Elora Gorge

 

On Sunday we took a road trip to the little town of Elora which is just northeast of the Kitchener-Guelph area and a pretty drive in the country. Elora is known for the gorge which powered the local mill and is on the Grand River famous for fly-fishing.

 

The drop in the river level is quite spectacular and you can hear the roar throughout the town.

 

The main street is lined with small shops and restaurants and is a popular tourist and art community. Within about five minutes of walking we stumbled upon our favorite place ... another pub.

The Shepherds Pub was a quaint little place with a couple hundred years of history and of course we remained true to the pub fare with an excellent Guinness draught flavored steak pie with lumpy mashers and peas ... Yes!

Just above the main street as we walked to the park we came across a unique city parking lot. As the local Amish community is a strong influence here the city has made provisions for parking their vehicles. The scene below probably hasn't changed much for a long stretch of history and is really cool.

I'm not sure if the Amish provide the hay for the horses or the city does but the sign below let us know that our modern gas-guzzler wasn't welcome in this particular parking spot.

A postscript on Elora is that the former pastor of the St. John's Anglican Church, the Rev. John Smithurst's true love was his first cousin, Florence Nightingale. The church wouldn't let them marry so she went off to the Crimean War and he to the church here; neither ever married. The communion set in the church arrived in 1852 anonymously and is assumed to be from Nurse Nightingale