Leg 8 - Echo Bay to Kanata, ON (home) - July 21st to 26th

Leg 8 Total: 756.8 km
Grand Total: 4977.1 km

Leg 8 - Echo Bay to Kanata (Sault Ste Marie to Ottawa)

Thursday, July 26th

Distance and Time: 78.6 km at 3:46
Route:  Storyland theme park to home (Kanata) on county road 1, Kinburn Side Rd., Donald B. Munro Dr., Old Carp Rd., Huntmar Rd, Richardson Side Rd., Terry Fox Dr. and Kanata Ave.

Launching on cycling day 45 towards home

The day started out wet and drizzling, kind of matching my feelings about this phase being over.  I am glad to be home and take a rest for awhile, and there are many things to do....appointments, a book club meeting, choir practices, seeing friends and family, helping Sam buy a car....but I will certainly miss the days of simply cycling and discovering new territory, new vistas and new people.

It became dry as the morning progressed and although the sun never did peek through the clouds, the temps were warm and it was a very relaxing ride through familiar territory with little traffic.  Actually it was almost boring compared to the high adrenalin roads and views and traffic we've experienced, but I'm not complaining.  It's hard to believe that I've put in over 2000 km just in Ontario, and that the remainder of the trip to Sydney (Main-a-Dieu) is only about 1600 km from here.  It doesn't feel like I've been in Ontario forever, and realizing I have less distance to go now is sobering.  I kind of don't want it to end, and the idea of Newfoundland is playing at the edges of our minds.  It would only entail eight or nine extra days of cycling, but guess it will depend on what we are driving on the next leg.  If we stick with the RV it will be a little too pricey to take the ferry there and back. 

Coming home and getting used to the house was a bit odd.  It's been eleven weeks since we left; enough time for a middle aged brain to forget where things belong in one's own house! And of course there is a gaping emptiness here without Tessa's presence.

Adrienne is so artistic!!

Wednesday, July 25th

Distance and Time: 131.9km at 6:09
Route: Driftwood Provincial Park to "Storyland" theme park (near Renfrew), ON on hwy 17, 55, 51, 148 and county roads 40, 21 and 4

The day started out with a refreshing swim in the Ottawa River instead of a shower. Considering the beach was a three minute walk and the showers a twenty minute hike, it was an easy decision.

I was happy to leave hwy 17 (it's been a long haul from the Manitoba border other than the loop through Thunder Bay) and the traffic to cycle through Petawawa and Pembroke according to our eastern Ontario cycle map. Traffic was heavy in both spots but much slower so still way better than hwy 17. Petawawa actually had a cycle lane through town! Pembroke was a different story though. It took a long time to meander through town, albeit with an internet pit stop at McD's. I turned off on county road 21 once through town and it was much quieter as it wound it's way through Beachburg and lots of smelly farmland. Everything is extremely dry and yellow here. The corn crops look decimated and we heard wells are going dry in Renfrew. I cycled by lots of cows this afternoon but somehow they are not the same as those wonderful prairie bovine!

We are parked in an abandoned lot near the theme park of "Storyland" for the night. Shortly after pulling in we were visited by Betty, the former owner of Storyland, just curious about our intentions and concerned that we were aware of the extreme fire risk and ban. She told me that Storyland is closed this year and up for sale. Her son has been running it for the past five years but he is now too ill to keep it going. Hopefully they will find new owners and this Ottawa valley icon will re-open again next year. And thanks to Betty for giving us the green light to stay overnight and wishing us luck on the rest of the cycle.

I have been in touch with my CG buddy Mike Glew who is an amateur expert bike builder, about restoring my original handlebars with new shifters. This new set has worked very well but I'm reaching a little further and a little lower which is hard on the lower back. Anyway, Mike has graciously agreed to go at the re-building this weekend despite a busy schedule of two ball games, car repairs, cycling commitments and a flight to Halifax on Sunday. Wow! Mike has some cool ideas for the handlebars... stay tuned for the new look!




Tuesday, July 24


Distance and time: 135.1km at 6:18
Route: North Bay to Driftwood Provincial Park (near Stonecliffe), ON on hwy 17

Did I say yesterday that I missed the hills?  We had a fair share of them today, and they rivaled anything we had on the route around Superior.  Wayne again had the steepest climb on his way to meet me near Bissett Creek.  The roads were good in some parts and very poor in others.  The shoulders are generally paved on hills so there is some disadvantage on the flat sections.  I hit a long stretch of construction outside of Mattawa which included a very steep hill and cycling alongside brand new hot asphalt.  Even though the temps were quite a bit cooler today and it was breezy, the hill and new asphalt created some heat.  I swear my eyeballs were sweating!

Speaking of Mattawa, I spent a very enjoyable long weekend there when I was fifteen, with the Lahaie family (I was living in Falconbridge near Sudbury and dating Dan Lahaie).  It was the first time anyone had asked me how I liked my eggs and I had to ask Mr. Lahaie what he meant. Mattawa now looks a little run-down along the main drag with many closed businesses, as do so many other small Ontario towns along the route since entering the province.  We have seen countless motels, gas stations and restaurants closed and abandoned in the last couple of weeks, yet don’t recall the same in other provinces.

Shortly after Mattawa I glimpsed the Ottawa River for the first time.  That and a sign saying we had entered the District of Renfrew were sure indications of home.  Unfortunately the mileage signs disappeared after the Soo, so I won’t be able to gauge the 2000 km mark from Manitoba the border, although I think it must be somewhere close to Ottawa.

First glimpse of the Ottawa River!

I’ve been meaning to write more philosophically about the thoughts in my head as I spend many hours alone on the bike, instead of the usual stuff about road conditions, weather, wind and things I see. But you know, I’ve been getting quite caught up in the sights and sounds around me, such as boring stuff like the various types of cargo being carried on the tractor-trailers and how it is all secured, as well as classifying drivers according to their vehicles. I’ve also been using a fair amount of mental energy calculating Wayne's turnaround time and when I should meet up with him in terms of distance and time.  My other favourite activity is pulling tunes from the old memory and singing my lungs out when no one can hear me.  I

We are at Driftwood Provincial Park on the Ottawa River tonight – and have spotted a couple of loaded bikes beside a tent.  Hopefully we’ll meet the folks before they leave tomorrow or on the road later on.  It’s a clear cool night and the stars are simply out of this world!

Oh, I checked the audience stats on the blog the other night.  They are listed according to country, and now I'm curious about who is following me in Russia.  Maybe you can send me a comment!

Monday, July 23

Distance and Time: 134.6km at 6:13
Route: Sudbury to North Bay, ON on hwy 17


Today started out on a poor note, but ended on a very positive one.  We spent a very quiet night in the RV maze despite the number of trailers crammed in together around us.  Discovered a flat tire on my bike in morning, but the delay only meant I could dawdle longer while Wayne took care of it.

I finished cycling the bypass with fully paved shoulders and then my heart sank coming onto the regular hwy 17. The shoulders were gone, completely.  After a few km I had a crisis of confidence and fell to pieces for a bit because of the state of the road and traffic. I stopped to call Travel Ontario for info on road shoulders on other possible routes south on 69 and east on 522 to get to North Bay in lieu of 17.  The call was forwarded to the Ministry of Transportation, I got put on hold for a long while there, only to be disconnected and sent back to Travel Ontario who gave me the number for MOT again.  I called a second time and the person told me she had no idea of the state of the shoulders.  What a total waste of time and cell phone battery power!

Needless to say, I sucked it up and decided to carry on with Wayne behind me for awhile.  I calmed down and he returned to the RV.  Traffic eased up a bit and I continued on through the edges of a thunderstorm.  At our first stop of the day Wayne informed me that he had locked his keys in the RV.  Luckily I started carrying my own set of keys a few weeks ago, being almost anal that they were with me every morning, “just in case”.  They were kind of buried in the little fanny pack behind my seat, so there were a couple of moments of panic before we found them.

I made it to a little town named Verner through some thunder and lightning before a deluge of rain hit hard.  A very nice woman at Cambrian Insurance opened her door and called me in from the rain, bike and all.  Apparently this was their second storm of the day and the first had spawned a couple of small tornadoes which touched down near Sturgeon Falls to the east.  It was wild for a little while, and when the rain eased up and the sun came out I carried on again after calling Wayne to see if he was on his cycle and let him know the squall was coming.  He could see it, so ducked into a motel close by.

We continued on together to Sturgeon Falls where we parked for a couple of hours to ride out some more rain, cruise a grocery store, hit Tim Horton’s and log on briefly to the McDonald’s wifi. This area is populated mostly by Franco-Ontarians, and what a friendly bunch! While we were parked, a local couple stopped by to ask about the RV.  They want to buy one of a similar size next spring so we invited them in to have a look around and chat.  We now have potential buyers!  And just as I was getting ready to launch again, a truck pulled up to wave hello.  It was the lady from Cambrian Insurance!

Even though it was past 6:30 by that time, we decided to make a dash for North Bay.  It was a wise decision – the traffic had died down, the temperature was cooler, and my 12 to 18 inches of shoulder was smooth without big ruts and holes as experienced previously today.  I sailed along quickly on totally flat terrain with a tail wind, and caught up to Wayne and the RV before he had a chance to turn around on his bike.

On the way out of Sturgeon Falls, I took this picture for my old friend Bill (Dutrizac) just to see if he is following the blog :)

As I came into North Bay there were highway signs indicating bicycles are not allowed on the road, but this time I was able to quietly ignore them and continue on into town.  It helped that in Canada by Bicycle he mentioned the signs and that locals told him not to pay attention to them (but why didn’t he include that in the Sudbury section?).  An OPP cruiser passed me without notice so I guess the local advice is sound.  We parked for the night at the Visitor’s Centre, poised for a quick trip to LCBO in the morning and 500 m from the hwy 17 exit to Ottawa.  Wayne cooked up a terrific (albeit late) meal and I partook with gusto even though I don’t feel I worked too hard today (I honestly miss the hills). Home Depot is courteously providing free public wifi.
Here are a couple of photos from the Visitor’s Centre.

The original home of the Dionne quintuplets just south of North Bay

Nibiising - the Trail of the Whispering Giants (a tribute to the Ojibway Nation)

Sunday, July 22

Distance and Time: 138.9km at 6:10
Route: Serpent River to Sudbury, ON on hwy 17, 55 and 17 by-pass

It has been a challenging day in terms of traffic volume and the road condition. The morning was OK but traffic increased dramatically as we approached the junction to Espanola and Manitoulin Island. It didn't let up from there to Sudbury and it was kind of freaky with long lines of traffic whizzing by in both directions and very often without any shoulder or only a few inches of rough pavement on the edge. I know I said I would stop whining about ON highways but this was the worst we've seen on the entire trip. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time stopped over in the gravel. At one point on a ramp coming back onto the 17 from hwy 55, I came across a "no bicycles" sign and continued anyway on foot for over a km before meeting up with a good shoulder and Rob, a Sudbury cyclist who explained the sign was misleading and only referred to the four lane section which ended shortly after the sign.

It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings on 17 enroute to North Bay! If it is anything like today I may head south and then east to Ottawa on back roads. My original intention was to head over to the Manitoulin ferry and south on the Bruce Peninsula before I realized how much extra distance that entailed and how eager I was to get home and rest.

On a positive note today, I made a few micro-adjustments to my seat and handlebars and things feel better, most certainly my lower back. Because of the heat I tried the outdoor shower head on the RV at the rendezvous points, still fully clothed in cycling gear. Instant relief, easy to use and a totally cool feature! I don't know why I didn't try it before, but wish I had.

I must share the story of how Espanola got its name. The legend is that an Ojibwa tribe raided a village far to the south and returned with a white woman who spoke Spanish. She married a chief and taught her children to speak her language. When French Voyageurs came to the area they heard people speaking Spanish and remarked, "Espagnole". I like this story of a strong woman who adapted to make the most of her circumstances, and find it entirely believable after reading "The Heretic's Daughter" of the Salem witch trials. Many isolated farms were raided by nearby tribes and woman and children were often taken.

We are at an RV park tonight near the junction of hwys 17 and 69, sandwiched in amongst 135 other trailers with the sounds of hwy traffic in the bankground. Really feel like RV riff-raff now! At least there is a little beach and I'm off to rinse out my sweaty cycle clothes which I've been wearing for several days. Internet was part of the appeal to stay here but we can't get connected so I'm relying again on my daughters as I have for weeks now. Thanks Sam and Adrienne.

Saturday July 21

Distance and time: 137.7km at 5:50

Route: Echo Bay to Serpent River, ON on 17B, Government Rd, and hwy 17

I got off to a late start this morning due to some laziness on my part thinking for some reason that a weekend morning should be more relaxed. The campsite last night was originally well built but it looked like it hadn't been kept up over the years. There were lots of cigarette butts on the grounds of the site, garbage in the fire pits and the washrooms were not well cleaned. We thought with the number of campers and the fireworks at dusk that it might be a bit of a party place, so we were surprised that it was the most quiet site we've had for the entire trip! There were virtually no sounds all night and well into mid-morning when we left.

We followed the country road route out of town as suggested by the Velorution folks. It wasn't all paved and jogged around here and there but it was likely better than the four lane TCH out of town without any shoulder. When we joined the 17 we were 50km out of the city and it was back to a two lane hwy with a wee bit of paved shoulder. I know we should stop whining about this aspect of the road - it's just that I had expected better in ON, especially coming farther south. Anyway, today's route varied from virtually nothing to occasional full pavement going through some of the towns. I am getting used to managing my small part of the road, though. The weather was hotter than forecast (about 30 degrees) and winds were generally from behind. All in all a pretty good cycle day.

The following picture was taken from my phone while I was cycling. This is either Mennonite or Amish or Hudderite country and there were signs on the back roads and TCH indicating the horse and buggies could be on the road. It was strange to hear the clip, clop of the horses' hooves mixed with the truck traffic noise, and quite a surprise that they were going slower than I. A girl and a woman were in the buggy, both wearing the full black bonnet and long black clothing. The girl looked at me with mild curiosity and I'm not sure if she answered my hello. We also saw a few of their farms on the back road we took out of the city, with no power lines running from the road and guys plowing the fields with a horse. One house had a huge clothesline which used a bicycle wheel for a pulley. I started wondering about how folks like this are treated by Revenue Canada and municipalities in terms of paying taxes.

We came across the welcoming sound of centreline rumble strips for a couple hours this afternoon. Rumble strips on the side shoulders were on almost all the roads we took in BC, Alberta and Sask. along with centreline strips on a few of the major roads. So I've been surprised at the lack of any in ON so far other than only a few km west of Thunder Bay. I like the centreline strips since they give me an accurate indication of how far the approaching traffic is moving over for me.

Wayne made a casual remark at lunch today which planted a seed and is already sprouting roots in my imagination. He has been a little disappointed in his cycling mileage and envious of mine, so he said "I'll get my distance in next summer when you drive support for me". Yes!! Sounds like a great idea if we can find a smaller camper van I would be comfortable driving.

We are over-nighting on a road just off the hwy with a closed bridge and no connection to an adjoining road, so virtually a little dead-end.

just off the hwy for the night

So far two sets of visitors have come and gone (both of whom I thought were coming to boot us out). The first were several extended family members from the Soo, looking for an abandoned grave site of a two year old niece who drowned in the creek behind us in the spring of 1957. It was a poignant pilgrimage with flowers and plans to maintain the site in the future. We're not sure who the next visitors were as they arrived in separate vehicles, saw us here and quickly turned around!