Day 3: Via Chapleau to Marathon

Waterbomber at Chapleau airport

This morning we took off into hazy grey clouds that I'd thought darker than they really were, due to the taxi's tinted windows on the way to the airport. We decided to alter our planned route to a more southerly one because of an occluded front in the air beyond Timmins. The only other traffic on frequency was a water bomber approaching Val d'Or. During our slow climb out we were only grounding 55knots, but ATC allowed us a direct IFR path to Chapleau, even though we'd be out of radar contact, in uncontrolled airspace! We were still only showing 75kt over the ground. Crossing the Quebec-Ontario border at Larder Lake we were now in touch with Toronto Centre who gave us a report of fair weather ahead and cheerfully replied "Yes SIR!" to all of Chris' requests. Thumbs up, but we still had to fly through a heavy rain shower south of Timmins in a dark cloud that contained a  downdraft. We lost 200ft of altitude before recovering.

Approaching Chapleau

Closer to Chapleau it cleared up and now we were flying through haze in the sunshine. "Have yourself a great day!" said the Toronto Centre girl as we left her by cancelling our IFR flight plan (though we kept the alerting service and didn't close our Search and Rescue option till on the ground).

Chapleau Muni terminal!

We knew Wawa airport had a $65 landing fee so we landed for free at Chapleau Muni, run by a chap who's been there for 18 years. We couldn't drink the tap water, had brought some with us which we drank with our lunch (half an egg sandwich from Rouyn-Noranda and bag of crisps) at the picnic table.

Islands in Lake Superior, near Marathon

Over Marathon airport

In the afternoon we flew VFR in a straight line to Marathon on the northern shore of Lake Superior through bumpy skies and the thick haze. It's a pity we didn't have much of a view because we know how superb the scenery is hereabouts; we did make out sections of the trans-Canada rail and highways. A Thunder Air twin turboprop landed ahead of us; both pilots noticed the unexpected tail wind on the runway.

Chris, tired and hungry, had a temper tantrum trying to operate the self service fuel pump and the office girl came out to remonstrate with him but said he wasn't the only one misled by the instructions,so he apologised profusely and she let him use her computer. We decided to call it a day and a wonderful taxi driver came to pick us up, who gave us a guided tour of most of Marathon before dropping us at the Harbour Inn. She has lived here for three years, wanting to bring up her four children in a place less rough than Winnipeg, where she comes from. Marathon has a population of 2700 and a gold mine. They are hoping for a new hydro electricity station too. The other local places of work have recently closed down.

Lakeshore with train going by

One of the churches at Marathon

Marathon, near the harbour, Thursday evening

On Pebble Beach

We enjoyed our supper at the Wok with Chow. I ordered Chicken Guy Ding, which is probably not its real name, very satisfying, though. Then we walked to the Pebble Beach, over the driftwood, and I took my shoes and socks of for the essential foot wetting in the waves of the Great Lake. We also watched the sun go down over the islands in the bay. There are two churches, a curling centre, an imposing new Library and hospital, an ice rink-cum-basket ball court and a skate board playground here. "Absolutely no fish guts in the garbage bins!" say the warning notices.

Day 2: fourth time lucky!

Glimpse of the scenery en route to Rouyn-Noranda

We made it to Rouyn-Noranda, finally, over some wild terrain, after handing a cheque to Red for the necessary repairs to PTN. I'm writing this at sunset in our room at Le Noranda. Rouyn-Noranda is an amalgamation of two towns. We had our supper in the other one on the other side of the lake, after walking there along the waterfront from this area which is  dominated by the copper mine. Une mine, une ville! proclaim the slogans. The mine was opened in 1926 and in 1927 the railway came to the few huts that stood on the bank of Lake Osisko, and that was that.

Street in Noranda

Leaving the Gatineau Hills behind us once the weather allowed us to fly, we soon climbed above a low and creamy cloud layer that Chris called "custard". It was smooth up there--good! In our clearance we'd been given a more direct flight path than we'd expected: RADEN, JUNIS, REZIN, YUY. Above the reserve faunique and its lakes the clouds began to rise and cover us, but we could see views through the breaks. The last third of the nearly 3 hour journey was more in cloud and more turbulent because of gusty winds. On the surface they were reporting 20 knot gusts at our destination (CYUY). Chris was asked to go into a hold so as to let a Creebec Dash 8 into the approach ahead of us, and then the Dash 8 pilot kindly cancelled IFR at the last minute to save us the bother of doing this. Our long final was quite exciting enough without the added interest of the hold, because of the crosswind gusts which I must say my pilot handled magnificently. We came in at an impressive angle and I only loosened my grip on the strap as we taxied to the fuel pump.  Here I had to speak French to both the fuel man and the security guard, a young woman who intercepted Chris as he tried to open a forbidden door at the terminal building on his way back from the gents. My French comes in useful on these occasions.

The Noranda copper mine 

Main street, Rouyn

During our 20 minute taxi ride into town we passed what at first looked like the only restaurant in town selling la meilleure poutine du monde, but this evening we found the less deserted district and a tapas bar (Le Cachottier) that could provide us with scrumptious dishes: confit de canard with sugared orange peel for me, and lamb with creamed sweet potatoes––patates douces––for Chris. The high street had been turned into a pedestrian zone for the evening, with rows of open air stalls, and bouncy castles for the children, who were numerous, most of their parents looking no older than 18.

Lake Osisko, Rouyn-Noranda