The Citizen, 2015-08-20, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2015.
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The Citizen
Wants to Hear from You!Wants to Hear from You!
The Citizen
G2G book available digitally, published in September
A journey experienced last
summer has now given way to a
book by accomplished author Lynda
Wilson on her journey from Guelph
to Goderich on the new Goderich-to-
Guelph Rail Trail.
The Citizen has featured stories on
Wilson and her husband Doug
several times over the last year,
speaking with them right after their
days-long journey and then, more
recently, when Lynda finished the
book and began to consider
publishing dates.
The book, entitled Walking Home,
is now available for download as an
e-book from Amazon and iTunes
and has a release date of Sept. 15 for
the paperback version.
Wilson’s website provides this
description of the long-
awaited book:
“From Captain Kirk to Tiger
Dunlop, Lynda L. Wilson takes the
reader on both an inward and
outward journey as she and
husband Doug make their way
through the lush farmland of
southwestern Ontario.
The first to walk Ontario’s longest
rail trail – the 127-kilometre
Goderich-to-Guelph Rail Trail –
during a blisteringly hot week in late
June, 2014, Lynda and Doug
traverse the often tangled landscape
of ungroomed paths and uncharted
memory in search of the elusive
concept of home.
Two aging hikers on an arduous
journey of deer flies and detours
only an hour and a half from their
front door, the end of the trail brings
a sense of homecoming to the
author, a displaced Albertan, caught
in the turmoil of the past.
With each step along the trail,
Walking Home is a humorous and
often poignant tale of how difficult is
can be to let go.”
In The Citizen’s July interview,
Lynda and Doug had nothing but
positive things to say about their
experience with the trail, while
controversy around it continues
to swirl.
The pair walked the trail from end
to end just over one year ago,
making their way to Goderich for
Canada Day celebrations on July
1, 2014.
Doug, who is at the head of the
Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory,
first caught wind of the project as a
member of Regional Tourism
Organization (RTO) 4, where the
trail has been discussed, and
supported, for years.
Coming home to Lynda from an
RTO 4 meeting, Doug suggested that
they hike the trail, despite neither of
them being avid hikers.
In an interview with The Citizen,
Lynda says that she was interested in
taking the trip immediately.
Lynda is an established Ontario
author and quickly decided to turn
their journey along the trail into a
story of adventure, travel and
history. She says she found the
subject matter fascinating as soon as
she and Doug put their shoes
on the trail.
They both said there is a unique
connection that happens between
people and the land when travelling
by foot.
“You see the land and you feel
connected to it. You get a real sense
of the community you’re going
through,” Doug said.
He said that whether it was
stopping in Wallenstein for lunch
and learning about the Mennonite
communities, or getting to know
locals and getting a ride in Auburn,
the trail allowed them to learn about
communities the trail runs through
and their residents.
They would eventually connect
with a number of local faces along
the way. Whether it was Graeme
Craig at the Walton Inn or Anne
Elliott and Les Cook at the Queens
Bakery in Blyth, or even Blyth’s
Don and Sandy Bailey, whom the
Wilsons met at the Auburn Grill and
gave them a ride, Lynda and Doug
say that they were always welcomed
warmly and community members
seemed to be genuinely excited
about the journey the pair had taken.
Lynda says she has been hard at
work on the book and she is very
close to being finished. A number of
her closest friends and family
members have read the book and
say it’s an excellent record
of the journey and history of
the area.
Doug says that Lynda makes
a great point in the book about
the trail connecting communities.
Communities that were once
connected by the trail when it was a
railway can be connected once again
with the trail, she says.
One of the aspects of the process
Lynda says she found to be most
rewarding was researching the
history of Huron and Perth Counties.
Looking into the history and work of
people like Tiger Dunlop and John
Galt, she says, was a fascinating
exercise for her.
While those men were such
pioneers, she says, she and Doug felt
like pioneers themselves, being
among the first to travel the trail
from one end to the other.
The pair did traverse the trail in its
very early stages, so Lynda says
there were some portions of the trail
that were pretty rough last year, but
she says it was very easy to see its
potential.
Between the Kissing Bridge Trail
in the Guelph area and the Goderich
to Auburn Rail Trail (GART),
meeting up with other trail users was
always a pleasant experience, she
says, and it was easy to see what the
entire trail, from start to finish, could
become when it’s fully accessible
from one end to the other.
Once the book is released, Lynda
hopes it will be carried by several
book stores throughout Huron
County and that she’ll make a
number of scheduled appearances
where she can sign copies of
the book and speak about
her experiences.
For more information on the book,
visit Lynda’s website at
www.lyndalwilson.com, where you
will be able to order the physical
copy of the book starting on Sept.
15, or find it electronically on
Amazon on iTunes.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Council debates SWIFT news
Continued from page 1
create an entire new business
infrastructure to handle the day-to-
day business of SWIFT, the
independent proposal, he said,
would establish a board of
directors, but leave the day-to-day
operations up to the independent
internet providers that are already
in place.
Councillor Roger Watt of
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, who
is the county’s representative on the
SWIFT committee, then peppered
the pair with questions, suggesting
that the ideal solution is some sort of
hybrid plan that would include both
SWIFT and independent providers.
Watt said he was concerned with
the proposed download-to-upload
speed ratio that was being proposed
for the next 12 years under the
independent providers’ plan, saying
it was greatly out of date.
Van Aaken said that the speed
could be increased, but the customer
demand would have to be there.
He also said that individual needs
for businesses could be met and
that providers could “build whatever
you want” it would just cost
more money.
Chief Administrative Officer
Brenda Orchard also sought to clear
up a misconception about some of
SWIFT’s information, which said
that only five per cent of customers
in the Western Ontario Warden’s
Caucus are served by independent
providers. She said that while those
figures may be true in other
communities, in Huron County that
number is much, much higher, so
greater consideration to the
providers should be given.
Central Huron’s Dave Jewitt said
he still had problems with both plans.
He said he was hoping to see
detailed financial plans from
both SWIFT and the independent
providers, and he has yet to see
them from either.
Orchard said that staff would be
reporting back to council after a
meeting that was scheduled to take
place between representatives from
both the independent providers and
SWIFT later that week.
Raising dough
Brussels United Church hosted a fundraising effort at the
Brussels Farmers’ Market last week through a bake sale
(that also included many non-baked items like jams and
jellies). Portrayed showcasing some of the tasty vittles
available are, Cora Alcock, left, and Terry Gray. (Denny Scott
photo)
Marbles away
Hayden Jameson, front, was one of the many students who
attended the Knox United Church Sonforce Kids Special
Agents Vacation Bible School this week. Jameson, shown
here working on a craft, was being taught about Moses and
Egypt by leaders and volunteers like Lauren Stainton,
shown here behind Jameson. (Denny Scott photo)