Atikokan to Shabaqua

Saturday July 13

For today's ride of 138km just read yesterday's blog!

Staying at a loggers camp tonight. An unexpected treat to stay indoors. The camp owner is cooking us dinner and breakfast.

About 35 degrees at present and 95% humidity. 

Must be heading east. All rivers from here on all rivers flow to the Atlantic. We are reaching the half way point next week.

Fort Frances to Atikokan

July 12 - 148 km

Hard to find much to say about today. Hills, forest, more hills, more forest.....

No shops, garages, houses along the way. Took 6 hours 40 minutes, about 1/2 hour less than for the same distance yesterday.

Lots of large pesky black flies buzzing us while we rode. They must be attracted by the smell of sweat, sun cream etc. Its one of the less attractive aspects to camping in Canada. I've gone through 2 containers of insect repellent and the trip is not quite 1/2 way through.

I rode with Linda, Angela and Harry. We stopped regularly but there really wasn't a lot to see - other than forest and hills.

This is the 4th day of 6 heading toward Thunder Bay. I suspect the scenery will be the same tomorrow.

Atikokan is nothing to much to write about. A service town of a few hundred people about 3 km off the main road. The camp ground just has an ablution block. At least it will be quiet. However the Mosquitos are unbearable! Simply won't leave us alone. Only place to be is inside the tent.

The young lady Megan parked the truck beside the road to resupply us all with water about 85k into the ride today. Once we had all left she found she was stuck and had to wait a couple of hours to get towed out.

Sioux Narrows to Fort Frances

Another beautiful fine day, now in Ontario. However it was quite hilly and we had a strong headwind most of the day. 

I rode with Harry Roettele who is about 75, and Linda most of the day. We stopped at Nestor falls mid morning where I had and ice cream. The fellow running the place allowed us to sit in the lounge adjacent his store looking out over the falls. 

He made us a fresh pot of coffee and told stories about the area.

We were beside Lake of the Woods still, he says it has 14,600 islands - many privately owned with bachs on them.

The ride today was 150 km, which took me 7 hours and 10 minutes - so quite a hard day at the office.

Tonight we are staying in a hotel even though it isn't a rest day - the place is the  Rendezvous Hotel on Rainey Lake. Lovely views. Had a good pasta dinner at the adjacent hotel. 

West Hawk Lake to Sioux Narrows

The rolling hills of Ontario were upon us today. Nothing too steep or long but I was ready for camp after 128 km of them!

I averaged 22.6 kph but I felt slow.

We stopped in Kenora for lunch and at several other places for photos. The area has lots  of lakes - especially Lake of the Woods. Many wealthy locals have holiday homes on the lakeshore, and indeed many of the islands in the lake are privately owned.

We crossed into Ontario a few kilometers from camp. Tonight we have peach cake for dessert. 

The weather at least was cool with a wind that if not behind us didn't cause too much trouble. 

Selkirk to West Hawk Lake

Tuesday 9 July - 158 km 

Despite the distance the ride today was relatively easy. We left town at about 6.15am and soon turned east with the wind behind us where it stayed all day.

Stopped at Beausejour for a second breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and fried potato. At this stage we had a few spots of rain and had all donned our rain coats because of the cold. 

It didn't amount to much and they soon came off again. The real flat prairies stopped abruptly at 80 km from Selkirk and the forests and granite of the Shield appeared.

We stopped every 20 km or so and for coffee in Rennie, where there is just an old hotel and gas station. The sign says it all really!

Shortly after this photo we were riding beside a small lake when a Canada Goose charged out of the reeds at me! Reminds me of a similar occurrence in Europe along the Danube with Liz.

Approaching West Hawk Lake there were a few more hills but nothing serious. The campsite is right beside the lake. There is a wild deer wandering around the camp, allowing people to walk right up to it.

Last night there were a collection of strange looking vehicles at our hotel - these proved to be restored railway jiggers. There is a society of 2000 members in North America who run these jiggers on operational rail lines between scheduled services. They travel all over the continent in groups having organized jigger fests.

And I thought model aero planes was a strange hobby!

Selkirk

Today is rest day. Selkirk is a commuter suburb of Winnipeg and is a rather spread out place with few stores of interest.

I've been down to Safeway and bought crusty French bread and cheese for lunch. Stopped at Tim Hortons for a coffee and talked to Amy.

Now sitting and talking with Mike, Angela and Harry as they clean their bikes. 

Will no doubt rest for the afternoon. 

The trip is nearly 4 weeks in and we have had generally fine weather. Only two days rain in the Rockies.

The headwinds and heat of the Prairies have been a bit testing at times, but have prepared us well for the next 2 weeks where we ride onto the hill country of the Canadian Shield where many hills are expected. This is the route that takes us from here to Thunder Bay and on to Sault Ste. Marie. This is supposed to be a very scenic part of the trip so perhaps the photography will improve.

It seems hard to believe we have ridden 2700km already. 1600 of those in the last   11 days riding from Calgary. I've had 3 flat tires but no other issues. 

The roads vary a great deal in both quality and whether there is a shoulder or not. Many of our group have never ridden on roads without a paved shoulder 2m wide. Not sure how they would handle NZ where there are no shoulders at all!

Mike from Ottawa has now left is as planned so we are down to a group of 10. 

Memorial to George Antoine Belcourt