Outing to Almonte

Yesterday we drove to Almonte on the Mississippi, in Lanark County. "Mishi zibi" are the Indigenous words for "big river". In the nineteenth century Almonte, rather surprisingly named in honour of a Mexican general, was a woollen mill with surrounding houses and public buildings for its mainly Scottish settlers; its townhall and post office, still there, and quite imposing. Chamber concerts sometimes take place in the town hall. We parked our Bolt opposite the town hall, crossed the road and walked down Mill Street to the next bridge. On the other bank — part of Mississippi Mills rather than Almonte — at the offices of the hydro electricity station are public EV charging stations which we checked out but didn't need, because the drive wasn't far enough for our range to be of concern.

The riverside at Almonte has recently acquired pretty walkways through gardens, with a fountain in an inlet that was dedicated to the memory of a local man (a retired teacher, town councillor and scouts leader) who was shot. His widow can see the fountain from her home with waterlilies blooming in the river, where there's a series of rocky falls. Nearby is a pub, the Barley Mow, with attractive-looking patios on two levels, decorated with colourful hanging baskets and tubs of parsley, so we decided it was time for a rather early lunch, and sat there to eat it.

Coming home it was my turn to steer, so we drove along the back roads, not the highway, past the home of friends who live on Old Carp Road and the QNX offices where Chris has not been at work since March 2020.