Wednesday August 19, 2015

Highway 17 out of Serpent River was busy and once again had no paved shoulder. I had found an alternate route from Massey to Espanola and I was very pleased to get to Massey and make the right turn along Lea Valley Road.

Massey was a quiet little town with a couple of restaurants and motels. Massey had a Rona and Home Hardware, which we thought was a bit odd, two large hardware stores for such a small town. However, as we cycled along we noticed that the scenery had changed to a more rural/agricultural region. I went into the Rona to inquire whether Lea Valley Road was paved.  The cashier said it was but there might be a few areas where there had been some roadworks which may be a bit gravelly.

Massey had a number of plaques and signs commemorating their history. Massey was the home of broom ball!

The route along Lea Valley Road was a quiet winding country lane with little traffic.

Unfortunately it started to rain again.

We arrived in Espanola cold and wet. I was looking for a café where we could have a hot meal, but could only spot a Subway that was open. I asked where there was a café that was serving something hot as I was cold. She offered to make us the hot breakfast sandwich and they had soup.

By the time we had eaten it had stopped raining and the sun was coming out.

Espanola has a large pulp and paper mill. This mill produces specialized paper, including the paper used to wrap medical instruments.

We went to supermarket chatted to a First Nations lady who said she had passed us a couple of times since Thunder Bay. She was visiting the Pow Wows along the way and suggested that we should go and see one – Rama this week-end. I don’t think we will get to Rama by the week-end, we should be in Barrie by Monday.

After Ralf had resupplied we headed out to our warmshowers host in Whitefish Falls.

We thought this was going to be a pitch the tent or sleep in the gazebo, but when we arrived Dave told us that they had a problem bear who would probably like to share the gazebo with us.

The ‘problem’ bear had actually got into their house a week or so ago. Dave and Sheila were in the gazebo and Dave went back into the house for his glasses. Fortunately Dave had gone into the house through the front door and disturbed the bear who had gone into the house via the screen door at the back of the house. The bear made a run for it through the screen door. We slept in the basement on sleeping mats. The dinner was lovely.