On the morning of November 9, 2019, we started the day by dropping a car off at the beach in Port Stanley - and got an early taste of the winds we’d get on the final stretch. We then headed to the Northern terminus on Southdel Drive. At 7:51 am we posed for a few pictures at the trailhead and were on our way. The first couple of kilometres were wet and rough - if this was what we could expect from the trail, it was going to be a long day! That was followed by a long road section that allowed us to bank some time before we turned back into the trails in Payne Mills. At that point, it seemed like a whole different trail (and somewhat reminiscent of the Maitland Trail). We really enjoyed the terrain throughout that next section, but were slowed down a bit by fallen trees and wayfinding challenges thanks to some very spread out blazes and thick leaf coverage on the trail. When we popped out at the trestle bridge in St. Thomas, we knew we had a few kilometres of road to relax. We almost missed the turn into the trail behind the car wash, but then we were back on our way. We continued on through more of the Elgin Trail until we made our way back to the pavement near Union Road. We knew the beach was close, and to no surprise, the headwind off the lake was still blowing strong! Even though we felt like we pushed that last 500m to the finish, we might as well have been standing still. It felt great to make it to the beach, pose for a few pictures. We had a great time exploring the Elgin Trail - we’ll definitely be back!