Ride Days 30 and 31: After a restful morning in Sault Ste. Marie giving Wilbert (and the two bikes) a much deserved scrub and catching up with some emails, we set off for the lakeside village of ‘Thessalon’. 53 miles later, we arrived at dusk to set up camp and we enjoyed some dinner with a view of the lake and a great campfire.
Today we made the most of a decent tailwind and cycled 135 miles, reaching the industrial town of Sudbury by early evening. It was a 10-hour day on-the-road, but with great company whilst riding with either Debbie or Sharon, it was satisfying to cover so much ground in one day.
Ride Day 29: After enjoying a sleep-in (until 8am!), washing clothes and having a dip in Lake Superior we whizzed along to the town of ‘Sault Ste. Marie, a distance of 46 miles. With the wind now at our backs this seemed easy after yesterday’s 10-hour slog against a cruel wind! We enjoyed another meal out (my appetite remains almost limitless!), a night in a motel and we are now ready to tackle the 1,400 miles to Halifax in Nova Scotia. Debbie and Sharon who have come from the UK (from Wales and England respectively) to drive ‘Wilbert’ the support vehicle and ride with me have been absolutely unbelievable. Opting to camp in the wilds of Northern Ontario as opposed to relaxing on the beach somewhere exotic, they have given 100% from the word go. Averaging 10 hours on the road each day, never knowing where the next camp will come or what the weather will throw at us, the girls have been terrific and I simply can’t thank them enough. I am lucky to have such fun riding buddies and it’s great to share hundreds of miles in the saddle with them. Despite the early mornings, mosquito bites and life on-the-road, I hope they will look back fondly on the adventures we are having…
Ride Days 24 – 28: From ‘Thunder Bay’ to ‘Sault Ste Marie’ we tackled the 458-mile leg around the magnificent Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area. In 5 and-a-half days we overcame fierce headwinds, soaring temperature and intense storms. We braved constant steep hills, camped in mosquito-filled forests and even saw bears in close proximity. On day one we joined Tara Rudolf, a 21-year-old cross-Canada cyclist from Alberta, and enjoyed her company to ‘Nipigon’. We paid a visit to Canada’s longest suspension bridge on day two and arrived late into ‘Rainbow Falls’, cooking pasta and pitching tents in the dark! On day three we bumped into a remarkable chap from Tokyo by the name of ‘Ruo Hashimoto’. He is touring Canada by bike for 6 months, following his nose and camping out in the wild... A genuine ‘free-spirit’, Ruo amused and inspired us all. We squeezed the extra camping kit into Wilbert’s boot and had a great time with Ruo for 3 days. On day four we dodged rain storms and watched in wonder as a bear crossed the road in front of us, eyeing us suspiciously. We made it from ‘White Lake to ‘Wawa’ and, after 9 hours of cycling, thoroughly enjoyed eating out together. Day five saw us battling against strong winds and for over 100 km from ‘Wawa to ‘Montreal River’ we passed no settlements (or, worryingly, petrol stations!) at all – just hills and forest and the omnipresent jaw-dropping views across Lake Superior. It has been a true privilege to ride in this spectacular part of the world.
Rest Day 9: With the expedition officially ‘on-hold’ we tried to think ‘outside the box’ to come up with some ideas to insure our car here in the province of Ontario. We tried to formally change the ownership of the car to some relatives who live out here in Mississauga (thanks Auntie Sheila!) but this proved impossible. We considered selling trusty ‘Wilbert’ and renting another van but this was astronomically expensive. In the end our only viable option was to drive back to the province of Manitoba, some 400 miles WEST to try to negotiate some temporary car insurance there. In searing heat we set off, retracing the past four day’s riding. Wilbert decided it was a little hot (35 degrees) for driving all day and needed a little rest in the shade. The AA man didn’t help matters when he accidently pulled Wilbert’s bumper off and then had to spend 2 hours fixing it back on. We made it to the insurance office minutes before it closed and then headed straight back to Ontario. In the early hours of the morning the police pulled us over, asking to see our insurance documents… With much relief we produced our now-legal documents and pressed on to Thunder Bay, finally getting to bed at 3am. Although arduous, the 20-hour round trip resulted in a successful conclusion to the car insurance saga and the Coast to Coast road trip is now mercifully back on track!
'Rest Day' 8: We got up early nursing slight hangovers and took Dad to the airport for his return flight to the UK. The mood was pretty subdued and we were all really sad to say farewell to Roger. He has made such a huge impact on the trip, made us laugh so much and contributed enormously. It seems like just yesterday that I was excitedly waiting for my Dad to arrive (and put the bike trailer in the car!), yet that was several weeks ago and more than 800-miles in distance away! Dad - thanks for your amazing support and everything you have put into the trip - from helping me to buy the support car to making camp night after night - you have been an absolute star.
We then spent the day trying to navigate the stringent Ontario car insurance rules, ultimately without success. Without an Ontario Driving Licence (not so easy for a British citizen to get!) it is not possible here to insure or tax a car. Crazy rules! We tried numerous car insurance companies and contacted the relevant Ontario car tax head-office. We decided that the trip would have to be put ‘on-hold’ until the red-tape issues concerning the legality of our vehicle were resolved. With the prospect of a $5,000 fine if caught driving with no insurance or tax and unthinkably large medical / repair / legal fees if we were involved in an accident, it was vital to find a way to sort the problem! Wrapped up with what seemed like ridiculous bureaucracy, we felt thoroughly trapped and on a rather low ebb. Perhaps a good night’s sleep would give us fresh impetus?
Ride Day 23 - I biked 80 miles today along along a hilly, winding forest road from 'English River' to the edge of 'Thunder Bay'. The wind was favourable and the rain held off. The fifth consectutive riding day from Winnipeg (a distance of 438 miles), our spirits were high as a rest day and night out awaited us! We found a motel, gave the bikes a quick scrub-up and went out for some food and drinks. We enjoyed a terrific meal which my Dad treated us to and it was a night to remember.
Ride day 22 – The ride through remote northern Ontario continues… I put in 60 miles on the Highway before the heavens opened. In this neck of the woods there is literally no civilisation between settlements – just endless forest and spectacular lakes. The last 30 miles today involved dodging spray from thundering lorries and enduring persistent rain... We hope there is no heat-wave in the UK at the moment! Due to the stormy weather we decided against camping tonight and we’re enjoying some home-comforts in a motel. We hope to reach Thunder Bay tomorrow.
Ride Day 21 - I managed to pedal 101 arduous miles today into a headwind and over some increasingly undulating terrain. It was great to ride with all 3 members of the support team: Debbie, Sharon and my Dad, Roger, and the miles tick by much more readily with some company on-the-road. There's some amazing forest scenery here and lakes literally dot the landscape. The skies became steadily more threatening throughout the day but the rain held off until we began to tuck into our evening barbeque! We are getting the hang of this camping business though and have picked up some wood for the campfire, some beer for my Dad and some wiskey and coke for the other team members (which Dad appears to have something of a taste for too...).
Ride Day 20 - I just about managed to keep up with Sharon during the morning ride session today and we enjoyed 30 fast miles on the road together. We crossed into the forth province of the trip so far - Ontario - and enjoyed lush weather. It has been necessary to buy car insurance in each province seperately so far and we met some pretty heavy red-tape on this front today. Without the relevant 'receipt of vehicle purchase within the last 6 days' (!?) and address in Ontario we were forced to cut our riding short and we made camp here in Kenora. A beautiful lake-side pitch and a great meal lifted our spirits and we'll try to overcome the bureaucracy again tomorrow... We met a really inspiring cyclist today by the name of Tara Rudolf. She is also biking to Halifax, raising money for an amazing charity - her Facebook 'Group' is 'Tara's Bike Trip for Health Care in Uganda' if you have a little time to look it up.