Essentially the Only One

Six days in Canada, and this unassuming motel in the French-Canadian town of Hearst, Ontario, is my first access to the internet since we arrived.

A good thing too. I realise - once again - how much a news junkie like myself likes to put it all out of my mind once in a while and return to a less well-informed and slower pace of living.

For the past five days we've been in a small lakeside cabin just outside the tiny town of Jellicoe. This is found on Ontario Highway 11, not that far from Lake Nipigon. The countryside reminds me of that of Northern Quebec, but not so hilly - vast ranges of boreal forest that have only been slightly impacted by modern man. I get the sense, walking through these woods and gazing upon pristine blue lakes, that I am getting much closer to real wilderness than I am likely to find in much of the rest of the developed world.

I like this feeling very much.



And now, back to my vacation...