PARKS & RAVINES

Today's Senior Hike of 11 km was the official one that Ann, Jill & I pre-hiked on November 12th. 50 members participated in walking through 7 parks and ravines finishing up at Eglinton & Laird. My heel was beginning to bother me so I took a shortcut to the finishing point. [see pre-hike for more info on the route taken].
After the hike we repaired to the Shoeless Joe's Pub for refreshments.

LAKESHORE EAST

For today's Senior Hike Helen drove Barry and I to Runnymede Station. Ilo Puhm led the hike to the Lakeshore through Rennie Park and then along the boardwalk to the Enercare Centre at the Exhibition grounds for lunch. The heel on my left foot was beginning to bother me so I dropped out at lunchtime. I caught the bus to the On the Rocks Pub at Front and Sherbourne. I left my hat on the first bus I had to catch and I'm one of the members who were on that bus picked it up? We had our Executive Meeting at the Pub. Unfortunately the map below shows where I dropped out at the Exhibition and not to the Pub. The distance was 8.4 km.

TORONTO ISLANDS MOON WALK

This evening Barry and I joined Tom Fiore's Moon Walk on the Toronto Islands. There was a fair number of folks participating including TSHC members, Mary ayers, Mary Moore, Tonie Norman, and Bobbie Ardell to name a few. Unfortunately the clouds had begun to roll in as we set off from the Wards Island Dock. The sunset wasn't too bad in terms of clarity and colour but the so called Super Moon was not a photographer's delight. Tonight the moon is closer to the earth and therefore appears to brighter and larger. The next time it appears this way will be 2034! The group walk to the pier at Centre Island to hopefully watch the moon rise. It was shrouded in clouds and impossible to capture a shot. Barry and I walked towards the Wards Island Ferry Terminal and managed to get a few reasonable shots. Waiting for 7:15 pm return ferry I dropped my camera. It fell off the bench and broke the eyepiece etc. Little did I know it would cost over $500 to fix!
From the ferry terminal we made the short walk to the Fox Pub for a libation and a bite to eat. We chatted for an hour and thanked Tom.

MOON WALK PHOTO"S

RAVINES & PARKS PRE-HIKE.

I met Ann Atkins and Jill Cobb at Starbucks at Yonge & Lawrence for a pre-hike. We set off through south through the parks and ravines into Sherwood Park. Crossing at Bayview we lunched at the Glendale College Cafeteria. After lunch we walked back to Sunnybrook Park then up through Serena Gundy Park to Shoeless Joe's Pub at Eglinton and Laird. After a pint I left the ladies as I had to get home in time to pick Helen up from the subway. We covered the pre-hike of 11.3 km in 2 hours and 15 mins.

GRANITE BREWERY

After Kevin's hike we had libations at the Granite Brewery. I had a pint of their Best Bitter which was served too cold and not very similar to the British brew! We congratulated Kevin on an enjoyable hike

SHERWOOD & SUNNYBROOK PARKS

Barry and I met Kevin Doyle, our trusty leader for todays Senior Hike at Eglinton & Mount Pleasant. We walked through Sherwood Park and lunched at the Glendale College Cafeteria. Lunch over we walked through Sunnybrook Park and Mount Hope Cemetery finishing up at the starting point. There were 69 participants covering a distance of just under 14 km.

L'AMOREAUX PARK

Today the Senior Hike took place on the hottest day of the year. Factoring in the humidex, it felt like 43 degrees. Boy it was a hot one. Charles Chaffey led the hike with 24 participants along mostly suburban streets to L'Amoreaux Park for lunch. Talk about Mad Dogs and Englishman go out in the midday sun. After lunch which included biting flies we followed a trail through various parks to close to our starting point at Agincourt Mall. The distance travelled was just over 12 km. Barry, Mary Moore, Ilo Puhm and I were sick of the continual stops due to the heat so we departed the group and hightailed it to the Congee Queen in the Mall. On reflection I did not enjoy today's hike. It was hot and the numerous stops for stragglers to catch up, plus washroom breaks, frustrated me. Walking along main and side streets was not my "cup of ice of tea"

 That said Charles did an admirable job of leading and I respect him for that.
We barrelled into the Congee Queen only to be told in a drawn out manner in broken english that we could stay for drinks but there was a limit of two per customer if food was not being consumed. Charles had cleared this with the restaurant but they had no knowledge of it. Poor Charles doesn't seem to have much luck when it comes to alcohol! We ordered our beer which turned out not to be chilled as we were told it would be. The Manager stated they had a high demand for beer at lunchtime. I thought this was a lame excuse as one re-stocks as it's sold plus, it's a bloody Chinese Restaurant and the Chinese are not noted to be big beer drinkers. Ironically, the Manager did serve hot tea with our warm beers.

SEATON TRAIL

Barry and I joined Tom Fiore's group for a hike along the Seaton Trail. It was a perfect Fall Day again. We drove to the starting point north of Pickering. We commenced hiking from the middle point of the trail. We walked south from the parking lot and back for lunch which was approximately 11 km. After lunch we walked north along the trail to Highway 7 and back. The total distance was just over 18 km. Walking through the woods by the side of the West Dufferin Creek was most enjoyable. Afterwards Barry and I had a pint in the Black Dog Pub before heading home.