Cross Canada Tandem Trip 2009

Day 130 (ish) Review of the return to real life

2009-09-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys and Gals,

Well we had some folks tell us that it would not be easy to get back into the groove of ordinary life. They were right. For the first few days we were high and full of energy, we even did a couple of 100km rides just to make our yearly total up to a nice round number 10000km. However, then the fatigue started to set in and we found it difficult to do much at all. Marge seems to have recovered quicker than me. I find it difficult to get interested in anything for long, and I am continually hungry, but feel guilty when I eat. I like the slim form I have acquired in the last few months and don't want to give it up easily.

I started to do Yoga to help strengthen my back and neck and after two weeks I think that there is some improvement. I have to say though that all the exercises must have been designed by 13 year old girls, as I'm sure that they wanted to inflict pain and embarrassment on their parents.

The three months of mail were not bad to process once we decided a process of deciding its importance.

There remains a few tasks to do to finish off the recording of the trip. I started this morning to download the blog into a "diary", and it remains a difficult job to select representative photos for printing.

Lastly, the JDRF fundraising has done pretty well, as we are in the range $9000 total to date. Note that not all donations show up on the thermometer on the JDRF webpage.

If you feel so inclined just click HERE.

Thanks once again for all of your support this will be the last episode of this blog

Night, night.

Day 98 Salaberry de Valleyfield to St Bruno

2009-09-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

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The last day on the road started early with Andrew groaning in pain. His Dad, wanting a good night’s sleep, called an ambulance. After a couple of hours, Marge and Andrew returned from the hospital with the news that he had an infection and needed some antibiotics and TLC. We called Dave who immediately volunteered to come and pick him up. We packed up and breakfasted at Resto du Pont, Marge loved the real maple syrup, and went back to the motel to wait for Dave. He arrived just before 9am, and in brilliant sunshine and with a strong tail wind we headed for St Timothe and Beauharnois. The ride over the dam, and under the tunnel was thrilling and a must do for cyclists in the Montreal region.

St Remi arrived and a pizza lunch,(got to keep those fires stoked) and once more into rural Quebec at its finest and most fragrant. We were passing close to one field being fertilized with manure and rural Quebec got to be almost too fragrant.

The miles went by very quickly due to the sterling efforts of Tim and Dot pulling us and the wind pushing us and with about 20kms to go we met up with Andre, an old friend, as the first of the reception committee.

Later, we met up with Helmut and others and photos and equipment were arranged prior to the last push into town.

It is here that I have so say that in all the crossing we had not pushed the tandem, it had been ridden all the way, but this had worn the middle chainring and in the last few kilometers, this wear was making the chain skip when very high loads were applied. I knew that going over the railway bridge would be just such an occasion, with that in mind, I tested the bottom ratio, and it worked perfectly.

So, down what we affectionately call the world’s worst road, to the aforementioned bridge. Due to something beyond comprehension, I did not change to the small ring and on the steepest part of the bridge we came to a grinding halt.

Cameras clicked. We coasted back down, put it bottom and cleaned the bridge to keep our “no push” record intact. A few minutes later, it was all over, to the cheers and congratulations of friends and neighbors. There was a long pause for photos, and time for a beer.

The blogs in the days following will give our progress on going through 3 months mail.Lol

Average 23kph

Height climbed 220m up, 180m down

Today’s distance 113km

Total Distance 7588km

That’s about all the news that's fit to blog, except to say the biggest Thank yous” to Dave and Sandra for looking after our house and pool and general mental health, Annie, for the many “Hugs,” Andrew for looking after grass, tomatoes and a thousand other little things, Tim and Dot for leading us in along the Lakefront Trail, sharing grass cutting duty, and a hundred other good things, to Alwyn for his weather reports, to the Winnipeg Crew who treated us so royally, especially Neil who kept his cool after I’d screwed up his computer . Also, “Thanks to all our friends and neighbors who did things for us that we will never know about, and took time out of their day to come and meet us. Last, but not least all the people we met on our journey who with their encouragement, advice and concrete aid made our trip so wonderful.

Night, night.

Day 97 Iroquois to Salaberry de Valleyfield.

2009-08-31T15:39:00.001-07:00

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A cool bright and sunny morning dawned and the wind was in the rear quarter, what more could we want as today was Andrew’s birthday, and the day we would re-enter Quebec.

The Monte Cristo provided an adequate repast and off we went. We took the Waterfront Trail (Bike Route 5) today and it proved to be an excellent ride. Some sections of the pathway being

now in my “Top5 bike routes” list. Of special mention are the sections coming into Cornwall which are paradigms of how bike routes should be constructed and maintained.

We took modern coffee at 18^th century Upper Canada Village, then sped on to Cornwall for lunch at Moustache Joe’s then Tim took the lead and navigated us through the rest of the trip to Salaberry. (The section between Coteau du Lac and Beauharnois is also excellent and very pretty and worth the trip to do it.)

We asked a couple of locals where we could find a Motel, and both lanes of the traffic on highway 132 stopped to let us cross. I thought I had died and gone to New Brunswick.

We Skyped Dave for the complex plans for tomorrow’s homecoming and if all goes well we will arrive home about 4pm

Average 23.2kph

Height climbed 210m up, 235m down

Today’s distance 131km

Total distance 7475km

I think that is all the news that’s fit to blog.

Night, night.

Day 96 Kingston to Iroquois.

2009-08-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

After the good meal and dessert last night Dave decided to stay over and take pictures of us departing today. (That man is a real trouper. ) We had a really strong tail wind which drove us along at a good speed and Dave would pop up from the hedgerow and snap our picture with a massive grin on his face. (He actually used a very clever Canon digital camera.)

We made Gananoque just as a heavy shower started, so where better to sit out a half hour than at Timmie’s? When it finished raining, we set off for Brockville only to get caught in a series of really heavy showers. We ate a Chinese lunch in Brockville as it was the only place open, but it was really good which was just as well, then off along the Parkway and Highway 2 to Iroquois. The last 15km in really heavy rain. Cold and wet we found the Motel Iroquois, (good) and settled in. Supper was excellent pizza from across the road and a couple of beers in the Legion.

Too tired to do anything but sleep.

Average 24.8kph

Height Climbed 600m up, 620m down

Today’s distance 131km

Total distance 7344km

We’ll try for Salaberry de Valleyfield tomorrow.

That’s about all the news that’s fit to blog.

Night, night.

Day 95 Kingston Rest Day

2009-08-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

We got up late, ate breakfast with Emily and Alice. chatted all morning and watched the rain. Ate lunch and continued to watch the rain. Felt very good that we weren’t riding today.

At 3pm we left A & E’s with arrangements made for a curry fest in the evening with the crew arriving from Montreal.

We found our hotel, First Canada Inns, and as we were sorting our kit the “Crew” arrived. Andrew, our son, Tim and Dot, our tandem partners in crime, and Dave, the man who has done all the worrying for us.

Hugs and kisses all round. Special Hug for Dave as he bought down a bottle of single malt for medicinal purposes, should it be required.

A great curry at Curry Original, a great desert at the The Sleepless Goat and a welcome walk round Kingston

That's more than enough news that's fit to blog.

Night, night

Day 94 Trenton to Kingston.

2009-08-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

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Margie up with the lark to make her favorite captain a cup of tea in bed, then next door for a three egg breakfast. It’s no wonder people are putting on weight! It was a beautiful day for biking in the other direction, and the traffic was light once the rush hour had passed.

There was no hard shoulder to speak of, and due to the headwind, there was no down hill to rest our bums, but we made good progress through typical southern Ontario landscape of mixed bush and arable farms, rich and poor.

On the outskirts of Kingston we had another tire failure, this one was predicted and not remarkable, the tire had done about 1400km and had had enough. We put on our best new spare while talking to a chap who stopped his van and asked us if we needed help.

Another nice person.

We continued into Kingston and found a bike shop where we bought 3 tubes to see us through to the end, we hope.

We spent the afternoon in Tim Hortons drinking tea and doing the finances. The tea was good and the finances in very good shape as we were right on budget. We used Tim Hortons as the tourist office by asking Trevor, a young chap behind the counter, where the hotels were in the area and he gave us all the information we needed. He is a very smart young man.

Just before 7pm we went to Alice and Emily’s house and were made most welcome.

We had a pleasant evening talking to the girls and getting caught up on all the local St Bruno gossip.

Average 19.8kph

Height Climbed 570m up and down

Today’s distance 101km

Total distance 7206.

That’s about all the news that’s fit to blog

Nigh, night.

Day 93 Bowmanville to Trenton

2009-08-27T15:31:00.000-07:00

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Under the great pressure of a critical audience of two young boys, I learned on the fly how to make Belgian waffles. Steven and Jeremy were so free with their criticism, that I felt we were familly, and I could have been their dad. Nice boys for all that.

After chatting with Mum and Dad for sometime, we got on the road and decided to take route 2 rather than the Lakefront trail as it stated in the guide that there would be places where we would have to take off the bags. So once that decision was made we had to live with the up and down sort of existence normally reserved for elevator operators. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the wind was cool.

We stopped for elevenses in lovely Port Hope, quite

charming it is, and so English.

We ate at a British Tea Room that served scones, and ploughman’s lunches and of course tea made in a crock pot with boiling water.

We got into conversations with Bill who was celebrating his birthday, his lady friend and the charming Vanessa the writer.

There were some tedious road works as we left town, but that negotiated, we were on a good road with light traffic so what made me make the decision to follow the Lakefront Trail beats the heck out of me in retrospect.

But we did and found ourselves in a maze of little streets with few signs and lots of turns. Still we got a view of Coburg marina and beach which we would have missed.

We got back onto the route 2 and our speed increased as it flattened out, running by the side of our old friend, the railway.

Into town we spied a Tourist Information, and with no prospect of being helped we entered this variation of the Monty Python cheese shop. The lady was helpful with data and suggestions, namely that the campgrounds were 8 to 10kms away and the motels were not. This led us to the Park Motel, which is a very classy establishment and 2/3 the price of the HO Jo’s last night.

The motel is under the flight path out of CFB Trenton, so we were entertained by the low flying antics of young people learning to fly big aircraft, and a couple of passes by the Snowbirds.

Average 19.5kph

Height climbed 570m up, 550m down

Today’s distance 104km

Total distance 7105km

That’s about all the news that’s fit to blog

Night, night

Day 92 Newmarket to Bowmanville.

2009-08-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

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Rain was forecast today so we looked out with some trepidation to find the air moist and the ground damp. The sky was clear and it was nice and warm as we navigated through morning rush hourtraffic to get to breakfast on Davis Drive (route 31).

They tell me the ice in the last Ice Age traveled from north to south and hence all the ridges run N-S. Going east is therefore a painful process of up and down, it had the advantage of a strong wind at our back, so we went very fast downhill.

As the day wore on the weather became perfect for outdoor activity, sunny, warm and dry with a breeze. Once more the weathermen got it wrong.

We got to Uxbridge, for a snack and a chat to locals practically without incident, only the front chain required a touch of TLC, but just a few kilometers on, we had a fast puncture of the rear tire once again caused by rim tape. That’s 2 in 100km!. I did serious checking this time to see that the tape was properly seated and remedied what was needed. I can’t believe these new tubes are so fragile…

We slowly climbed on the rolling routes 8, 7a and Old Scugog road to Enniskillen where we

started the descent to Lake Ontario.

This is a really pretty route with no traffic and it passes farms and fields and billionaire’s houses. 15km of descent later we were in Bowmanville looking for the tourist information. This is where we met the lovely Mary Jane who was very helpful trying to place us, and was not put out at all when we ended up across the street in an overpriced and very run down Ho-Jo’s.

Average 20.1kph

Height climbed 655mup, 855m down.

Today’s Distance 93km

Total Distance 7001km

We are on the Waterfront Trail tomorrow to Trenton, so we will how that goes.

That’s all the news that fit to blog,

Night, night. Mary Jane

Day 91 Craigleith to Newmarket.

2009-08-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

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The weather Channel was correct for once, we woke to sunshine and a warm wind from the SW.

Oh the joys of a new frying pan. Technology has improved so much since the old one had first seen the light of a gas flame. Today it was gourmet sausages and stuff, done to perfection.

The bike felt good as we rolled along into Collingwood, then onto highway 10 with a small peregrination round the ever present road construction. Here we felt the full force of the wind working against us for the first time. We stopped at Angus for a Tim Horton’s lunch,then trucked on hoping that the legs wuld take us to Stouffville. Unfortunately, we were delayed by a puncture in the rear tire, 1200km since the last one, which took the wind out of our sails, but we met a local young man who offered us all sorts of help, including a lift to Newmarket, which we declined. At the next intersection, there was a good restaurant so we pigged out once more and played out the last few,rural, noisy km into Newmarket. It was good, in some perverse way to see a double row of rush hour traffic lined up in the other direction.

We arrived at the Newmarket Inn, a rather swish place with a good room rate and swimming pool about 4:30pm very tired.

We Skyped the evening away chatting to friends and relations, and making arrangements for the last leg of the the journey.

Average 20.5kph

Height Climbed 505m up, 380m down

Today’s distance 115km

Total distance 6908km

Well that’s about all the news that’s fit to Blog. One of the most common comments we have from the general public is “ Don’t you think you need to change your front tire, it’s bald.” Marge came up with a good response today, “So’s my husband and I like him that way.” Lol

Night, night.

Day 90 Miller Lake to Craigleith.

2009-08-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

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We had heard coyotes howling in the night, it was wonderful. Ron was up with the lark busting to use his new frying pan. All reports are that breakfast was brilliant, and the eggs looked like eggs for a change. It makes a difference when they’re not mixed up with Teflon from the bottom of the pan.

On the road just after 8h, and 43km later there was the first bend in the road. The bike felt very agile today as we polished off the miles into Wiarton for second breakfast. We saw no groundhogs in this town renowned for Willie the Albino Meteorologist. (If you ask me he’s got as good a record as the egg heads on the Weather Channel who don’t know whether it will rain or whether it wont.)

Wiarton is in a dip, so it’s hard work getting started again, and we seemed to be going up for ages ‘then, all the brakes came off and we on a steep downhill into Owen Sound’s Timmie’s for tea and a bun. We decided that as we were doing so well we would extend the day’s ride to Craigleith Prov. Park. Doing this, and adding about 25km to tomorrow’s ride will save us a day on the schedule and provide us some padding for those coming to meet us in Kingston. The Weather Channel has promised us perfect weather for tomorrow, so we are keeping our Pack-a-Macs handy.

The ride to the Prov. Park was easy, near flat, and fast. The downside was the complete lack of hard shoulder. There was also a lot of light traffic which kept us on our toes.

Average 21.5kph

Height climbed 630m up, 630 down.

Today’s distance 134km

Total distance 6793km

That’s about all the news that’s fit to blog:

Night, night.

Day 89 Sheguiandah to Miller Lake.

2009-08-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

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Finally we decided to get rid of our old faithful frying pan, just too much Teflon coming off. Sad, but all good things must come to an end.

We went up the much vaunted hill out of the campsite with no trouble, gears, legs and lungs working in unison like a Greek chorus.

Once on top of the ridge it was relatively easy biking through mostly trees and rocks and water, with the occasional cow and bale of hay. It was perfect weather for biking, fairly strong tail breeze and we were soon in South Baymouth with 3hours to kill before we could sail on the ferry. We did what all good cyclists do when there is no defined plan; we went and got ourselves fed. Later we tried the Internet in the terminal, but it was really sloooow. We have a succession of places where this is true, and it makes adding photos to the blog a really tedious affair. That was a thinly veiled excuse!

The crossing was uneventful, no shipwrecks and nobody drowned, in fact nothing to laugh at at all. We did spend some enjoyable time with the Gambles and the Whitney’s from the Owen Sound area. They were retired farmers catching up for lost holidays now that the farm was in the good hands of their sons.

Once off the boat the clouds cleared and we had a very nice evening doing the 30km to Miller Lake where we got ripped off for camping at Miller Family Campground. The facilities there were not up to the price we were charged, especially as just 2km further up highway 26 there is a camp right by the side of the road. The site was quite good though. Ron was in bed by 7:30pm absolutely shattered.

Average 21.5 kph

Height climbed 560m up, 545m down.

Today’s distance 84km

Total distance 6659km

I think that’s all the news that’s fit to blog.

Night, night.

Day 88 Massey to Sheguiandah.

2009-08-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

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We waited for the coffee to be ready at the motel then got on the road accompanied by Claire and Robert. They were all dressed up in longs and all their kit looked new and clean. (How’d they do that?) The traffic wasn’t too bad as we clipped along a fairly flat road to the junction of the 17 and 6 where we were going to part ways. The 26km flew by and we were saying our farewells in both languages. Off to Espanola where we had second breakfast in Twiggy’s, very good it was too. The next few miles were some of the best cycling we had done on the trip, next to no traffic, wide shoulder and beautiful country. Even the wind was our friend. We got to the swing bridge just before Little Current, only to find the gate closed and the bridge in motion getting set to let the boats through the channel.

The weather had looked threatening all day, but we decided to camp at Batman’s Cottages and Campground some 13kms out of Little Current.

The campsite is very neat and clean and we set up in double quick time because it started to drizzle, however, nothing came of it, and soon we were drinking a good strong cuppa tea.

A lady came up to us and intro’d herself as one of the tandem couple from Ann Arbor Michigan we had met three days ago. We had a pleasant chat, and they gave us their address and told us to look them up on our next trip. Lovely people.

Average 21kph

Height climbed 650m up, 690m down.

Today’s distance 92km

Total distance 6575km.

That’s all the news that’s fit to blog. Great day today. Bonne chance Claire et Robert.

Night, night.

Day 87 Iron Bridge to Massey.

2009-08-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

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We were out early to get breakfast at the Wildwood Resto run by 80year olds. It was nice, but slow, se we didn’t get started till after 9:00am. Summing up the day, rear quarter tail wind no hills, traffic variable, shoulder even more variable, and we are glad that there is only one more day on the 17. Truck traffic is quite high which is always a worry, even though the pro drivers give you as much room as they can.

There was a cold front coming behind us and we did not want to get wet again, so it was pedal to metal all morning, with only two short “bum” breaks. We arrived in Massey just after 1pm, which probably makes this our fastest “hundred” this trip elapsed time. Who should be waiting to check in to the Motel we had chosen but Robert and Clare, the Tandem pair we had met in Antigonish, and later at the North Sydney Ferry.

What a genuine surprise and it was so good to see them again looking buff and healthy. We spent the afternoon catching up on gossip, and hearing some of the traveler’s tales. We Skyped with Dave, did laundry, then felt really warm and cozy as an intense shower ricocheted a foot off the road in front of the window.

We went to the Resto next door, “The Dragonfly,” and had a surprisingly good meal after making arrangements to meet up tomorrow for a ceremonial ride towards Espanola, where we will part company. They will go towards Sudbury, while we head for Manitoulin Island

So after a ho-hum start, we had a great finish to the day; meeting up with fellow travelers, and clean clothes.

Average 22.8kph

Height climbed 280m up, 300m down

Today’s distance 96km

Total Distance 6483km.

I guess that’s all the news that’s fit to blog, plans are fluid for tomorrow depending on the weather so stay tuned.

Night, night.

Day 86 Sault Ste Marie to Ironbridge.

2009-08-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

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We woke up to the gentle sounds of a downpour beating an arrhythmic tattoo on the taught top of the tent. That was 3am, there was no sign of rain last night. Did we proof everything? Ah well, too late now. We roll about fitfully napping, as the pitter patter continues until the alarm goes off at 7am. We have a plan: move all the stuff to the shop lean-to and eat breakfast and change the cassette and chain in comfort. Breakfast went well, onto job 2, damn adjustable is too small to fit the cassette removal tool, so we either have to wait until 10am when the shop opens, or buy one from Wal Mart. Cutting to the chase, we bought one from Wal Mart.

All packed and on the road at 10:30am. This is too late for our planned 113km, as we will have to eat big twice, but we set off with a will into a 35kph head wind. We stopped at Echo Lake where I got served a turkey sandwich with fries and delicious gravy which I could not finish. (First time in living memory.)

By the time we got to Thessalon (88km) we were spent and the rain had not given over, so we decided to stop there, but the only place open was way out of our budget for room charge and food. So it was back on the bike in the gathering gloom to do the 27 km remaining to Iron Bridge. We arrived around 18:30h, found a motel and got a Chinese meal from across the road. Weather channel says rain for 4 days. I don’t know why we watch it!

Not too many pictures today, too much rain and the traffic too heavy to allow pictures on the move.

At last we have moved into arable farming land from the trees and rocks which have been our friends for 1000km.

Average 19.5kph,

Todays height 470m up, 450m down,

Today’s Distance 115km

Total distance 6387km

That’s all the news that fit to blog.

Night, night.

Day 85 Montreal River to Sault Ste Marie

2009-08-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

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We took breakfast at the Resort, and started up the road by 9am in a beautiful day, a little chilly, but we can forgive that. We passed the power station which used to be the Mad Moose, and continued up hill, and continued and continued. It took 80 minutes to do the first 15km, and I did a quick calculation that we wouldn’t get to SSM before 7:30pm at this rate. Fortunately the terrain flattened as went along and all we had to fight was the headwind.

We stopped for lunch at the Voyager Restaurant at 51km and met up with a couple from Anne Arbor on a Tandem. Swapped a story or two, then as soon as we got on the road we were overtaken by a group of Montreal Policemen going from Vancouver to MTL and raising money for the Missing Children’s Network. We had a nice chat for 5minutes, it’s really good being chaperoned by a squad car up front and a paddy wagon with its lights on at the back.

We made really good time until Goulais River where we stopped for chocolate milk, then there was One Mile hill, a really nasty little climb. Fortunately after that it was all downhill to our camping spot at Vélorution.

Vélorutionis a bike shop that gives free camping to cyclists, they also had a nine speed cassette, and knew where I could get a nine-speed chain. They also lent me an adjustable wrench so that I could do the work. They showed us our camping spot out back and the biking track that they had made for the amusement of the local youth. Real fine folks one and all: Pat, Jan and André. We picked up the chain at the Duke of Windsor bike shop, and were very expertly dealt with too byRob White. SSM is lucky to be served by such professional bike shops.

We will change the cassette tomorrowearly and be on our way to Iron Bridge.

Average 19.2kph

Height climbed 800m up, 795m down

Today’s distance 125km

Total distance 6272km

That’s all the news that’s fit to blog.

Night, night.

Day 84 Wawa to Montreal River Harbour

2009-08-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

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We decided to have a quick breakfast of free coffee and muffins from the motel and cook aproper breakfast al fresco at about 30km. We were on the road by 8am in a cool, cloudy day and generally light traffic.

So we had 8km of mainly downhill before the climbing began. The scenery is typical of the area, namely, trees and rocks, rocks and trees and water. We stopped for breakfast at 29 km, Old Woman Bay picnic area, and met up with the bear hunters from a couple of days ago. They were on their way home, happy as clams that they’d bagged a bear. The bear however, was not asked its opinion.

On our way and running before very black clouds threatening showers we polished off another 40km of head wind and hills before we stopped for lunch. What a difference a rest day makes: the conditions were just as hard today, but they were not as wearing on the soul as a couple of days ago. Ham and tomato sandwiches were demolished, which fortified us till the next stop which was at the Agawa Bay Information Centre. Here we met Bob and Lucie. Lucie is a very talented artist, and Bob is a “builder of mountain bike trails” but, truth to tell, he also revels in snow shoeing. We had a good chat on diverse topics from P&W’s .190 Inco 625 studs, to the amount of play the BOB has in its rear bearings. (Both of us agreed it was too much.) He gave us his telephone number in case we needed help. Another excellent person.

The Mad Moose Lodge was our designated night stop, but apparently it has been demolished, and is no more, so we opted instead for the Twilight Resort, Cabins and Campground, just off the highway, at Montreal Harbour. There is no other accommodation for several miles. Our campsite is pretty and the sun did us a favour and came out for supper, canned chili and fries spiced up with hot sauce. (It was actually a lot better than it sounds.)

To finish the day we took a walk along the beach which gave us the opportunity to see the river enter the lake, a phenomenon which this old aerodynamicist found very interesting, and take a few photos. It will be Sault Ste Marie tomorrow, camping. Velorution Free Camping and a chance to change the Cassette and rear chain, both of which are well past their “best by” date

Average 17.5kph

Height Climbed 970m up, 1070m down

Today’s Distance 107km

Total Distance 6147km

That’s all the news that fit to blog. We feel very pleased with our performance today on this tough leg.

Night, night.

Day 83 Wawa Rest Day.

2009-08-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

A nice garden in Wawa

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I had breakfast in bed, delicious muffins and coffee. Very nice day, blue skies, light wind. Did laundry and blogged.. The more observant would have seen a totem on yesterday’s Pictures marked with Gitchee Goomee. It reminded me of Hiawatha, the Poem by Longfellow, written in 1855. When I was about 8, I learned a lot of it, and have spent the last 54 years forgetting it.

It starts:

By the shores of Gitchee Goomee,

By the big sea shining water

Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,

Daughter of the Moon Nokomis

I had no thought that one day I would be here. Life’s like that always full of little surprises.

Enough for today. I’m going for a nap.

Night, night.

Day 82 White River to Wawa.

2009-08-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

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So we woke up, this is always better than the alternative, and decided to move on. I made breakfast in the motel yard, much to the amusement of a gang of ladies of a certain age who had spent the last 10 days fishing and wanted someone to “torment” other than their husbands. I offered to share our ample victuals, and remained my normal placid self in the face of some good natured, but barbarous wit.

We got away just after 9am into a fierce headwind and a gentle rise that never ended. A quick check of the altimeter to see if we were getting close to needing breathing apparatus revealed a climb of 45m. Somewhat disappointed we battled on knowing there would be no long downhills today. We stopped at a lodge at 28km and spent a leisurely hour chatting to a young lad there and playing guitar. Glad to find the fingers have not lost all their cunning. This is a big hunting area and the other patrons were all looking to bag a bear. I asked if they were using bows, but they smiled and said the last thing they wanted was to give the bear a sporting chance. The whole exercise is way too expensive.

At the next stop, Halfway Motel, Marge took a picture of me sitting next to a tin man.

I’m the one in Yellow.

By this time, it was over 30’C.

I have a rule which graduates how tired I am: if I notice 5km or more between glances at the Odo, I’m not tired, at 1, or 2km, I’m “ok” tired, and at 200m or less, I’m in pain. Thus it was for the last 20km. The sting in the tail was 500m of 6%. It will be a rest day tomorrow.

We met some nice folks, Danielle and Jean from Longueuil, at the Tourist Information, where the Guide actually had a clue. And here we are in the Algoma Motel with a very well done hand painted mural of a friendly looking wolf in the snow.

Wawa is known for its statues of geese

We ate too much at the Viking Tavern in the company of a dozen Harley Riders and several hunters, then back to the Motel to sleep the sleep of the log. Marge did wake me at sometime, as she was being processed through a saw mill, at least that was the level of noise. But it was music to me.

Average 17.7kph

Height Climbed 550m up, 620m down

Today’s distance 93km

Total Distance 6039km

That’s all the news that fit to blog today. Thanks to everyone for their comments, including MJand RG who regularly brighten our day’s photos with comments.

Thanks also to all the folks who have donated to the JDRF. Your gift is appreciated.

Night, night.

Day 81 Marathon to White River

2009-08-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary ronandmarges JDRF Donation Page

Another day when getting up is hard. It doesn’t help when you hear the rain drumming on the roof. It stops, Marge looks out the window and says it’s a beautiful day. Up and at ‘em, 2 eggs over easy, sausage and trimmings. A waitress that finds my humor funny! On the bike and up the road into a slight hill and a stiff headwind. Mmmm, this ain’t gonna

be easy. Road surface was very good and we had a lane all to ourselves as the road was under construction and traffic light, but it soon it started to rain very heavily.

Flashing lights ahead and a SUV stopped on the shoulder signaled a Moose on the road. He sidled off as soon as he saw us. I have that effect on some people too.

Barrick Gold Mine

Terrain was not so steep as yesterday, but the headwind mean’t we had to work all the time. We were glad to get to Gloria’s Motel at 54km for a bite to eat and some coffee. The rain stopped and the sun came out to help us on our way, and with several short stops to ease the buns, we made it to White River by mid afternoon. No chance camping tonight, the forecast is for heavy rain showers so into a motel called White River Motel where the Manager was very helpful and brought us cloths to clean the bike, a toaster and a kettle.

White River is a town in difficulty, we were told due to the closure of the local paper mill, but it looked good and the local store was adequately stocked with good farinaceous food. It is of coursewhere Lt. Harry Colebourn purchased a black bear cub and started the industry of Winnie the Pooh. The story is on the plaque in Pictures.

We may have a rest day tomorrow as we have done 8 days in a row, depends on the weather when we wake up.

Average 17.8kph

Height climbed 615m up, 560m down

Today’s distance 93km

Total distance 5946km

Bangers and Mash for supper, we never get tired of this easy to prepare meal. (Good job)

Watch some TV as it’s Saturday and we can couch potato if we want. See what happens tomorrow. If the weather cooperates and we feel good, we will head for Wawa 90km away.

That’s all the news that’s fit to Blog

Night, night.

Day 80 Schreiber to Marathon

2009-08-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

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Oh it’s sooo hard to get out of bed. The birds were cheeping; the sky is blue, and not too cool. Finally hunger drove us to get up and get the show on the road. It was a perfect day to cycle, except for the stiff head breeze. Later though, this would be a good thing as we toiled up some stinking little hills. One even brought us down to groveling granny, something almost unheard of on this trip. The good news again was a more than adequate shoulder for most of the time, and very light traffic.

The scenery was super, and there was a look out just after a particularly nasty climb with a picnic table that we used to rest, and admire the view of trees and rocks and water and railway line and road-bridge in perfect order.

A few clicks further we stopped for coffee and a cookie at Neys Lunch and Camp-ground. Coffee was excellent and freshly made. Thus invigorated we hacked away at the last 25km into Marathon and took a Motel with what turned out to be a good restaurant. (Sorry Andrew and Alex, Mom and Dad are spending the inheritance!!! )

Back in the room we had the pleasure of a Skype Video call with Andrew, did the blog, and as Mr Pepys would say, “So to bed.”

Average 16.8kph

Height Climbed 965m up, 965m down.

Today’s distance 90km

Total Distance 5853km

No mechanical issues today, so it’s the first time I’ve arrived with clean hands for what seems like a long time.

Today was a beautiful ride for the fit and prepared, we enjoyed it.

That’s all the news that fit to blog.

Night, night.

Day 79 Nipigon to Schreiber

2009-08-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

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Today is the first day of the next hilly section, so we set the alarm early and totally ignored it. After making breakfast in the motel forecourt, we were on the road by 8:15 none the less. Definitely a nip in the air, but by 10 am the Nipigon and we were well on our way to Mulroney’s nemesis.

Not too much traffic, which is a good thing, as it is noisy and once again today we had to take a dive when two trucks passed each other and us. Really no big deal as Marge had the situation well in hand, and explained to me in a few concise words what I had to do. Some people might find these words hard on the ear coming from such a refined lady as my wife, so I will not repeat them here.

We had some wonderful views of the Lake which with the haze looked like pictures from one of the Group of Seven.

Half way we stopped for coffee and homemade pie, and the somewhat taciturn waiter smiled wickedly as he told us of the three hills before we get to Schreiber. But what can you do, taking the train was not an option.

During our lunch break I took the opportunity to clean the rear hub, as with all the dirt and rain we have been through it was starting to bind and make gear changing unreliable. Thank the lord for the wonderful Hadley hubs on the Santana. 10 minutes later the job was done and the pawls cleaned and lubricated.

Just before Schreiber, around 3pm, we met a young First Nations guy on his way to see his parents on Salt Spring Island. He told us that he had met Robert and Clare, another tandem couple from Quebec City, in Terrace Bay. Good for them. Their website puts them in Neys last night. (http://albatros.over-blog.com/)

The weather seems settled so we are camping tonight at the RV Park, just us and another couple.

For those of you with interests in the culinary side of Tandem Touring we had Ginger shrimp stir fry, enough for four.

Average 16.8kph

Height climbed 930m up 875m down

Today’s Distance 90km

Total Distance 5763km

As the evening drew on, the mist started to roll in from the lake. Apparently this is a normal occurrence in these parts. It is the first time I have seen it when it is so warm. Let’s hope it does not hold us up tomorrow.

Today’s ride was very scenic, but tough on the legs. 930m is as high as most of the Rockies Passes. Tomorrow we will aim for Marathon and stay in a motel.

That’s all the news that fit to Blog

Night, night.

Day 78 Thunder Bay to Nipigon

2009-08-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary RonadMarge's JDRF Site*

*This URL takes you straight to our page where, if you have a mind, or you are just a teenager, you can donate to a very good cause. Lol

It was hard getting started this morning, everything looked brilliant, but our heads were not with it. It took ages to lather ourselves with sun lotion, and pack up. Eventually we got on the bike and wended our way through the suburbs. We stopped to get some money from an ATM, and a guy came up to chat and told us of a route out of town which was quiet and scenic. “Just turn right at the Stop” so we did. 20km later we were on the TCH after a very pleasant ride along Strathcona Ave. Fortunately for us the traffic was light, on this section as the shoulder is none existent in some places and the road very rough. The trucks though gave the most room and there were no problems. It was very wearing, but I reminded Marge we used to ride roads like this in the UK all the time.

Most of the ride was with a perfectly good shoulder, and we stopped for construction at Moose River, where big trucks were moving big rocks. Too interesting.

The country is slightly rolling for the most part, with a helpful wind, brilliant sunshine and the air wonderfully clear we made good time. Today is the start of 6 days to Sault Ste Marie, and it was hot so we took it easy and stopped in at a campsite 5km before Nipigon, but I was tired and felt the need to be pampered, so we bought self cook food and found a very nice Motel “The Nipigon River Motel” just to the east of town and cooked our supper in their forecourt, Chicken stir fry.

Average 21.8kph

Height Climbed 580m up 560 down

Today’s Distance 106km

Total Distance 5673km

Today was the nicest day weather wise we have had since Saskachewan, and we have 4 more days forecast, and we had no tire problems. Hoobloodyrah.

That’s all the news that’s fit to Blog

Night, night.

Day 77 Shabaqua Corners to Thunder Bay.

2009-08-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF

So at 6am, I jumped out of bed to see if the tire was still up……It was. Well that’s a good start anyway. We did our usual breakfast and were on the road before 8am. The traffic was more dense on this stretch of the highway than we were used to, but fortunately for the most part the shoulder was well surfaced and wide. The invisible motel from last night appeared on the left after a couple of kilometers, and there were one or two little hills to test out the legs Iit also seemed that there were more signs of civilization. We developed some tests, learned from experience, to tell if the rear tire was deflating, which involve Marge moving about, waving arms and shuttling backwards and forwards on the saddle. A low tire exaggerates these movements in a way a hard one does not. The road split at about 21km to give us the option of using highway 102 which was 16km shorter. We decided to stay with the TCH as we wanted to visit one of Canada’s prime tourist spots, Kakabeka Falls which were really very impressive and well laid out to view. One minor grumble, the signage was all in English.

A quick coffee stop in Kakabeka Village then fast downhill all the way (almost) into Thunder Bay. For the last few km, we used a highway segment where bikes were not allowed. The traffic was light, the shoulder adequate and the surface very good. I was not going off into the styx where, if the tire blew I could not get a lift.

No citations were issued, and no mishaps occurred so we went into Timmies for a bite. (Thanks Anne) Then down to Cycle Path to be disappointed. But no! They had everything we needed and offered to fit it right there. High marks indeed.

Through the city, down to the harbor and exit east to find a motel, drink, take a nap, do the washing , fix the rim tape and put in a new tube, shop for food, do the blog, check tomorrow’s route, eat, and here we are, it’s 8:30pm.

Average 22.8kph

Height climbed 340m up, 550m down

Today’s distance 78km

Total distance 5567km

The sun shone today for the first time for a week, all the talk was about how hot it was.

That’s all the news that fit to Blog

Night, night.

Day 76 Atikokan to Shabaqua Corners.

2009-08-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itnerary JDRF

We got up really early to get on the road for our longest day yet. We decided that we would split the 220km to Thunder Bay into a long day and a short day to allow us to do some shopping, laundry etc. Unfortunately the tube that I fixed last night was having none of it, as the tire was as flat as a pancake. It appears these new tubes are practically un-repairable. Patches just peel off.

We were on the road about 8:30 and it was cool and cloudy, the road was wet, but no rain for us, yet. We passed some cabins at 25km which would have been a good place to stop last night to balance the days riding, but they were not referenced in the Tourist Book. The country was very rolling with not much to look at except rocks and trees, so Marge spent her time taking pictures of rocks and put a freeze on trees.

We stopped for pizza and coffee at 38km at Quetico North Outfitters. Inside, they had some beautifully made bird houses. The server had no sense of humor however, as when I said they were better made than my house, she replied, “Really!”

Gears stopped changing once we’d got back on the road, and we traced the problem to a frayed cable which was very easily fixed with a spare.

We breezed along for the rest of the day, slowly piling up the miles, putting on rain jackets, as we saw a wall of water coming towards us, then 5 minutes later taking them off.

For the logistically minded we had a coffee stop at 93km, Kashabowie, and passed the Arctic Ocean/Atlantic Ocean watershed a little later. In the middle of nowhere we were ordered to put an hour on our clocks as we crossed the EST time line. The clouds had cleared, the sun was shining and we were nearly there then the rear tire blew. We went through the process, and were on the road again 15minutes later. It was all downhill to the Corners, where the two TCH’s meet up at a motel. However, there was no sign of such a thing. Marge remembered seeing a sign for some cabin accommodation back up the road, so we went there.

The lady was charming, but had no keys, so kept us amused and drinking tea, until her husband came home about 8pm. She also gave us some exquisite homemade bread.

We made a quick supper, had a shower and were in bed about an hour later.

We have a little bit of stress for tomorrow as we are back down to no spare tubes. We shall what we shall see. There is reputedly a very good bike shop on Memorial Road called Cyclo Path. Again we shall see.

Average 20.5kph

Today’s height 880m up, 850 down

Today’s Distance 143km

Total Distance 5488km

In spite of the mechanical problems, the rain showers and the loss of the motel, it was a really good day.

That’s all the news that’s fit to blog, enjoy Marge’s rock pictures.

Night, night.

Day 75 Mine Centre to Atikokan

2009-08-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF

I can never understand human nature, there we were laying in bed, just dozing off listening to the beautiful loons on the lake, when someone let off a very loud series of fire crackers which sounded to my sleep numbed senses like someone was kicking the door in. I flew into action and pushed Marge to go see who it was- no seriously I didn't really.....

Marge making tea

In the morning, light streamed in under the curtain and woke us early, so Marge full of energy jumped out of bed, and made me an early morning cup of tea. Ahhhh, beautiful.

But I was soon up and into the kitchen to make our standard fare of bacon eggs, mushrooms and tomato, with buttered toast, but then followers of this blog will already know that.

We packed up in record time and were on the road just after 8am to do the 80 something km to Atikokan. The traffic was practically non existant again today, as we rode up and down through trees and rocks and rocks and trees, and the occassional view of water. It was noticably more hilly today, especially after the first 25km, when we were dragged down into bottom gear for a couple of hills. All was well especially when we got onto 10km of billiard table smooth black top newly minted. Then, for the last 5km, we were onto wet red mud , newly damped to stopped the dust. Definitely not pleasant, but soon enough over.

We stopped by the tourist information office for another dose of Tourist people not giving a tinker's foot about us, the travelling public. This one not only knew nothing, but could hardly break herself away from the chat group on her laptop to tell she didn't know. If Ontario tax payers only knew.

We're staying at the the White Otter Inn, which is a bit upscale from our usual hostelry.

We dropped in the local convenience store for candy bars and drinks for the 140km ride tomorrow to Shabaqua Corners and saw a one handed paddle for an amputee canoeist. Atikokan is the canoe capital of Canada, and they obviously cater for all standards and needs. Good for them.

Lastly, in response to some rather hurtful comments about the length of my beard, Marge spent a very long (for me) 30 minutes cutting it, hair by hair, with some nail scissors.

Average speed. 20.8kph

Height Climbed 550m

Today's distance 84km

Total Distance 5345km

That's all the news that's fit to blog.

Night,night.

Day 74 Fort Frances to Mine Centre

2009-08-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

Pictures Yet another new Itinerary JDRF

Today is the 30^th anniversary of our coming to Canada. We have now spent almost half our life here and we could not be happier with our decision to move. But back to the Trip:

We were filled with trepidation about the forecasted thunder storms and 30-50mm of rain as we set off. The plan was to take food and water with us to a very nice campsite “just “west of Mine Center.

As we rode the big bridge over Rainy Lake, cars coming the other way had their wipers going, it was spitting the occasional drop and Thor was banging on his drums. The good news was that we weren’t fast enough to keep up with the rain and the further we went, the drier it got, and it became a perfect day for biking. The weather forecast had frightened off all the fishermen and boaters and after leaving Fort Frances the road was

ours. Highway 11, Mom’s Trail (named after the initials of Minnisota, Ontario and Manitoba) is in good condition and has a 2ft paved space to the right of the white line with a wide, hard packed gravel, or better shoulder if one needs to “dive,” as we did once to ensure enough space between us and a truck coming from behind, and an RV coming towards us. Note this is the first time we have needed to do this on this trip as the truckers particularly have been very good.

We passed “the” great campsite at about 42km without realizing this was our destination, it was too close anyway, and spied two bald eagles sitting in a tree watching us go by. I told Marge to make herself look big in case they thought she looked like a tasty morsel.

At the top of a slight rise we saw a van parked on the opposite shoulder and guys scrambling up the bank. It turned out they were a film crew doing a documentary about Highway 11 and asked us if we wouldn’t mind coming down the hill again so that they could film us. Being shy and retiring, we immediately said okay and did a quick U-turn. They did their filming and arms were raised in the air in triumph for the “perfect take” when we passed by which was good because we weren’t going to climb the hill again. The film will be aired on PBS in January 2012 called, “The Kind Hearted Woman.” So with our 15 seconds of fame assured, we pedalled on until we almost got to Mine Center, where we rode into Bliss Campground. We chatted with Mrs. Bliss, who rented us a cabin after she had told us of an old bear who is showing up at her door. (We were going to camp, but the bear was the clincher, on top of voracious mosquitoes and threatening clouds.)

We had the remains of last night’s pizza for lunch, and then took a nap. There is still no rain, but lots of good noise from the direction of the lake, mostly bird calls and children enjoying themselves in the water.

In view of their very poor record, we will not watch the Weather Channel tonight. Sometimes too much information is a handicap to action.

The other thing of note was that we did not have a puncture today, yet……..but, we did have to amend the Itinerary and add a couple of days which magically went missing through the hole in the bottom of the spreadsheet thus we have about 200km more to do than we thought. Please refer to the Itinerary for details.

Average 20.1kph (it’s still very rolling)

Today’s climb 310m (300m descended)

Today’s distance 67km

Total distance 5261km

All in all this has been a brilliant day which surpassed all our expectations. And there is a wonderful view from our cabin window. Atikokan is tomorrow’s destination.

That’s all the news that fit to blog

Night, night.

Day 73 Fort Frances Rest Day

2009-08-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

Oh luxury, we stayed in bed watching "Real Detectives" get their man until the need to eat got us up.

The Weather Channel had predicted a dire day but is warm, still and cloudy. I expect the rain will come tomorrow.Did nothing except eat, drink and a little shopping, and we weren't bored at all.

Fort Frances looks to be a nice little town dominated by an Abitibi Bowater paper mill. The air is a bit rank when one arrives, but after a day its smells OK.

That's all the news that's fit to blog

Night, night

Day 72 Nestor to Fort Frances

2009-08-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

A nice mural in Fort Frances

Pictures New Itinerary JDRF

We started off the day in leisurely style, by patching the 3 tubes we have punctured in the last 2 days and I made a mental note that the holes were on the rim side of the tube. Interesting. I checked the tire pressure and also noted that the rear tire was about 15 psi lower than yesterday. Is this an omen? We set off anyway on a cool sunny morning with the air crytal clear and not a cloud in the sky. We warmed up on 4kms of gentle up hill and practically non existant traffic. You guessed it-at 20km the rear tire was low again. I will spare you the bags on and off story. As the morning was so nice I took my time doing all the things my Dad taught me when mending a puncture, inspect the tire inside and out, look where the hole in the tube is -Oh my, it's on the rim side, right where the other three were. Inspect the rim tape and find that it is damaged right there. This where all you worldy wise folks can laugh that it took so long to find the Root Cause of our problems, (I know I would) but when you are under the gun in the rain, on a dirt shoulder, and somewhat tired to boot, it changes the game a little. I guess there is no substitue for Best Practices. There I said it.

With a much lighter heart, we shot off down the road, enjoying the rolling countryside, seeing our first cattle and farmed fields since WPG. Lunch was a picnic by the side of the road, then at Emo (60km) we had another one in a diner. The road was a little flatter now we were on the 11, and the wind was a great help, but the last 35km in to Fort frances was a bit of a drag, I guess we had enjoyed our early speed too much, and now we were paying.

At last we were in Fort Frances and found Main Street and a bike shop where we hoped to pick up some new tubes, and rim tape, etc. However, fall comes early and we had to make do with a new patch kit. The owner of the shop, Russell, was apologetic that he could not help us logistically, but he did find us a clean cheap motel with a very good kitchen (we both had ribs -her appetite is back!)

Next door was a very nice guy from Edmonton who demanded pictures of us and the Tandem, he had just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and said we were his inspiration. Thanks.

Average 22kph

Height climbed 350m

Today's distance 95km

Total Distance 5194km

Thanks to all folks who have donated to our cause, we will be sending each of you a personal thank you in due course.

We have no idea about sleeping arrangements tomorrow as the guides and and internet are very light on detail. We plan to stay at Mine Centre, where at least we will get fed. Such fun!

I think that's all the news that fit to blog. Night, night.

Day 71 Kenora to Nestor Falls

2009-08-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

PIctures Itinerary JDRF

We had breakfast at Timmies and were underway late. Traffic very light as we made our way onto the 17 and then 71 south towards Sioux Narrows. People had warned us of the hills, but we made splendid progress to 25km where we had our first stop at Rushing River General Store. Lots of clouds, but no rain. The ups and downs continued until Marge noticed that the rear tire was getting flat. Sure enough, we had a puncture to repair. Off with the bags, all in a row. Off with the trailer, and to work. The problem was soon identified and a patch applied just before it started to rain. Pump it up, on with the trailer, on with the bags, and off we went. 20m later, crash bang as the top bag descended onto the road. Damn, we had forgotten to do up the ties which keep it snugly on the rack. Do all that, and 100m later I stop to check the pressure in the tire,mmmm.

Off with the bags, off with the trailer, off with the tire, pull off the patch, say a nasty word several times, put in a new tube, pump it up, put on the bags, put on the trailer, check the bags are on, start off. 20m later my helmet crashes onto the road, fortunately without my head in it. I'd left it on top of the trailer. Stop, eat a banana to complete the exercise.

Starts to pour down, so out with the jackets. 5 minutes later it stops, leave jackets on in case. Fry inside jacket, get wet. Eat an oat meal cookie.

Finally we make Sioux Narrows, meet three guys from Winnipeg, on tour. Ed, Tony and Ken.

Eat and decide to do 30 extra km to Nestor Falls and save a day. (It turned out to be close to 50km)

Only a short way on the map translates to 2 hours on the bike. Get there at 18:30 h and drop into Monique's Log Cabin for supper.

We arrive at the motel, at 20h .

All in a very good ride, the scenary is lovely and the hills not too bad after 5000km on the legs.

The road is not as dangerous as has been reported with a shoulder most of the way. And we found Internet.

Average 19,8kph

Climb 950m up, 945m down

Today's Distance 120km

Total Distance 5099km

That's all the news that's fit to blog Night, night.

Day 70 Rennie to Kenora

2009-08-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF

The forecast was for a high of 17C so we didn’t rush to get up. Breakfast was served at the hotel and was excellent. Marge has recovered somewhat from her bout of stomach flu and ate quite well. The road was slightly up hill as we left Rennie and later became undulating reminding us that we had not done any climbing since we left Waterton. The sky kept threatening rain but

managed to hold off as we went down the Old Highway 1 (TCH) passing many little rivers and lakes till we got to Hawk Lake where we found a restaurant and had second breakfast and a chat with an old lady who had been a biker and canoeist in her time.

Onto the TCH for the last leg into Kenora only to find that there was no shoulder due to construction for about 20km. We found it a little nerve wracking, but not too bad as the traffic was very light. We stopped at the border to try to get a Manitoba flag and ended up with two small paper ones which will have to do. Later we tried to get an Ontario flag from a couple of Tourist Information places, the second of which I had to walk out of as the attitude of the Hostess was so off hand and devoid of useful information it was upsetting me.

We were both about spent and made a bee line for A&W for an Uncle Burger for me and a muffin for Marge. Then off to the Kenora Inn Motel for the night. The lady there told us that Robert and Clare were stayed there last night!

Smoked sausage for supper with mash and beans cooked in our room. Chocolate milk, oatmeal cookies and tea. What could be better.

Average 21.7kph

Today’s height 600m (585 descent)

Today’s distance 96km

Total distance 4979km

I think that’s all the news that fit to blog Tomorrow we should be in Souix Narrows

Night, night.

Day 69 Winnipeg to Rennie

2009-08-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF

Time for pictures, then on the road through a deserted Winnipeg. It was cool, cloudy and threatening rain as our little group threaded its way downtown, Neil, Linda and Bob. We said our farewells at 10km and negotiated 5km through roadworks up to the Ringway. Over the Red River Spillway and into the country, the rain held off and the wind helped us. Marge was still not feeling 100% and was not eating much, so we decided to just take it easy and see how far we could get. At 33km there was a loud bang from the rear tire, the expected had happened, the cheap tire we had picked up in Waterton had had enough. On with one of the new ones purchased in Winnipeg, and away to Anola for second breakfast. There was a lot of traffic coming towards us, not much on our side, and we saw just one truck all day. The shoulder is intermittent; it was always capable of being ridden in an emergency.

We arrived at Elma without incident and had lunch (93km)

and decided to push on to Rennie. As we were eating, a very heavy shower came through, the only rain we saw all day.

Riding into the wind wasn’t so bad, as we were protected by trees, and we saw the first outcroppings of granite of the Canadian Shield. We arrived in Rennie about 5:15pm, booked into the Rennie Hotel, and took a nap for an hour. Then down to the Bar for some Fort Garry ales, poutine, perogies and a couple of hours chat with Laurence, aka Ooster Metlapp, a local character with a fine sense of humour.

Breakfast opens at 8am.

Average 21.5kph,

Height Climbed 125m,

Today’s distance 129km,

Total Distance 4883km

I think that’s all the news that’s fit to blog for today. Marge did a great job under the circumstances, let’s hope her appetite comes back tomorrow in Kenora.

Day 68 Rest Day 2 in Winnipeg

2009-08-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF

Not too much happened today except that we were spoiled rotten by the hospitality of Val and Neil. We will forgive them for waiting on us hand and foot, being extra thoughtful when Marge had an upset stomach and for Neil not getting upset when I screwed up his computer. However, I will find it hard to forgive him for giving the bike the best clean it has had for a year. Lol.

Thanks Val for taking me shopping.

Thanks to Bob and Linda for a great supper.

Day 67 Rest day Winnipeg.

2009-08-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF

We were picked up by Len and Bob at 10am for guided tour round Winnipeg. We stopped in at MEC to look at gloves, then, it was off to Portage and Main, for the photo and negotiated a complicated underground tunnel system to get there. We were regaled lots of stories, history and jokes as we went round the Legislature and took too many pictures of the Golden Boy.

The burnt out St Boniface Cathedral, loud bells rung by an electric system. The grave of Louis Riel and his family. The two statues of Riel, one of a statesman and one as a maniac shielded from public view. The best pizza of my life in Coryden.

Culture and open space took up the afternoon as we viewed the Leo Mol statues, and the Assinaboine Park. Very nice.

The evening was taken up with a BBQ at Neil and Val’s. Really excellent sausages.

Well that’s about all the news that’s fit to blog today, we have lots of photos today to make up for yesterday. Lol

Day 66 Portage la Prairie to Winnipeg.

2009-07-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

No Pictures today Itinerary JDRF

So the promise was to meet the guys at Headingly at noon some 80km away, so we aimed to get on the road by 7:30am. The noise of rain and swishing tires was our constant companion during the night so we were a bit slow getting started but sometimes things go well and this morning was one. We were on the bike in drizzle just after 7am and passing Timmie’s with a fleeting thought of some hot coffee and a breakfast muffin.

We waited for a Prairie train to cross the road loaded with containers from China on its way to the east and the homes of unemployed Canadians. We cross the TCH bridge and made a decision to use it as all the traffic was leaving Winnipeg, and as visibility was reduced, we opted for the noise and the wide shoulder, rather than use the guys recommended route along the 26.

We sped along for the first 35km on a beautiful new shoulder of jet black asphalt, which with the rain on it gave the impression riding over a big black hole. As we’ve said before, all good things come to an end, and so did this, with 5km of shoulder construction which meant that we had to ride on compressed shale covered in a thin layer of tar. Before we got to Headingly we had 5km more of this to ride. Fortunately the TCH route was 12km shorter than we would have ridden on the 26, so we arrived at the appointed restaurant very early, very wet, and very dirty. We warmed up on soup and under the blow drier in the washroom, while waiting for the lads who duly arrived at the appointed hour. We had lunch then proceeded to Neil’s house lead by Neil and Ken, Bob acted a rear gunner and sweeper, did I mention a cold beer?

Everyone collected for supper at Len and Pattie’s , and 3 hours of fine conversation.

Average 18.7kph,

Height climbed 100m,

Today’s distance 88km,

Total Distance 4756km

Sorry no pictures today, it was just too wet and nasty. A great day none the less. Two days in Winnipeg R&R.

I think that’s all the news that fit to Blog. We had a very nice Night, night and slept like logs.

Day 65 Holland to Portage La Prairie

2009-07-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

PIctures Itinerary JDRF

The weather forecast was for cool temperatures and intermittent showers so we forwent the early start and had the best breakfast of the holiday. Marginally cool for bare feet in the sandals, but we sucked it up and got underway before 9am. Luxury. We met Nicholas from Montreal who was riding to Brandon, and nearly there. Congratulations my friend.

The wind is still from the NW which kept our speed in the high 20's all the way to St Claude, where we stopped and had a BLT sub, and some really good coffee at the Esso on the corner. We had a chat to a Milk Tanker driver who told us to beware of rare idiots who insist on overtaking him when he slows for bikes and puts on his four way flashers. We'll remember that.

We turned north into the wind and followed the all but deserted 240 towards PLP. With 20km to go it started to rain and we donned our Gortex. 5 minutes later we were in a deluge which kept getting stronger until finally we were biking through a wall of water, complete with cold wind.

Quite fun really.

It stopped after about 20 minutes and the sun came out, where upon the front chain came off. I made the decision to delay tightening it until we got to Portage la Prairie, this turned out to be a mistake.

We chatted with several nice folks in Tim Hortons, and sat out another sun shower drinking hot chocolate, but then as we were leaving the car park the chain came off again, much to my personal embarrassment. So I fixed it then.

The Hi-Way Motel seemed like a good place to stay,and we discovered that Robert and Claire ( the other tandem pair we met at North Sydney) were there two nights ago. Go Team!

Boston Pizza is close so that's it for tonight's dinner. PS: Good it was too.

Average 21.5kph

Todays Climb 10m

Today's Distance 82km

Total Distance 4668km

I think that's all the news tht's fit to Blog, Night, night.

Day 64 Souris to Holland

2009-07-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF donor site

We had a good breakfast at the hotel and found out we could Blog so spent an hour catching up. All was not lost last night as we went into the Legion and had a beer with Candy a delightful lady who kept us entertained till bedtime..... But that was yesterday.

Today we were late on the road, but the wind was good and we climbed the first hill of the day out of town in fine style, albeit was only about 1%. It was "sweater on" cool as we passed

through mainly arable farmland with lots of trees, (didn't know we would miss them so much).

We saw our compliment of hawks and other unidentified raptors, and a little stoat, or weasel perhaps.

It was a landscape of changing colors, and very large trucks loaded with mostly oilfield equipment. There is a new pipeline being laidbut in general the drivers took the time to see we were safe.

We shared 10km of first class new roadway and hard shoulder with these behemothsand it just shows that Mr Doer can make things happen, if he wants.

We got to our appointed destination so early and the wind was sooooo favorable that we decided to do the extra 20 miles to Holland and take a motel as there was heavy rain clouds collecting and dropping the occasional spot on us.

So that's how we got to the Hollander Hotel.

We have excellent directions from Len, Bob, Ken and Neil for the route into Winnipeg on Friday.

We feel really special, with all the effort they have taken.

So on my second beer, I think that is all the news that's fit to blog.

Welcome to our new follower, we hope you enjoy our story.

Thanks to commenters, as usual you provide the feedback we need to stay concise.Lol

Average 24.2kph,

Height climbed 100m,

Todats Distance 108km,

Total Distance 4586km

Day 63 Redvers to Souris

2009-07-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF

Really cool last night and there was heavy dew on the tent and the grass. Packed up very efficiently and after a quick chat to Terry, we ate a good breakfast at the Three Brothers Restaurant and were on the road before 8am. The wind was still from the north, but it was

helpful this morning and together we propelled the tandem along the road at a very good rate. At 22km we took a picture of the miniscule Manitoba sign,and said goodbye to Saskatchewan’s friendly people, courteous drivers, colorful fields and the big skies and the hawks that live in them

Manitoba has soft shoulders which are quite unridable, sometimes there is a 10cm drop from the asphalt, so we hope that the drivers make allowances. I think it’s about time Manitoba came into the 21^st century and paved the shoulders like everywhere else in Canada, and, changed the name of the Province to make it gender neutral to Personitoba. Lol

There may have been a store at Pipestone, but it was off the road, and too early. It turned out to be the only place where we could pick up drinks. Fortunately, the wind and gradient were so good to us we did not need anything until we got into Souris. We stopped in at “The Rock Shop” and the lady there is very capable and pleasant and she phoned around and arranged for us to have a room at the Souris Motor Inn. No Internet in our room, but there was in the bar. Unfortunately we didn’t find out until we were about to leave. In spite of what they tell you there is no Internet at the Deli in town called the Forbidden Flavors unless you have an account with MTS whoever they are.

We had a quick shower, then took a stroll to the suspension bridge of world renown, it really is aptly named, “The Swinging Bridge.”

JDRF news: if you click on the JDRF link, it now takes you straight to ronandmarge’s donation page. There is a thermometer and all. However, the number on the thermometer is not the real total, so don’t be put off by that. I’m sure it will be fixed.

Average 24.7 kph

Height climbed 100m (-150m),

Today’s distance 112km,

Total Distance 4478km . We will be in Glenboro’ tomorrow.

That’s about all the news that’s fit to blog, Night, night.

Day 62 Stoughton to Redvers

2009-07-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF

So we did as planned and had a good breakfast before getting on the road about 7:30 am. The wind was strong from the north, but not as damaging as yesterday. The road was essentially flat with very small undulations. The shoulder had been sprayed with tar, and I did not know how slippery this was so stayed on the road. The traffic now is much denser than we have gotten used to, but, it seems to come in packs made up of pickups and VERY large oil industry trucks with 5 or 10 minutes between.

It was not long before we came across a work crew improving the road, and after negotiating that, it was excellent shoulder all the way to Redvers.

We stopped for lunch in Carlyle A&W, staff excellent, and the burger and root beer too. The wind strengthened, but fortunately backed to the east a little and gave us a help for the last 45km into Redvers. We found out the Oilmen have taken all the hotel rooms, so once again we were forced to camp in a splendid site, with great showers for a magnificent $10.

Restaurants were close and affordable, so we are happy little puppies. Look at Margie’s smile

under the horse statue.

Coming back from the Three brothers restaurant, we stopped and chatted to a fellow camper called Terry, from Guelph, who is on a motoring/biking holiday. We passed a pleasant ½ hour and as the evening cooled said farewell. In bed by 8:00pm.

I think that’s all that’s fit to Blog, Estimated 108km tomorrow as we cross into the province of unpaved shoulders.

Average 22.7kph,

Height climbed 100m,

Today’s Distance 101km,

Total Distance 4366km.

That's all the news tht's fit to Blog, Night, night

Day 61 Weyburn to Stoughton

2009-07-29T05:32:00.000-07:00

Pictures Itinerary JDRF Donor site

We had a tardy start today with only about 65km to do (on our “Rest day.”) We took the breakfast in the motel. I snuck out a banana, and we got on our way just before 7am. The landscape changed today, more trees and scrub, but still lots of arable land. The oil industry has taken over, there are lots of well heads to be seen near the road, and several have gas flares.

We agreed that the air had an unpleasant, rancid tang that we had not noticed before today. The roadway was also in poor condition and often the shoulder was un-rideable. Fortunately the traffic was still light, and very considerate, though it was the most we have seen for over a 1000km.

There was a strong wind from the north and a gently rising road which made the actual 71km more difficult for us than we had anticipated and we were ready for lunch when we got to Stoughton. We met up with a couple of young Montrealers, Jean-Phillip and Simon, who were going from Vancouver to Montreal. Somewhat quicker than us I have to admit. They came across as very nice guys and a credit to their families.

All the motel rooms were occupied by Oilmen, who as a group are very unfriendly folks, but as a guy from the Canadian Forces we met this morning pointed out, “Just because you have an unpleasant job, it doesn’t mean that you have an unpleasant manner.” There is no feeling here of sour grapes because we had to camp. The site was excellent, good showers and nicely shaded, and free.

About 4:30 we went back to the café at the cross roads for supper, then messed about until we retired at 20:00h. The café opens in the morning at 7am, so we will have a lie in and take breakfast there.

Unfortunately there is no WiFi in town that I could access.

Average 18.2kph

Height climbed 100m

Today’s Distance 71km

Total Distance 4265km (only about 3000kmleft!)

That's all the news that fit to blog. Night, night

Day 60 Ogema to Weyburn

2009-07-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

Pictures New Itinerary JDRF

We were awakened by the muffled sounds of Betty and Mark decamping around 5:00am. So on the basis that we should get up and get on the road before our brain knew what we were up to, we got up and put the kettle on the “trusty gasoline stove” to make tea. We ate cold pizza from last night, which was actually delicious, and then got into pack-up mode. We are now very good at it as for years we have honed our skills in the game of competitive packing which occurs when we camp with our friends, Tim and Dot. I think it is true to say that we give them half an hour’s start to make it interesting. Lol…..

Betty and Mark were very good, but at the risk of blowing our own trumpets, we snuck in and beat them to tightening the last strap.

We did the first part of the ride with our new friends,

Betty taking honors for fastest (I think she was a little stung by coming second in the first event of the day, lol) while Mark, Ron and Marge enjoyed the morning which could not have been more perfect, immersed in delightful conversation about the state of the world. At 26km they turned and headed south to catch a train home to California, while we sped onward. We saw several large hawks and a large bird with white under the wings which we thought was a Golden eagle, a couple of deer sat in the shade of some trees and watched us pass. Trees are more plentiful hereabouts, but it is a Dutch Elm disease zone so there are frequent signs along the road

advising against the transportation of wood out of the area. One intersting fact is that Weyburn is the biggest inland collector of grain.

We stopped at 55km for our lunch, made up of more cold pizza and grapes, then the final push to Weyburn which we entered about 10:30 am. Our easiest days ride so far. I think that this was due to no significant wind and the 150m descent. We stopped off at DQ for large strawberry milk shakes as now shade temperature was 33C according to my new watch. Then we went over the road to find a room at the Weyburn Inn. In short, totally disinterested staff, only a smoking room that would not be available till 15:00h, and a rip off price. Thank you, but no thanks. So we retraced our steps and got excellent service and a great smile from the Kims at the Circle 6 Motel.

I have to admit that I was cranky when we got into town due to being hungry. I have mentioned before about the effects of tailwinds which make you work too hard because the bike feels sooooo good. Apparently so do long down hills. The milk shake fixed the problem and I became my soft and gentle, cuddly self once more.

Canadian Tire, and Wal Mart hereabouts do not stock inner tubes with Presta valves, even though they advertise what they do sell as “Universal.”

Good news is that our friends in Winnipeg have found 2 fold up tires for me. Thank you Len, Bob, Louie and all the folks that made that happen.

Average 22.8kph,

Height climbed 100m ( -160m) ,

Today's Distance 88km

Total Distance 4194km

That’s all the news that’s fit to blog. I have posted a new Itinerary so all you organized people please change your “Favourites” to the new address. Night, night.

Day 59 Assiniboia to Ogema

2009-07-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Pictures JDRF

Last evening, we went for supper with Mark and Betty and found their company both stimulating and delightful. They are experienced travelers and river rafters, so there were lots of stories about places that we would like to go. Still we were in bed by nine, so we didn’t get into too much trouble. They plan to go to Ogema too.

The forecast for today is “another Hot one,” so we were up with the sun and eating muesli like it had gone out of style.

The road today was rolling with 50m dips, definitely

not flat, one ascent up to a railway bridge was quite

steep and had us down in the 7kph range.

We passed more standing water, even two large lakes, and many water holes. The fields are not so dry, and there is more sense of order here. We learned that the purple crops are flax, and the

yellow is sweet smelling canola.

We finally rolled into town just after 11am, and took lunch at The Rolling Hills Restaurant and had roast beef and mash. It was very good too, then after 3 cups of coffee we headed for the Regional Campsite, just outside of town. This is another delightful place and very good value for $15. Good showers and very shady sites. The water though has a lot of dissolved minerals which makes it not nice to drink, so we relied on a beer donated by Betty and Mark, who arrived about 3pm. Pizza for dinner and there will be enough for breakfast and lunch tomorrow.

We turned in ready for a cool night, and an early start. Mark and Betty have a hundred miles (160km) to do tomorrow to catch a train home and are preparing to get up by 5am.

Average 22 kph,

Height climbed 400m,

Today’s distance 84km.

Total distance 4106km

Day 58 Kinkaid to Assiniboia

2009-07-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

We woke up in the night very cold, and had to close the flaps of the tent. However, I could not get back to sleep after that and tossed and turned until 5:30am.

The mornings here are really beautiful, with the birds singing and the shades of light at dawn…… So up we got and started to break camp and have breakfast at the same time. Believe it or not it is now organized chaos and things happen in a very orderly way. We were on the road about 6:45am. Cool, fresh, blue, gold, smooth road, whine of tires, crickets jumping up in front of the bike and hitting me with surprising force,

long periods of solitary occupation of the road, train horn repeating in the distance, coming closer and passing us with a wave from the driver, the smell of canola, a field of purple, a lone cow in a large field, a sore butt, were some items from a world of impressions.

We stopped for lunch along the way leaning the bike against a sign post, cheese and tomato sandwiches, apple and cold water, only 28 km to go.

First impressions of Assiniboia are not pleasant, it is dusty and busy, and industrial, but as you enter the town it changes and except for the beer being expensive, it has a certain charm. After much dithering about, we chose the New Moon café for lunch, Chinese, my Ginger beef was good, Marge took the Smorg.

We took a room at the Franklin Motel and met two American Bikers, Betty and Mark from California. Leo, one of the boys last night, had mentioned them. As soon as we started talking an official car pulled to a stop and the officer got out purposefully and said to Betty that she was being ticketed for wearing a helmet.

It turns out the locality has a positive ticket and if the officer sees something good he/she hands out a ticket. In this case Betty became the recipient of a Tote bag.

That’s all the news that’s fit to Blog, or that you can stand I’m sure. Another successful day on the Grand Tour.

Please remember JDRF, and give if you can.

Average 22.1kph

Days Climb 150m

Days Distance 78km

Total Distance 4022km

Day 57 Shaunavon to Kincaid.

2009-07-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

The guy in the next room must be big and dirty because he took a long time to shower. The good news is that he got us started 45mins early than the alarm and we were on the road well before 7:00am. There was a couple of steepish hills , but generally rolling. We ran into 5km of good gravel road, which brought some

memories back, but all went well. Several little places had grain silos, but really nothing much more to report before the lunch stop in Cadillac where we ate cold pizza on the church steps.

More trucks on the road in the afternoon with mixed loads, half oil industry related, the rest

of it was agri business. Some were very large.

At 95km the two shops where we could buy cold drinks were closed for lunch, so we sucked it up and pushed on to Kincaid.

The day was warming up nicely as we got into Kincaid (named after an engineer on the railway) and photographed the two grain silos and went into the general store and chatted to Trudi the librarian, Cindy the Mayor

and Debbie. We were soon set up for tenting by the lodge, and wifi-ing from the library.

Note that official camping and the hotel are closed in this community.

Dinner was taken in the local bar, which is doing ok in a converted church. We spent our evening there talking with the local lads. It was a very enjoyable time but we drank too much. Had to get up in the night.

Weather for tomorrow is going to be hot, so it will be another very early start..

Average 21.8kph,

Daily climb 300m,

Daily Distance 116km.

Total Distance 3944km

Pictures

Day 56 Rest day in Shaunavon

2009-07-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well are we or arn't we?

Do you want to?

It's not that, it is that I'm so tired I might fall asleep part way.

How about a cup of Coffee?

Why not, then we'll decide whether to get up or not.

OK.

Thus started the day which turned into a rest day when we decided we were going to.

We were talking about going for breakfast at Chequers.

We have decided it will be Kincaid tomorrow starting early. Today just another day in the sun.

We had a long chat with Edna, the maid, and showed her photos of the last three days. Nice lady.

Ate cheese and biscuits, chocolate milk, and very juicy grapes.

Read an old joke about a strawberry.

All in all beautifully boring day.

That's all the news that's fit to Blog. The action starts again tomorrow at 5:50 am.

Thanks for the great encouragement from our Commenters, it's always good to know someone thinks you're funny.

For Hayley's web site click http://www.hayleywickenheiser.com/

Day 55 Eastend to Shaunavon (Home of Hayley Wickenheiser)

2009-07-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

We had very high winds during the night, and we were glad we had chosen a sheltered spot, but in spite of that we slept well, and the bruises were not so painful to lie on, although that could have been du

e to the Motrin. We timed our departure to coincide with the opening of the grocery stores, as we needed bananas and snacks which we could not buy yesterday as stores were closed on Sunday. What with poor cell phone reception and Sunday closing, this is a truly civilized part of the world.

One small hill of a few meters then we were up onto the prairie and rolling along better than we have done for many days although that does not mean much.

We were in Shaunavon before 11:00am having passed through a much more populated area with farms and ranches and while there is agriculture everywhere the new money is in oil. This is exemplified by the first two motels we tried being full. The tourist offi

ce is beautiful, and there are some exhibits there worth seeing, but it is overstaffed by young women who do not understand their job requirements.

We got well fed at Chequers Café, then essentially retired to our room to catch up with the blog etc.

The dining room at the Kings Hotel bar is more than good, and the waitress,

Penny, is a joy to watch as she works her magic on 40 men away from home with pazzaz and control.

That’s it for today, All the News that’s fit to Blog. Night, Night.

Average 19.5kph,

Todays climb 150m,

Todays distance 38km

Total Distance 3828km.

Note that I will no longer record total height as it is too much trouble to set the machine, ie I keep forgetting. If you are a stats person the average height climbed is just about 1/3% of distance travelled.

Day 54 Sandy and Lorne’s to Eastend

2009-07-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

Additional

Pictures

We gathered in the kitchen for coffee and toast and a last chin-wag before getting on the road around 7:45. The gravel road to Consul was mainly downhill and the surface was relatively easy on the nerves to ride. It was a perfect day, cool and bright and clear all the way into Consul. Marge was pointing out the various birds and other fauna, happy that our spell of gravel was coming to an end. I have to admit, my butt was sore from the vibration from the road, and having to use back up shorts which are not as well padded as the ones I have been using, so I was fixated on a soft seat and another cup of coffee.

The sun shone on the Consul Grain silo now at the end of the rail line,

it also shone on the gas station, the motel and the diner which were all closed because it was Sunday. We had plenty of water, but snack food was in short supply after two long days, so we shared the last of the cherries, one each, and started off to Eastend 72kms away, where we decided to end our day.

The wind was blowing strongly from the north, which reduced our speed to about 10kph going north, but it was of no matter when going in our predominantly eastern direction. We had one hill of about 150m to climb then nicely rolling all the way. The area is made up of different colored clay hills,

each of which has its industrial uses, so there is still extensive mining, and there are outcrops of brilliant white everywhere. The ride into Eastend, famous for its T-Rex museum, finished with a long 6% downhill to the Riverside Motel where we camped under a tree, and were treated like returning heroes when the Owner found out we had just cycled the 501. We put up the tent, shopped and ate steak and fries followed by the famous rice pudding at Jack’s Restaurant, and then I put my head down and slept all afternoon. It was hot and very windy. Marge did a little laundry and watched the local cats

Ron getting ready to get his head down .

Our average speed tells the tale of fatigue; at 16.5kph this comes across as a difficult stage, it was not, even with the unhelpful wind. Fortunately, tomorrow will be a short day to Shaunavon. We’ll see how we feel then and maybe take another rest day.

We had a rum toddy before bed at 8:00 and were asleep before 8:05. Better than Sominex.

Average 16.5kph,

Today's climb 350m,

Today's distance 90km.

Total Distance 3790km.

Day 53 Dusty and Veldas to Sandy and Lorne’s

2009-07-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

We knew that the ambient would be in the 30’s today so we made a special effort to be up early and get out on the gravel. Dusty came and waved us off about 6;45am. We were entering the most sparsely populated part of the ride so we knew we had to be careful. The area became very arid with no surface water, and ranchland gave way to scrub populated by hawks, deer and ground squirrels. We made it to route 41 and ate lunch among free range cows and horses and cactus. The cattle grids are called Texas gates round here and it was not too much of a stretch to see Roy Rogers or the Cisco Kid ride on up. But they didn’t, in fact nothing did in either direction for most of the rest of the day. As the sun rose the temperature rose with it and after 2pm, our water was so warm it made you gag to drink it. We bummed a couple of bottles of ice water from one of the very rare passing motorists who thought we were crazy. We pushed on to the border and the paved road, only to find a 100m of it before it turned back to dirt as well, however without the ridges of Alberta and a few more farms.

To say the least we were very tired by 75km and with another 25 to do to Consul we knew we were not going to do it. Our rest stops were being taken every 2km. We found some shade under trees and uncoupled the tandem from the trailer then laid the bike down by the side of the road, we took out the ground sheet and had a long siesta in the shade. After about an hour a lady stopped her truck, as she later explained “to look for the bodies,” when Marge popped her head above the fence and said hello. Once more to cut a long story shor,t she invited us to stay in her house and have Saturday evening supper with her family. Deep thanks to Sandy, Lorne and Kent for making us so welcome, your generocity and kindness were and are most appreciated.

Average 12.6kph,

Todays Climb 300m,

Today's Distance 86km,

Total Distance 3700km

Day 52 Milk River to Dusty and Velda’s

2009-07-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? Another beautiful day. We started off with a strong tail wind which propelled us along the asphalt so that we made the beginning of the gravel road in a little over 2 hours for 53km. Unfortunately, our high speed caused us to have a little tumble and we fetched up only 50m onto the dirt. What was not apparent was that the road had been newly graded and covered in practically spherical river stones the size of marbles. These has been ridged by the traffic which made a perfect tandem trap and we had a front wheel wash out which thumped us down pretty hard, but, we must have slowed a lot as we slid along very little, limiting skin damage to only a few square centimeters between us. It did very effectively knock all the wind out of us too, but not for very long, as my excellent memory for dialogue brought back the first 40 or so words from the opening of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Unfortunately there was absolutely no one around to appreciate my soliloquy, which was probably just as well. After a little while and some pain digging out the gravel, we straightened the handlebars and continued on our way, (Did I mention the double tot of medicinal rum to ward off shock?)

This time at a very much slower pace, we progressed for the next 30km or so, before a passing car stopped and asked if we needed any help. We told them the story and the lady of the car bandaged up my elbow which had been leaking somewhat. We never got Florence’s real name but may she have a blessed life. Just as she was finishing her ministrations, Joey and Joe, father and son ranchers, arrived on a 4 wheeler and asked if they could be of assistance. To cut a long story short, they showed us a potable well, and arranged to have us camp at one of their friends 15km up the road. Thus aided we got on our way with a lot more confidence.

The road continued to be very tricky to negotiate, imagine trying to ride over a pile of ball bearings, so the going was both tense, and slow, and we were barely able to keep up 12kph with any sense of security.

Fortunately for us the temperature was only about 27’C so while we were very tired when we made Dusty and Veldas by early afternoon, we were not in danger of heat exhaustion.

After a chat with Velda, we spent the rest of the day sitting on the porch of an old abandoned house, in the shade, drinking tea and cold well water. When Dusty came home, we were invited in to have supper cooked for us by Velda who provided us with beef sausage, potatoes a green salad. She had done a good job and nothing could have tasted better. Later, Dusty’s Dad came round and supplied ice cold beer and bottles of water. Nectar indeed. We spent the evening talking of Ranching inthe area, and that next week there will be a big celebration of all the families who have been in the area for a 100 year. Dusty is also a train buff and has a lot of books and material on the railway system in Alberta which at one time was very extensive.

Replete with good food and conversation we retired and slept like logs till morning. We were only wakened once by a choir of coyotes singing to us from close by. We send very heart-felt thanks to Joe and Joey and Velda, Dusty and Ray.

Average 16kph,

Todays climb 300m

Total Height TBD

Todays Distance 104km,

Total Distance 3614 km

Day 51 Cardston to Milk River

2009-07-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

Up and out of bed full of the joys of being 62. So after doing a few knees bending, back stretching and allowing the escape of gas from various orifii, I was able to make and enjoy a breakfast that would kill a younger man. We were on an almost deserted road before 8am, and making our way up a deceptively unflat road. I had Marge check to see if we had a flat, but after about 15km kilometers we were warmed up and over the top of the 150m rise in no time. Definitely Ranchland, that’s what Marge said (and she has a degree in geography you know.) Lots of different types of beef on the hoof, brown ones and black, and even a scrap yard to brighten up the scene as we undulated our way up to Del Bonita, which consisted of a post office-general store and some abandoned wooden buildings, where we chatted to the lady there and got some background on the place. There’s not much doing now though, except it was starting to get hot.

The further east we went the drier it became, but what rivers there were, flowed very fast. The riding was relatively easy however. There was a fair amount of farming, wheat, sweet smelling canola, and other cereals but, after a 100km we were getting to the end of our ride we were both a little irritable with fatigue and then found that we had to do a 4km detour to get passsed some road construction. The upside of this was that we got some good shots of a couple of grain silos This is one:

In Milk River there is a very nice campsite called “Under 8 Flags” and there is a plaque explaining why it is so aptly named.. First it was French, then Spanish, then French, part of the USA, then British, then under control of the Hudsons Bay, then Britain again. The last two flags are the Ensign from 1946, and the Maple Leaf. We found a really nice campsite and put up the tent. Sausages,mash and peas and carrots, with a couple of cups of tea and lots of superb cherries.

Tomorrow is the start of the dirt, I hope I sleep well.

22kph, average

Today’s climb 350m,

Total climb

Today’s Distance 117km

Total Distance 3510km

Day 50 Cardston Rest and Re-tire Day

2009-07-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Today the sun is shining and everything is right in heaven. It happens to be my Birthday and so as a special treat I got up and made Marge a cup of tea. She was delighted. We picked up the tyres from Jim, Thanks Jim, and went for a little walk round town. The air was so clean and clear it was like looking at a Panasonic Plasma TV.

I did some research on JDRF with the aim of trying to make it easier for donors to donate on line, and posted that yesterday, but just to underline it, the address they ask forafter you have entered "ronandmarge" in the "In Honor of "option is to send a card to us, that's all. I contacted them and told them not to send us anything, so donors can put whatever in there. Their own address would be the easiest.

We are on the website, there is a potted history of our exploits, we looked much younger then. You can, if you have a surfeit of time on your hands,find us by using the web search function for ronandmarge.

We are going into the wilds of Alberta tomorrow, and we may very well out of contact for the next 4 or 5 days so dont worry if you see no new posts.

I looked up the statistics on the blogs readership, and to my pleasant surprise in the last 30 days we have 1100 readers who spent nearly 4 minutes per visit on the site. Thanks for that encouragement, and thanks to all the folks that comment and send us emails. We really enjoy them.

That's all the news that's fit to print today. Thank you

Day 49 Waterton Park to Cardston

2009-07-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

After getting ourselves straightened out from the extreme yoga positions required to enter the tent in the rain and keep our bedding dry, we lay awake for some time being assailed by the heavy rain on the tent. Modern technology is amazing one thin layer keeping out all that water… A long time after we dropped off it stopped and became a thin drizzle. How do I know this? Well I think it was that third cup of coffee that did it, but now the yoga had to be employed one more time in reverse to get out of the tent. You guess the rest. When morning came, the sun showed its face and we ate and chatted with the boys as they readied themselves for a mountain

trek, and we our journey to Cardston.

A helpful wind, a partly cloudy sky but chilly air had us decked in Polar fleece and socks as we headed down (!) the valley and away from the mountains. The road was in fact rolling which kept our average speed down, but not too hard.

The rear tire I had put on yesterday was somehow out of round, so we were going along in an imitation of riding a horse, bumpity bump, so we made the decision to change it and use one of the tyres I had bought last night at Pats. All was smooth again. We stopped halfway at the Mountain View Café for a charge of hot chocolate and a muffin, then it was easy biking into Cardston.

Unfortunately, it did start to rain so that was the end of photos for today.

Once in Cardston, we called in at the Pro-Shop and met Jim, who had some tyres but not the quality we wanted, so he rang up a shop in Lethbridge 100kms away and organized to have what we wanted delivered tomorrow. Can’t say too much about the time and trouble Jim was prepared to take to make sure we got what we needed.

The first motel we applied to had absolutely no room for bikes, their loss, so we went up the road to the Outpost and took a suite for less. Excellent. We fed well, caught up on the blog, and of course retired early.

18.5kph Average,

Todays Altitude Gain 450m

Total Altitude Gain 23450m

Todays distance 57km.

Total Distance 3393 km

The Itinerary can be found by right clicking and "Open in New Tab": http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rqh-YnkugHVLcYf0I3fj3Fg

Some folks have complained about the JDRF’s requirement for ronandmarge’s address when donating on line. I have researched other options which may be easier. (Seebelow) and asked them to make the address data optional.

You can also make a donation by calling JDRF at 1 877 CURE 533 / 905-944-8700 ext. 0, or e-mail us atdonate@jdrf.ca, or send a cheque made payable to: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation 7100, Woodbine Avenue, Suite 311, Markham, Ontario . L3R 5J2

Day 48 Pincher Creek to Waterton Park

2009-07-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

Please note this blog entry is out of order for some reason I can't fathom. The chances of meeting Janice where astronomical!

After the thunderstorm, we had a partially sunny morning and a continually rising road. The temperature dropped and dark clouds gathered ominously in front of us.

We passed some Texans going the other way. They were on a 900 mile tour in 7 days, and even though they were sagged, it sure sounded tough to us.

To our surprise we slowly got up to 1345m which is very close to the Crows Nest elevation, only to find a railway bridge traversing the road. This was much tougher than anticipated. To make things even more interesting, a stiff headwind and a fine drizzle had joined our party. At halfway, we stopped at the Twin Butte Restaurant for a burger,and were about to leave when this silver haired lady accompanied by two friends, asked if we were the owners of the tandem outside in the now pouring rain. She said that when she had done this route it had been very tough. I asked her to sit down, and Marge asked if her name was Janice Kenyon. She looked stunned.

So for the next hour we chatted happily with the lady from whose book we had based our route, and whom we had gotten to know well from her daily log of her trip across Canada in 2004. A truely magical moment.

Our reverie was short lived as we went outside, and dressed up for the last 30km into Waterton. A passing cattleman offered to take us to the camp in his truck. We were soooooo close to accepting but got refused to his amazement, got on our rusty steed and pedaled off into the rain.

Not long after, our rear tire blew with the sound of a rifle shot. It had only done 300km, so it was a little surprising. Off with the bags and trailer and we set to to change it with the tire Andrew had brought with him. (Did I mention that?)

We were now down to a single emergency spare, and were a little tense as we rode in complete solitude in the pouring rain.

As I’ve said before all good things come to an end and we made it safe into the Park and met Andrew and Jon for a cup of high test hot chocolate and a cookie. Thus fueled we tooled round Waterton to try and find a Hotel/motel to stay in with no luck. Everywhere was booked up, except camping.

The rain abated for just long enough to get our tent erected, then we went into town for dinner in Andrew’s car. (Not really for those of you with detailed minds, we used plates, cutlery, and as close a facsimile to a restaurant as Waterton in the rain can provide.)

Getting back into a tent, on our return, when it was throwing it down with rain was quite an art, if one does not want to bring in gallons of water. I would like you to picture this, two 60+ year old farts trying to make themselves into pretzels so that their bed stays dry. Smile if you can.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print except that we suffered no permanent injuries. Night Night.

15.5kph Average

Distance 60km

Total distance 3336km

Altitude Change 700m.

Total Altitude Change 22974m

Day 47 Fernie to Pincher Creek.

2009-07-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

So, today we made it into Alberta after climbing the Crow’s Nest Pass. We had left Fernie after a full breakfast at about 8:30 am. Cool sunny morning perfect for climbing. We stopped for coffee in Sparwood and the mandatory photo opportunity of the biggest truck in the world, then onwards and upwards to the border with Alberta.

The gradient was gentle and the road had a wide shoulder. It topped out at 1358 m and of course, we expected the usual drops on the other side, but

this did not happen, the elevation stayed close to 1320m for miles. We passed glacial lakes with their distinctive blue colours and the great landslide at Frank,

where half a mountain descended, burying road and railway many meters deep in rock, and dirt. There is a sign which states that the rockslide is a protected area and no- one is allowed to remove stones. It just seemed a little funny at the time seeing as how there was so much debris. We pushed on to Pincher Creek having decided that we would reduce tomorrow’s ride, and take the benefit of the weather. We finally passed into ranchland and followed the Cowboy Trail into Pincher Creek. There are two very good things about Pincher Creek, one is the Pizza at the King Chinese Restaurant, and the other is the Veterans Memorial Campsite.

Nice facilities and a great lady Warden who had lots of stories to tell us, and keep us amused, until we fell into bed about 8:30pm. There was a dry (for us) thunder storm during the night which was very spectacular, it was enough to wake Marge, I never heard a thing.

PS: The Tourist Information is also world class. When they found we were doing the crossing, they cheerfully donated a flag to the cause. Now we have 7, one for each Province we have passed through.

Please don't forget about the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, all donations are welcome. If you donate on line, it asks for our address, put any address in so long as you fill in the blanks. I know it's a bit silly, but "ronandmarge" is enough. Thanks.

I think that is all the news that’s fit to print for today. Night, night.

18.7 kph Average speed

Distance 119km.

Total Distance 3276km

Altitude Change 650m,

Total Altitude Change 22374 m

Itinerary http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rqh-YnkugHVLcYf0I3fj3Fg

Day 46 Fernie Rest Day

2009-07-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

This was a great day today in every respect. We overslept, over-ate, did laundry, read magazines, had a nap, welcomed Jon and Andrew bearing gifts of altimeter and spare tire. We ate at the Curry Bowl. Mmmmm. Wrote blog. Great day looking forward to Crows Nest Pass tomorrow. Met lots of nice folk on Bikes. That’s all the news that’s fit to print. Night night.

Day 45 - Cranbrook to Fernie

2009-07-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Late start this morning due to the time change, and it being very cool. We had our usual breakfast, supplemented by fried potatoes and coffee from the hotel lobby. Once under way we progressed very well averaging well over 25kph for the first 50km. It was pretty flat and we had a very helpful tailwind. Our only stop was when Ron had to cover his pretty little toes due them freezing off.

The road had a good shoulder but was quite busy with plenty of trucks, and these things are so aerodynamic now that there is only a little bow wave as they pass but they can add 3kph to our speed. We had this dilemma, be sucked along, or deafened.

The blahs of yesterday disappeared as the sun melted the mist and the temperature became more comfortable. we were treated to some beautiful vistas of cloud and mountain, which Marge tried valiantly to capture with the camera. We stopped at 60km and ate lunch sitting on a grassy bank listening to invisible trains squealing through switches, and waving at folks in cars as they passed.

We stopped for a coffee in Elko and met up with Gracie and Matt who are doing the Great Divide on unicycles. (20+ miles a day.) The café there has a shredded truck tire which was attacked by an upset Grizzly. Mmmm.

The vista closed in quickly as we rode slightly down hill through a gorge by the side of the railway and the Elk River, then shot through a tunnel at full power with eyes on the mirror. Once again there was no problem as the road was empty in both directions.

The legs were now starting to get a little heavy, but we were soon in Fernie’s suburbs looking for a Timmy H’s. The town has changed unbelievably since we were last here, and so we asked for help from a passing young lady with two beautiful dogs and a 8month old baby. Her name is Cat, and helped us get our bearings and did a great job of being an ambassador for the town.

Cutting things short, the RV park in town is a little ratty, the weather forecast was for unsettled, we had two days here, so booked into the Raging Elk, a HI where we got a double room with private bath for 60$/night, reserved for Andrew and John coming in from Calgary tomorrow, and had a chat with the very helpful Sadie.

Later we met up with Bron, Darren, Hannah and Gracie, a very nice family from Melbourne AU. Spent the evening yakking, and retired at about 11:00 pm. That’s all the news that’s fit to print. Nigh,night.

Picture

21.5kph average

Distance: 100km
Total Distance: 3157km
Alt change: 450m
Total Alt change: 21724m

Day 44 - Creston to Cranbrook

2009-07-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

We were a bit tired today. Yesterday’s efforts on the Kootenay Pass have left their mark on us and it took us a long time to get warmed up. About 90km actually, but that’s cutting the story a bit short. There were no major climbs today, but there were lots of minor bumps to get over, and miles of road where you keep thinking that there must be a brake on, or something. We even had to pedal the down-hills, or it seemed.

We stopped for rests and ate and chatted and, well we did everything we normally do but for the first 90km all I did was keep looking at the odometer wondering why the number was going up so slowly. At about 75km as we were at the side of the beautiful Moyie Lake watching a rain storm approach, and it wasn’t long before it started to rain in earnest. We kitted up, and as it was not cold, riding in the rain wasn’t such a bad experience, except every now and then a big truck would pass and shower us with spray. THEN, about 2pm, breakfast kicked in (bacon eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and toast). The last few kilometers just flew past as we finally could get on top of a gear, and we were tooling along almost 15kph faster. I really don’t know how, but suddenly it was fun again, and we finished very strong.

Into a motel once more, (yes we are fair weather campers) and bought some fresh wild Atlantic Salmon, new potatoes and peas. Chocolate milk has become the beverage of choice these days to ensure we keep up our calcium intake, that’s what I tell folks, but between you and us. We just love it.

Statistics for the day: first time over 3000km in one ride, we crossed a time zone, only 2 hours between here and MTL. A big public thanks to Andrew for his work on the blog. I edited for one day and it took me ages, and thanks again for him bringing me a new altimeter so I don’t have to keep estimating total altitude. That’s all the news that’s fit to print. It’s still raining Night night.

Pictures

19.5kph average

Distance: 107km
Total Distance: 3057km
Alt change: 450m
Total Alt change: 21274m

Day 43 - Salmo to Creston

2009-07-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

Dawned cool, damp and cloudy so it was difficult to get out of bed to conquer the highest of the passes which are kept open all through the year. But we did it, had breakfast and packed. In spite of the lethargy we were on the road by 7:30 am taking pictures of the mosaics and Salmo Tavern.

The first 15 km went by very quickly on the very gently rising road which we shared with other traffic very occasionally. The road then swung upward, first gently, then with increasing aggression until at 25 km we were climbing at 8% which we continued for over 4 km, then it was back to the 6-7% range for the rest of the 38 km to the top. We had a light breeze from the rear which meant that we got warm while riding, but when we stopped for a break, we got cool very quickly. So socks and Gortex jackets were the uniform of the day.

Out time to the top from Salmo was a creditable 3h 45min, though we agree not up to the standards of King Lance. Once at the top, several things had changed since our last visit 9 years ago. Most importantly there was a large maintenance depot built and a helicopter was doing sling lifts. Fortunately, the log cabin was still there and we set up for brewing a cup of tea and eat our lunch. I begged some water from a passing fifth wheeler, (Thank you) as the pristine Bridal Lake was now somewhat sullied with run-off from the Maintenance yard.

Having recovered we started down the hill, but had to stop after a kilometer to dress up in cold weather kit in order to avoid hypothermia, and later a good wetting in a passing heavy shower. The descent went well and it was good to feel secure with the new rear tire as we touched 70km/hr. When we got into Creston, we stopped for a burger and coffee at A&W. Excellent coffee, better than Tim H’s I’m afraid, and no problems with refills.

We met some really nice folks there Clarence, a WW2 vet, and his wife Orah, Harold and Tina, and Gerry the talkative twin of Mike L. The rest is boring admin, but we found a Motel, shopped, cooked, ate and blogged. Sorry that the narrative was not as inspiring as the day. But that’s all the news that’s fit to print. Night Night.

Pictures

16.8kph average

Distance: 86km
Total Distance: 2950km
Alt change: 1100m
Total Alt change: 20824m

Day 42 - Rest Day in Salmo

2009-07-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

Today we did not do much: cleaned the bike, changed a tire, did the laundry and downloaded Skype and had a conference call with sons, daughter and Davey. We watched the Tour de France. Magic day.

Day 41 - Castlegar to Salmo

2009-07-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

We awoke to the sound of rain not so gently falling, then turned over and went back to sleep feeling vindicated for taking a motel room. We slowly surfaced and prepared for a short day over Bombi Hill. (1214m) As it was only 40km to Salmo we were in no great rush to get going, so it took an age to have our bacon and eggs, mushrooms and tomato, and pack up our kit, making sure that we catered for the showers which were forecast for today.

We had a long chat with the lady who runs the Motel, and finally got under way about 9:30am. There was a lot of low cloud and mist but no actual rain, but we donned our Gortex jackets after half an hour to keep ourselves warm. We also decided to put away the camera, so Marge had nothing to do for the next hour and a half. The road was just steep enough to keep us in the low gears without too much stress, and we often sampled our new energy food, raspberry and cream cookies. They are easier to eat than the chocolate bars we have gotten used to and fit neatly in the front bag for easy access. They also have the benefit of not melting to their packaging when it gets warm.

The last couple of kilometers to the top were over 6% so we were glad to see the summit sign. After that it was just all downhill to Salmo. We had an interesting effect on the way down, the road surface must have been wash boarded by the heavy trucks descending, and it felt as if we had a problem with a tire wall failure. That’s a little scary when doing 50+kph. We found our designated hotel and checked in.

After a cuppa and a snack we noticed two other bikes come in. Marge, starved of intelligent conversation, rushed out to talk to them at an indecent speed. They were a very nice couple from Lovelands area of Colorado, and we swapped various stories. Later we went to their room and shared more stories and a couple of beers.

Supper was BBQ’d chicken, peas and brown rice followed by cherries, yogurt, and what was left of the raspberry creams. With the showers returning with a vengeance, we sat down to do the blog, only to find that we could not get the free WiFi in our room, 5 meters outside the front door was fine, but not practical in view of the p……g rain. Problems to fix tomorrow. Now we are off into town for a beer.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print. So Night night.

Pictures

13.8kph average

Distance: 40km
Total Distance: 2864km
Alt change: 800m
Total Alt change: 19724m

Day 40 - Christina lake to Castlegar

2009-07-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

The campsite quieted down around 11pm which is quite surprising considering that it was a Saturday and July 4th. Some folks had brought very loud explosive fireworks which gave Marge and I a surprise as we had retired about 8:30pm and were sound asleep at the time. We had decided that due to the high mid afternoon temperatures around here, its best to finish biking early. We had to do Bonanza pass (1534m) which is an elevation change from the lake of nearly 1100m.

We were up and on the road before 7am riding by the side of the lake in peace and cool and after 10km, the climb started in earnest. We stopped for a break after an hour and were overtaken by Iain Reid, a New Zealander who has made Canada his home for about 20 years. He runs a blog with photos of the region which is well worth a visit.

He disappeared into the wide blue yonder and we headed up for another hour when we were joined by a group from Calgary. After a good chat, we all moved off and they also disappeared quickly into the distance.

We crossed the Paulson Bridge, and entered a section of road that was not pleasant to ride. There were cliffs on one side, a rough road surface and no shoulder. It was also one of the steepest, hence slowest parts of the ride. The traffic was light and careful so there was no issue, but we were glad to out of there and onto wider roadway once more. All things come to an end and eventually we passed the sign for Paulson Summit (1534m). With the name change though, we were not sure whether we had done all the major climbing, and the road started to descend pretty quickly.

It soon became apparent everything was downhill from here and we sat on the bike for 90 minutes going at 30 to 50 kph barely pedaling, or braking. Finally we got into Castlegar where it was very hot and so we dove into an A&W for a burger and a couple of steins of their root beer, then found a self catering motel room. It’s a short day tomorrow, 45km, and there are showers threatened for tonight. We chose the Flamingo, and after a quick telephone call we were given free reign of the Motel's cherry treethe use of a very pleasant gazebo. We had steak one more time for supper. I like this travelling, I don't get to eat too much ice cream, but dinner time is always a blow out. {8>)

Margie’s Observations: there are 3 food stores and 6 liquor stores in town, and folks don’t seem so openly friendly here. There, that’s all the news that fit to print for today, Night, night.

Pictures

15.2kph average

Distance: 78km
Total Distance: 2824km
Alt change: 1175m
Total Alt change: 18924m

*Still no altitude measuring device, but this one was easy to estimate as it was essentially all up, then all down.

Day 39 - Midway to Christina Lake

2009-07-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

Slept well, so up early and breakfasted in the room. Bob the owner of the motel came out to see that we had everything and wish us good luck. He is a really nice guy.

We were on the road by 7 am and cycling in the cool air. The road went up slowly, just enough to make you feel that you were working too hard for this speed, but no visibility of going up. We went through Greenwood with its old fashioned buildings and slag piles and the old railway tunnel with the flags of the world painted

on it. We have a photo of this already from a previous trip about 9 years ago. It was a millennium project for local school kids.

The slope did increase a little and after 31kms we breasted the summit of Eholt. (1028m) However, the road continued to rise for the next few hundred meters, so we don’t know what that was all about. What followed was the most perfect descent for old fogies like us; 15km at 40kph. We were in Grand Forks just after 10am.

We took a long time over lunch and a visit to the Tourist information, where Mary and her friend gave us useful info. We also chatted with a local lady named Marjean who told us about the locality and its history. We made the decision to go on another 19km to Christina Lake and reduce tomorrow’s ride. This was a good and bad idea, the downside was it was now 37C, we had a strong head breeze, and the road was very undulating, dropping us into the granny gear several times. We finally got to the camp site, very tired, only to find it down a very steep hill. OK today, but hard for tomorrow as we will probably walk it to avoid stretching the chain.

For tonight, supper is a beef stir fry with ginger, peppers, mushrooms and courgette. The libation of choice is probably water tonight as it tastes so good here. Night, night, that’s all the news that’s fit to print.

Margie’s observation: Two beautiful deer in a field, a flock of swallows swooping around their burrows in a sandy cliff, and most majestic of all, a very large light brown raptor sitting watching on a post by the roadside. Unfortunately all these eluded the camera. On this site there are lots of groups who are very introspective and do not seem so friendly as in other places. (Except for Karen and Jim the camp owners who are excellent folks in all ways.)

Pictures

17.9 kph average

Distance: 79km
Total Distance: 2746km
Alt change: 600m
Total Alt change: 17749m

Day 38 - Osoyoos to Midway

2009-07-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

The day started very early as some evil minded clown opened up his very high power car stereo at 4am to get everyone going. It made me realize my sleeping mat was not fully inflated and my hip was resting on a lump in the grass. Too lazy to do anything about it, I made do until we got up a couple of hours later. We ate a very good breakfast of bacon and tomato sandwiches made with fried bread using the bacon fat. Mmmmmm.

On the road just after 7:15 am in a brilliant morning, the sun being low kept us in shade for most of the first couple of hours of this nicely graded climb. We stopped to refuel and hydrate every 40 minutes or so, and though the total time to the top was about three and a half hours it was not as painful as we had been warned. The views over the valley were impressive, the traffic quite light and the shoulder wide. What more could we want…. A downhill of course and it came after 31km. Most of the rest of the ride down into Rock Creek required minimum effort, and we positioned ourselves in the middle of the road at over 60kph for almost 20 km.

We spent a long time getting an excellent burger and fries in the Rock Creek Café, but the service was sooooooo slow, I think some of the pensioners in there had just left school when they went in and had spent their whole life waiting for a cup of coffee. Of course I exaggerate.

A somewhat larger guy than I came into the café, removed his helmet and took out ear defender plugs. Guess what sort of motor cycle the thoughtless individual rode? There are lots and lots of these un-muffled machines around and they tend to ride in packs. (Clue:You can hear them coming for ages, then as they pass the noise is like being in close proximity to repeated shot gun blasts.)

The next 20km follows the Kettle River valley on a newly surfaced road, and for the first time in BC we had a head wind. It served to keep us cooled as by now it over 36C in the shade, and we had none of that. We opted to stay at the Mile Zero Motel which was another one of Marge’s brilliant decisions. The couple that run it are very helpful and accommodating, if you don’t mind the double entendre. An excellent place to stay and highly recommended if you are in the area.

Showers taken, laundry done, we polished off a 2 liter bottle of A&W Root beer and went comatose for an hour and a half. Coming round slowly we forced ourselves into the heat and bought supper: steak for the BBQ, potatoes, mushrooms and peas with a six pack of KB Black Bear Ale.

So that’s all the news that’s fit to print for today. It will be relatively easy for the next two days till we get to Salmo. Night Night.

Margie’s observations: Mostly centered on wild life, bird song and a couple of exquisite deer which were too quick to be photographed.

Pictures

17.5kph average

Distance: 69km
Total Distance: 2670km
Alt change: 1000m
Total Alt change: 17149m

Day 37 - Keremeos to Osoyoos

2009-07-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

The wind woke us up this morning. A lively breeze coming from the west flapped the awnings like mini sails. This, coupled with the normal hydraulic pressures, got us out of bed before 6:00am. We breakfasted in a little cabin complete with microwave to heat water for the tea and oats. This is a very nice campsite.

The bike was up and ready to be off well before 8am and the breeze pushed us down the valley without much effort. The valley widened as the Similkameen River grew in stature, and Marge took plenty of opportunities to snap pictures on the fly. All good things come to an end, and after 15 km we started to undulate in a more serious way, many of the up-hills bringing us down into granny gear; ie bottom gear, middle ring. For the techno weenies, we do have a lower gear, nicknamed “groveling granny” which is a combination of the lowest with low. This one gives us a speed just slightly greater than a slow walk.

We breasted the top of Richter Pass (1200m) at 38km after a 7 km ascent. Then it was all fun as we descended 6% grades at over 60kph. We passed Spotted pond, a sacred mineral lake of the Okanagan Indian Band, vineyards owned and operated for over 40 years by local Indians and red rock paintings. Unfortunately, we were going much too fast to see them in any detail. Truth be told we saw them in no detail at all and learned about them in the Osoyoos Tourist Magazine.

Spotted Lake is quite interesting - Ed

First stop in town was second breakfast at Tim H’s, then a grocery stop. We initially opted for the campsite in our Itinerary, Nk’Mip RV Campground, but felt we were being ripped off at $40 plus tax. We opted instead for one that had waterslides and a $25 tally. We ended up with a nice shady site right next to the waterslides. We were entertained all afternoon by the squeals of kids having fun.

33C today, same tomorrow, so it’s up early and away we go. Night, Night.

PS, I think we have the creak sorted out. It’s just the tip of the teeth on the rear cassette interfering with the side plates on the chain. This is not a problem normally, but after 2-3 hours in low gears they run short of lubrication. Solution is to either stop, or pedal backwards for a couple of revolutions.

PPS: Marge never went up to our French neighbors last night to chat. I’m still in shock.

Pictures

17.3 kph average

Distance: 59km
Total Distance: 2601km
Alt change: 1200m
Total Alt change: 16149m

Day 36 - Princeton to Keremeos

2009-07-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today is a designated rest day according to the plan, but we have decided that as the ride to Keremeos is all downhill we will do it today. We have tomorrow as a short day too, as it will be just 46km to Osoyoos.

Special breakfast today, first time this holiday, eggs, bacon, mushrooms and toast cooked by my own oily hands. I checked the bottom bracket for tightness yesterday and had to remove the front chain, I did use hand sterilizer though.

Perfect day, fair wind and nicely cool as we meandered downhill along the Similkameen River valley. We were making good speed and it was not long before we picked up a guy from Trois Riviere who was riding for 42 days from Hope to home with his wife in a camper behind. He had chosen a very similar route to us through the Prairies. We chatted happily and the miles sped by and soon enough we were half way and time for coffee.

We left our friend and stopped at a diner in Hedley before finishing off the remaining miles. We arrived just as the Visitor Information was closing, but the very charming, and cute, young lady offered to open up and assist us. We found out that we had to retrace our wheels for a couple of kilometers to the Eagle Campsite where we were welcomed by Dorrie and Steve. Suddenly we came over tired and hungry, so ate half a 12 inch Pizza and a couple of apples, put up the tent and made a cuppa tea. It was thus that we blew the afternoon sitting in the sun reading and enjoying the situation.

It is 16:00h as I write and 2 Quebec lads have come home from picking cherries, I wonder how long it will be before Marge can’t resist the temptation to go talk to them.

Pictures

25kph average

Distance: 70km
Total Distance: 2542km
Alt change: 100m
Total Alt change: 14949m

Day 35 - Mule Deer Campsite to Princeton

2009-06-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

We woke up to a chilly morning. We were at 1100m and though the sun was shining the air was very dry. It was cold in the shade. We were on the road with numb fingers before 8 am and sped merrily downwards towards Princeton then up and more up. Eventually 7 km of up to Sunday Summit at an elevation only 60m lower than Allison Pass; a climb of over 400m.

It was here that I realized that my altimeter was not working and I am afraid that we will no longer bring you “climbage” data.

After the initial fast descent we undulated down the left side of the valley beside an increasingly bigger Pasayten River. Some undulations brought us down to 5 km per hour and all thoughts of a quick passage to lunch faded into grinding of gears. A funny creaking noise was coming from somewhere at the rear of the bike when we are in bottom gear. (No doubters, this is not any part of either of the intrepid biker’s anatomy crying out for mercy.)

Cutting a long bike ride story short, we arrived famished and sweaty. The day having now turned too hot to be outside without 30+ sun lotion. We found lunch and decided on a Motel in town as tonight’s prediction is 3 degrees (Princeton is at 700m). We laundered everything possible, shopped for food and a bottom bracket tool (For the creak). While Marge did magic for supper, Ron busily tightened all screws, bolts, couplings and anything else that might be the cause of the creak. We shall see.

Pictures

17.6 kph average

Distance: 60km
Total Distance: 2472km
Alt change: 800m
Total Alt change: 14849m

Day 34 - Hope to Manning Park (Mule Deer Camp Site)

2009-06-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

Our petrol stove has been acting up, burning very yellow and difficult to start and so I am thinking of dumping it and getting a gas stove. To make matters worse it ran out of fuel this morning during breakfast, fortunately we were nearly done so no great shakes. Then I remembered why we brought that particular stove with us- We went over the road to the gas station and filled ‘er up for 60 cents.

We did our usual morning chats with neighbors and other cyclists. The Kettle Valley Railway experience seems to be top of the list of just finished routes. Everyone looked suitably tired.

Once on the road, the morning was perfect. Up route 3 and passed Hope Slide the traffic was light and the shoulder was wide. The grade pretty soon developed into a bottom gear grind which continued for the next 750m climbed. Oh what fun we had! The hill then flattened and slowly we entered Sunshine Valley with a long descent (!) but what the heck all miles are good miles. We stopped for lunch at Sumallo Grove Picnic area, which comes highly recommended as a lunch stop, because it is some way off the highway among some 500 year old fir trees.

In a fit of bravado I asked a couple of German ladies if they had any spare water. Bless their hearts, they gave us a litre bottle for which we were most grateful. Tea was brewed and the stove burned blue and happily, all is forgiven. (I think that the last time I’d filled up it must have been with 2 stroke mix which accounts for the layer of soot on our new Titanium pans. Sorry Alex and Gen’.)

The rest of the ride fades in the memory as it was rather difficult for us old folks. We ran out of water in our bottles and took some from a stream which we then treated so no real hardship and we needed the rest while the chemicals did their thing. We conquered the pass about 4:00pm took the photos and cruised down to supper at the Manning Resort. We decided that, as it was all downhill to Mule Deer Campground, I would treat Marge to a night out. We arrived, set up and went comatose in record time having selected a site near the toilets. We appreciate these little things much more now than we used to.

The first big pass conquered, I now feel a great deal of admiration for the tenacity of my two lads that did this when they were 10 and 12 years old.

Pictures

12.7kph average

Distance: 80km
Total Distance: 2412km
Alt change: 1540m
Total Alt change: 14049m

Day 33 - Abbotsford to Hope

2009-06-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

Up late this morning and took the breakfast in the hotel while doing the blog. So we are now a day ahead of schedule; Marge has suggested we use it as a sick day one day when the tennis is on TV.

We started out riding alongside the TCH on a service road which finally broke off and took us into rural Frazer Valley. There are no hills here, and the wind was behind us so we made good time to our first, “Where do we go now stop?” We were standing looking lost and a guy stopped his van, and said pointing to our bike, “We have one of those,” and asked us if we would like help. He patiently explained a very nice route he took on his tandem up to a Pub in Chilliwack and told us he was off to Ireland for a tour with his tandem shortly.

Strengthened by the knowledge that there was a pub in a few km we sped off into the east only to run out of steam just outside a Tim H’s. Pub grub forgotten, we made do with soup and a sandwich.

The day warmed nicely, as our new route wended its way alongside the mountain, then turned north to route 9 where we met Doug and Pam. Doug was waiting for his wife who was cycling a similar route to ours. Cut a long story short, Pam said a very nice prayer for us before we left. Only a kilometer or two down the road we were thankful for it as we crossed the very narrow Frazer River bridge in heavy but well behaved traffic. Marge and I did a collective “Phew” when the road opened up and gave us the hard shoulder back. Once on Hwy 7 there was little traffic to worry us as we ate up the final miles to Hope. The campsite was where we expected it to be, and within no time we were set up and shopping for supper.

So that’s it for today. On a scale of 1-10, a positive 10 I would say. Let’s do all again tomorrow when we have the first of the serious climbs up to Allison Pass; about 1400m or so. Night Night.

Pictures

23.3kph average

Distance: 91km
Total Distance: 2332km
Alt change: 230m
Total Alt change: 12509m

Day 32 - Victoria to Abbotsford

2009-06-27T05:05:00.000-07:00

Up early to a beautiful day and muffled noises of preparation from 14 riders, who were on their first day of cross Canada riding. (These are part of a diverse group of people who are making the trip with a baggage van, we have talked of before.) Preparations were made, photos taken, questions asked and answered, and the first push of the pedals.

We meandered through a deserted Victoria Saturday morning and headed south and up the gentle grade to the Mile Zero Marker. We exited town on the blue river bridge shown at the top of yesterday’s blog, and got onto the Goose Cap Bike trail heading north to Swartz Bay Ferry. We stopped for second breakfast at McD’s opposite the Waddling Dog, and then back on the Trail, we were in the Ferry Terminal just after 11am.

We had to wait for an hour for the next ferry so spent the time eating and basking. Such a Pain! When the ferry arrived we rushed onto it with a 100 or so others, only to find that we had boarded the wrong one and just made it off before they closed the doors. The correct ferry was then boarded and we enjoyed a good trip across the sound to Tsawwassan.

As the weather was so good we decided to miss out the planned camp site and go on a little further, and so for the next 80km we were looking for another one! The route along Avenue 0 is very rural, and involves a 160m climb at the start, but after that, it rolls gently down almost into Abbotsford. The route is the actual border which is marked by the occasional post. In Abbotsford, we went into Tim H’s and had a long chat with a guy who had exact, and detailed information on the campsite we were looking for except for one teenie little piece- it no longer existed. This caused us to back track about 4km and find a Super 8, across the road from which there was another Tim H’s. We bought 2 large hot chocolates, took them back to our room, where we diluted said them with the last of our medicinal rum.

Shower and lights out at 9pm. A very memorable day.

Pictures

19.5kph average

Distance: 132km
Total Distance: 2241km
Alt change: 560m
Total Alt change: 12279m

Day 31 - Rest Day in Victoria

2009-06-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks not much happened today, the sun shone, we walked round this lovely town and the saw the sights. We are really practicing the art of “the chat” and the long coffee break. We spend lots of time talking to people like us, ie retired, who have absolutely nothing better to do but sit in the sun and relax. Actually it is very rewarding.

We are both looking forward to tomorrow and the first leg of our journey home. Our route is planned and it will take us off Island to a place that is unpronounceable unless you live here. It has far too many W’s and S’s- Tsawwassen. So till tomorrow au revoir. To Martin: Sorry we missed you, but fear not-we’ll be back!

Day 30 - Victoria Airport to Victoria HI

2009-06-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

Got up real early, suffering jet lag and pokes in the ribs from she who makes the rules to have me brew some tea. That task accomplished the rest of the morning’s activities went by smoothly and with the ingestion of a copious number of calories. We fetched the bike from the beer and wine store and thanked the nice lady who had helped us last night, loaded him* up and got on our way. The legs were heavy, and the 6 km to Butchart Gardens were not easy.

We anted up the $28 per head with some trepidation, but once in, the flowers and the setting are quite breathtaking. We meandered round the Garden in the sunshine for nearly 3 hours, and then aimed to take the Lochside Path into Victoria. With a comedy of errors we finally made it onto said path and into Town where Marge found the Hostel post haste.

We have become accustomed to the folks in hostels helping us get our stuff organized, and this hostel is no exception. Tea was brewed, shopping done for two days food and we sat down to chat. We found a girl in the hostel from St Bruno, on her way to Seattle, and a couple touring the island from Gatineau. We meant to do a lot round town seeing sights etc, but were to tired; the Gardens and the ride in made us somewhat slothful. I spent the early evening blogging and emailing, and drinking tea, while Marge organized the washing.

*Footnote: Our tandems with one exception have all been named after generals this one is called Romeo after the Canadian General Romeo Dallaire.

Pictures
Pictures 2

17kph average

Distance: 65km
Total Distance: 2132km
Alt change: 12m
Total Alt change: 11458m

Day 29 - Flight to Victoria

2009-06-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

We finished off the packing about 6:30am and sat patiently waiting for the taxi to arrive at 9:30 am to take us to the airport. Marge likes to be ready early, and this leaves us a lot longer to worry. We sat on the front steps of the hostel and chatted to a couple of guys we had met on the ferry who were touring on motor cycles. One of the bikes was a custom built Harley called a Jackpot Custom, and after the special paint it cost around $50 thousand dollars. It was, of course all tricked out except for a muffler and so very loud.

The taxi van arrived early and for a minute, or two, was concerned that we could not get the bike in, but with some arrangement of seat backs, we managed to get everything in and off we set. For once everything went swimmingly at the airport check-in. The Air Canada Staff were cheerful and once they understood what we wanted to do were very helpful indeed. Likewise the security guys who initially wanted us to unpack the bike, but negotiation and common sense prevailed, security was satisfied, and the box re-taped with little delay. Thanks to all.

The flights were just boring, and that is also just great. We of course got chatting to lots of folks, which made the time go quickly, and at 19:00h local time we landed in Victoria. The bike was among the first things off and we were pleased that it seemed to be in good order. We assembled the bike in a bike assembly point in the grounds of the airport which was furnished with a pump and bike work stands and in about an hour we were on our way to the Waddling Dog Quality Inn. After a little discussion the bike was housed in the beer and wine stores, while we went into a rather swish accommodation. Well worth the little extra. The Pub Grub is also highly recommended.

The highlight of my day, apart from the safe arrival, was that we finished the jam we had lugged for 2000 km in our oats in SJ so I don’t have to pedal it over the Rockies.

Pictures

23kph average

Distance: 7km
Total Distance: 2074km
Alt change: 12m
Total Alt change: 11458m

NOTE: Does not include plane and taxi.

Day 28 - Rest Day

2009-06-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

Rest day 2 - St John’s

We ate a good breakfast where we were introduced to Toutons, then took a walk to Bill’s cycle shop where we picked up 2 bike boxes. Unfortunately, we had a long walk back to the Hostel in torrential rain where we got the boxes wet, (surprise). We then stripped the bike for transport, lazed around, wrote the blog, drank tea and waited for the boxes to dry enough so that the box tape would stick. (Who says men are not multi-taskers?) So that’s it for today.

In deference to the Editor, I have deliberately used fewer subordinate clauses and reduced the number of commas. Thanks for that input.

Hurrah! - Ed

Tomorrow it is the flight to Victoria so those with maps of our progress will have to go all the way to the left side to see where we are. In summary, we have ridden longer, further, higher and better than any trip before to get here. We’ve been lucky for the most part with the wind and weather; the traffic has been light and good natured. Best driver award goes to Province of New Brunswick so far. Most importantly, we’ve met many nice people, and found out we were loved a lot by those we left behind. Special thanks go to Emily, who took time off work to gently shepherd us and welcome us to St John’s and is an excellent companion. The Skype event was very special thanks to all involved.

Pictures

Day 27 - Rest Day

2009-06-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Day 1 in St John’s:

Beers: 6
Screech: 2
Fish and Chips: 5
Toutons: 6
Wet legs: 6
Whales: 2 (maybe)
Puffins and assorted other birds: 2493216

Pretty painted houses, 100’s, funny road intersections many, greater than 20% hills-who can count?

Emily is a gentle slave driver and word has it she follows her mother in this regard. She shepherded us to Shea Heights, where Ron made a joke about someone coming up to him with an offer to sell him the site, and his response faithfully recorded here- “I don’t take Shea Height from anyone". When he’d recovered, the intrepid party visited Bay Bulls, where they bought tickets to take a trip to see puffins et al. Unfortunately, the fog was very thick, so to spot these porcine shaped flappers was somewhat more difficult, than it was for the birds to spot us and we were warned to keep our mouths closed at all times. We got some good shots of fog, no one was sea sick and so we counted that as money well spent.

Back on land, it was lunch time. We all had gourmet burgers. In Bay Bulls, this means a whole wheat bun, a well cooked patty, and a Dill pickle. It was, however, delicious. Some more gentle shepherding was done, Emily making sure that we were not over taxed, and we were at Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America. There was close up photography of rocks and plants, as we basked in the soft light of the fog. Then, as we approached the old WW2 shore defense battery, the fog cleared and beauty surrounded us. One more magical experience.

Emily drove us back through heavy rush hour traffic to Ches’s where we sampled some superb fish and chips, then it was time for Skype. Skype was an audio visual event with the three of us sat with Em’s laptop in the back of her Mazda connected with good friends at home. (I love technology which enables me to see new angles on our garden from 2000km away but don’t ask why we had to do it in the back of her car.) Thoroughly drained from laughing too much, we thought our day was ended, but no! It was back to George St where we were anointed the 95002 and 95003 honorary Newfoundlanders at Trapper John’s Pub. A couple of beers at Greensleeves Pub finished the night with a very good singer guitarist playing all the songs we knew.

Pictures

Day 26 - Junction of TCH and Route 100 to St John's

2009-06-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

We breakfasted in the room on muesli and jam sandwiches then made our way over the diner for a cup of coffee with Lads which Neil generously paid for. The sky was lightly overcast, and the wind came unhelpfully but without much conviction from the south. We stayed on to chat with Clare and Robert then made our way slowly toward St J’s. We caught up with three of the lads quite quickly, but Neil was way ahead until their compulsory 10km stop.

We finally set off on our own and caught up with Tristan (one of the lads from Quebec) who was looking a little tired. We gave him a banana and some trail mix and lead him into the wind for some time, until he caught up with his friend. Enjoyment of the peace and tranquility of the countryside however was short lived as the traffic built up to a steady stream and it became too noisy to communicate.

We took exit 42 into town and made a few peregrinations, but finally found the mile zero marker, took a picture and found the Hostel, which is excellent. We made arrangement with the guys for a celebration as Bob has finally finished his crossing, he had taken six bites at it, but now it was done! We are walking to George Street.

17kph average

Distance: 89km
Total Distance: 2067km
Alt change: 904m
Total Alt change: 11446m

Day 25 - Argentia Terminal to TCH/Route 100 Junction

2009-06-20T04:33:00.000-07:00

We had a good night with no ship wrecks, men, or women over board, in fact nothing to laugh at at all. We ate too much, drank too much bad coffee, and looked out on a smooth sea in bright sunshine for the duration of the crossing. We chatted to lots of folks and developed our friendship with the other cyclists. There are a fun bunch of retired guys Ken, Bob, Len and Neil that get together once per year and cycle somewhere. They were very helpful with advice on how to get into Winnipeg, and offered us accommodation while we’re there. We also spent time trying to improve our French with Clare and Robert, our tandem twins, and Tristan and Magellan, young lads for Quebec City. It was decided that due to the lateness of the of disembarkation, we would shorten our day and aim for a motel: the Moorland at the junction of the TCH and route 100.

On leaving the terminal, the road meanders along for a couple of kilometers then sharply turns up at 13%. Typical, the front changer decided to act up, and we could not get into our groveling granny gear. The pain was soon over though and what doesn’t kill you makes you wish you’d cleaned the bike properly after the deluge in PEI.

At the top there was an Information Centre, and I popped in for a comfort stop. On leaving, this cute lady “of a certain age” chirped, “Could I have helped you?” Well before I could stop myself, I said that I done it many times and knew just what to do thanks.

Such accommodating folk. The scenery was nicely varied as we past the end of a small fjord, then climbed gently onto the Rock. The wind was generous once again, and blew us along nicely and we were soon at the Motel. We all joined up for supper at the local diner which was nothing to write home about. In bed for 10pm. Sweet dreams……

Pictures

20kph average

Distance: 46km
Total Distance: 1978km
Alt change: 377m
Total Alt change: 10542m

Day 24 - Whycocomagh to North Sydney Ferry

2009-06-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

First night camping where at least one of us was too warm! The forecast was for a warm day again today so we were up early and making tea to the song of the early morning bird chorus. On the road to perfect riding by 7:30am and up a 100m climb to get the blood flowing. We took our time and traveled easy, arriving at the Tim Hortons in Baddeck before 9:30. The road had a good hard shoulder for the most part, but it got very narrow where they had widened the road to provide a passing lane on our side. No real issues though. There were lots of rolling hills and beautiful landscapes of Cape Breton and Bras d’Or lakes. We cleaned the 240m Kelly’s Mountain and ate cheese and onion sandwiches at St Anne’s lookout with the Englishtown ferry below us

We were privileged to view an aerial battle between four crows and two falcons. The crows were attacking from behind and high and flying very fast, the falcons were nonchalantly, it seemed, twisting and turning, then just at the last moment would barrel roll and present the oncoming crow with talons. No blood was spilled on this occasion and the falcons took the hint and left the area.

We chatted to a couple of guys from Wisconsin, then, started down the 4km downhill to the narrow bridge at the bottom. This would have been a good photo op, but frankly we were too interested in getting off the bridge. I stayed in the middle of the lane to avoid cars trying to overtake us, but no one did and we got to the other side unscathed. After that, it was just a case of completing the last 30 km to the ferry. We had nice rolling country and we had a generous breeze at our back.

We got to the ferry before 2pm, parked the bike and went for Chinese at the local shop on Main St. Very good it was too. The terminal has Wi-Fi so we sorted email, blog and stuff, chatted to a guy from Perth Australia on a European and Atlantic Province tour; these folks are definitely different from us, they are really comfortable with themselves and need no one.

Just after 7pm, a group of cyclists started to gather, we met up with the tandem pair from Quebec, a group of 4 guys from Winnipeg, and a guy from Calgary, who had delivered a car to a friend in Pictou, and had cycled the 293 km to the ferry in one day. His name is Garth. (Does anyone remember the Daily Mirror comic strip with the same name?) The night became very entertaining as stories and reminiscences were swapped until we boarded the ferry around midnight. We immediately went to our cabin and showered and were asleep in no time. This crossing has to be a record for there was hardly a ripple on the sea….

Sorry folks, I can’t think of anything funny that has happened today, except an email from Mike F, however, this day was another interesting and enjoyable experience.

Pictures

19.5kph average

Distance: 95km
Total Distance: 1932km
Alt change: 839m
Total Alt change: 10165m

New Photos

2009-06-19T03:59:00.000-07:00

Incoming message from Andrew...

Tim has given me new photos that he took while he was riding with mum and dad.

Check 'em out.

End communication..

Day 23 - Antigonish to Whycocomagh

2009-06-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

We had the best night’s camping of the trip so far; it was warm, and quiet, and the loos were a few meters away. Ron got up early, as we had slept so well. Marge needed a cup of tea to get her going, and I had no problem with that. There had been a short shower during the night, so when we got on the road at 7:30 am the asphalt was still damp. But, the day soon warmed and we were steaming along the TCH 104 without too many worries, occasionally the paved shoulder would run out for a couple of hundred meters, but it seemed that during those times there was no traffic to worry about. All the trucks were very biker aware and gave us lots of room, or waited patiently for us to get out of the way.

High point of the day was spotting a very large Eagle , white head, fan white tail. Unfortunately we could not photograph it. Low point was a beautiful red deer dead in the ditch.

We stopped at 30km for a short break then it was up and down all the way to Canso Causeway Tourist Office, where we were told the route we had chosen to take through St Peters using 104 had lots of road-works and the shoulder was in poor shape. We were strongly recommended to use the TCH (Trans Canada Highway.) instead.

We met up with Jean Francois (the young man we had met near Marshville) again and said au revoir as he was off to Louisburg, while we snacked and then made our way east on the TCH. We suffered absolutely fabulous weather, 28C, and a strong tail breeze, blue, blue skies and clear visibility. It got tiring as the miles piled, due in part to the heat, the hills and our first hot day of the summer. But all good things come to an end, by 2:30 we were where we wanted to be: sitting in the shade drinking cold chocolate milk. Then, we went over the road to a new super market which was just being set up, workmen and shelf stuffers everywhere: Chaos. 200m to a campsite, cup of tea, carton of Pringles, up with the tent, shower, wash clothes, make supper, -tonight Steak, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, peas, fruit and of course tea. (Did I mention a tot of Captain Morgans? )

18.9kph average

Distance: 102km
Total Distance: 1837km
Alt change: 809m
Total Alt change: 9326m

Pictures

Day 22 - YMCA Camp at Big Bay Cove to Antigonish

2009-06-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

After a cool night, which was “just” uncomfortable (we never learn to dress properly for bed) we breakfasted on muesli and tea, then packed and made our way up the dirt track to the 104. Today it was nowhere near as threatening and we really enjoyed the vistas and the sounds of birds: loons, woodpeckers, and many more. We did a few kilometers on the 104, then turned off on to the old road, route 4. This turned out to be quite tough and energy sapping. We stopped after about an hour and made excellent cheese sandwiches. With 25 km to go we were forced back onto the 104, where the road went through a pass, and the good news was there was construction of the other carriageway which allowed us sole possession of our side of the highway for long periods. It was onwards and upwards, then (bliss) downwards into Antigonish.

We checked if there was a campsite up the road another 20 km, but effectively there were none so we opted to have a short day, and stay in Antigonish, at Whidden’s in the middle of the town. We shopped and fed in the warm breeze.

About 3:30pm another couple on a blue tandem, complete with Bob trailer and front and rear bags, arrived. They had been a couple of days behind us and we had heard of them through the grapevine en route. Their plan is to do a similar ride to us, ie ride to St John’s then fly, in their case to Vancouver, and ride the T-Can Back to Quebec City. A little later, up rolls the young man from yesterday. We have quite a cyclist convention. Last, but not least of today’s fine surprises, I ran out of fuel for my stove and got a free refill from the site gardener. Magic. It will be spaghetti a la Trumper for supper, with juicy California Cherries for dessert.

18.5 kph average

Distance: 54km
Total Distance: 1735km
Alt change: 581m
Total Alt change: 8517m

Pictures

Day 21 - Marshville to French River YMCA Camp

2009-06-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

We packed up the bike and had a fine farewell lunch with Joan and Meredith. Joan had been running around all morning trying to fix a problem with the new windows at the other house, so we felt very humble to have such a good dinner before we left. But leave we did in bright sunshine and retraced our wheel tracks from Pictou.

We met another tourist. He had come in from Quebec City and had taken the train to Moncton. It was his third day. He retired to a campsite after a few kilometers, and I’m sure we will see him again. The ride along the causeway was not as traumatic as we anticipated as the little traffic there was, was considerate and gave us plenty of room. Also, for the most part there was a wide shoulder.

We stayed on the 104 Trans Canada Highway for the next 25 or so km, then turned off just before French River to our “campsite.” The track descended and got rougher and twisted and turned passed some beautiful waterscapes. We finally arrived at a summer camp, but after chatting with the staff, they kindly allowed us to set up our tent and even offered us the use of a cabin. It was good to hear the kids having so much fun.

A light supper of ham and mashed potatoes, followed by biscuit au chocolat, and a mug of tea. Into bed and listened to some Chris de Burgh and, dare I say it, Willie Nelson.

18.7 kph average

Distance: 71km
Total Distance: 1681km
Alt change: 562m
Total Alt change: 7936m

Pictures

Days 19 & 20 - Rest Days

2009-06-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

We got up at 8:30 am with a tray of morning tea delivered by Joan. Then we went in for a leisurely breakfast. We lazed around enjoying J &E’s company all day till we were organized to take a little walk alongside the estuary at Tatamagouche. Enjoyed the New Nelson Park, and took in a Quay that had been built in a week by the guys for the tv show “The week the Women went.”

J &E are very busy with the restoring of a cottage and wish to sell their house down by the water. I've attached some pictures and can attest it is both a picturesque setting and a lovely house, 9km east of Tatamagouche. Yesterday we spent some time with Meredith’s carers, Janice and Darleene, two ladies with hearts of gold. They come in as respite for Joan.

The weather has been wonderful, and we are fully recovered thanks to the quality, and quantity, of excellent food, wine and hospitality. We have decided to leave tomorrow, at lunch time and go to French River 15km to east of New Glasgow. This will ease the mileage for the days to North Sydney.

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Day 18 - Charlottetown to Marshville

2009-06-13T05:09:00.000-07:00

Part 1 On PEI:

We went to bed early last night and missed the third period of the Stanley Cup Final. In truth, we also missed the first and the second as well chatting to an Aussie named Barry who was on his 10 year long service leave doing a whirlwind tour through Canada. They had started at Fairbanks and done everything in between.

When we had been in bed for some time two Japanese girls came into the room and started to have a chat which got quite loud and animated. I was waiting for Marge to say something, but she didn’t. I slept well apart from being woken by Marge’s loud and continuous snoring. I was about to waken her in consideration of the other folks in the dorm, then I realized that there was only me and the Japanese girls. I slipped off to sleep again as the two girls tossed and turned. I guess what comes around goes around.

This morning, we took our time packing and then went in search of some chain lube as the deluge yesterday had washed the Teflon off. At the same time I hoped to buy a HR monitor and altimeter, but though I was lucky with the lube, we were unsuccessful otherwise.

Once across the Hillsborough Bridge, we made really good time on the gently rolling road with following wind. Very rural countryside spun out before us and it was not long before we stopped at Cherry Valley for a cup of coffee.

We arrived at the ferry at 1:40pm, 10mins after it had departed and the next one was 5pm. All was not lost, we bought a pair of fish and chip platters, the fish is to die for, which we sat quietly and ravenously devoured.

Part 2 In Nova Scotia:

The trip across the Northumberland Straight took 75mins, the sea was flat and the sun shone, making it a very pleasant experience. As we disembarked we saw Eddie, and after the hugs were exchanged, we got on with the plan of getting all our kit to Marshville 45km. We decided to ride the bike, and Eddie would take the trailer and panniers in the car. No wind, beautiful sunshine and a light bike. Eddie came us meet us on his bike with about 12 kms to go and we made it chez Joan and Eddie about 8:20pm ravenous. Lobster, salad, homemade bread, wine, Rhubarb pie, ice cream and tea. Stuffed. And so to bed just after mid night.

23kph average

Distance: 108km
Total Distance: 1598km
Alt change: 450m
Total Alt change: 7374m

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