Day 2 – May 19, 2013: Emily to Ferris Provincial Park – 80k

We met so many people today on our journey, and we needed it. They were all very helpful and friendly, and also curious about our tour.

The scenery was much more diverse today – less marshy, more countryside, fewer flies, only sunshine! We went through two beautiful towns along the rivers (one where we stopped for lunch). There was so much lush green forest! Even though the trails were flat the whole way through, they wound around so many rolling hills, with huge boulders scattered across the fresh light-green spring grass – vastly different from the countryside in southern Ontario.

A friendly group of bikers stopped to chat and told us about “Warm Showers,” a friendly network of people who open their homes for traveling cyclists. Not too long after, we had been traveling slow on a very rough gravel path and were taking yet another break, when another group of bikers caught up with us. They also mentioned Warm Showers, and empathized with use about the rough trail. They wished us the best and moved on, but we ended up passing them again, at a good rate too. A few minutes later one of the guys from the group caught up again and asked if they could put us in and article they are publishing for something (I can’t remember what). They took our picture and did a quick interview. That was kinda neat.

The rest of the ride was a breeze and we were beginning to really reach a good pace closer to our destination, when I swerved on the loose gravel coming over a hill, and I couldn’t regain my balance due to the heavy paniers. I crashed hard on the gravel and got scraped up pretty good. I picked up the bike as quick as I could though, since dad didn’t seem to notice I was no longer behind him. I caught up with him after a few clicks, and we reached the campsite in good time to clean up the wounds and cook dinner. This morning (May 20) my shoulder is in a lot of pain and the palms of my hands are tender. I hope we can get a move on fast, since we will have to travel 129k.

 

 

I guess we also stopped by this damn today for lunch – refreshing!
Dad was pretty far ahead. Maybe I was taking too many pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Ouch

Day 1 – May 18, 2013: Emily Provincial Park

We started off strong on paved roads from Grandpa’s house, Richmond Hill, pushing over many hills through the countryside for awhile. Each hill was exhausting with the weight of our gear, but we had a lot of energy. We passed so many professional bikers, all looking curious as they passed in the other direction. No one seemed to be headed our way, no one passed us the entire way to Emily Lake.

Soon we reached the trail and it was straight and flat, a nice relief from the hills. We talked and observed the beautiful aroma of spring blossoms that lined our path on both sides. I couldn’t get enough of the delicious fresh floral scent.

After the blossoming trees and grassy hills, we reached marshlands which stretched out for a mile at times, on either side of the trail, no farmland or civilization in sight. We biked on through these marshlands for about 20km. We crossed over little wooden bridges where the still clear blue water passed under the trail.

We saw tons of wildlife. I kept thinking if we had not been biking through so fast we would have spotted a moose. Funny looking birds, perhaps pheasants or quails, with their fat bodies and long skinny necks, crossed our paths in groups of three or four, and escaped over the hills. Gold Finches, and right florescent orange-and-black birds flitted between trees as we flew by, carrying twigs and grass to their nests. (which I discovered later are called Orioles – they are so pretty!). Turtles soaking up the sun would slip into the still water as we passed.

The trail in the last part of our day became very sandy gravel, slowing us down considerably, our speed dropping to only ten clicks (versus the average of about fifteen we had been going). We trudged through and finally came to country road again. Dad was starting to slow, so we took it easy after we stopped in Lindsay to fill our empty bottles. We were still 15 to 20km from our destination, and hungry. We had to find a restaurant soon or risk making our dinner in the dark, with very little energy.

We dragged ourselves the last stretch and finally crossed a bridge over Emily Lake. We were so relieved to see a diner on the other side! We had some beer (high in calories, it became a staple of our trip) and just stuffed ourselves. We biked with full bellies down the road to our campsite to hit the sack. Proud of us, feeling more confident already (though I woke up the next day with the most excruciating back pain EVER!) I fell asleep instantly.