Finally, we feel that spring has really arrived. Temperatures in the Celcius teens and full-on sunshine. Bill and I drove to Picton, and only the channel between Amherst Island and the mainland was clogged with ice floes. Brilliant blue water everywhere else.
After our time in Picton, we decided on the spur of the moment to drive to Bloomfield and then on to
Sandbanks. The provincial park was officially closed, but we had inside information on how to access the dunes and waterfront from a back road. It seems we weren't the only ones doing this--we were lucky to find any place remaining to park by the side of the road, and even luckier not have become stuck in the axle-deep mud. The downside of this impromptu exercise was that we were caught rubber bootless. My leather boots may never be the same!
It was worth the trouble, though. Sandbanks is reputed to be the largest freshwater barrier dune formation in the world. Indeed, it's difficult in my photos to give an impression of the height and extent of these dunes. Here are some views of the day:
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| The muddy path from the road to the dunes. |
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| Remnants of the winter snow. |
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| The early spring forest with a haze of red dogwood in the undergrowth. |
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| Our first glimpse of the dunes. |
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| The view from from halfway up. You have no idea from this of the height we had to climb. |
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| This is the tree peeking over the top of the dune in the pic above. It's actually a long way down to the shore. |
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| View from the peak. Worth the climb. |
