TO THE ISLAND

Toronto is built at the edge of Lake Ontario. This lake is so large that it is like looking out over the sea. From Downtown Toronto it is a short (15minute) ferry ride across to several islands the largest of which has Toronto's city airport on it.

The islands are public reserves with no roads for cars. This is a great idea as the only means of transport is by bicycle and shanks-pony (the police and service people have small golf carts and quad bikes) which makes things a bit serene. It reminded me of going to the Cook Isl;ands or Tonga where everything seems to be stuck in the 1960's.

We spent a full day there in blazing sunshine which meant the need to find shade but fortunately there are plenty of trees.

On our ferry there were some musicians heading off somewhere or other. We considered following them until we saw that there was a double bass player amongst them so scrubbed that idea.

All double bass players look like this

We hired a 4 person bike which proved to be a bad idea as the thing had no gears, was heavy and probably rusty so pedalling was like putting an exercycle on the hardest setting and going flat out for an hour all with the result of going slower than if we'd been walking. Still, it was a good workout albeit a sweaty one.

We stopped at a river-mouth where there was a view out to the city. At this stage a plane came in to land and seemed to be skimming the water well below the buildings see here: