Around lake Erie - day 11, last day.

Day 11, Wednesday August 27 2014.

From Brantford to Brampton - 103.3 km

Day-11 route

Started early, about 7:00 AM. I wanted to cover as much distance as possible before the heat of the sun got to me. Managed to get out of the city without too many difficulties.

At 18.4 km, the cue sheet direction was to make a left turn to Kitchens Trail, but the trail was closed. Apparently for quite some time judging from the size of bushes and trees that had grown on the path. The gps software needed updating.

I decided to continue East until the next intersection then turn left, North, and back to the planned route.

The road must had been closed for some tine............

The next intersection was hwy.#52, made a left and headed North. Unfortunately this was a very busy highway with many trucks traffic. So at the next intersection which was Governors Road, I turn right and headed East again. Close to 10 km later I was in the city of Dundas. Stopped for coffee at Tim Horton's and used their free WiFi to study the route on my Nexus7 tablet. The map showed that if I cycled through downtown Dundas King Street, going North West, it will connect to Brock Rd. which in turn, at the 50 km, joined the planned route. Great!

Extra protected from the sun rays......it was a hot day.

After coffee break, I put on more sun screen and extra protection, bandanna, over my head. The sun rays were hot. Cycling North West on King St. W. and Brock Rd. was tough, as it was a long, felt like 5 km long, winding, steep uphill. Stopped and rested once. It was definitely one of the toughest hill I cycled on.

Another llama farm?

Saw another llama farm. Raising llamas seemed popular in this area.

The sky was clear and the sun rays hot; needed frequent breaks and cooling off in the shade.

Took a break near the 401 and Cambellville Rd intersection. Was planning to have a couple of oranges and a boiled egg for lunch, but could not find where I had stored them, must have left them at the hotel. Instead I just ate a couple power bars. My brain was a little fuzzy.

The wind picked up, it was mostly coming from the North. By this time I was cycling to the East, so it did not bother me much. It brought some clouds. I took off the bandanna that was covering my neck and ears from the sun.
Near Milton, road signs indicating that #5 side road was closed to traffic, reminded me of my day-1 on the tour. This was the same one. It was Wednesday around 3:00 PM, hoped the workers would let me through.
Did not see anybody working at the closure. The construction of the Bridge had some progress compared to 10 days ago. Carefully walked Shadow pass the barriers. Lucky.

Arrived home...........end of tour.

The 2 km stretch on Mississauga Rd. going North was likely the most challenging ride of the day. It was hilly and much worst, strong wind in my face. Moved slowly.........6 to 7 km per hour, snail pace.

Home with Theresia and Edward.

Cycled mostly on the sidewalk along Williams Parkway; arrived home 4:33 PM. Theresia was anxiously waiting for me in the front yard. Edward cycled to meet me but we crossed paths.

With Hoey and Ed.

Hoey came over to welcome me home. Had a cold beer and started thinking 'What is next????'
End.

Around lake Erie - Day 10

Day 10, Tuesday August 26 2014.

From St. Thomas to Brantford, ON - 115 km.

Day 10 planned route.

Started early, the Sun was still low on the horizon. The road had nice shoulder to cycle on. Some clouds but no rain fore casted. A good start.
A few km later the first gravelled dirt road 'appeared', but it was a short one. However, soon more and more gravelled dirt road for longer distances. Not a good sign.

Sun, still low on the horizon.

Surprised to see some baby llamas on a small farm. They were cute and curious of me as I was of them.

Baby llamas.

More gravelled dirt road with some hills ahead, not good. May not reached today's destination before dark.

Will it end?

Was I seeing things? Did I see paved road ahead or was it just a mirage? It turned out that it was just a small patch of asphalt across a small bridge. Bummer!

Paved road ahead?

Heard a horse galloping behind me. On this dirt road the horse pulling a carriage was faster than my cycling. It stopped behind me and I took a picture of it. Apparently I was cycling through the Amish community. On my right side I saw women and children sitting around some tables in the yard under a huge tree, working. They were wearing their traditional clothes. Asked if I could take a picture of them, they refused.

Horse buggy.

Many working horses in this area. A couple friendly ones galloped towards me as I cycled by.

Friendly horses.

After crossing a paved road onto another dirt road, I stopped and took a break. By this time, I had cycled 45 km mostly on gravelled dirt road. I had enough of it, my forearms and shoulders were sore from slipping, skidding and bouncing of gravel for the last two days. Studied the map on my tablet and saw rte. 18, which continued on to rte.3, parallel for about 40 km to this dirt road that I was cycling on. It was only about 2 km south. Without hesitation I turned around and took this alternate route. It was the best decision I made this day. For the next 45 km I cycled on nice paved road with good shoulder; what a bliss.
Stopped in Norwich for lunch and had a cold beer, the day was hot. The beer tasted especially good.

Peaceful resting place.

Took a break and rested at another 'final resting place'; always a good place to rest. Re- applied my sunscreen. The sun was hot, I needed many short breaks in the shade to cool off.

At the end of rte. 3, I cycled North, back to the planned route. After a short ride on dirt road, I turned left onto a nice wide paved trail. Cycled on this trail for the next 11 km. A local guy I met on the trail told me that this trail started from Cambridge on the North side and extended to Port Dover on the South side - very nice.

Cycling the last 10 km through the city of Brantford was not easy.
Ingrid at the front desk of the Days Inn in Brantford was very helpful, she assisted me with my loaded bicycle as I stumbled and was not able to think straight, perhaps due to the heat of the day.

Theresia, Edward and Elaine came to visit. I just finished showering when they showed up. We had supper at William's, next door to the hotel. That was nice of them. I had a visit on my first day and now another visit on my last day - nice symmetry. That reminded me of my last year ride around lake Ontario - I had lunch with an old friend on my first day and also lunch with another friend on my last day of the tour. Amazing.

It was a hot and interesting day. Tomorrow would be my last day on this tour. A little sad but also exited of the prospect of sleeping in my own bed again. End.

Around lake Erie - Day 9

Day 9, Monday August 25 2015.

From Blenheim to St. Thomas - 95 km.

Day 9 and Day 10 cycling route.

Had a good night sleep. The weather was on the warm side, still nice for cycling.
Each day on this cycling tour a different challenge presented itself. This day, right after the first turn, I was faced with gravel covered dirt road. It continued for miles and miles. Very tough and uncomfortable to cycle on.

Fruit stand along the way.

About midday along the way, I saw a fruit stand on side of the road. Asked if I could purchased just a couple of fruits. Ended up buying one apple, two peaches and two plums for $1.00. Chatted with the owner; it turned out that he was once a manager of a Dominion store in Brampton before he retired and moved to this area.

Narrow dirt trail.

The planned route took me to a very narrow trail. According to the cue sheet this trail was 14.5 km long. After about 1 km on this trail I stopped and assessed the situation. The trail had deep puddles here and there, at some places it was impossible to cycle without brushing my arms or legs on the bushes. Also insects, one went behind my glasses and another went through my helmet and bit me on the head, others bit me on my arms and legs. I considered these as safety hazards. So, I turned around, and used an alternate route that took me 7 km further and on a paved and slightly busy road.

Resting at a "Resting Place".

Did not see any restaurant or fast food for lunch. Consumed the fruits and power bar as my lunch and had a rest at a final resting place - peaceful -:).
The wind was not that big of an issue today, I was cycling slowly on mostly dirt road anyway.

Shadow, taking a shower.

The Cardinal Court Motel, at the outskirt of St. Thomas, was a nice quiet motel, the room spacious but the furniture arrangement a bit confusing. The lady proprietor was from Brampton. Her family used to live at Millford Crescent, not too far from our house. Another ex Bramptonian.
Had to go close to the motel office to get good WiFi connection, in my room the signal was very weak. Gave Shadow a shower, washed, dried and oiled the chains. She went through puddles and dirt road, got very dirty.
Ordered in food, Greek salad and chicken wings, from Pizza Pizza; no restaurants nearby.

Today's ride was rather boring and challenging. Tomorrow's planned route to Brantford called for a 110 km distance, usually I ended up doing about 5 to 10 km more. If I could, I will start earlier. End.

Around lake Erie - Day 8

Day 8 - Sunday August 24 2014.

From Pelee island to Blenheim, ON - 82 km.

Day-8 route

Manage a few hours of sleep. Had my instant oatmeal and salted boiled egg for breakfast. Paid my bill and said good bye to Mustaq. Wished him all the best with his project, and said that I would like to come back when his project "living of the grid" was completed.

Mustaq Ahmed, the proprietor.

Passed a small church on my way to the ferry terminal. Only one mass, 12:00 noon, on Sunday. Stopped, took picture and prayed a bit.

Small RC church - Sunday mass at noon,

Arrived on time at the ferry terminal, as they just started boarding. The ferry ride to Kingsville took about 1 3/4 hours long. Spent my time on the ferry studying cue sheets and map of todays ride.
More passengers on this ride to Kingsville then yesterday's ride from Sandusky. A number of Mexican migrant workers were on board; it was Sunday, must be their day off.
A local guy gave me directions to Tim Horton's near the terminal in Kingsville; I needed a good WiFi connection and could use some morning coffee.

Boarding the M V Pelee Islander to Kingsville.

Found Timmy, had my morning coffee but could not get the WiFi connection working. my brain was fuzzy. No WiFi, no phone; not good. Throughout the tour I communicated with Theresia several times a day; in the morning before I started my ride, at noon when I stopped for lunch and in the evening as soon as I checked in the hotel and just before going to bed. Without phone and WiFi, I felt isolated. There must be a problem with my Petro cell phone account, as I was denied service and told to call customer service (?).

Today's route was simple, it did not go through large city, so I should not have problem finding my way to my next destination.

Ben and his wife Nancy greeted me as I was taking a break and checking the cue sheets. They were cycling on a tandem. Ben had cycled across Canada with three others to raise funds for ALS. They managed to raise over $45K; that was awesome. Good job, Ben.

With Ben.

I followed Ben and Nancy for a while to Leamington, then I stopped for lunch at Subway and they continued with their ride.
Also met a group of students from Toronto with their fully loaded bicycles, they were headed the other directions and this was their second day on the road. One of the girls grew up in Brampton.

Pumping oil in Ontario?

Could not believe my eyes when I saw an oil pumping machine actively working in the middle of a field. Oil in Ontario? 

It was very windy today, and you guess it, it was in my face! This was not fair. I was cycling against the wind on the other side of the lake, it should be behind me now that I was cycling back towards Brampton.

As I struggled against the wind, a couple caught up to me on their road bikes, we chatted a bit. They were from Quebec and travelled really light. They only had one bag each on their light duty rear racks and carried only one water bottle each. Were they just on one day cycling trip?

Stopped at a Petro Canada gas station in Blenheim and tried to resolve my cell phone issue; the store clerk was helpful, but no luck.

Arrived at Silver Motel exhausted from cycling against strong wind almost the entire day. The motel had decent WiFi, talked to Theresia using Skype. Lydia and John, the motel managers, were friendly and helpful. With Edward's assistance, my cell phone issue was resolved.

The room was very small, but nice, clean, comfortable and quiet.
Today's ride was not far but it was difficult cycling against strong wind. In the end, I had a good day, met interesting people, my cell phone issue resolved and a nice place to rest. End.

Around lake Erie - Day 7

Day 7, Saturday August 23 2014.

From Lakewood, OH to Sandusky, OH and on to Pelee island, Ontario - 95 km.

Day 7 route

Did not sleep well, woke up at 5:30 AM and went for breakfast at 6:00 AM. It was still dark outside.

Start to cycle at 6:30 AM. Put my rear blinking LED light on. Moved along nicely, traffic was light during the early hours. Took a washroom break at a local park, the maintenance personnel was cleaning the washroom, he was surprised to see me so early in the morning. We chatted a bit.

Ferry ride and cycling across Pelee island.

From a distance, saw three male deers (or elks, not sure), crossing the road. I stopped near where they had crossed and tried to take pictures of them, but they moved on before I was ready.

By 9:20 AM, I had cycled 50 km. Started to ease up and relax a little on my cadence, barring any mishap I should reach Sandusky with plenty of time to spare.

Passed a church with the same name as our parish in Brampton. What were the odds of that?

St. Anthony of Padua Church - was I in Brampton?

Arrived at Sandusky ferry port around 1:00 PM. No ferry in sight, everything was still closed including the ticket office. I cycled back to a park besides a marina that I had passed earlier. Here I had ice cream and spent my time in a gazebo making calls and writing updates offline for my Facebook.

Park and marina in Sandusky.

Gazebo, where I spent time waiting for the ferry to Pelee island.

On board of the M V Pelee Islander ferry. Mark took this picture.

Sandusly Cedar Point Amusement Park - viewed from the ferry.

Close to 2:00 PM I cycled back to the ferry ticket office. A few people were also waiting for the ticket office to open. They saw me with my loaded bicycle and asked questions. I gave out a couple of my fund raising card. None believed that I was 71 years old. They were amazed and admired what I was doing for the CNIB. Mark gave me a huge Peach. The largest and juiciest peach I ever had; if I was not mistaken it came from Ashtabula, NY area.

Sandusky port.

The ferry ride was close to two hours long. From the ferry port I cycled to the B&B place on the other side; East side, of the island about 6 km away.
The Internet was my source to find places to stay. I was looking forward to this Bed & Breakfast and meet the proprietor. From the Internet I gathered that it was a self sustaining farm. Growing their own food and living off the power grid as much as possible. This stuff always interest me. Here was a chance to see it first hand and learn about it. Vu-Shorgo was the name of this place.
Was very disappointed to find that this self sustaining farm was still in the planning stage; a business plan and permit was submitted, but still far from reality.
My B&B place was an old cottage on the 6+ acres of land where Vu-Shorgo was to be, and the proprietor, Mustaag stayed in a trailer on the property as well.
I had the 2 bedroom cottage all to myself, but it was not in good shape; the shower stall had molds and no hot water. The furnitures, bedding and linen looked like they came from a salvation store. The water was not suitable for drinking nor cooking. Bottled water were provided.
 No WiFi and my PetroCan cell phone did not work. Mustaag was helpful and let me use his cell phone to contact Theresia. No update on my facebook today.

Cottage at Vu-Shorgo, Pelee island.

Pelee island is the most southern land of Canada. Saw some wineries along the road.
After a cold shower, had my last freeze dried food for supper. My 'luggage' was getting lighter each day as I consumed the food that I carried.
Did not sleep well last night, hoped I could get some sleep this night. Must get on the 9:00 AM ferry to Kingsville, ON tomorrow.
Had a good ride and interesting day. End.

Around lake Erie - Day 6

Day 6, Friday August 22 2014.

From Painsville, OH to Lakewood, OH - 77 km.

Day 6 cycling route.

To day's ride became a short ride because of yesterday's long ride, so the planned 'rest' or 'easy' day was moved by one day. I slept in a little and started my ride at 9:15 AM. It rained just as I was about to start cycling. Put rain gears on. As previously, the rain stopped about one hour later.

Hills in Mentor, OH. Cycled on side walk.

Cycled at a relax and easy pace. Some hills around Mentor, OH. Nice scenery along the way. Huge old houses along Lakeshore Blvd. just like in Oakville, ON.

Lunch break

Had a sub from Subway for lunch at a nice park by the shores of lake Erie.

Lake Erie

Fishing

Marina - Cleveland, OH.

Cycled through North of Cleveland, then through downtown Cleveland to Lakewood where I stayed at Days Inn for the night. 

Cleveland North airport.

Futuristic design - Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall

Cute roof - Omnimax theater

Science Center - the other side of Omnimax theater.

North side of Cleveland along the shores of lake Erie had many interesting buildings and tourist venues. Cycled mostly on the sidewalk through downtown Cleveland. I was surprised that it was not that difficult to go through Cleveland. The navigation system worked, did not have to stop to ask for directions.
The Days Inn in Lakewood room was small and I had problem connecting to their WiFi. A high school girl in the hotel lobby helped me with it after the staff at the front desk failed.
I ordered pizza to be delivered for supper; did not feel comfortable going out to venture the neighbourhood.
Today's ride was enjoyable, just like my regular weekend ride around Caledon hills.
Tomorrow I must reach Sandusky, about 88 km away, before 2:30 PM; the ferry to Pelee island left at 3:30 PM. So I must start early. Set alarm clock to 5:30 AM.
End.

Around lake Erie - Day 5

Day 5, Thursday August 22 2014.

From Erie, PA to Painsville, OH - 115 km.

Day 5 route.

Initially this day, the 5th day, was planned to be a rest or easy day with a short easy ride, instead it was one of the longest distance ride of the tour. I could not book a place to stay for the night around the 60 km distance in Ashtabula and end up in Painsville, about 45 km further.

Started the ride around 8:15 AM. The weather was cool and cloudy, perfect for cycling except for the wind. Cycled against slight wind all day.

Wide shoulder to cycle on.

Some hills in Pennsylvania.

Nice place for a break.

The hills, unfortunately also the wide shoulders, disappeared in Ohio. Again my camera, i.e. cell phone, ran out of power. Missed a number of photo opportunities in Ashtabula and afterwards.

Reminder that Fall is aroung the corner.

More signs of  Fall.

 With the navigation system working  and no major city to go through, the ride was easy. Did not need to stop and ask for directions, less stress and no time wasted. Today's ride was 115 km including cycling to a restaurant for supper - had small portion of Pad Thai and a couple of Vietnamese soft spring rolls.

The Villa Rosa Motel in Painsville, OH was o.k. Had a very good WiFi connection. I had a good day. End.