Dionysos Restaurant and the Shady Nook Trail

It's Fathers (which I refuse to apostrophize) Day weekend. While Sunday is the official day, Today, Saturday, is our day to be with the kids, and Friday was the day for Sue and I to do our couples thing.

Our habit is to go out for breakfast, but having actually made the mistake of going out one Mothers (which I refuse to apostrophize) Day once, we now beat the rush.

So, on Friday morning, Sue took me to Dionysos, our goto place for brecky.

We always order the standard — eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns for breakfast.  It's the way that Dionysos does the potatoes that sets it apart. So tasty. If you're local, you must try them if you haven't already.

Mugging (so to speak) for the camera. I should have taken a picture of the food,
but I didn't think of it.

A little later in the day, we drove to the ninth line in order to walk the Shady Nook portion of the Beckwith Trail. This seems to be the year of walking new trails. First we hit the Baird Trail near Middleville although it was still spring-wet, so we didn't see much of it and must return someday. Then (to the consternation of some) I posted of my experience of the Goodwood Marsh Trail.

So, here are a few pics of the Shady Nook section.

We began on the ninth line, actually parking nearer the McTavish branch where there is more space. Then we walked back to Shady Nook. A couple of cars can squeeze onto the shoulder as you approach the trail, but there's not a whole lot of room right by the entrance.

As you can see, this part of the trail is quite shady and ... er ... nooky (as opposed to nookie).

Just as there is an odd and funny sign on the McGregor section, here's one we encountered in this section.

Somewhere toward the middle of the hike, the trail changes from shady to more open, and we found ourselves surrounded by acres of swamp and bull rushes. When I say acres, I mean off to the sides; it didn't take that long to walk through this part.

As you begin to get toward the Tenth Line side, you can glimpse a farm or two off to the sides.

Through this gap, we could see the lights in the playing fields of the township arena. They are way off in the distance and only faintly visible in this photo.

We came into a section of quite tall trees.

And we were soon at the southern end, with Beckwith School (I think it was called that) across the road.

So, it was time to turn around and walk back. The trail is almost 1.5 km or 1 mile in length and was a pleasant enough stroll on this day.

Edit: here's a link to a pdf for the Beckwith Trails if you are local and wish more information.