We completed a six day trip to Manitoulin, and the area certainly lived up to its pre-publicity.

The rustic rail fences, tiny villages on the water, rural farm scenes, friendly people, and interesting architecture were just some of the things we were able to enjoy.

What made the trip so special for us, however, is that all of Manitoulin could be enjoyed through the windows of our motorhome. I was confined to the motorhome because of an accident while hiking in northern Canada, and yet wasn’t deprived of any of the scenery.

The first scene that greeted us was the railroad’s swinging bridge. It opens once every hour so boats can get through, and we timed it to be able to see the bridge in action.

On to Green Acres Campground for our first night’s stop. Most of the campgrounds on the island seem to make every effort to have sites right on the water and that certainly enhanced our visual enjoyment.

The next day we headed for an overlook with a fantastic view of Georgian Bay. While there, we met two gals travelling from Australia and we had a lovely conversation through the windows.

On to Wikwemikong which is an unceded reservation. Because turn-around spots were passed up, we ended up going to Rabbit Tip and were getting concerned when the road became dirt. Luckily, in a few miles we came to an area right on the water where we could turn around and have lunch.

We had thought we’d take the ferry from South Bay but the cost seemed prohibitive for an RV and luckily that meant we spent the rest of the week right on the island.

Our stop that night was at Providence Bay. This beautiful bay is the site of a campground plus several nice looking restaurants and even a famous mythical burning ship. The next day we wandered through Spring Bay and then changed our route and headed for Gore Bay and Janet’s Head Campground just past the lighthouse.

From there it was on to the west end which had many old farms and cattle herds. The herds were interesting to us because we were used to seeing cattle of one breed together, and here herds were made up of many mixed breeds.

Meldrum Bay was charming but do be aware of turn-around space there. We ended up driving through town and finally had to unhook and turn around. On to Mississagi Bay and the campground. Next to the lighthouse is a restaurant and we had to wait for the cook to finish preparing food before he could register us.

Our route back took us through Kagawong which is a delightful village on Mudge Bay, with several places that RVs can park and folks can wander, or in our case, enjoy lunch with a view of the water. Our road led us through Mindemoya to Stanley Campground right on Lake Mindemoya, which is one of the island’s 110 lakes.

It was with sorrow that we had to head back to Sault St. Marie while Manitoulin Island still had more to offer. It proved to be a perfect place for me to enjoy fantastic scenery, even though I was physically unable to walk and get around the motorhome. We’re looking forward to a return visit when I’ll be able to do even more on the Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron ON.