Posted August 15th - sorry for the delays, either no, or slow network access until our rest day in Ottawa. Thanks to all who e-mailed me concerned that I had not posted recently, everything is fine and we are off eastward tonorrow, into Quebec, and starting the last 3 weeks of the tour. Unbelievable how quickly the time (and miles) has passed.
Today, after about two weeks of riding by the Great Lakes, we headed south to the farmlands and rolling hills of Southern Ontario. Our route was a little over 100 miles and involved 32 turns – probably as many turns as we did crossing the prairies.
The region that we rode through is in the backyard or the Tour owner, Bud, and with his knowledge we ended up on some really fun roads. For the first 50 miles we were on some pretty remote farm roads, but rode through some really neat little towns. Serge and I opted for sightseeing, despite the fact that I was on cook crew for the evening, and as a result had to get to camp in time to cook for everyone.
Our first stop was at Walters Falls, a little detour worth the extra mile or so.
We soon found out that we were in Amish/Mennonite country when a father and his two sons (both under 5 years old) came up on a side road in their buggy, pulled by a horse as beautiful as Black Beauty. Their speed was considerably less than ours, and as we passed the two boys looked at us in awe, wondering who these strangers were.
Our next stop was at the general store in Badjeros both for an ice cream, and a look in the store (and also to get out of the rain). It was built in the mid-1800s and had not been renovated, keeping all of its charm.
Being a true general store they stocked everything from A-to-Z, candies by the piece in glass jars, right through to a fine selection of rubber boots on the top shelf.
The stop that was the most fun was to a micro brewery in Creemore. It was started by four guys who retired in 1987, and they ended up selling it to Molsons a few years back. The tour was fun, and the samples better.
By the time the tour finished, it was raining
rather heavily, with the occasional bolt of lightening, making for an interesting 30 miles to camp. We arrived in a driving rain, thoroughly soaked, but all in all had a great day. 107 miles in total (5 more than the cue sheet), 39 turns (seven more than the cue sheet) and an average speed of 18+ mph. The added turns and mileage were due to two sightseeing tours, and two more unplanned “sightseeing tours" – I missed a few road signs while at the front, but no complaints from Serge.
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