Yelda runs the cable ferry between Wolfe Island and Simcoe Island. When we showed up with our bikes at his ferry dock and said we wanted to see the lighthouse, he took a look at our wide bike tires and said we should be ok. He also mentioned that there was a sort of a thing between two families at the end of the island, but not to worry about the restricted access signs and to tell anyone who gave us trouble that we were friends of Yelda.
The introduction must have been a good one, because we ended up having the mayor of Simcoe Island escort us on a private tour of the island from the ferry to the lighthouse and back. Of course, we didn't know he was the mayor at the time.
Back on Wolfe island, two bikes and a truck met in the middle of the road. An off duty Yelda was driving with Pam, Pam who had driven past us on Simcoe as we rode alongside the mayor. As it turns out, they live on Simcoe Island 10 months out of the year (until the lake ices up and the ferry stops running) and they shared the mayor's story with us as we leaned on our handlebars on the solid yellow line and let the occasional car make its way around us.
It seems that there used to be a couple from Rome who traveled and made cooking videos. They had a place on Simcoe island and two massive white Italian shepherd dogs who were great at herding sheep in the hills of Italy, but not so great at being island occupants. They didn't stay too long, but before they left one of the dogs had gotten friendly with a local black lab and left a litter of pups. Silver, the mayor, was one of those pups. He is now considered the island's mayor, even though he officially lives with one of three old women who live year round on the island. Yelda told us about how most people move to the mainland when the ferry stops running, but these three women (in their 70's) stay put, walking across the ice just after the ferry stops for the season, and then driving their 4wheelers over after the ice has gotten good and solid. It's like living in the 50's, Pam says, but those women are as healthy as they come.
What a life they must live! What a day we just had, riding bikes through the countryside with lilac trees as big as houses...
Yelda and the cable ferry, halfway between Wolfe and Simcoe Islands
Silver, mayor of Simcoe Island and our personal escort
The lighthouse, one of the three oldest lighthouses, predating the confederacy (1850's)
Where's Waldo?
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