First quick thing – it has come to my attention that folks don’t get notifications when there are replies to their comments. This is a shame because I reply to most, and that has been for naught up until now. So, you will now see a checkbox where you can opt in/out of receiving emails…
Day 13: Ferris to home!
I’ll write a conclusion soon. Thanks to Tyler for carrying me to the finish line!
Day 12: Sharbot to Ferris PP
I was almost here before, at Ferris campground. It was October 2015 on my first multi day ride. Karen and I met at Sandbanks for Thanksgiving (dear Americans, Canada has its own thanksgiving in early October). I rode there in 3 days and then to Oshawa to get the train on the way back home….
Day 11: Rideau to Sharbot Lake PP
Trails, trails, trails. Ontario isn’t Quebec for sure, but this part of the province has more rideable trails than I realized. This morning I rode about 30 km on side roads to Stittsville where I got on the Trans Canada – Ottawa trail. I also stopped at a nice coffee shop and got breakfast and…
Day 10: Voyageur to Rideau River PP
Today was the hottest day of the ride. Not totally oppressive, but pretty warm to be on a bike all day. Yesterday on my half day (better, Don?) I read an article about the West Toronto Railpath. This is currently a ~3 kilometer walking/biking path that runs parallel to some functioning railroad tracks, and our…
Day 9: Oka to Voyageur Provincial Park, ON
Today was a rest day, or more appropriately a beach day. Despite having overshot yesterday’s destination by 50%, I decided to stick with my plan for where to end up every night. That made today a short ride. So short I didn’t even bother wearing shoes. Contrary to what these reports may make me sound…
Day 8: Yamaska to Oka National Park
Last night I planned out the next 5 nights of National and provincial parks to stay at in order to get me home on Sunday. The issue I’m having, as I have in the past when doing these rides in Canada, is distances between places to sleep. I’d prefer to give my money to public…
Day 7: Villette to Yamaska National Park
The route verte is not unlike much of the cycling I did last summer in Europe. Extremely well signed and maintained bicycle highways. Sure, there are some sections that are roads, but the majority of today was on paved and/or smooth crushed stone cycleways. I saw bike charging stations, rest stops with picnic tables and…
Day 6: Burke to Villette, QC
I’m back in Canada, about 15 km north of the border, in a private campground. Borders are such a big deal in so many ways, but really just arbitrary things. Despite that, I feel good to have crossed it. The riding today was much more humane. I continued on the VTXL basically right from where…
Day 5: Vershire to West Burke
Last night, Pat (the retired teacher) asked to see the route through Vermont I am riding. I gave him my phone with the map open. He pinched and swiped for a few minutes and laughed to himself a few times as he did so. When he handed the phone back, he looked me in the…
Day 4: just Vershire
I decided to stay here at the hostel rather than take my chances on the road. As I write this, I am watching sheets of rain from the porch. It was the right call. I feel a little like I’m in an episode of Northern Exposure here. There is a constant stream of people and…
Day 3: Quechee to Vershire
I’m in the kind of place where every road has *hill* in the name. And currently at a very unique hostel. It took under 30 minutes to get from the campground to where I got on the VTXL. I’ll be doing about 300 of the 500 km route. Given my experience today, I am satisfied…