June 7, 2018

I popped around to my neighbour\’s yesterday to give her the key to the house. Did I mention I have great neighbours. We have only been here eight weeks and my neighbours have generously said they would check on the house while we are away. Diane did mention something about selling it but I think she was joking. As I was giving Diane my key and drinking another glass of wine with her I was telling her about the taxi we had arranged to take us to the train station (only 2 kms from the house), my other neighbour Lia offered to take us to the station with our bike boxes, bags etc. This really is a lovely neighbourhood. Thank you Diane and George and Lia and John. No doubt we will have the opportunity to reciprocate their kindness when we get back and in the future.

We loaded our bikes into the back of Lia and John’s pick-up and headed to the train station in Brockville. We unloaded everything into the baggage area and then waited for the train.

The train was running a little late (only ten minutes). The bags and bikes were loaded and we were on our way to Montreal, Dorval airport. There were a lot of people on the train heading to Montreal for the Montreal Grand Prix this week-end.

When we arrived at the Dorval Train station we spotted the shuttle bus. I asked the driver if we could fit the bikes on the bus and he said “yes no problem”. We were at the terminal 10 minutes later.

The check in was so quick and smooth we were in shock and of course we then had to wait four and a half hours before the plane departed.

We met a lovely lady on the plane (Claudia). We chatted for a while and she has invited us to stay with her in Montreal. I think I managed to get a couple of hours sleep. The time seemed to go very quickly and before we knew it we were landing in Brussels.

The bikes were slow to arrive and at this point we still did not know if Sonia (our warmshowers host) was picking up at the airport or we were going to have to put the bikes together at the airport.

We pushed our bike boxes and baggage through customs and this woman rushed up to us and asked us if we were Jacky and Ralf. We took our bikes to her car and that is all that would fit. She told us which bus to catch to her house and off she went, with all of our worldly belongings, except passports, computer and money.

Ralf jokingly said “ Well that is the last time we see them”. When Sonia told her husband what had happened He asked “and they trusted you?”

We are different when we travel by bike, we trust in the kindness of people.

Sonia was waiting for us at the bus stop when we arrived in Kampenhout. We had coffee and some cookies and then Ralf put the bikes together. Sonia has a beautiful house and property and I enjoyed looking at her garden and chatting to her.

We had a couple of hours nap in the afternoon and when Ward got home from work we walked to the local restaurant and had a wonderful pizza and craft beer made on the property. Sonia and Ward have three children, their youngest daughter and boyfriend are the travellers and have travelled by bike to Croatia. We offered to host Sonia and Ward in Canada, but they have three children living in different parts of Europe that they spend their vacations visiting.

Once again we had kind, generous, warm showers host.

May 2018

We went for a beautiful ride this week (mid-May). Brockville’s prevailing winds come from the west, sometimes north-west or south-west but primarily from the west. This means that if you start your ride heading west you are up against a wind. The benefit is that same wind blows you home when you are tired.

We have found a short 30kms route around the small Village of Lyn. We head west, then north, a loop around the village and then head back to Brockville along Highway 2.

On Tuesday this week the sun was shining although the wind was a little chilly we wore our windbreakers. As we cycled along the rural roads we could see green shoots sprouting from the fields. The trees outlining the fields were full of blooms and had a heady scent of apple blossom as we passed. When we came into the Village of Lynn the Lilac blasted us with its sweet aroma. What a lovely ride – the weather is warming up, the fields are coming alive and life is good.

Ralf has hurt his ankle and has been resting it for a week. I continue to do the training rides around Brockville. The Thousand Island Parkway is an out and back along the same route. The Parkway has an excellent cycle path which leads to Gananoque about 50 kms away. Along the river there are lots of little Islands some big enough to put a cottage on and others big enough for a couple of houses.

Sometimes you spot the strangest people trying to call home.

We are both really enjoying living in Brockville, there are lots of things to do. Multi-cultural festival a couple of week-ends ago, lots of good things to eat and entertainment from around the world – Peru, Ukraine, India, Ireland and Holland.

Last week-end the downtown was blocked for “Street Eats” all the shops had outdoor sales and again more food and entertainment.

The other good thing is we have a Family Doctor already. Ralf called them about his ankle and was told to go to the hospital for an x-ray and then make an appointment with the Doctor for the next day to get his results and the Doctor could check the x-ray and his ankle. Amazing service. There is nothing broken and no sign of arthritis, the Doc thinks it is a strained tendon! Rest, compression bandage and advil.

This week-end we had our first warmshowers guest at our new house.  Lynda is travelling from east to west across Canada (those headwind will be tough).  She was from Auckland New Zealand and lived about 2 kms from Chris my nephews father-in-law who we stayed with at the start of our Grand Adventure Part One.

We are preparing for our trip, the bikes are cleaned and packed, the panniers are packed and ready to go. I only hope that Ralf’s ankle holds out.

April 22, 2018 – 30.5kms

Finally spring has arrived and I had planned a short 20 kms bike ride for today. We had Ralf’s home-made waffles for breakfast, pumped up the tires on the touring bikes and headed out.

We followed the Brock Trail from our house to the northern end of the trail at Laurier Blvd. The trail is going to continue to the Conservation Area but at the moment that section has not been paved and was not open.

The trail was quite good, paved but a little bumpy in areas where the tree roots have edged through the pavement. There were a few areas where you had to guess which way the trail continued after the road crossing but for the most part it was easy to follow and well signed. We went under the railway and the short tunnel was thick with ice. We had to get off and walk through the tunnel.

At one point we took the wrong route and ended up on a dead end street. Fortunately there was a lady working in her garden so we asked her where the trail carried on.

Well wouldn’t you know it she was Scottish and we ended up chatting to her and her hubby for about half an hour. Grace and James were really nice and James found us a local map of Brockville with the trail on it and gave it to us and bid us farewell.

Our second error was after heading out on Centennial Road. We were supposed to make a right turn at Reynolds Street actually it should have been Kelly Road. I for some reason was looking for Reynolds Street – which didn’t exist and we ended up going through South Augusta to Maitland almost 5 kms outside of Brockville oops. This made our short 20 km ride into a 30 km ride. It was lovely though. This area is very rural, lots of farmland and gently rolling hills

All the car drivers gave us lots of room, the sun was out and there was a light breeze. A great first ride in our new neighbourhood.

April 23, 2018

Brockville to Lyn – 33.03 Kms

 Another beautiful ride going west of Brockville and again an error in navigating making a short 20 km ride into a 33 kms ride!

Again we took the Brock Trail, this time heading west to Highway 2. 

If you are coming to visit us on a bike, look for this sign and the trail will bring you almost to our front door.

We headed west along Highway 2 which has a cycle lane and then a nice wide shoulder. The cycle lane had already been swept of its winter debris. There were some nice rolling hills along this stretch before we headed north to the small Village of Lyn. Again, the scenery was very rural with farmland that was shedding its winter grey. The trees are barely showing any buds, very grey and stark. However, the sun and slight breeze made for a very nice ride.

Of course we took a wrong turn in Lyn, there were only two choices and we took the wrong one. We ended up north of Brockville on the busy Highway 29. This is not where I wanted to end up. However the car drivers once again gave us plenty of room. The shoulder was sporadic, when it was there it was nice and wide and fairly clean. There were a few short climbs on this route and it is well worth doing in the opposite direction (the 20 kms route) not the 33 kms.

May 9, 2018

The Flights are Booked – June 7, 2018

Finally we have settled into the house, the furniture has been delivered, the new fridge and stove are here. There have been some hiccups with the hardwood floor, which delayed the booking of the flights. I will not dwell on that as the good news is we have booked our flights to Europe.

The plan was to fly into Amsterdam and then follow the Eurovelo Route 15 from Holland to Switzerland, along the Rhine (basically EV15 in reverse).

The best laid plans do not always work out. We are now flying into Brussels (Belgium) and cycling into Germany then following the Eurovelo Route 15 down the Rhine. The map below shows the approximate route.  We are heading to Wesel as that is where some of Ralf\’s family lives and we are hoping to visit with them for a couple of days.

There were no direct flights from Montreal to Amsterdam.  When you have connecting flights and you are flying with bicycles you pay for each leg of the flight. We looked at getting a taxi to Toronto but the cost was almost the cost of one flight to Amsterdam.

I looked at other airports and found we could fly direct into Brussels from Montreal and return direct from Rome to Montreal for less than the original plan of flying into Amsterdam. The added bonus is that we can take the train from Brockville to Montreal airport. We both have points on our Via Preference cards (the train rewards card) and we are going on the train for free. Life is Good.

It gets even better, I sent out a few requests for Warmshowers hosts for our first night in Belgium and a very kind couple have said they could host us and pick us up from the airport. It is about 17 kms from their house. How nice is that.

Now we really need to get some biking in as we are both chunky monkeys and need to get some training. Although the first week or so is relatively flat along the Rhine, I do not want to “cycle into fitness”.