The Beauty of Lake Superior

A calm day on Lake Superior
A good slogan for any coffee shop. This was posted by the till at the coffee shop in Gravel.
Can you imagine the dynamite needed to make this road.
Rossport was a very quaint spot off the busy Trans Canada, we were glad we took the time to drop in.
We have just finished our lunch of homemade soup and turrtle cheesecake. Serendipity Gardens is a place we would love to see in all the small towns we visit.
A nice little island for a cottage wouldn't you say?
We were up so high that we almost went through the clouds.The rich colours of the water was breathtaking. There were many little islands popped up everywhere.


Nipigon to Ney's Campground Day 35

We were rewarded with good weather coming out of camp in Nipigon and we had risen to dry tents, not even dew. After a yummy breakfast of oatmeal and very good buttermilk pancakes (Terri was cooking) we set out on a long day, said to be 163km but ended up being 171km. The weather followed us all the way to camp and despite it being cool, we enjoyed the clear skies. Such relief after having such wicked weather the day before. Some of us are wondering if the tan we have will be all we get this summer.

The scenery today was spectacular magnified by the beautiful weather we had. When people say Lake Superior is beautiful, you can believe them. The water was beautiful shades of aqua and what added so much to the ride was the fact that you could almost reach out and touch the Canadian Shield. As you saw in one of the pictures, the highway was built by blasting away a substantial amount of rock. Picture the openings as solid rock and you can appreciate the work that went into building the Trans Canada. The pictures capture some of the magnificent views we had. We had a hard time staying on the bikes as there were so many opportunities for beautiful memories. We realize that our long days and busy rest days don't allow us to do some of the touristy things we could do in the car but we feel the scenery and the riding are
plenty for us to take home with us.

We stopped in Gravel at a gas bar for a coffee and spent time outside with a few other cyclists enjoying a break. There was a good sized hill getting to Gravel but the real climbing started after our coffee break.
We enjoyed our lunch at a hamlet called Rossport at a quaint spot called Serendipity Gardens. The food was all made from scratch and the turtle cheesecake we shared took us over the edge of full. We thought we should vary our food from cinnamon buns once in awhile.

The terrain was challenging today. Five of the climbs were more than 2km each, one was 3.2km. The grade was about 7%, something we hadn't seen since the Rockies. Although the downhills were fast and furious, they were hardly a payback for the climbing. Our day was long and the miles we have behind us are not necessarily making us that much faster but we have the stamina to put in the long days. Dinner was delayed from 6 pm to 7pm due to the length of the ride and we arrived at 7:45 just as the rest were finishing their main course.

We were camped on the shores of Lake Superior and the waves lapping against the shore lulled me to sleep. Coming back from the shower in the dark, with my miners light, I went down to the shore to witness the beautiful stream of moonlight across the water. It would have been nice to spend more time on the beach. Terri told me the next day she was witness to Mike (from Kingston) dipping in the cold water of Lake Superior. Sorry we didn't get it on film.