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.