Ice Fishing 2011

Before I forget to post it we went on our annual ice Fishing trip. 

This years trip was to Temagami Ontario and because of the long distance and possibility of bad weather slowing us down we left Thursday night Jan 20th. right after Jeff and Mike finished work.    Our first stop was in Huntsville where we booked into the Econo Lodge.  It was only about 9:30 at night when we got there and we drove around town looking for some entertainment.  We found the town was closed down and the sidewalk rolled up and put away. Even asking at the Econo Lodge didn't help. The manager on duty didn't know of anywhere in town that might be open in the winter.  We persisted driving around until we found Moose Delaney's a nice little pub where the locals go.  They were all standing at the bar watching Jersey Shores and they were laughing at how they looked. We were laughing at how they looked  After a few beers, Nachos and a couple games of pool we went back to the Econo Lodge The next morning we met Joe and Steve at Tim Horton's and took off the Ravenscroft Lodge  A stop in Sunridge  for breakfast found the store Joe and Steve wanted to go to had gone out of business.  The restaurant on the main street was too busy and no tables were available.  We did find a small restaurant on a back street and had breakfast there. It was kind of disappointing as breakfast was expensive and arrived luke warm  We briefly met 5 other guys in the restaurant also heading up north for their annual fishing trip.

From here we headed to the Ravencroft Lodge 

Shortly after we arrived Joe's dad arrived to make the sixth member of our ice fishing adventure

We unloaded all our stuff into the cottage and prepared to go out to the Ice Huts for our first day of fishing

We were taken out to the hut by a small Caterpillar pulling a ice hut on skis which we all piled into.

Each 3 man team had a hut which was heated by a propane heater.  Ours although bearable the heater never quite took the chill off but when Jeff caught the first fish it was forgotten

Shortly after that we heard a lot of laughter and carrying on and it turned out to be the 5 guy we met at breakfast in Sunridge.We fished the rest of the day until 6:30 but no more fish were caught by anyone.  I didn't even get a bite.We then headed back in for Supper which was provide by the Lodge and tonight it was schnitzel.  Everyone got a piece as big as their plate with potatoes and veggies and a piece of pie.

It was delicious. 

 After supper we played a little pool

And over the organ was a dart board and we had a quick game of darts.

Then we went back to our cottage

Ravenscroft Lodge is on Jumping Caribou Lake which is just be side highway 11 before you get to Temagami.  It is not a very wide lake but goes for 6 miles and connect to other lakes.  It is a very pretty area. 

Steve had brought his own ATV

Mike had a quick ride along the lake and than the rest of them went back out to the ice huts for a little night fishing

Michael and I stayed behind because right beside our cabin was a cabin with a hot tub and we went in and boiled our selves for a while.

When they got back from the night fishing Jeff had caught 4 Ling and the others had caught one each as well.  Ling is a fish that looks a little like a eel but is supposed to be very good eating.  Jeff had caught a large one the year before.  This year they decided they were not going to keep these ones and let them go before heading back for a little Texas Holdem

The next morning, after a good breakfast of bacon and eggs, we headed out to the ice hut.  It was 45 below and the heater in our hut just wasn't doing it for us. Jeff tried to redirect the heat by covering it with foil but it just wasn't working  

Lucky for us Steve came over and lent us a small propane stove that he had and with the two going it made it nice and warm in the hut as long as you didn.'t open the door.  We fished all day, drank our beer and occasionally went to the outside John

Not one fish was caught.  Both Mike and Jeff got too close to the propane stove and ended up with burnt gloves and coats.With eight fishing holes in the floor of the hut anything you drooped was bound to find one of them.  Mike lost his sunglasses and a lure 

On the way back that night Jeff held onto the door of the travelling ice hut and ran behind it

Supper Saturday night was roast beef so tender you could cut it with your fork.

Because the hot tub had been shut down for cleaning we all went and sat in the sauna. 

 Jeff felt he was so warm he walked back to the cottage in minus 45 degree weather without getting dressed.

Because Jeff had caught several Ling as well as his Trout he was declared the 2011 fishing winner and was presented with the trophy which read " Jeff Ling Hill 2011" and a substantial prize pot.

Another round of  Texas Holdem was played with Mike being the winner again. 

 We all went to bed tired

The next morning after another good breakfast of bacon and eggs we backed up

 and headed home.

Touring Warwick Castle

Today we started our tour at Warwick Castle

We were guided around the castle by a serving wench

The castle had many rooms open and period costumes etc on display

Next we were off to Staford to visit Shakespeare's Home

Here we stopped for lunch.  Taking what we though might be a shortcut back to the bus we got lost and just made it back as it was about to pull out on its way to Oxford

Touring the Tower of London

We arrive at the Tower of London just before close but managed to join a tour where the tour guide, dressed in period costume,  explained the various areas and managed to entertain us

The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Today we were up early and after breakfast we went right down town because we wanted to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.   The day before we had purchased advance  tickets to tour the palace right after the changing of the guard today.

To go into Buckingham Palace you have to go through security like at the airport. Your backpack had to go through xray machines and you had to walk through a scanner.  No pictures were allowed to be taken  in the palace

at the back of the palace was a reception area where you could have tea and cake etc.  We can officially say we dined at Buckingham Palace

The grounds around the palace are well kept

Strikes in England

On our way back to London we ran into a huge traffic jam and the bus only moved a few car lengths every few minutes.  We thought it was partly because we were behind schedule because earlier  some passengers  had got lost and caused us to be late.  We were told that some of the extra traffic was caused by a London Tube strike (subway strike)  but it was to officially be over at 5 o'clock so we would have no trouble getting back to our hotel.  Since we where down town and not moving anyway we decided to get off the bus and make some use of the time before heading back
We  (i) decided to go on the London Eye.  A huge Ferris wheel in downtown London.  It makes one revolution every 30 minutes and the view from the top is incredible.  Ann Marie than confessed to being suddenly afraid of heights but I talked her into going anyway. 

Ann Marie sat in the middle of the car afraid to get to close to the windows

Now it was time to head back to the hotel and when we entered the Tube we found the gates closed and the place empty.  The strike had been extended a norther 12 hours.  Because we had bought the Oyster Passes  we always used the tube and we had no idea how to get back to the hotel.  Taxis were full and would not stop and although the buses were running we didn't know which one we needed to get back to our hotel as they must of had 15 different routes all going from the same area.  Also we didn't know what the bus would cost. but we did know that they wanted exact change and would not take credit cards.

We roamed around down town for a while

 We watched the break dancers at Piccadilly Circus for a while all the time asking people what bus to take and where to get it.  After asking a  lot of people we finally found the answer and found a lot of people lined up waiting for the bus.  Some  for as long as a half hour.   When the bus finally came it was already full and just drove by.  When the next bus came we pushed  our way on and it was then we found that the Oyster passes we had bought where good on everything.l  We were on our way back to the hotel.