The Ojibwa believed that when Gitchi Manitou (the Great Spirit) created the world he reserved the best bits for himself and created Manitoulin (God’s Island) as his home. Divine intervention or not, Manitoulin is strikingly different from the harsh grey rocks of the Canadian Shield that surrounds it, its white cliffs, wide lakes, gentle woodland and stretches of open, prairie-like farmland presenting an altogether more welcoming aspect. This rural idyll has long attracted hundreds of summer sailors, who ply the lakes that punctuate the island, and has also proved increasingly popular with motorized city folk, who arrive here in numbers on the car ferry from Tobermory. These visitors fan out across the island, exploring its sleepy nooks and crannies, but Manitoulin is at its most diverting along Hwy-6, which drifts across the eastern edge of the island for 70km from the South Baymouth ferry dock to Little Current via Manitowaning and Sheguiandah.