Day 78 Thunder Bay to Nipigon

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.