Alliston to Nestleton Day 47 August 12

I was spoiled with a couple of nights in a real bed in Alliston. As you can see I was not real anxious to part with it.

The canal through the Holland Marsh area. The water did not look very clean and I am not sure I would eat the fish caught by the fellows on the bridge.

This is Ray trying his best to see his credit card through the space between the deck boards. He just could not believe his luck to have the card slip through such a narrow opening. You couldn't do if you tried. The deck was only a few inches off the ground and sealed on all sides. He had to give in in the end.

A metal statue of you guessed it, a blue camel. So the story goes this was made and sits on the property of the man known as Father Goose and the inspiration for the movie Fly Away Home.
Our camp was beside a swimming hole. Some had time to enjoy the warm water.

Our rest day in Alliston was hot, muggy and as usual pretty busy. Mike tweaked both mine and Terri's bike. Since the overhaul in Owen Sound we had had an opportunity to try all the gears out. Mike had to do some minor adjustments. Our friend Sue Axe who moved from Kincardine to Angus came by our hotel and had lunch with us. She and her husband, Dave plan to do a cross country self supported tour next summer. Several years ago they did a self supported ride, in stages.

It is hard to believe we are now on the other side of Toronto. Our ride from Alliston to Nestleton (132 km) was for the most part on quiet country roads. You had to really pay attention to the cue sheet as there were lots of turns so therefore opportunities to get lost. I was warm even at 6:30 am as we were having our breakfast. Not too far into the morning we had to change into sleeveless shirts and put on sunscreen, something I had not used for the past few days. We hope the weather forecast of no rain for four days holds true. It was tough to say goodbye to Mike again and it was good to spend so much time with him over the last several days. We will meet Don and Mike in North Sydney where we take the ferry over to Newfoundland.

Back to the ride today. At one point in the ride, at 87, km we were told we were at a high point on the escarpement. The route was very scenic as we went through the country roads. We encountered many hills, some fairly challenging but others nicely rolling. We actually crossed the 400 today and were on Yonge street, Leslie and Bathurst and Woodbine Avenue, if only for a brief moment. It is hard to believe we are on the east side of Toronto now. We travelled through farm country and Holland Landing where the farmland is vast and lush due to the water table in the area. The canal water looked very dirty but there were some people fishing off the bridges. This canal is famous for at least one death every winter when cars slide off into it. There were several spots where there was no guardrail.

Our lunch stop was at a pub in Uxbridge. As you saw from the picture above one of the cyclists had a mishap with his credit card. It was hilarious watching him try to see it through the deckboards. After several attempts he conceeded and called his wife to cancel the card.

We rode through the outskirsts of Port Perry and had a brief glimpse of Lake Scugogg. There are some pretty impressive homes in this area. Our camp in Nestleton, Springwater Resort is right on Highway 7A. It is a small site with a swimming hole. Those who ventured in said it refreshed them after a somewhat muggy day. We are camped among the trees and the air has cleared so our sleep should be restful. Terri has gone to spend the evening with her sister Margo. We enjoyed one ear of fresh corn for supper. Hopefully this will not be the only day we get to enjoy it.

We are off to Carrying Place tomorrow as we venture into Prince Edward county.

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!!!

Am I tired or is this a hill?

The beach at our campground overlooking Agawa Bay. The Agawa Canyon where Via Rail does a fall colours tour is nearby. On of the cyclists tried to bike to it but the rain and terrain prevented him from seeing it.
The top of the hill into Montreal River. As it goes, Terry Fox wore a t-shirt the day hie climbed up this hill going west. The shirt said "Montreal River, I've got you beat". He was going west and as you know he was nearing the end of his trip. It was cut short in Thunder Bay where he died from cancer.
Montreal River.
The minute I saw this, I saw Bob Marley. Terri thought it looked like a cat. Maybe the trip is getting to us when we are seeing things in the rocks???
This plaque says it is the halfway mark (mileage wise) but we are told that the halfway mark is actually a bit farther west this was just a prettier spot for the plaque.
The Chippewa River looked good for white water rafting. This flows by where the plaque is located.
We napped a tourist to take this shot of us in front of the Chippewa River.
Goulais River, as calm as can be.


Agawa to Goulais River Day 38 and Rest day 39

I an sitting in the Steamy Bean Coffee Shop in Sault St. Marie where I am using wireless service. This is all I will see of this city, this and Tim's where we had lunch. I must say, I have become quite accomplished at tapping into the local wireless networks. I might have to start calling myself a techy?

I have spoken to a few others who had the same experience Terri and I had coming out of camp yesterday morning. We thought our legs were failing and wondered if we would even be able to do the day. The road looked relatively flat but our legs and speedometer were telling us different. We have agreed it was a hill, however subtle it was.

Our trip to Goulais River was the shortest of the 5 previous days and we were all ready for a rest day. Although it did not rain everyday these last 5 days, the rides were challenging with repeated hill climbing we hadn't experienced since the west coast. We all loved the descent into Montreal River. Terri clocked her fasted downhill at 67km/hr but don't tell Don. This is the hill (but going east and up) that appears in the Terry Fox movie. We had hoped to see a sign posted regarding this historic moment but we do know that it was a 7% grade, something that would have been a real challenge for him especially as we now know that he was close to the end of his trip and not well.

We had a wonderful lunch (yes it is all about the food) at the Voyageur Restaurant and as it had been raining steady throughout the morning, we were intrigued when some people at the other table mentioned our campground had a motel. We had the number so called ahead and decided to treat ourselves with two nights in one of their clean and spacious rooms. We are spending rest day doing laundry, cleaning the bikes and doing the blog. What else is new? Tonight we are being treated to a special dinner. One of the cyclists has a cousin who owns an Italian restaurant in the area. They are bringing a complementary dinner to the camp. Such a treat.

According to my odometer and our manual addition, we have completed 3,997 to date. We are close to home over the next leg of the ride and will see our family and friends soon. We still have lots of miles to cover so the visits will keep us going till the end.

Pray for dry.

Halfway!!

The tree that fell during the night after having been hi by lightening the previous afternoon made a good bike stand and seat for the cyclists to enjoy their breakfast. Some of you know that Mike and I lost the big tree in our front yard about a week after I left for the trip. The tree was about 15 years old and I am sure it will take some getting used to seeing the bare front yard.
The big Canada Goose in downtown Wawa, the significance of this is lost to us. Something we will have to find out about.
Looking over Old Woman Cove from the top of the hill.
On the shore of Old Woman Cover at our Halfway Lunch stop.
Someone was trying to crash our lunch. We have to continually get these guys out of the truck when we are in camp. They have been known to chew through water bottles and sandwich containers. So far though, no bears have been spotted in our sites.The beach at Katherine Cove.

Another beautiful cove along the ride today.

Obatanga o Agawa Day Day 37

Our late arrival in camp meant a short night for me. I was on cooking duty for the morning and had missed the evening meal the night before which I was supposed to help with. I was kind of out of the loop for information and the end of breakfast we had to boil water for the truck to carry. This set us back a bit and we set off later from camp than we had hoped to.

While the weather started out as questionable we were pleasantly surprised to not get the rain that was forecasted. Our trip this day took us through Wawa and a stop at Tim's, something we had been missing.

The Tour du Canada truck was stopped at Old Woman Bay where they supplied a "Halfway Lunch", this day being the halfway mark of our trip, not in mileage but in days. From the hill just before Old Woman Bay and right on until we got to camp, he scenery was a spectacular as a couple days before. We thought this would be what we might see while cycling Cabot Trail. Lots of steep climbs with a beautiful vista at the top. Some of the scenes were those you might see in a movie, the beaches were welcoming. There were lots of little coves where kids were playing in the water despite how cold it was. Katherine Cove was beautiful and typical of other coves we rode by. Looking out over the water had a soothing affect, something you likely would never tire of.

Our camp was situated along Lake Superior and the waves once again lulled me to sleep. The sunset was beautiful and reminded me of those we see off Station Beach in Kincardine. The next day was to be a shorter day and we were looking forward to a rest day after 5 days of challenging rides and weather.

Rain, rain go away!!!!

How many cyclists can you fit in the Tour du Canada truck.
Sam and Joanne brought sunshine into our miserable morning. A chance meeting??? Terri and I were going to stop at the Petro Canada 3km earlier but opted for this stop.

Ney's to Obatanga Day 36

The fact there are few pictures is a testimony to the kind of day we had despite the fact that we rode 161km this day. As you saw from the picture "how many Tour du Canada cyclists can you fit in the truck?", the morning started off bad and got worse. From the previous day of splendid sunshine and beautiful scenery we went to a day that started out wet and got wetter. In addition, we were on a very busy road and had lots of hills to climb. This was one of those days you had to dig deep within to get to the end. We can now appreciate where the phsycological element of the trip takes over. Raingear is not really waterproof when you get the heavy downpour over 120km.

We stopped 30km out of camp to get out of the weather and hoped the motel would let us use their dryer while we ate. No luck so we spread our clothes (yes we kept a few on) and let them dry as much as we could. What a surprise we got when Joanne (from Lucknow) came over to our table with her daugher Sam. I had to admit that I might not have recognized her. I had met Joanne outside Armstrong's bakery on one of my training rides. She and a few young people came over to talk to me about my bike. Joanne and I chatted about Terri and I going on the tour and I gave her the link to the blog. She and Sam were vacationing in the area (they had stayed at the campground we had the night before) and were heading home. Sam is now enjoying biking and they had theirs bike son the roof. Sam has now completed an 80km trip. Way to go Sam!! Meeting the two put some sunshine back into our morning.

Farther along the road this day I passed three young cyclists that I had met on another training ride to Port Elgin. They left London on Father's day weekend and were to be in Vancouver on Sept. 6th, the day we arrive in St. John's. We passed at what would have been about the half way mark for both of us. I had been keeping my eyes open hoping to see them and it was a pleasant surprise when I did.

By 5pm Terri and I were more than soaked to the bone and very cold. We took advantage of a laundromat at a Husky Station and dried our clothes bits at a time. We shared the dryer with a couple other cyclists and it was what made it possible for us to continue to camp. That and the soup, coffee and donuts. When we left the laundromat it was like a different day, the sun was out, we were dry but we had 40 km left to ride. An error on our part was not calling ahead to say we were safe. We forgot about the protocol as we knew we were together and safe. We got to camp with just enough daylight to set up our tents, shower and get to bed.

Part of our day was spent in a thunder storm which the camp experienced as well. A tree near the truck had been struck by lightening and bowed over only to fall completely to the ground in the middle of the night. Nothing was hit and no damages and fortunately a couple of tents had moved expecting the worse.

The laundromat was in White River which is the home of the bear that inspired the Winnie the Pooh story.
Needless to say we did not visit the gift shop or even stop to take pictures.

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.