Wednesday August 12, 2015

A lovely ride today. The sun came out, eventually. The cool start to the day (4.6 degrees) had me digging out my leggings and socks. By the time hour two came by the leggings and socks came off and we were putting on sunscreen.

We stopped at another hunt/camp resort/lodge for an early break. I couldn’t face another mystery meat and cheese sandwich, I had a muffin and some green tea, Ralf went for the mystery meat and cheese sandwich again. Once again the owner chatted to us and we had more discussions about the changes to the hunting regulations for this year. He will be closing early as he has had two cancellations already and is expecting more.

The roads and shoulders were really good until we got to about 15 kms shy of Wawa, then they went pear-shaped, narrow shoulders and rough roads . To make matters worse the wind changed direction and we headed into a full-on headwind for the last 15 kms.

We arrived in Wawa at about 2:00 pm, good time for 92 kms, and had a walk around the Big Goose and the Tourist Information Centre.

Then we headed to the Wawa Motor Inn where Chris Jones had arranged for our nights stay. The room wasn’t ready and check-in is at 4:00 pm. We headed down to downtown Wawa, there is a nice beach and boardwalk, but a lot of the stores are closed.

After having a second lunch at the Tim Horton’s we chatted to a lady outside. Her concern, as is often the case, was for our safety on the narrow shoulders and crappy roads (her words). She had a little rant about the state of the roads in Northern Ontario and the MTO.

I called Chris Wray the CAO of the Township, my friend Chris Jones had told him we were coming though and about the blog and the Mayor wanted to meet us. We arranged to meet Mayor Ron Rody at 6:30ish.

The room was eventually ready for us at 4:30, plenty of time to shower and be ready to meet the Mayor.

What a really nice man the Mayor was, he offered to take us for a drive around Wawa. It was wonderful, he gave us a brief history of the Town and took us to see Lake Superior, two waterfalls, the downtown, beach area, and the neighbourhoods.

The Town was a mining town but the mine closed in 1998. There is work at two other mines and the diamond mines are opening up in the area. Ron told us about Gitchee Goomees, there is an artist in Town who carves them and paints them, they are quite popular and are very colourful.

Thank-you Mayor Ron Rody for spending time with us.

Tuesday August 11, 2015

We had a late start today, we had a good breakfast and headed out in cool temperatures. This was the sign on the motel door in Marathon!

Another grey Ontario day. I am not sure where our tail-winds have gone too but we haven’t felt a good tail-wind since leaving Thunder Bay. The winds today came from every direction, it was tough long ride.

There is a lot of mining happening in this area from Marathon to Wawa. This gold mine, just outside of Marathon was huge.

We stopped at a hunt/fishing camp/resort for a wonderful lunch of mystery meat and mystery cheese sandwich! This was the only place we could buy anything between Marathon and White River.

The owner of the “resort” came out to chat to us. His complaint was the change that the Federal and Provincial governments have made to the moose hunt this year. His occupancy rate for this years moose hunt has already dropped by half and he is getting cancellations every day.

After we left him we spotted another bear running across the road in front of us. I am now very nervous about camping anywhere in Northern Ontario. There are an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 black bear in Northern Ontario.

I had already made a reservation at the Continental Motel in White River as there wasn’t any campsites in the area. After seeing the second bear in two days, I was glad that I had made the reservation.

White River is where the story of Winnie the Pooh started. Or at least where Winnie the bear cub was bought from a trapper on the train station by Captain Harry Coleburn.

Captain Coleburn was on a train bound for Halifax and England during the first World War. He bought the bear cub for $25.00 and took it to England with him, he named it Winnie after his hometown of Winnipeg. When he was sent to France, he left the bear at the London Zoo for safe-keeping. That is where AA Milne and his son Christopher spotted the bear and the rest is history.

This week-end in White River is the 27^th Annual Winnie’s Hometown Festival. A week-end of fun and entertainment for all including parades where you can dress up as your favorite bear and a Riding Lawnmower Race (please ensure that blades are removed).

I would be very careful dressing up as your favorite bear – in White River this week-end as this week-end is also the start of bear hunt season.

Monday August 10, 2015

The weather leaving Schreiber was bright sunshine, albeit a little chilly.

However, when we turned the corner and began the climb to Terrace Bay the fog rolled in and we had to stop and put our lights on.

The fog was so thick as we came into Terrace Bay we almost missed the lighthouse.

The other reason we almost missed it was because it wasn’t on the coastal side of the road, it was on the north side of the road as a tourist attraction.

We stopped and climbed to the top of the lighthouse and peered through the fog but couldn’t see the coastline of Lake Superior.

The fog eventually cleared up and we were able to enjoy the ride. Rolling hills with a few steep climbs just to keep it interesting. We spotted our first bear since B.C. The bear was sitting on some rocks above the road. Ralf and I both shouted at the same time bear and it ran off into the woods.

That made me a little nervous about camping tonight. There is a ‘municipal’ campsite in Marathon where we had planned on pitching the tent.

When we went down the hill to Marathon we stopped at the Twisted Sister café for lunch. After talking to the owner about our ride and the fact that we had spotted a bear, she told us that Marathon was having a problem with bears. They had shot four in the previous week in the Town. Definitely not camping tonight. She had a little rant about Southern Ontario and politicians not caring about the north. \”They should reinstate the spring bear hunt, but those southerners don’t know what it is like to live up here\”.

There was a motel, the Harbour Inn, across the street from the café and the owner of the café said that was the best motel in Town and she wouldn’t stay at the other one, because she heard it had bed bugs!

The Harbour Inn cost $125 per night, too much for our budget. We headed down to the Zero-100 Motel, a very tired looking place. I asked if I could look at the room before checking in, no problem. The room was clean and the bed-sheets were clean and ironed. No bed-bugs to be seen or even evidence of them. The room was still expensive but better than sharing my tent with a bear.

Sunday August 9, 2015

After our farewells to Jodi, Doug and two of the kids that were awake, we headed out on an overcast morning. We knew we had hills and headwinds to deal with.

The view from the house, looks out over Lake Superior, on a clear day it must be very nice.

We were able to join Highway 11/17 after the road construction.

Although it was a very grey day, the scenery was very pretty.

Some of the rock formations were really interesting.

Remember the little ditty I wrote about a few days ago – rocks and trees and trees and rocks and water. That is what we saw today.

We passed through the Pays Plat Indian Reserve and thought we should all live by the seven teachings.

At some stage during the ride we were cycling on freshly paved road, my husband warped sense of humor materialized. He was muttering something about his new aftershave “freshly poured tar – because you know it is going to be a smooth ride”. Dear god what did I marry?

Dave – the surveyor we met at the Kakabeka café told us that when they surveyed this area they tried to build the road with no more than 5 – 6 degrees inclines. He lied some of the climbs were 7.4 degrees. One hill was 209 metres of climbing over 4.25 kms.

At the same time we had a temperature swing of 11 degrees. We started the climb at the elevation of 199 metres with a temperature of 13.2 degrees as we topped the hill the elevation was 408 metres and the temperature topped out at 23.4. As we went down the other side of the hill the temperature dropped to 12.8 degrees.

We stopped in the pretty village of Rossport for a late lunch.

I looked at the menu and told Ralf it was quite expensive, but it was the only place in Town and we needed food. The food was good.

We had planned on a motel tonight and was glad we had as the fog closed in again as we were finishing the ride at 4:00pm. Along day in the saddle for a ride of 91 ks. As we came into the motel parking lot a lady came up to us and told us it was dangerously foggy between Schrieber and Wawa. She said they had come across two cyclists, that they could barely see the visibility was down to about 20 feet. We thanked her and told her we were done for the day.

After settling into the motel room, we had dinner in the restaurant. The food wasn’t very good, but the Steam Whistle beer went down very nicely.

Saturday August 8, 2015

We headed out at 7:15 an early start because of the long day. Jodi was heading to Red Lake to take part in a run and then continue towards Nipigon where we met up with Jodi, Doug and the three of the kids later in the day.

We followed a great route out of Thunder Bay, 35 kms along a quiet Lakeshore Road. We passed the International Youth Hostel, located 18 kms outside of Thunder Bay, in the middle of nowhere.

Unfortunately by following the route along Lakeshore Road we missed the Terry Fox monument. However, the monument is on the Thunder Bay Expressway and is not accessible by bicycle!

A grey day, the scenery might have been stunning but we could not see it. This reminded me of the Pacific Coast Highway, that was fogged in for most of the ride.

Before joining Highway 11/17 we stopped at this gas station and it had the mileage to Toronto and Ottawa. Ontario is one heck of a big Province, it will be another two or three weeks before we get to Quebec.

We met one other touring cyclist going in the opposite direction. His head gear made him look as though he had huge ears. He was from Korea and cycling from New York to Vancouver. We told him about Lakeshore Road and he warned us that the shoulders got narrower closer to Nipigon. A good exchange of information between touring cyclists.

As we came up to Red Rock, we glimpsed the colour of the rock through the fog. Now we know why the Town is called Red Rock.

From Red Rock to Nipigon the road is being reconstructed, expected finish date 2021. Ralf could not believe the timeline. However, as we came up to the road construction, we could see why. They are blasting through rock to widen the road, what an undertaking.

We knew we had some hills to climb, but wasn’t expecting the headwinds. We still made good time to Nipigon. Again we are staying with Jodi and Doug and three out of the five children. Doug is a doctor in Nipigon and was on-call this week-end at the hospital. Nipigon provides their on-call Doctors with a house to stay in while on-call. The house was really nice with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a big kitchen and living room.

We chatted to Doug and Jodi for a while and then had an early night, as we want to be on the road early. The next few days are going to be long days again – 90+ ks each day.

Friday August 7, 2015

A relaxing day in Thunder Bay. I didn’t even clean the bikes.

We are staying with a large, noisy household. I felt as if I was at home again with all my siblings. All of us talking at the same time, getting louder and louder, how my mother survived I will never know.

Emily hurt herself skipping, and Charles is accident prone, he came in with a scraped elbow after falling of his bike. Jodi was the calm mother getting plasters out of the cupboard and making everything better.

Ralf and I went shopping and had a little walk. Later we played with the two younger kids.

Jodi asked us if we wanted to visit Fort William or go anywhere.  Ralf and I were quite happy to take the day off and relax.  We probably should have seen some more of Thunder Bay, but we were ready for a rest and were grateful for Jodi allowing us to take the time-off.

Thursday August 6, 2015

We are so pleased that we took two days to get to Thunder Bay. The sun was out this morning and we had a lovely ride to Thunder Bay.

We had plenty of time to visit Kakabeka Falls. Kakabeka Falls, is on a par with Niagara Falls, it is stunning.

The Kaministiquia River was used by the Great Lakes Paper to float pulpwood to the Companys mill in Thunder Bay sending their logs over the falls.

The falls are located a short walk from the parking lot of the Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park.  Boardwalks and viewing platforms were built in 1980.

The falls drop 40 metres on the Kaministiquia River near the Village of Kakabeka.

We had lunch at a little café in Kakebeka Village. The waitress was very nice and asked us a lot of questions about our ride. We then became the celebrities of the café. People were almost lined up to chat to us; an older fella (Dave) who surveyed the road from Sault Ste Marie to Nipigon told us that they tried to keep the inclines to less than 6%. Another lady (Barb) overheard the conversation and came to chat to us, she told us to be careful on the roads.

We arrived in Thunder Bay and at our hosts house at about 3:30 pm. A very busy house with five children at home ranging from 19 to 7 years old.

It was a late night for us, getting to bed around 11:30, obviously a rest day tomorrow. Our room for the next two nights has to be the best decorated room we have stayed in on this trip.

Wednesday August 5, 2015

The morning temperatures were quite cool, but the sun was coming up and warming the area. The morning mist coming of the lake was lovely.

We had decided to split the distance to Thunder Bay and stop in Shabaqua, half-way between Upsala and Thunder Bay (75 kms). There is nothing in Shabaqua other than a general store and a motel.

We had to pack away a wet tent, the tent was wet from the morning dew. Instead of eating breakfast with the mosquitos and black flies we headed down to the Family Restaurant and had a cooked breakfast again.

We headed out at 9:00 pm, the route was quite nice, rolling hills and warm temperatures. Again for the most part the cars and trucks gave us plenty of room. Of course, there are always a couple of idiots.

At the 35.5 km mark we crossed into the Eastern Time Zone. Sir Alexander Fleming came up with the idea of time zones after emigrating to Canada from Scotland.

The other landmark of note was passing another watershed.

We had to negotiate about 3.5 kms of road construction. We got to the front of the traffic and asked the flag-man what we could do to stay safe. He told us that we could cycle on the opposite of the road, where the bollards (traffic cones) were and we would be away from the traffic. We waited until all the traffic had gone through, then we headed down the newly paved road. Over 3 kilometres of newly paved road, with no traffic on it. The rest of the road to Shabaqua was nicely paved and had a good shoulder.

Arriving at Shabaqua at 1:30 we decided to stay at the Timberland Motel. We put up the tent in the back garden to dry out with the permission of the owner of the motel.

Tuesday August 4, 2015

Another chilly day. I wore my leggings and socks, and my jacket as we left the motel. You cannot call me a fashionista on this trip, not sure you could call me one before, but definitely not now.

Grey clouds and cool temperatures kept us company all day today. Again, we shook our heads at the state of the shoulders, but we stayed alive.

We had three instances today of cars coming towards us and overtaking and heading straight at us. We had to head for the gravel on each occasion. What is it with these idiots, we wear bright yellow, we are the size of a Fiat 500 and still they overtake as if we are not there.

On the other hand we had lots of instances where trucks coming up behind us gave us all the room that they could.

There were some interesting road signs today. Almost as much fun as the Australian one that said \”Take a Power Nap NOW\”

I have been watching out for bears as we have been going through the mainly forested area of Northern Ontario. Today a new worry came to me, wolves!! Why did I think about this today, well we saw a very large road kill that had huge dog like paws, this was not a large german shepherd, this was a dead wolf. Great, now I have to watch out for Mr. Wolf as well as Winnie the Pooh.

We met two touring cyclists today, going in the same direction as us. Gregg and his son Mike, have been cycling across Canada since Mike was 11, he is now about 16. Let me explain, every year they take four to six days to cycle a section of Canada. They started on Vancouver Island and wherever they finish, that is where they start again the following year. This leg is from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay. They were trying to decide whether to stop in Upsala tonight or carry on for 20+ kms so that tomorrows ride into Thunder Bay is only 120 kms not 145 kms. Not sure how many years it is going to take them to do it, but what a great way of spending time with your son.

We stopped in Upsala and had a great second breakfast at the Family Restaurant attached to the Shell Station. We noticed they had home-made pies, but we were too full after the bacon, eggs and home fries to attempt to eat pie as well. The pies were so good people were buying the whole pie to take with them. Ralf was not going to miss out on pie. Ralf ordered two pieces of pie and then asked if we could come back and eat them later! Ralf explained we were going to get set-up at the camp site and then come back for coffee and pie. No problem, two pieces of strawberry rhubarb pie had our name on it.

Although it was a grey and cool day, we opted to camp as it wasn’t windy and it felt as if it was getting warmer. We pitched the tent, settled in, had a really hot shower, then went to the General Store. The general store has everything in it, general groceries, drugs, post office and LCBO. The shopping malls of old, the owner told us before the got too big. It sold everything from cold remedies to fishing lures, mosquito coils to pasta sauce and of course beer and wine.

For those of you who don’t know what the LCBO is, it is the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Some Provinces still control the sale of alcohol, others have allowed private enterprises. In Ontario you have to buy your beer or wine and spirits at either a beer store or the LCBO. Most of these tiny little Towns have an LCBO agency in their general store. We bought a couple of beers to go with dinner.

We had a nice chat with the lady in the store, who told us that in Upsala they live on Thunder Bay time, even though the time zone is down the road another 35 ks or so. We have lost another hour, although not officially until tomorrow.

After she had told us this we quickly headed back to the family restaurant for our pie and ice-cream, we thought it was 5:15 and it was 6:15 in Upsala. OMG the pie was good. There was an elderly lady in the restaurant who made the pies and the pastry recipe was her mothers. The pastry was so flaky, you knew that it was made with lard and butter, sounds disgusting but it makes really good pastry.

When we arrived at the campsite, The sun has come out over Milton Lake and I am now going to go and sip my beer and enjoy the sunset with my lovely hubby.

The mosquitos were getting bad, so I went back to the tent.  Ralf quickly came back to the tent and grabbed his camera again.  The sun was setting beautifully.

Monday August 3, 2015

The temperature this morning when we woke up was very chilly, about 12 degrees. The high today was supposed to be 17 degrees, but the average temperature was 13 degrees. Even with the cycling I didn’t really warm up all day.

This is for Jim Dyment, my old boss and friend, a hug.

Ralf and I could not understand the logic of the road builders in Northern Ontario. They seemed to add passing lanes where they weren’t needed and take them away where they should be. The same with the shoulders. The shoulders started of wide and paved, then they went to narrow and paved, then disappeared altogether, then we went back to wide and paved etc. etc.

We expected the road to be fairly busy today, due to people going home from the long week-end holiday. The roads were not too busy, but what did surprise us is the amount of moving company trucks heading east – we saw at least six trucks.

We arrived in Ignace cold and hungry. As we were leaving the Subway, we noticed a guy wearing a t.shirt advertising the bike shop that we had used in Nelson. We mentioned what a great store it was, his best friend is the manager. We chatted to him outside as he was trying to get three little ones into the car. He said it was like herding cats. The questions they were asking us was hilarious: What’s that for? Do you have a bell? What does that do? How many questions can little kiddies ask in a short period of time – Answer: a lot.

The Dad wished us luck – we returned the sentiment. He needs all the luck he can get.

Needless to say we are in a motel tonight. I am now the defacto negotiator for cheaper rooms. I will always ask if there are any discounts, today I asked if there was any discount for ex-military! Yep got $10.00 off, the owners son-in-law has just retired from the military.

Finally we have got a good wi-fi connection and the blog is up to date.

Another long ride tomorrow, with tail-winds all the way.