After last night’s 11::00 pm train another one lumbered through sometime in the middle of the night. I think I woke up long enough to realize it was a train and immediately went back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 5:15 it was tough to get out of bed. However our crew was making breakfast so I had no choice but to crawl out of my cozy sleeping bag, pack up my tent and get going on breakfast. While Elaine, Michel, Greg, and Greg were busy hauling breakfast and sandwich makings out of the truck and getting things set up, I busied myself with making porridge and mixing up the eggs for French Toast.

My inflatable pillow has a slow leak. I think I now where it is and should be able to fix it with a tire patch (a: when I have time and b: when I remember at a time other an bedtime).

Breakfast was done, cleaned up, and the truck packed and Michel, Elaine and I were underway by 8:15. It was a nice morning with just a little chill in the air but certainly warmer than it had been for quite a few mornings.

Louise, Dan, rob working on bike in background

In Massey we met up with a number of our riders who had left before us. They were sitting on a wall by some nice flower beds, taking a break. Rob was changing a tire that had finally worn out.

Massey is apparently the town where the sport of Broom Ball originated.

We joined the group and had a little snack. As we were about to leave we noticed Eric was fixing a flat so Michel stayed behind to help him.

We stopped in Webbwood for a chocolate milk to go with our sandwich. One of our group had told us there was a DQ in Espanola so we planned to stop there for dessert. Our hopes were dashed when we discovered the ice cream shop (not a DQ) was out of business. As we rode through Espanola we say Larry and Gee’s bikes parked outside a little cafe/bakery. We stopped in hoping for some pie. They were out of any baked goods so we both ordered toast.

The area we are now riding through still has a lot of bush and lakes but it isn’t as hilly and rugged as Ontario north of Sault St. Marie. There is a lot more signs of civilization with towns every 20 or 30 km and lots of roadside stores and cafes.

Jacques, Alain having lunch

Further down the road we passed Clarke and Becky. Clarke was fixing a flat tire on Becky’s bike. A few kilometres further we came upon Louise, Myra and Danny who was fixing a flat on his bike.

Swing bridge to Manitoulin Island open

The road from Espanola to just before the bridge over to Manitoulin Island was very hilly. As we approached the bridge, which in fact is a swing bridge, we saw that it was open with some sailboats passing through. Eventually it closed an it was our turn to go over the one-lane bridge. We opted for the walkway to get out of traffic. The walkway was narrow and a bit of a hair raising experience however we made it safely across.

Ice Cream stop

Lo and behold just past the bridge was a wonderful ice cream shop. Naturally we had to stop. A number of other riders arrived not long after us including Clarke who was pushing his bike. He had a flat!

I had two scoops in a waffle cone: keylime pie and Moose Tracks. It was great!

Elaine, me, Jacques

The last 13 km into camp were into a headwind. By now my legs were getting tired and the headwind didn’t help. Our distance for the day when we reached our campground was 134 km.

Tent up, drying stuff out

After supper I went to the Rec Centre where we should have been able to access WiFi however it wasn’t working. Unable to upload photos for yesterday’s post, I spent my time writing today’s entry.

Tomorrow we take a ferry off this island – but that is a story for another day.