"At one with Nature..." (Ottawa to Huntsville)

25^th June Saturday

After very little sleep, we packed in a mad rush, waking up the rest of the room, and ran out with jam on toast in our hands. We made the 30 min walk to the bus station in a full on power walk through the rain. We saw the girl form last night at the station (also feeling a little worse for wear) who was visiting her parents at a cottage. Small world. We got the coach to North Bay (saw some Mormons), then to Huntsville (the bus had free wifi- get in!), then a taxi to Wolfsden Bunkhouses(fell asleep) where we were staying that night.

We met Ben, the man we’d been emailing  with countless questions in the last few days. Despite this he still seemed very pleased to see us and showed us round the lodge. It has a communal kitchen and living/dining area all decorated rustically complete with small library on wild plants and animals. Outside there was a campfire area, some outdoor-ish showers and even a free sauna! Our room had 8 beds all about 1 foot of the ground, supposedly to enchance the camping atmosphere. We cooked an excellent of broccoli soup with broccoli and microwave-heated bread rolls. Our cooking skills had progressed since Ottawa and today we successfully cooked the soup on the hob rather than the microwave, producing a much more consistent texture of soup. Baby steps.  After this fulfilling meal and a tea/coffee session, we went to inspect the sauna. To our mild horror, someone was there before us, wearing absolutely nothing. I think we scared them off with our slightly surprised comments. After making a hasty getaway we got changed into bikini (being the conservative Brits that we are) and got in the sauna- now thankfully naked people free. Gillian and Alice were sweating profusely whilst Bessie stayed cool and composed. Not fair. We had a shower with a view of the trees.

We sort of set up camp in the living room, writing journals and playing chess. Gillian taught Alice how to play, no-one really lost because Gillian failed to put Alice in checkmate despite the fact that Alice had one piece on the board. Nothing new for Gillian to be honest. 

On our way to bed we were stopped by a fellow guest who invited us to join him and his friends at the campfire. He offered us a free beer so we decided to follow him! It was a slightly more impressive campfire than the one we’d attempted to make in Virginia. Our new friends were by the lake for fishing (and drinking beer). And making fun of our accents as it turned out.  Ben was there and taught us what to do if you meet an aggressive bear (ignore it if it looks busy, or make lots of noise and look scary if the bear looks aggressive/like it’s ready to get the salt and pepper out). He also told us some of his bear chasing stories. After a nice chat by the fire, we all heated off to bed via ‘flashlight’.