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!