Duluth, a Great Lake and a great bridge.

18th – 22nd June: Days 71 to 75

Our next destination, Duluth, is the largest inland port in the world. It sits in a corner of Lake Superior, which is the largest body of fresh water in the world. It holds 11% of the planetary total. As we had our first glimpse of the lake on our journey from Ely it was like arriving at the seaside. It really is a behemoth. It creates its own weather, can be stormy enough to rival any sea, and definitely has some surf breaks along its shores. The trip today was only 100 miles, but challenging in the ‘road quality’ department and progress was slow. Shaken and rattled we eventually hit the (smoother) lakeshore road and followed it down towards Duluth, headed towards civilisation again. We called into the Split Rock Lighthouse, one of the most visited lighthouses in the country. It was built in response to a massive storm in 1905 which caused more than 20 shipwrecks in one night. Carnage.

Our camp in Duluth is a bit different from our previous stops. The sites are on the hardstanding of the small boat marina, and in the winter this is where the hauled out boats are stored. Great multi-purposing of a space. We had a fantastic view of the harbour, the passing ships, the town hills and we were only a short walk to the recently renovated Canal Park District.

This is the old industrial area on the waterfront that is now full of bars, restaurants, shops and is the starting place for boardwalks and cycle trails that meander up the lakeshore. But our favourite part of Duluth is its aerial lift bridge. Built in 1930 it spans the Duluth ship canal and links the town to Minnesota Point (the longest freshwater baymouth bar in the world at 6 miles long).  The whole span raises up and down, and due to the amount of ships and yachts that use the canal, it does this 5-10 times a day. The bells ring, the traffic is stopped, the span rises, the big ships sound their horns in acknowledgement, and the bridge replies with the loudest horn blasts that I have ever heard. It is quite a spectacle and kept us very entertained. The locals aren’t quite so enamoured with it though, they see it as a monumental pain in the proverbial.

We had arranged to meet another mechanic here to get our water heater fixed. He was so vague on the phone that we did not have high hopes for success. Happily, however, he knew exactly what he was doing, diagnosed the problem quickly and fixed it.  Eventually. Hot water again and we should get some of the cost back under our warranty.

We had a great few days here. A couple of bike rides, a couple of nice meals out, a couple of haircuts, a shopping trip to the mall, and hours spent watching boats go by and the bridge go up and down. Duluth has a real charm to it with a skyline a bit like a mini San Fransisco, or Wellington.  The bones of it are of from old money, when fortunes were made from ore and shipping and it is undergoing a real renaissance, with new buildings and the renovation of the old industrial sites. There were tons of people down by the waterfront, using the walking paths and bike trail and the baymouth bar has a 4 mile long sandy beach, just a stones throw from town. I think Duluth would be a pretty cool place to live. (Of course I have not factored in the months of bitterly cold winter to these musings…)

We bade farewell after 4 nights and after a short drive up and over a large harbour bridge we left Minnesota and entered Wisconsin.