The view from the lodge.

A little about Brennan Harbour Resort

Brennan Harbour is  located a few minutes outside of the town of Spanish Ont., between Sudbury and Elliot Lake, and has a grocery,convience,liquor/beer store .
Please excuse any points I may have missed but all the details are on the website, this meant to be quick over view.
This is our little take on this resort. My husband and I have stayed  in many places in Ontario, in everything from quite literally fishing shack to ceramic tiled flooring, very up scaled fishing resorts. 
Brennan Harbour is a terrific resort,it is rustic in comfort,but has all the "mod cons" needed. By this I mean that your immaculately clean "Housekeeping" cabin has all the the things you would need,showers /toilets, full kitchen, living room areas, single and double beds, and decks to view the wonderful scenery. The decor is typical of most fishing resorts,comfort and simple living. Ceiling fans, extra pillows & blankets are nice touches to other places we've stayed. There is a TV/DVD in each cabin, but no cable/satellite (though it is available in the lodge)so bring your favourite movies,there is also selection to borrow at the lodge. There is wireless Internet at the lodge if you need to stay in touch with the outside world. The boats are standard, upgrade, and a Rebel, that are very clean and run beautifully.The fishing is great and there is no need too travel far to get them either, the harbour itself boasts of huge catches. There is Horseshoe pit, swings, and lovely beach for kids as well. If you feel you want a break from the kitchen this would be the place to try it. Brennan has a Full American Plan that includes breakfast, packed lunch, dinner with dessert and even a dinner only plan should you choose. The food here is delicious, and is given in generous portions. Adding the option that if you are having a great day fishing that your dinner will be waiting for you in your cabin if you don't want to come in. The people at the harbour are absolutely fantastic from the owners to the staff, everyone is very welcoming, friendly and genuine and are always ready to make your stay the best possible.  Its the perfect place for fishing groups and families alike. Its been mentioned that men will go up with their fishing buddies and return again with their spouse.We have also met some that return several times a season,as the fishing is that good!! I don't think it will be long before this is one of the resorts that you cannot book into because people keep coming back year after year! You will leave feeling like family here! Of all the resorts we've been to this certainly rates a 5 star experience!!

Sept. 3, 2010

So my husband and I decided to go up a day early to Brennan Harbour Resort since we both had the time off,we had such a great time last year we could not wait to get back.Deciding to break all the usual traditions of our drive up, stopping here and there at usual haunts, we'd leave slightly earlier and cut down on T.O and Labour Day weekend traffic. This is all in the hopes of getting out onto the water sooner. The morning proved to be slightly cloudy in London, Ont.,but heck we'd always had good weather whenever we'd go away this week each year. Even the fact that it was raining steadily,we gave in and swung into the Can. Tire at Parry Sound to get new standard wipers for the squeaky ones we had put on the car no more than 3 months ago. (Let us all hand over heart not bend to the marketing ploys of  new wiper blades),they have been the noisiest wipers from day one, and needless to say only really did the job on the right hand side.I will not insert the name the brand but my new slogan for them is,
 "A?^*#L my a*s, might be great for tires but sucks for glass!" Still we were not worried about the rain.
We did however decide to make a stop at the French River snowmobile bridge,(I'm sure it has more formal name, and perhaps is even part of an provincial park of sorts). As we'd passed by it every year we thought it might be a good place to stretch the legs. Its a small bridge but a really nice view of the river,gives a taste of what the fur traders must have had to go through back in the day.
We then stopped a couple minutes down the road at the French River Trading Post for lunch. Its a place we've stopped before, has a really nice gift shop with all kinds of souvenirs and chats-kees as well.

Then the sigh began as we realized we still had a ways to go,so lets hunker down and get to it. Once you hit Sudbury though you truly feel the sense of "north-ness",the rock that has been cut out to make the highway seems to climb higher.To me,  it starts to quiet my mind and feel the urge to throw on some Gordon Lightfoot. After all, is this not the music we used to laugh at our parents for listening to cause it was for "old fogies" ? Yes it was true,but with age comes appreciation, and also makes the mind recall simpler times, never mind  that he sings of the true Canadian struggle.  Gordon can play on the mind after a bit, so  we swapped over to our ol' favs from our childhood summers.
So finally we hit Sudbury and the switch to head ever closer to Spanish...
 
Okay so last year was our first year at the resort, and we walked on the unique walk ways built with the local rocks of the area up to the lodge. The sun was shinning, the closer we get the more of the harbour opens up,theres nothing but sun dancing on the water and open blue sky. I stop and say to my husband..."I think we're home". What a view!!!
Needless to say it kept getting better from there,Casey and James whom are the owners of this resort greeted us as if we'd known each other for years. Theres no "check in" like at other places,where you are giving them everything shy of your first born . Nope,just showed us to our cabin and James commences to grab his ATV trailer and help unload our car.
Well okay now its fairly late in the day and we've only got a couple hours till dinner,so we quickly unpack and we are out on the water. We do a quick little survey of the area and start to fish,well my husband fished,while I do the thing I love the most, read a book. As long as I am near or on the water its my vacation thing to do.This is what this water-baby dreams of all year long,to get away from the hussel of city life, to look up form my book and gaze at the beauty of our country. Never mind the quiet...the sound of water lapping up against shore and to hear no more than a Loon cry.My standard quote is me saying,"Do you hear that? ....Peace". No more trains, planes or sirens. Yes its heaven, my shoulders relax and I care for nothing but just relaxing.... and spending hours out on the water.The weather was fantastic last year.

So at any rate back to 2010, this year we arrive,fairly early.With hearty greeting from James and Shorty, they are as usual working away on the upkeep of the grounds. Yes its overcast,and very windy,but hey so what we are a day early and we are here.
We enter the lodge and wait to check in (which is Bennan-speak) for saying "Hi" to Casey, and we are over to the cottage.
We take our time unpacking cause there is no way we are going out onto the lake before dinner with this gaol. If you know Ontario at all you know we seem to have 2 seasons, summer and winter, the other 2 seasons can creep up during any point of the day.Give it an hour and it'll change...
So we look forward to a wonderful meal at the lodge, and meeting some of the other people staying at the resort, of course are not disappointed!
To end off the day. We stayed in the cabin as the weather was showing no signs of changing.Better luck tomorrow!