Manitsover!

Apparently some folk are trying to guess from reading who wrote each post (before it becomes obvious) so I’ll try and keep this as neutral as possible…

We pulled into the Narrows slipway on Canada day weekend and immediately obstructed it – one of us went to investigate the Lodge whilst the other sat on the canoe eating wine gums. 

‘We’ve got a room with a king size bed! AND a double bed. AND a BATH!! Oh, and the restaurant smells soooo good!’

So we speedily unpacked the boat, loaded it onto the trolley and literally ran to our room. 

Our excitement was only slightly curbed by a sign on the wall saying ‘Strictly NO smoking and NO pets. Any evidence or smells resulting from breaking this rule will lead to a $150 cleaning fee’. We hoped they would believe that the smell was just 2 unbelievably grubby humans. 

One of us was despatched to buy some beers before taking up residence in the bath for 2 hours. Then we put on our cleanest clothes and headed to the restaurant, but before we left the room debated: really muddy shoes, sopping wet sandals or bare feet? We opted bare feet. 

‘I’m going to have to ask you to put some shoes on, please’ said the server as he greeted us. ‘For your own safety.’ We explained our predicament and ultimately agreed socks were acceptable, and would definitely enhance our safety. We ate steak and drank wine and chatted to James, our lovely server, and agreed we’d be back for breakfast and almost certainly dinner too the next day. 

The forecast winds arrived and we were thankful for the opportunity to do some laundry and blogging and sleeping and a little resupply stop. We also ate more steak. 

Setting off on Tuesday in good cheer and great weather we paddled to Margaret Bruce beach and camped on the sand under a tree. 

Once again battling head wind and tail swell but also blistering heat we set out hoping to get around Big Point – from where we thought we’d be able to get off the lake in one more day’s paddle. The water was thick with carp and in places we couldn’t put a paddle in without bonking one on the head, which did add interest to the day. But the weather broke us and we started looking for a camp spot 15km short of the point. And looking. And looking. A few Km later one of us may have (briefly) stopped paddling altogether and had a tantrum. ‘Well, we can try and make space here if you’d like?’ Said the other, in an effort to mollify, pointing at 2 square feet of sand in the middle of a reed bed. But then we glimpsed a big sandy stretch ahead of us: 

‘how far is that?’ 

‘2km’ 

‘*~€{} it, we’re going there’. 

So we did. It turned out to be called Hollywood beach, so we stripped off and went for a swim. 

The wind put paid to any plans to progress the next day which was frustrating but meant we got to eat pancakes with the remainder of Darlene’s rhubarb. 

We were also given some fish by an interesting fella in an RV who had plans to build a jackable/floating platform for it and haul it into the middle of the lake to live out his days…!

Rested up and with a good forecast we departed Hollywood beach on Friday not convinced, but hopeful, we might make it to the Assiniboine diversion. And we did!

Thanks go to:

Blair, James and the rest of the team at the narrows for making us (and our boat) very comfortable! And for the washing tablets!

Arnold for letting us camp under his tree.

Randy, for the fish and entertainment!

What we’ve learnt:

Headwind + wine gums = ok

Headwinds – wine gums = tantrum