Feels Like Home

Playing around at Blueberry Hill Campground.

Sandra with her aunt and uncle who provided us with a wonderful Italian dinner at Blueberry Hill Campground. A great way to end our rest day. No pots and pans to wash!!!!

To some this hill seemed insurmountable. Not to our group of cyclists. There appears to be no hill we can't climb.


Terri and Stephanie enjoying pie and ice cream in Leeburn.

Sunset on the North Channel at our campsite in Thessalon.

Holly's home on the beach, for a few hours anyway.

The North Channel coming into Spanish. Calm and serene.

Terri with sister-in-law Jean and her husband Harold. What a treat to have a nice meal with them.

The sky at Spanish Marina on the North Channel at 6:00 am. The light in the centre is actually the moon.

Stephanie enjoying her double scoop Farquahar's Ice cream at Three Cows and a Cone in Little Current.

At ten mile point on Manitoulin Island.

The ten mile view from the top of the hill.

Sunrise on the way to the ferry at South Baymouth. We were on the road by 6:00 am this morning.

Anxiously waiting for the ferry to dock at Tobermory. It felt great to be there as a group to exit the ferry together. We had a coincidental visit with Stacey and Slade Millar as we pedalled down the ramp.

Probable the only time you will see Terri and Holly unloading the truck.

The sky view on Highway 6 just north of Ferndale. The storm hit hard with a pretty impressive light show.

Hard to believe this is the same day on the other side of the bay.

Rob spent several hours getting our bikes in order for the remainder of the trip.

Rob is changing the chain on the recumbent, a long one, 2 1/2 times the length of a normal chain.

Thanks so much Rob for all your help in getting us to St. John's.

Mike and Kruz, it is not what it looks like.


Holly and Terri on the steps of the cabin at the KOA in Owen Sound (5:30 am) getting ready to head out for Alliston.


Goulais River to Thessalon

Day 40 or our tour took us out of Blueberry Hill Campground heading south on Highway 17 to Sault St. Marie. The morning started out cool and sunny and the forecast was for no rain. Hoorah! Three days rain out of five days cycling was enough even for the avid cyclist. Shortly after leaving camp our first challenge was climbing a 2 km climb up Mile High Hill. At the end of the day when talking with other cyclists we decided it was not near the challenge people in the area thought it would be for us, we had done much worse. In the "Soo" we followed #17 Highway east to Echo Bay and then followed #638 through Leeburn and Rydal Bank and met up with #17 again at Bruce Mines and then on to Thessalon. We had a much more challenging hill on #638 Highway. This secondary road took us through more of the Canadian Shield and through farm country which was similar to Bruce County but with more bush and rock. The farm buildings were not in as good shape as you will find in Bruce County. This was a great road for cycling, not much traffic and lots of twist and turns and rolling hills with great scenery. Of course there had to be a glitch-21k of gravel road. It was very tough cycling especially going down some of the steeper hills. This section of the road was being resurfaced and had only had gravel laid down three days prior. In fact, the smaller group which travels one day behind us, were told to avoid this road. Had we not gone on it though we would not have gone through Leeburn where there was a quaint little store where they sold the best apple pie and ice cream in the area. I had the pie and caramel caribou ice cream, delicious!! The lady up the road makes the pies for the store. A few of them were bought by other cyclists and taken to camp for supper. A gentleman by the name of Jake Molders, yes a dutchman, owns the store but has it up for sale. He sells the usual items you would see in a little general store and he also has antiques. Shortly after we left the store the gravel surprised us. The temperature today was around 20 C. and we were thankful for a tailwind especially on Highway 17 east.

Our campground for the night is Pinecrest Campground on the North Channel. I am actually sitting at the picnic table facing the water with the waves washing ashore and the sun slowly setting in the west. What more could a person want, right? Holly has her tent set up on the grass right next to the beach. She said it is the closest she will ever get to living on the water. Today's ride was 125 km and tomorrow we are off to Spanish.


Thessalon to Spanish

Day 41 and August 6th takes us along Highway 17 again along the North Channel from Thessalon to Spanish. Cool morning when leaving camp but the day warmed up as we went along. Nothing unusual about our ride today. The terrain was easy for cycling and the Canadian Shield is still very evident. Arrived at Spanish Marina(great showers) by 1:00 pm which was a record for us. Distance covered today was only 109 km. We had stopped in Blind River at Tim Horton's and ran into Bob and Dianna Griffiths from Kincardine. They were on their way to Chapleau to a family cottage. Small world! Beautiful sunny day in Spanish with a breeze coming off the North Channel. My sister-in-law Jean and her husband Harold, from Elliot Lake, took us out for supper in a nearby village. They headed up to Sudbury after dinner and Holly had a surprise visit from Annie and Ron from Massey. Annie's sister Helen and her husband Tom live in Kincardine. Our ride tomorrow is to Manitowaning on Manitoulin Island.

Spanish to Manitowaning

Our ride today marks Day 42 and it took us along very busy #17. The weather started our very cool and the dew was very heavy. We decided to stay on the highway as it was a very good ride as opposed to the secondary road offered. We stopped at the intersection of #6 and #17 as there was a Tim's there. That is one major intersection, trucks, tourists and locals pretty much have to pass this intersection to get anywhere. While waiting in line we discovered that another Tim's in Espanola was only 5k away so we headed for that. We learned very quickly what Espanola has for its industry. The sulpher smell was very evident as we arrived in town. We enjoyed a break with a few others from our group and we were advised we had missed some great scenery by staying on Highway #17.

After our break we headed for Little Current with some very challenging climbs on the way. The weather was beautiful and a good temperature for cycling. Our stop in Little current before turning south to Manitowaning was a must as Three Cows and a Cone ice cream shop can be found there. Our ice cream specialist, Stephanie was treated to a Farquahar's Ice Cream and she agreed it was the best she had had on the trip.

If any of you have biked on the island you will know the roads are in pitiful shape. The ride to the campsite was rough but the scenery at Ten Mile Point made up for some of this discomfort. Holly had done the hill during the first summer of her riding the recumbent and she was very pleased to see she had gotten so much stronger that it was not near the challenge it had been in 2007. It is probably the only hill we have climbed that had no descent on the other side.

Our camp for the night is at the Manitoulin Resort on Lake Manitou where there was a beautiful sunset. Holly's husband Mike biked from South Baymouth to spend the night and go over on the ferry in the morning. Mike brought some wonderful RED apples, something we had not seen this summer as well as several packages of YUM, Oreo cookies. He couldn't believe how quickly the cookies dissappeared.
We waterproofed our tents to get us to the finish line in St. John's.

We all had an early night as we needed to be on the road at 6am in order to catch the first ferry at 9:10 am.
It will be a cold breakfast in the morning. Our ride today was 135 km.

Manitowaning to Tobermory

Our ride today, Day 42 took us from Manitowaning to Tobermory which was only a 42 km ride, 36 km to the ferry at South Baymouth and 6 km from the ferry to our camp site on #6 Highway. Thus we left camp at 6:00 am to give us lots of time to be there to board. We had a cold breakfast in camp and some had a hot breakfast in South Baymouth or on the ferry. The crossing was for 9:10. Some of us had to have a Farquahar's ice cream before we left the island (it is only sold on Manitoulin) but only after we had had our health breakfast.

Some of the cyclists took advantage of the glass bottomed boat ride in Tobermory before heading to camp. What would be a day though without rain showers which we did get later in the day. Being in the are sure made us feel like we were home. My husband Don, came up for the evening and to spend the night. He also brought treats for the group, fresh peaches and grapes. He replaced my back tire which I had noticed as being fairly bald the day before.

Holly and I had a special treat today. As we were the first into camp (after Patrick) and before the truck we were there to actually unload all the bags today. That will never happen again as it is the first ones there who get that job. Holly and I road right to camp as we knew Mike and Don would be there and we were going back into Tobermory for the evening. Although it is not a payback for all the other times our bags were unloaded by someone else it felt good to be able to help, a bit.

As I stayed in a B&B for the night, I was not there to participate in the campfire and sing along but Holly said it was good fun, lots of good voices in the group and Steve had brought his guitar on the trip.

Tobermory to Owen Sound

Today's ride, day 43 and August 8th took us from Tobermory to the KOA campground in Owen Sound, 136 km. Leaving camp we had heavy fog and then rain, heavy at times, what the heck, we had handled that problem before. Traffic not bad at that time of the morning but as those of you who have travelled this road, it is in pretty bad shape. We stopped in Ferndale for a hot cup of java and to dry off. By the time we finished our break the sun was coming out and the skies cleared. We headed east towards Lion's Head and then onto County Road 9 down through Colpoy's Bay and then into Wiarton. After a Tim's break we headed onto County Road #1 which took us through the cottage area of Wiarton with some spectacular views of the bay.
It was warm and muggy. Our trip took us up eight st. in Owen Sound, a steep climb and then past the hospital to 10th concession where there was a very nice KOA campground.

While we were in Ferndale Holly and I had called ahead to book a cabin, anticipating storms the rest of the day. My daughter Denise, granddaughter Layne, from Durham, and Ken Morrison from Durham and friends Ruth and Dick Verrips from Port Elgin came up to see me and we all went out for supper. It was great to see family and friends.

Holly's husband Mike and friend Kruz came up from Kincardine for a visit. Her friend Mary Ann from Mississauga also surprised her for a visit. Rob (our bike guy) and his wife came up and Rob gave our bikes a real going over. We each now have a whole new drive train, Holly has new brakes and we now feel confident about the rest of the trip, including the Cabot Trail. It was a very busy evening but fun. It was good we had booked the cabin as a couple of thunder storms dropped in with very heavy winds and rain. The cabin and porch gave Rob a great place to work on the bikes. Thanks Rob!!!


Owen Sound to Alliston

August 9th and say 44 of the trip took us from Owen Sound to Alliston where we will have a rest day. The camp for the night is at Nicholston Dam Park. According to the cue sheet, 166 km ride was a scenic and challenging one through Dufferin Highlands, the high point in Southern Ontario. It is where all the rivers start and th ski hills are. As well we were in drumlin territory where yo find piles of gravel left by the glaciers which means short and steeper hills. You will find such hills all over souther Ontario. After the long last climb I had a problem with my derailer. My chain was locked. After Holly called Rob, (our bike guy) we were able to take off the back tire, release the chain and then set it back up properly. What a team!

All day we had noticed this big black cloud followed us along and just before Creemore, the skies opened up and we had a very heavy downpour. We got into Creemore to a Bakery and Cafe and waited out the storm while we enjoyed our tea, coffee and pastries. Half and hour later we were dried out, back in the saddle and onto Alliston. Our ride from then on was sunny, warm, dry and very scenic. We did not get into camp though until almost seven. Just before the camp a couple from Kincardine.

We found out when we got to camp, the last ones in, that most of the cyclists took a short cut. A few had looked at a map and found a more direct route to travel. Others found the more direct route when the made a mistake on one of the many, many turns on the cue sheet.

Holly's husband Mike came from Kincardine and they are staying in a local hotel for a couple of nights. It is not long before Don and Mike head off in tandem to do the drive to St. John's. We will see them at the top of Signal Hill watching our last climb. It is within reach now!!!