Day 60: Brockville, ON to Robert Moses State Park, NY--64 miles
After a great night's sleep at The Green Door, Peter and Lynne pampered us a bit more by serving us a fantastic breakfast--mushroom omelettes, homemade biscuits, and fresh fruit--YUM! They also served up some great conversation and we were so glad we stopped one last night in Canada. But the day had dawned beautifully bright and sunny, so we were determined to reach the USA--so with a couple of pictures, we left Peter and Lynne behind. But we hope to visit them again soon!
The ride was flat and we didn't have much of a headwind. Our first 20 miles in Canada were definitely in the high-rent district--huge old mansions and new McMansions right on the St. Lawrence River. The river is just gorgeous, so we had lots of picture stops, especially once we were within sight of the bridge to the USA. We stopped for one last chai and latte in Prescott and they gave us a great send-off at the Cup After Cup coffee shop. We took a few last pictures before checking out the Ontario Visitor's Center to get the scoop on going across the bridge. We were greeted by three friendly and helpful folks at the visitor's center, and they gave us the advice that we should just go across that bridge like we belong there--because bicycles aren't officially allowed on the bridge.
So off we went toward the Ogdensburg bridge. It is a couple of miles long and is made entirely of metal grating. Therefore, if you look down, you can see right down to the water below--no matter how high you are! Every time we took a peek, it made our stomaches do flips! If a car was on the bridge in our section, we could really feel the vibration. But the craziest part of all was going down the other side of the bridge into the USA. The bikes kind of floated and skittered on that metal grating--very scary! I was imagining having a wreck on that grating, and that wouldn't be good at all for keeping skin on your body. I was SO glad we didn't go over the bridge yesterday, because in the rain it would have been very slippery...
Once on the USA side, we stopped and took the obligatory pictures of "Welcome to the USA" and "Welcome to New York." We then dug our passports out and headed to the customs station. Note--there is no line at this USA entry--almost ever! All the other entries were jam packed and the wait would have been at least an hour. Here, we rode right up to the gate. And then it got interesting. The border patrol guy asked us what we had been doing before we came to the gate. We said we had taken pictures like at every state crossing on the trip, etc. He said "Did you take a picture of our building?" I wasn't sure because I wasn't focusing on the building--I was focusing on the NY sign! They asked us to see the pictures inside the building. So we went over and showed them our pictures. They were very friendly and helpful, but the one guard did say that it would be possible for them to take our camera if they want. But since they didn't see anything suspicious in our pictures, they let us and the camera enter the USA. Whew! We left Canada's great folks and good beer sadly, but we weren't unhappy to leave the roads behind.
Once in NY, we headed straight for food. We stopped for lunch at Vinn's BBQ. It was fantastic BBQ! Note: the premium beer at this establishment was Mich Ultra. Bummer for David, but I got my first unsweetened iced tea in two weeks! Yay!
After lunch and a lots of help regarding directions from the guy at Vinn's, we headed east toward Massena and the State Park where we wanted to camp. On the USA side of the St. Lawrence River, there are a lot of small farms and reasonably sized homes--and it was just lovely! The shoulder was fabulous--big enough for the Amish buggies that frequent the area.
We made it to the Robert Moses State Park without incident, seeing lots of beautiful water country along the way. The check-in was about 2 miles from the campground, and they asked us to pick our site before checking in. So we rode to the site, and there was one of the steepest hills we have seen so far on the way! David volunteered to take the trip back to the check-in while I got things ready for dinner. We had a pretty good night's sleep there and this time, nothing got stolen!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Waterlogged!!!
Day 59: Gananoque to Brockville, ON--36 miles
Today was a good day for ducks and loons--but not a good day for cycling! We had a huge thunderstorm during the night and hoped the front would move through. But it didn't. It was a soggy, rainy morning.
We had a fantastic breakfast at the Athlone Inn and waited around to see if the rain would stop. No such luck--so at about 10:00 we decided to brave the storm and ride. Our plan was to enter the USA. We donned our waterproof gear once again and started pedaling. We pedaled and pedaled, but the rain didn't let up at all--in fact, it seemed to get more and more intense!
People had tole us this would be one of our most scenic days. We spent it peering through rain-spattered glasses on the bike path that paralleled the 1000 Islands Parkway. It was called the Waterfront Trail, and we were very thankful to have a bike path on such a miserable weather day. The path was pretty typical of bike paths--many are afterthoughts, as is bicycle transportation. We realize now from first-hand experience how important our nephew Heath's job as a bicycle advocate is! This particular path was about 6 feet wide, but it had a huge hump right down the middle with plants growing up out of it. Since it was raining, there were huge long puddles running down either side of the hump, and thus the whole path was taken up by obstacles! Ride in the center and you have to balance on the hump while avoiding the slippery plants. Ride in the troughs and you're IN water. But we managed--stopping to dry of our glasses about every 10 minutes.
The 1000 Islands area is definitely a must-see! We saw so many islands. They say in Canada, it takes two trees to classify as an island, and people will buy a little island for seasonal use. Many folks duck-hunt and will put a little shack on their island. Others build huge mansions as second homes, I guess. So these islands are sometimes completely covered by house! It was really neat to see! They told us that very few people would stay year-round on any of these places--they are not used in the winter.
We were SO wet, we stopped in at Brown's Bay Provincial Park and took shelter at their staff building for a bit. The staff there was so nice! They had a little canteen and we had some fresh french fries, and we chatted with them. They were getting ready for a huge reggae festival the next day, but were hampered by the rain! We could see NY across the river, and after trying to warm up with the hand dryers in the restrooms (they call them washrooms in Canada), we hit the road again.
The rain just wouldn't stop. We were wet and getting cold, and limped into Brockville. We decided at that point that 36 miles is just enough when you're riding in a deluge, so we stopped in at the first available store (a leather and antiques place) and asked the proprieter for advice on hotels. He pointed us to a new B&B that was close to the center of town. Off we went to find The Green Door.
The Green Door is a converted church! On the outside, it still looks like a church--without a true steeple. At the B&B, Peter answered the door. He took our horrendous appearance in stride and said of course they had some room available. I'm not sure I would have done it considering how wet we were! He immediately helped us take our bikes downstairs, rigged up a clothesline in the basement, and gave us towels so that we could put something dry on. We were pretty early, so the rooms were not yet ready, but Peter and Lynne took care of us anyway! They gave us great ideas for where to get a bowl of soup, and we headed out for a bit.
When we came back, we got to check out this place that Peter and Lynne have done so much work on. They have taken a cavernous sanctuary with extremely high ceilings and made it feel beautiful and very cozy! I believe they have done most of the work themselves, and it is just fantastic! I applaud them for their efforts, and think they will be quite successful in this venture!
We went to do laundry, and had a drink at the next-door pub--the Phoenix. There we met Sylvia, Ralph, and Ron as well as some of their other friends. Another gang of fun and friendly Canadians! We so enjoyed getting to know them, and they kept trying to buy us drinks! We almost forgot to eat dinner, but when you're cycling, the stomach rules and we left The Phoenix and went to the Buell St. Bistro for dinner. But we definitely want to go back and see this fun group again!
Our dinner at the Buell St. Bistro was just fantastic and a great way to end a soggy day! Brockville, although an unplanned stop, was so fun and we will try to make it back there in the future!
Today was a good day for ducks and loons--but not a good day for cycling! We had a huge thunderstorm during the night and hoped the front would move through. But it didn't. It was a soggy, rainy morning.
We had a fantastic breakfast at the Athlone Inn and waited around to see if the rain would stop. No such luck--so at about 10:00 we decided to brave the storm and ride. Our plan was to enter the USA. We donned our waterproof gear once again and started pedaling. We pedaled and pedaled, but the rain didn't let up at all--in fact, it seemed to get more and more intense!
People had tole us this would be one of our most scenic days. We spent it peering through rain-spattered glasses on the bike path that paralleled the 1000 Islands Parkway. It was called the Waterfront Trail, and we were very thankful to have a bike path on such a miserable weather day. The path was pretty typical of bike paths--many are afterthoughts, as is bicycle transportation. We realize now from first-hand experience how important our nephew Heath's job as a bicycle advocate is! This particular path was about 6 feet wide, but it had a huge hump right down the middle with plants growing up out of it. Since it was raining, there were huge long puddles running down either side of the hump, and thus the whole path was taken up by obstacles! Ride in the center and you have to balance on the hump while avoiding the slippery plants. Ride in the troughs and you're IN water. But we managed--stopping to dry of our glasses about every 10 minutes.
The 1000 Islands area is definitely a must-see! We saw so many islands. They say in Canada, it takes two trees to classify as an island, and people will buy a little island for seasonal use. Many folks duck-hunt and will put a little shack on their island. Others build huge mansions as second homes, I guess. So these islands are sometimes completely covered by house! It was really neat to see! They told us that very few people would stay year-round on any of these places--they are not used in the winter.
We were SO wet, we stopped in at Brown's Bay Provincial Park and took shelter at their staff building for a bit. The staff there was so nice! They had a little canteen and we had some fresh french fries, and we chatted with them. They were getting ready for a huge reggae festival the next day, but were hampered by the rain! We could see NY across the river, and after trying to warm up with the hand dryers in the restrooms (they call them washrooms in Canada), we hit the road again.
The rain just wouldn't stop. We were wet and getting cold, and limped into Brockville. We decided at that point that 36 miles is just enough when you're riding in a deluge, so we stopped in at the first available store (a leather and antiques place) and asked the proprieter for advice on hotels. He pointed us to a new B&B that was close to the center of town. Off we went to find The Green Door.
The Green Door is a converted church! On the outside, it still looks like a church--without a true steeple. At the B&B, Peter answered the door. He took our horrendous appearance in stride and said of course they had some room available. I'm not sure I would have done it considering how wet we were! He immediately helped us take our bikes downstairs, rigged up a clothesline in the basement, and gave us towels so that we could put something dry on. We were pretty early, so the rooms were not yet ready, but Peter and Lynne took care of us anyway! They gave us great ideas for where to get a bowl of soup, and we headed out for a bit.
When we came back, we got to check out this place that Peter and Lynne have done so much work on. They have taken a cavernous sanctuary with extremely high ceilings and made it feel beautiful and very cozy! I believe they have done most of the work themselves, and it is just fantastic! I applaud them for their efforts, and think they will be quite successful in this venture!
We went to do laundry, and had a drink at the next-door pub--the Phoenix. There we met Sylvia, Ralph, and Ron as well as some of their other friends. Another gang of fun and friendly Canadians! We so enjoyed getting to know them, and they kept trying to buy us drinks! We almost forgot to eat dinner, but when you're cycling, the stomach rules and we left The Phoenix and went to the Buell St. Bistro for dinner. But we definitely want to go back and see this fun group again!
Our dinner at the Buell St. Bistro was just fantastic and a great way to end a soggy day! Brockville, although an unplanned stop, was so fun and we will try to make it back there in the future!
1000 Islands
Day 58: Naponee to Gananoque--45 miles
The day was a resounding success! We woke up and it was overcast and dry outside, but by the time we finished breakfast, it was very rainy and wet! At breakfast, I noticed a door marked "Business Center" with a computer. So I thought I'd read my email--since it was raining and all. I'm very good at doing other things rather than cycling in the rain!
Not only did I do that, we blogged AND loaded some pictures! We were very excited to find a computer that we could use for pictures. So we spent about 3 hours getting all that done--until checkout time.
Unfortunately, the rain hadn't stopped by checkout time, so we sadly put on our full rain regalia. The only bright spot in the morning was David's orange booties! We set out on Rt. 2 toward Kingston in very soggy conditions. The good news I found out was that when I put my rainpants on today (I haven't worn them since Day 15) they were looser than before! Yahoo!
Since we started dry and waterproof, we were pretty comfortable riding. The only problem is that when you're waterproof on the outside, you become very sweaty on the inside! It took us about 2 hours to get to Kingston. This is a neat city--about 120,000 people. We spent a lot of time actually getting to the city centre because there was a lot of outskirt area. It seems to be very cosmopolitan in the downtown area (David noticed lots of double parking) and there was a lot of fun shopping (oh, for more time and room in those panniers!). There were cyclists and walkers everywhere, and we stopped at a local chain called "The Pita Pit" and had a pita sandwich for lunch. Then on to a coffee shop where I tried a vanilla tea latte--good!
By this time, the sun was out but it was about 3:30 p.m. We headed out of Kingston still trying to dry off. The ride was beautiful! We stopped to have a drink and looked over at the water. We decided to take a closer look and rode into this gorgeous neighborhood. There, working on his yard, was Gary, who chatted with us for about 10 minutes. He pointed out that we were looking at the very end of Lake Ontario, and were about to enter the 1000 Islands region. He was a typical friendly, helpful Canadian, and he told us about a bike path we could catch the next day. Thanks, Gary!
In about 10 m ore miles, we flew into Gananoque. Along the way, we checked out more islands--with huge houses covering them! They have several with castles on them and everything! We stopped as we entered town to admire some local 1800's architecture and saw that we were in between two B&B's! After a very short debate and looking at the blackening sky, we decided to stay at the Athlone Inn--mostly because it offered dinner and advertised "fine dining." What a find! Miranda and Jason are the owners and Jason is the chef, and it was just a fantastic place! We had a beautiful room on the ground floor (I think that wing was added in the 1950's to the original house). The dining was some of the best we have had--truly a 5-star experience! We also spent time with Jason & Miranda's friends who were staying for a couple of nights. What nice people, and a great way to spend our last night in Canada!
The day was a resounding success! We woke up and it was overcast and dry outside, but by the time we finished breakfast, it was very rainy and wet! At breakfast, I noticed a door marked "Business Center" with a computer. So I thought I'd read my email--since it was raining and all. I'm very good at doing other things rather than cycling in the rain!
Not only did I do that, we blogged AND loaded some pictures! We were very excited to find a computer that we could use for pictures. So we spent about 3 hours getting all that done--until checkout time.
Unfortunately, the rain hadn't stopped by checkout time, so we sadly put on our full rain regalia. The only bright spot in the morning was David's orange booties! We set out on Rt. 2 toward Kingston in very soggy conditions. The good news I found out was that when I put my rainpants on today (I haven't worn them since Day 15) they were looser than before! Yahoo!
Since we started dry and waterproof, we were pretty comfortable riding. The only problem is that when you're waterproof on the outside, you become very sweaty on the inside! It took us about 2 hours to get to Kingston. This is a neat city--about 120,000 people. We spent a lot of time actually getting to the city centre because there was a lot of outskirt area. It seems to be very cosmopolitan in the downtown area (David noticed lots of double parking) and there was a lot of fun shopping (oh, for more time and room in those panniers!). There were cyclists and walkers everywhere, and we stopped at a local chain called "The Pita Pit" and had a pita sandwich for lunch. Then on to a coffee shop where I tried a vanilla tea latte--good!
By this time, the sun was out but it was about 3:30 p.m. We headed out of Kingston still trying to dry off. The ride was beautiful! We stopped to have a drink and looked over at the water. We decided to take a closer look and rode into this gorgeous neighborhood. There, working on his yard, was Gary, who chatted with us for about 10 minutes. He pointed out that we were looking at the very end of Lake Ontario, and were about to enter the 1000 Islands region. He was a typical friendly, helpful Canadian, and he told us about a bike path we could catch the next day. Thanks, Gary!
In about 10 m ore miles, we flew into Gananoque. Along the way, we checked out more islands--with huge houses covering them! They have several with castles on them and everything! We stopped as we entered town to admire some local 1800's architecture and saw that we were in between two B&B's! After a very short debate and looking at the blackening sky, we decided to stay at the Athlone Inn--mostly because it offered dinner and advertised "fine dining." What a find! Miranda and Jason are the owners and Jason is the chef, and it was just a fantastic place! We had a beautiful room on the ground floor (I think that wing was added in the 1950's to the original house). The dining was some of the best we have had--truly a 5-star experience! We also spent time with Jason & Miranda's friends who were staying for a couple of nights. What nice people, and a great way to spend our last night in Canada!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
To the Water
Day 57: Hastings to Naponee--74 miles
Any time you travel through a place called "The Trent Hills" you know you must BEWARE! The Trent Hills are actually hillocks--it looks like they just got dropped in here from above all over the place! But the roads just go straight--up and down each and every hillock! We were sure that with proper planning, those roads could have been completely flat, but instead we did a LOT of climbing and descending in the morning.
The owners at Lockside gave us some scones to sustain us on our trip (they have an ice cream and coffee shop as well as a decor store there in Hastings). We took our leave from this nice town, and as we started the ride, we were very glad we had stayed in Hastings, because we would have had a lot of trouble with these hills at the end of a long day. We saw some beautiful scenery (a mix of little farms and towns with great architecture) and had very little traffic.
At the top of the second hill, I came upon David looking down at his bike. He was OK, but his front rack was broken! The bolt had sheared, and of course it broke off in the fork so he couldn't put another one in. So out came the zip ties and duct tape, and 15 minutes later, it was almost as good as new! Thank God for duct tape!
We were both grinding granny gears going up those steep hills, but today for every uphill, we got a downhill. That was nice (except sometimes you'd be going down and could see the next big hill looming ahead). It was fun riding--similar to what we used to do in Virginia. We took a final backroad into Trenton and were very excited to see the waters of Lake Onterio's North Bay (called the Bay of Quinte).
We looked around Trenton a bit and it seemed to be a pretty industrial place. We did find a good place for lunch called the Britannia. Good British-style food and ale! They told us about a bike shop about 10 miles away in Belleville, so we worked our way there to find out information about bike routes. We had heard there was a good one that goes all the way to Quebec! Well, they didn't know anything about it there, so we were disappointed that we will have to continue on Rt. 2 until New York. It's not too busy because there is a close-by freeway, but it's still busier than we had wished for. We wandered through Belleville and found another bike shop in the main part of town. Those folks were very nice and suggested some routes for us--and also pointed us toward the local organic coffee shop. We debated taking a slightly longer route that would have been very scenic, but decided it was too late in the day, and booked for Naponee, our evening's destination.
Along the water, we had no hills and a slight tailwind. That made for fast riding! We got into Naponee by about 5:30 and then started searching for a place to stay. This is a town that has been decimated by the freeway. The main part of town is almost non-existent, and we ended up having to go back to the freeway to find a hotel. The Hampton Inn is very nice (that's where I'm blogging from) and new, but the choices for food are slim. There's a McDonald's, a Pizza Hut, and a DQ (OK at least we like DQ). We walked over a mile to get to a local fish & chips place, and it was HOT and HUMID! I felt like I needed another shower! And we found to our dismay that these fish and chips places fry everything! You have no real other choices. So fried food it was--and it was tasty.
We walked along the busy roads and under the freeway to get back to our hotel, and were happy to have Le Tour to entertain us until we went to sleep!
We're both about ready to be done with the ride--but we have more than 500 miles to go. Onward!
P.S. We FINALLY found a computer where we could load pictures (note me with the SMART Car above) and I have put pictures into every day since Munising--just go backwards if you want to look at them! It's mostly those days in Canada...
Any time you travel through a place called "The Trent Hills" you know you must BEWARE! The Trent Hills are actually hillocks--it looks like they just got dropped in here from above all over the place! But the roads just go straight--up and down each and every hillock! We were sure that with proper planning, those roads could have been completely flat, but instead we did a LOT of climbing and descending in the morning.
The owners at Lockside gave us some scones to sustain us on our trip (they have an ice cream and coffee shop as well as a decor store there in Hastings). We took our leave from this nice town, and as we started the ride, we were very glad we had stayed in Hastings, because we would have had a lot of trouble with these hills at the end of a long day. We saw some beautiful scenery (a mix of little farms and towns with great architecture) and had very little traffic.
At the top of the second hill, I came upon David looking down at his bike. He was OK, but his front rack was broken! The bolt had sheared, and of course it broke off in the fork so he couldn't put another one in. So out came the zip ties and duct tape, and 15 minutes later, it was almost as good as new! Thank God for duct tape!
We were both grinding granny gears going up those steep hills, but today for every uphill, we got a downhill. That was nice (except sometimes you'd be going down and could see the next big hill looming ahead). It was fun riding--similar to what we used to do in Virginia. We took a final backroad into Trenton and were very excited to see the waters of Lake Onterio's North Bay (called the Bay of Quinte).
We looked around Trenton a bit and it seemed to be a pretty industrial place. We did find a good place for lunch called the Britannia. Good British-style food and ale! They told us about a bike shop about 10 miles away in Belleville, so we worked our way there to find out information about bike routes. We had heard there was a good one that goes all the way to Quebec! Well, they didn't know anything about it there, so we were disappointed that we will have to continue on Rt. 2 until New York. It's not too busy because there is a close-by freeway, but it's still busier than we had wished for. We wandered through Belleville and found another bike shop in the main part of town. Those folks were very nice and suggested some routes for us--and also pointed us toward the local organic coffee shop. We debated taking a slightly longer route that would have been very scenic, but decided it was too late in the day, and booked for Naponee, our evening's destination.
Along the water, we had no hills and a slight tailwind. That made for fast riding! We got into Naponee by about 5:30 and then started searching for a place to stay. This is a town that has been decimated by the freeway. The main part of town is almost non-existent, and we ended up having to go back to the freeway to find a hotel. The Hampton Inn is very nice (that's where I'm blogging from) and new, but the choices for food are slim. There's a McDonald's, a Pizza Hut, and a DQ (OK at least we like DQ). We walked over a mile to get to a local fish & chips place, and it was HOT and HUMID! I felt like I needed another shower! And we found to our dismay that these fish and chips places fry everything! You have no real other choices. So fried food it was--and it was tasty.
We walked along the busy roads and under the freeway to get back to our hotel, and were happy to have Le Tour to entertain us until we went to sleep!
We're both about ready to be done with the ride--but we have more than 500 miles to go. Onward!
P.S. We FINALLY found a computer where we could load pictures (note me with the SMART Car above) and I have put pictures into every day since Munising--just go backwards if you want to look at them! It's mostly those days in Canada...
We Shall Overcome
Day 56: Lindsay to Hastings, ON--55 miles
The ride this morning was very pleasurable--we followed Ian & Sandra's directions along the side roads. These roads led to another rail tril that led from Omemee right into Peterborough. Finding the path was interesting--it wasn't marked well on the side road--and once we found it, we were a little unsure because the first 100 yards or so were pretty bumpy--but then it settled out into that limestone surface and was really nice!
The path here was a little more overgrown than the other rail trails we have used, but I think they were in the process of clearing it (we squeezed past a work truck that was parked on the path). But this particular path was a real godsend because it is a railroad grade and avoided the huge hills we saw on either side of us whenever we had a view out. We saw lots of steep hills off to the left, and huge drop-offs to the right, and were happy we didn't have to follow the road!
We also saw some Canadian BikeMeisters--about 15 or so folks over 55 years old cycling along the rail trail the opposite way. They brought our CO SkiMeisters to mind (who are probably hiking or biking as I write this)! They were having a great time on that trail! And right after that, we went over a really high railroad bridge that showed just how many hills we were missing. It made me happy.
About 8 km before we entered Peterborough, another cyclist joined us and started chatting. His name was Tim and he owns the record store in Peterborough. He gave up his car several years ago and commutes by bike about 21 km each way. What a nice guy! He led us into town and right to a fantastic coffee shop (are you seeing a theme here?) called The PLanet Bakery. He even bought us a drink! We talked with Tim and the owner of the local bike shop a block behind The Planet, and got some scoop on our route down to Lake Ontario. Then, we decided we should just eat lunch at this place, and had a fantastic vegetarian lunch there! Great food and great people.
We checked out the bike shop and then headed east and south toward the water.
They mentioned that we would have some "rollers"--up and down hills between Peterborough and Brighton, but they may have understated that just a bit! David described it is grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-yahoo!-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-yahoo! It was pretty exhausting for 25 miles. It was very fun riding, and we wished that we had a sag wagon to carry our heavy panniers so the uphills would be easier. One of the highlights was the 6 osprey nests we saw that were filled with birds caring for their young! How fun to watch them.
We stopped in Hastings because we saw an open library and decided to blog for a little while--it had been four days and I was getting frantic phone calls about our safety! But it's hard to find a computer on the weekends unless you're at the right hotel. Then we decided that instead of slogging our way for 25 more miles, maybe we should just stay right there in Hastings! David went off to check out lodging opportunities and I blogged. While I was there, I found out what kind of people live in Hastings ON. First off, the librarians were so nice and helpful--and the computer use was free!
Within 30 minutes, Patricia Lehman (a library patron) had offered us a place to stay at her house in Warkworth, about 45 minutes away. She was going to let us pitch our tent, or she offered a tent that they already had up in their yard! How nice was that? And then about 15 minutes later, Skye Morrison sat down at the computer beside me. She is the proprieter of a new guesthouse in Hastings called The Doors Guesthouse (www.thedoorsguesthouse.com) and offered to let us stay there for free! Fantastic! But alas, David had already found us a place in town and we stayed there. The only bad thing about that was that we had to pay for it, but it was worth the expense. We stayed at the Lockside Guest Suite and it was a little apartment! We felt like we had lots of rooms to spread out in, and had breakfast in our own kitchen! It was very decadent, and the owners were exceptionally nice also! Hastings is on our list of the most friendly places we have been.
We had a great Chinese food dinner at Jiang's and spent some time checking out the local scenery--they have their own lock that serves the Trent-Severn Waterway. It was a neat time and we're glad we cut our ride short to stay there!
P.S. No comments allowed on this post either.
The ride this morning was very pleasurable--we followed Ian & Sandra's directions along the side roads. These roads led to another rail tril that led from Omemee right into Peterborough. Finding the path was interesting--it wasn't marked well on the side road--and once we found it, we were a little unsure because the first 100 yards or so were pretty bumpy--but then it settled out into that limestone surface and was really nice!
The path here was a little more overgrown than the other rail trails we have used, but I think they were in the process of clearing it (we squeezed past a work truck that was parked on the path). But this particular path was a real godsend because it is a railroad grade and avoided the huge hills we saw on either side of us whenever we had a view out. We saw lots of steep hills off to the left, and huge drop-offs to the right, and were happy we didn't have to follow the road!
We also saw some Canadian BikeMeisters--about 15 or so folks over 55 years old cycling along the rail trail the opposite way. They brought our CO SkiMeisters to mind (who are probably hiking or biking as I write this)! They were having a great time on that trail! And right after that, we went over a really high railroad bridge that showed just how many hills we were missing. It made me happy.
About 8 km before we entered Peterborough, another cyclist joined us and started chatting. His name was Tim and he owns the record store in Peterborough. He gave up his car several years ago and commutes by bike about 21 km each way. What a nice guy! He led us into town and right to a fantastic coffee shop (are you seeing a theme here?) called The PLanet Bakery. He even bought us a drink! We talked with Tim and the owner of the local bike shop a block behind The Planet, and got some scoop on our route down to Lake Ontario. Then, we decided we should just eat lunch at this place, and had a fantastic vegetarian lunch there! Great food and great people.
We checked out the bike shop and then headed east and south toward the water.
They mentioned that we would have some "rollers"--up and down hills between Peterborough and Brighton, but they may have understated that just a bit! David described it is grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-yahoo!-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-yahoo! It was pretty exhausting for 25 miles. It was very fun riding, and we wished that we had a sag wagon to carry our heavy panniers so the uphills would be easier. One of the highlights was the 6 osprey nests we saw that were filled with birds caring for their young! How fun to watch them.
We stopped in Hastings because we saw an open library and decided to blog for a little while--it had been four days and I was getting frantic phone calls about our safety! But it's hard to find a computer on the weekends unless you're at the right hotel. Then we decided that instead of slogging our way for 25 more miles, maybe we should just stay right there in Hastings! David went off to check out lodging opportunities and I blogged. While I was there, I found out what kind of people live in Hastings ON. First off, the librarians were so nice and helpful--and the computer use was free!
Within 30 minutes, Patricia Lehman (a library patron) had offered us a place to stay at her house in Warkworth, about 45 minutes away. She was going to let us pitch our tent, or she offered a tent that they already had up in their yard! How nice was that? And then about 15 minutes later, Skye Morrison sat down at the computer beside me. She is the proprieter of a new guesthouse in Hastings called The Doors Guesthouse (www.thedoorsguesthouse.com) and offered to let us stay there for free! Fantastic! But alas, David had already found us a place in town and we stayed there. The only bad thing about that was that we had to pay for it, but it was worth the expense. We stayed at the Lockside Guest Suite and it was a little apartment! We felt like we had lots of rooms to spread out in, and had breakfast in our own kitchen! It was very decadent, and the owners were exceptionally nice also! Hastings is on our list of the most friendly places we have been.
We had a great Chinese food dinner at Jiang's and spent some time checking out the local scenery--they have their own lock that serves the Trent-Severn Waterway. It was a neat time and we're glad we cut our ride short to stay there!
P.S. No comments allowed on this post either.
3000 Miles!
Day 55: Orillia to Lindsay, ON--52 miles
Milestone: 3,000 Miles today! (And it looks like about 600 more to go)
We are getting excited to finish the ride, and keep planning longer days--but something always comes up. We thought we'd get an early start, but as soon as we left the hotel in Orillia, David had a flat tire. I think that was number 14? I'm losing count at this point... Anyway, we stopped in a beautiful park right by the water and David fixed the flat--then we left Orillia on the local bike path.
The path was gorgeous--along the Couchiching Lake down to the Narrows which crossed between Couchiching and Simcoe Lakes. It was a pretty neat path with lots of users. The crossing left us on Rt. 12, which is a fairly busy highway--again with no shoulder. It wasn't too bad in the morning because the traffic was light. We rode into Brachin and stopped for coffee at a pretty marginal spot. But we met a nice woman there who told us there are about 12 quarries in the area, and to look out for dump trucks. Sure enough, once we got back on the road, there were more trucks than we have seen yet! They weren't those huge transports, but they were big enough to be of concern. We had a tough 15 miles before we found a side road we could take.
Once we left the highway, we were much happier! The riding was very good--ups and downs, but fun. I was a little slow from the long ride the day before, and of course, letting myself get a bit dehydrated was not a good idea. It takes a while to recover from that. We had tried to plan a backroad route in advance, but had to divert from it several times because the roads we picked were gravel. But we made it through Argyle, where we had a good lunch at the little General Store (which also had some great home and garden stuff for shopping--darn those little panniers!).
We worked our way to Lindsay, where we had planned to take a short break and check out potential paths at the local bike shop. We found the shop, called Down to Earth Outfitters. It was a real gem! Not only do they have bikes, they have great outdoor clothing and shoes. Again, I wished for LOTS more room in my panniers, but only bought a lightweight pair of shorts.
Ian and Sandra, the proprieters of the shop, were just fantastic! They were extremely helpful to us in finding our way on back roads to Peterborough. And Ian suggested that we avoid highway 7 altogether by going from Peterborough down toward Lake Ontario and taking Rt. 2 up the St. Lawrence River to our New York crossing. Great idea! We decided to adopt that re-plan and he showed us how to do it.
They were the most hospitable shop owners we have met in a long time, and that's saying something because almost every bike shop we have been in has been great. They let us park our bikes inside while we went to the local coffee shop for a drink, found a seat bolt that fit my bike to replace the alternative from Montana, and even did a quick check-out of David's gears because they weren't working exactly right. They did all this service for free, and wouldn't even let us buy them a beer! It's almost worth the trip to Ontario just to visit Down to Earth Outfitters!
We spent so much time there, we decided to just stay the night in Lindsay and head to Peterborough first thing in the morning. That turned out to be a good idea because we got a chance to see the new Harry Potter movie and to have a great meal (steak) at Hobart's Steak House--all right on the main street of Lindsay! I thought the movie was very good, and can't wait to read the next book when it comes out. But I won't be carrying that heavy thing in my panniers--I guess I'll have to wait to buy it until we get to Maine!
P.S. to my friends--I'm going to NOT allow comments on the next few blogs to see if we can't eliminate those junk comments we're getting. Sorry about that--I didn't realize junk could happen on a blog!
Milestone: 3,000 Miles today! (And it looks like about 600 more to go)
We are getting excited to finish the ride, and keep planning longer days--but something always comes up. We thought we'd get an early start, but as soon as we left the hotel in Orillia, David had a flat tire. I think that was number 14? I'm losing count at this point... Anyway, we stopped in a beautiful park right by the water and David fixed the flat--then we left Orillia on the local bike path.
The path was gorgeous--along the Couchiching Lake down to the Narrows which crossed between Couchiching and Simcoe Lakes. It was a pretty neat path with lots of users. The crossing left us on Rt. 12, which is a fairly busy highway--again with no shoulder. It wasn't too bad in the morning because the traffic was light. We rode into Brachin and stopped for coffee at a pretty marginal spot. But we met a nice woman there who told us there are about 12 quarries in the area, and to look out for dump trucks. Sure enough, once we got back on the road, there were more trucks than we have seen yet! They weren't those huge transports, but they were big enough to be of concern. We had a tough 15 miles before we found a side road we could take.
Once we left the highway, we were much happier! The riding was very good--ups and downs, but fun. I was a little slow from the long ride the day before, and of course, letting myself get a bit dehydrated was not a good idea. It takes a while to recover from that. We had tried to plan a backroad route in advance, but had to divert from it several times because the roads we picked were gravel. But we made it through Argyle, where we had a good lunch at the little General Store (which also had some great home and garden stuff for shopping--darn those little panniers!).
We worked our way to Lindsay, where we had planned to take a short break and check out potential paths at the local bike shop. We found the shop, called Down to Earth Outfitters. It was a real gem! Not only do they have bikes, they have great outdoor clothing and shoes. Again, I wished for LOTS more room in my panniers, but only bought a lightweight pair of shorts.
Ian and Sandra, the proprieters of the shop, were just fantastic! They were extremely helpful to us in finding our way on back roads to Peterborough. And Ian suggested that we avoid highway 7 altogether by going from Peterborough down toward Lake Ontario and taking Rt. 2 up the St. Lawrence River to our New York crossing. Great idea! We decided to adopt that re-plan and he showed us how to do it.
They were the most hospitable shop owners we have met in a long time, and that's saying something because almost every bike shop we have been in has been great. They let us park our bikes inside while we went to the local coffee shop for a drink, found a seat bolt that fit my bike to replace the alternative from Montana, and even did a quick check-out of David's gears because they weren't working exactly right. They did all this service for free, and wouldn't even let us buy them a beer! It's almost worth the trip to Ontario just to visit Down to Earth Outfitters!
We spent so much time there, we decided to just stay the night in Lindsay and head to Peterborough first thing in the morning. That turned out to be a good idea because we got a chance to see the new Harry Potter movie and to have a great meal (steak) at Hobart's Steak House--all right on the main street of Lindsay! I thought the movie was very good, and can't wait to read the next book when it comes out. But I won't be carrying that heavy thing in my panniers--I guess I'll have to wait to buy it until we get to Maine!
P.S. to my friends--I'm going to NOT allow comments on the next few blogs to see if we can't eliminate those junk comments we're getting. Sorry about that--I didn't realize junk could happen on a blog!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Traffic Avoidance
Day 54: Meaford to Orillia, ON--76 miles
We took some available rial trails today and spent the rest of the time looking for side roads to avoid traffic. It took us a bit out of the way, but we think it was worth it!
We started on the Georgian Rail Tril from Meaford. It was kind of like a fairyland tour--beautiful trees, lots of shade, and a relatively smooth limestone surface--not paved but worth the extra effort. For 21 miles, we didn't have to deal with traffic at all! And we saw lots of people using these trails for running, cycling, and walking which was nice.
Meaford is still not too developed, but farther down the Bay, the waterfront development is exploding! We saw lots of new construction and large new homes on and near the water. We also saw lots of cleared lots ready for more development, and in addition, got to see some fantastic waterfront homes! There were several I nearly walked up to just to ask if I could live there. Lots of investment opportunity, and these towns seem like great places to live too.
We joined the traffic for awhile in Collingwood, and wound our way down to Barrie. Barrie is a large town (over 100,000 people) and it's a bit out of our way, but we were going for another rail trail. On the way to Barrie, we saw lots of mountain bikers going across the road. They have some nice trails in that area for mountain biking, and it's a really popular sport in Canada.
We only had to stop and ask for directions one time in the little town of Midhurst (a really beautiful place). Luckily for David and his ice cream requirements, we stopped at a great little general store/ice cream shop! They told us the back way to get to Barrie, and we headed there, where we saw the traffic on the interstate of all the people heading back to Toronto after the weekend. It was jammed--reminiscent of our times going back and forth to Dewey Beach. Then we found the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail and rode about 20 more miles into Orillia.
On this path, we saw less people, and enjoyed the relatively flat terrain. We surprised a porcupine and had to stop and listen to the frogs who were burping at each other VERY loudly over the swamps!
We arrived in Orillia exhausted and dehydrated and spent the evening trying to remedy that situation at the Brewery Bay restaurant!
We took some available rial trails today and spent the rest of the time looking for side roads to avoid traffic. It took us a bit out of the way, but we think it was worth it!
We started on the Georgian Rail Tril from Meaford. It was kind of like a fairyland tour--beautiful trees, lots of shade, and a relatively smooth limestone surface--not paved but worth the extra effort. For 21 miles, we didn't have to deal with traffic at all! And we saw lots of people using these trails for running, cycling, and walking which was nice.
Meaford is still not too developed, but farther down the Bay, the waterfront development is exploding! We saw lots of new construction and large new homes on and near the water. We also saw lots of cleared lots ready for more development, and in addition, got to see some fantastic waterfront homes! There were several I nearly walked up to just to ask if I could live there. Lots of investment opportunity, and these towns seem like great places to live too.
We joined the traffic for awhile in Collingwood, and wound our way down to Barrie. Barrie is a large town (over 100,000 people) and it's a bit out of our way, but we were going for another rail trail. On the way to Barrie, we saw lots of mountain bikers going across the road. They have some nice trails in that area for mountain biking, and it's a really popular sport in Canada.
We only had to stop and ask for directions one time in the little town of Midhurst (a really beautiful place). Luckily for David and his ice cream requirements, we stopped at a great little general store/ice cream shop! They told us the back way to get to Barrie, and we headed there, where we saw the traffic on the interstate of all the people heading back to Toronto after the weekend. It was jammed--reminiscent of our times going back and forth to Dewey Beach. Then we found the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail and rode about 20 more miles into Orillia.
On this path, we saw less people, and enjoyed the relatively flat terrain. We surprised a porcupine and had to stop and listen to the frogs who were burping at each other VERY loudly over the swamps!
We arrived in Orillia exhausted and dehydrated and spent the evening trying to remedy that situation at the Brewery Bay restaurant!
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