Hiking the Thames Valley Trail: Section 15-Highway #7 to St. Marys

   Woo hoo! I. Am. Done!
   Today, I completed the final section of the end-to-end Thames Valley Trail! It's taken me about a month, but I finally finished all 110 kilometers, from south of Delaware, through London and on to St. Marys.
   Doralyn (my angel) followed me to the end point in St. Marys, where I left my car, this morning and then drove me back to the last spot on the trail I had finished, which was on Highway #7, near River Valley Golf and Country Club. I then needed to traverse the bridge over the river. The bridge is not really designed for pedestrians, however, and I waited until there was no traffic coming my way before I started across. As it turned out, I made it most of the way across before a car came along and I was able to hop the guardrail at the last minute.
   The first section takes you toward the golf course and then actually on to the course itself before you get to the little side trail. The guidebook actually recommends watching out for stray golf balls (which I did) and I even found a couple, which I threw onto the first tee box I passed.
   After the golf course, the trail essentially follows the Thames River all the way to St. Marys, with a brief bit of highway walking as you get into town.
   It was a brutal kind of day, in some ways. There were some parts of the trail which did not appear to get much traffic and were overgrown. This made the going a little tougher but the worst part was, with all the vegetation underfoot, you were unable to tell where the holes and the uneven parts were. Came close to rolling my ankle several times.
   Possibly the worst aspect of the day were the spiders. The path was inundated with them and they strung their almost invisible webs right across the trail, generally at waist and face height. After awhile, I got into waving my trekking poles in front of me as I walked, just as a precaution. In the car afterwards, I was still yanking cobwebs off me!
   The trail itself was tough, yet quite beautiful in spots. Lots of hills to climb and tree trunks to either go over or under. Plant life was amazing and lots of wildlife as well. The weather was warm at 26C (78F) and there was a nice breeze, so, all in all, a great day!
   So here we go with obligatory photo dump because, once again, I walked the walk!

Quick pic of where I left off the
most recent section

And on to the start of the final section!

Headed to the golf course.

On the course, walking parallel
to one of the fairways

The ever-beautiful Thames.

Spotted one deer venturing out into
the river and by the time I could
get my phone out for a pic there
was a whole family!

Scenery

Pretty rugged-ruggedly pretty

Moo-moos!

Kinda hard to see, but there's
a thin, electrical fence here

Beautiful

Look carefully (unless you're
afraid of spiders...) These
were all over the place.

A nice flat, fairly spider-free section

And then, out of nowhere, an old
abandoned camper. Blanket
on the line, firepit, jacket. But
no road to get it there....

Ah, the crossroads. Always nice,
knowing where to go!

No idea what this used to be!

     

The highway back into St. Marys

Me, at the end of the Thames Valley Trail!

Hiking the Thames Valley Trail: Section 13-Thorndale Road to Plover Mills (asterisk expunged) and Section 14-Plover Mills to Highway #7

   For the last couple of days, I have been inwardly agitated that I was unable to find the trail entrances to the forested portion off of Valleyview Road in  Section 13 of the Thames Valley Trail this past Friday. This, of course, meant that I hadn't technically finished the section and, well, really, that wouldn't do, would it? 
   But, rather than just sit there at home and fume, I got the brilliant (though somewhat OCDish) idea of going on Google Earth and getting the street image of every pole on Valleyview Road, in the hope of finding the one trail slash I missed. It worked! I was able to find where to enter one of the forested sections and after I re-read the guide book with a clearer head, I was also able to figure where I had gone wrong with the other trail section.
   With a whole new plan in mind, I set out in my car yesterday to drive to both of those wooded sections, hike them, leave my car by the side of the road, and then go on and hike the section from Plover Mills to Highway #7. This would only leave the very final section of the Thames Valley Trail for me to hike---Highway #7 to St. Mary's!
   Along the way, I had the cool opportunity to run into a couple of different people yesterday!
   The Plover Mills to Highway #7 section of the trail utilizes a right-of-way on a hundred acres of land owned by a gentleman, Bob Stephen and his wife Marlene. In recognition of this, they have gone out of their way to construct a rest stop for TVT hikers. It's constructed out of some concrete slabs perched atop a cairn of large rocks. On top of the slab is an inukshuk-looking caricature of a hiker which they have named "Tex" TVT Trekker. It's a very welcoming spot to rest weary bones and I stopped there and had a bite to eat. Once back to hiking, I was headed across a grassy meadow and from around the corner of nearby forest I heard some kind of loud machinery and noticed  some very acrid-smelling odours. Anticipating some kind of vehicle headed in my direction, I stopped and made sure I was all the way off the trail. And then, with a cloud of smoke trailing him, comes Bob Stephen himself, perched atop his John Deere! We stopped and had a wonderful chat, with Bob telling me a bit about the history of this part of the trail. Wonderful stories! He then indicated to me that I was actually headed in the wrong direction (not the first time) and with this we parted! (the smoke, by the way, was from a stump he'd been burning....)
   The second person I ran into actually crossed my path right near the end of the previous section. It turned out to be  a gentleman named Myeengun Henry, the newly-elected chief of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation! He was actually there waiting for a reporter from the London Free Press in order to do a story about the imminent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the First Nations request for the halting of the Enbridge Pipeline and its decision to reverse the Line 9 pipe flow and start pumping bitumen through Chippewas territory. The general feeling was that the line had a forty-year lifespan and was now in its fortieth year. It was also felt that Enbridge would not adequately be able to contain a spill with this type of material as it would very quickly solidify and sink to the bottom of the river. This was not something I was adequately familiar with but difficult to not take the Chippewas side on this one! I mentioned this blog to Myeengun and asked if it was okay to include a little blurby about our discussion, mindful of the fact that only 70 to 80 people might read it. He had no problem with this and thought that the more people knew about it, the better! So go to Google and study up, peeps!
   Eventually, I came to the end of the second section and then had a very cool wait for Doralyn (bless her heart) to come and pick me up and return me to my car which was about 8K away at this point. It was close to twenty degrees colder yesterday than the previous week or so and I was glad that I had a physical activity to engage in. I must say, though, that it made the hiking that much easier!
   So now off to my regular photo dump  just to prove that, once again, I walked the walk! 
   Cheers!

The very pale white slash I missed the first
time but then found on Google Earth.

Proof I was on the right path.
I crave this!

Main entrance to the woods

Out of the first wooded section!

Back on Valleyview

This was the second entrance I had
difficulty with. I saw the house
in the background and assumed
that it was not the way to go,
so I went the other way. Never
even noticed the tree with the
slash and the sign.

Just happy to be on the trail!

The back of Plover Mills Farms. Looks
like a castle from both the road
and the river.

Myeengun Henry, Chief of the
Chippewas of the Thames First Nation.

The end of the section I had to do over.

Back on to Valleyview. Again.

And then on to Ebenezer. This was a
long section of road walking due
to some owners deciding they
didn't want to allow hiking
on their land.

Down Ebenezer to....

...Saunders Auto Parts. I'm not a "car
person" but I love junkyards. We were
actually warned about the guard dog!

Just past Saunders and down a long,
fairly steep hill to the edge of the river.

Sign at the bottom of the hill. Kinda cool.

Along the river.

A mown path led us to....

...."TEX" TVT TREKKER!

Which was built by Bob Stephen, landowner

One of my favourite pics.

Back into the forest. At this point, I
can hear the traffic on Highway #7

Almost at the end!

   
   
    

Hiking the Thames Valley Trail: Section 12-Fanshawe Park-Main Trail and (with an asterisk) Section 13-Thorndale Road to Plover Mills

   Okay, I will explain the "asterisk" at the end of this little blurby....

    Today I set out to do the next two sections of the Thames Valley Trail. I was a little up in the air about doing two of them because the total mileage was going to be close to 19K and this would make it my longest day so far. Doralyn was also a little concerned, as was I, that it was a very hot and humid day. I have had issues hiking in weather like this already on my TVT quest and I really didn't want to repeat any of them today.

   To this end, last night I filled and froze two CamelBak bottles for my vest and another large Gatorade sports bottle to bring along in my backpack. Also made sure I had lots to eat. The plan would be that I would finish the Fanshawe Lake section and then assess where I was at physically and call Doralyn and let her know whether she needed to pick me up then or wait for me to finish the second section.

   She very graciously agreed to both drop me off and pick me up so we drove across town to get to Fanshawe Conservation Area where I spent thirteen hard-earned dollars to get a day pass. Frankly, I strongly suspected that, because I wasn't entering the park via the main entrance, I could have just hiked for free but I was quite willing to support the conservation area.

   Doralyn then drove me back to where I left off the other day, on Clarke Road, just by Kilally Drive. From there, I risked my life on a very busy and fast highway in order to get across the bridge and back to the trailhead.

   The first part of Fanshawe section went very smoothly. It went through a forested section and the white blazes were very clear and easy to see. Things seemed to change once I got into the recreational area of the park. The white blazes seemed to be almost non-existent and, without them, the written directions were also a little confusing. I did, however, finally make it through all the campgrounds, Pioneer Village and picnic areas and soon found myself back in forest with just the one trail to follow.

   I made it to the end of the Fanshawe section and was able to sit at a convenient picnic table above the lake for a bite to eat. I still had one full CamelBak bottle and the Gatorade bottle was still frozen! I managed to get a little very cold Nuun water out of it and it was wonderful!

   Okay, now for the "asterisk" part.

   I was feeling well enough after the Fanshawe section to set off on the next section---the trip to Plover Mills. This is slightly less than an 8K section and the majority of it runs along Valleyview Road. There are apparently two different spots where you get off the roadway and dip into the adjacent forest for trail hiking but I was unable to find either one of them, to my great consternation. I did eventually make it Plover Mills but I did it totally on the roadway. Doralyn, bless her heart, was actually able to estimate my arrival time at Plover Mills and got there just before I did.

   I think part of the problem was that by the time I got to this stretch of "trail", my thinking and observational abilities were not at their best. In going back and re-reading the written directions with a clearer and more well-rested mind, I can see where there were a couple of landmarks I might have missed along the way. My plan is to maybe drive back there some day soon and hike the portions I missed today. Maybe in a couple of days cuz it's gonna bug me til then!

   At any rate, here is the photo dump from today, just to show I walked the walk!

Back to the start of the Fanshawe section

Nice view

This kind of took me by surprise. Great
place to sit down and take a rock outta
your boot though!

Fanshawe Dam, built back in the fifties
to help control the Thames flooding,
which actually killed people back
in those days!

A gentle stroll

   

Just a pond

Scenic

Finally made it through the camping
area (sorry, no pics) and passed
by the Fanshawe Yacht Club.

I broke those two rocks in half, so
I could get a better view! #false

Nice little bench with a view

Found myself in behind Pioneer Village

The countryside just past Fanshawe Golf
club.

Cool idea! Fanshawe has its own extensive
trail system which gets used by both
hikers and trail bikers. If you run into
an emergency situation, you can call 911
and indicate more or less what part
of the trail you're on! 

Very close to the end of the Fanshawe section

End of the Fanshawe section and start
of the Plover Mills section

A long, LONG walk along Valleyview
because I just couldn't find the
sidetrails.

Sorry! I'm used to roadkill but not
THIS kind of roadkill

Or THIS either.