Day 21 June 20 169km 444M vertical, 26°C and sunny

Assiniboia to Weyburn: Today was our most ambitious day to date. We were up at 6 am and on the way by 8 am. We wanted to get to Ogema for lunch and it is 82km down the road. We started with 13km of construction on the highway that left us dusty and dirty. Then the construction was over, the north-west wind came up behind us and we were on our way. The prevailing west wind has been consistent and strong since we hit Alberta. We are benefiting from the gentle push almost every day. When we go northerly we get a strong side wind but it’s better than a head wind. We reached Ogema at 12:30 and had a leisurely lunch. Then off again for Weyburn. We chose to ride 165 km in one day because there are no towns after Ogema where we could stay. Also, Saturday being a rest day, we wanted a larger town so we could shop and replenish our supplies. Because of the distance we stopped every 20km for a leg break and a banana. Bananas really are a miracle fruit. We cruised at about 30kph when we got up to top speed and the wind was favourable. The roads in Saskatchewan are not flat, but they sure are straight. In the afternoon heat the road seems to stretch forever into the distance. The traffic is so light that we normally ride down the middle of the lane, however once in a while we get some interesting traffic coming towards us.
We arrived in Weyburn at 18:30 and booked a motel for 2 nights. (What Luxury!) We now have wireless and cell phone service again.

Day 20 June 19 122Km, 358m Vertical Climb, Clear and warmer yet again.

Ponteix to Assiniboia. We were up early and visited by 2 deer investigating our campsite. Our early start was interrupted by a flat tire before we even left the campsite. Then we visited 2 banks (to get no money), 2 food stores (to get some food), and the local bakery for breakfast. We are having trouble finding food stores open when we arrive in a town late and tend to eat in restaurants a lot. We finally got on our way at 11:15. Forty km later a second flat. As Tim G said bad things happen in threes. We had a good lunch at Lafleche and after lunch Tim G went to the only ATM in town to get some money. The ATM completed the transactions but Tim got no money so he had to get the bank involved. The bank was initially reluctant to get involved but was convinced to help when Tim announced he was staying in the bank until they made sure the ATM didn’t charge his account. They did check the records and give us enough documentation to get any errors corrected and we were on our way. Because of the flats and the bank incident we arrived in Assiniboia at 6:15 and again were too late to shop for food. We set up tent at the regional park and found ourselves next to a group of cyclists who were heading from Victoria to Halifax. They did have an RV as a support vehicle and they were doing less kilometres per day, but they were all older than us. (OAS’rs)

Day 19 June 18 114Km, 519m Vertical Climb, Clear and even warmer.

Oh oh. What happened last night? Yer can’t beat a fried breakfast after a late night. I’m going to have to start doing the fried eggs though. Tim B. should stick to the scrambled ones. Late start today. It was 11:15 before we were rolling south into the Cypress Hills but we did have the benefit of a north west wind pushing us along. After 42km we turned left onto the Red Coat Trail, route 13, to head east on a nice straight and quiet road. Well, bless my little cotton socks if there wasn’t a bend in the road after 31km. That raised the excitement level for the next 20 minutes when all was suddenly superseded by the sighting of our first buffalos. I think some of the bulls were being crafty and stalking some cows that were on the range too but I might be wrong. We also saw two cemeteries on opposite sides of the road with magnificent views across the prairies (not that anybody apart from us seemed to be enjoying them). It must be pretty dry around there because there were good solid wooden crosses that were apparently 50 years old. A wooden cross in the ground wouldn’t last 5 years where live. We pushed on to Ponteix where we were able to pitch the tent on a lovely bit of fresh cut grass next to the rail track. As they only get about 3 trains a week we expected and had a peaceful night. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We were too late for the shops so we had to eat out and the only restaurant in town had an All You Can Eat Wings Night. What more could one wish for? Being a bit late we didn’t get any salad so we made up for the loss with lots of wings.

Day 18 June 17 120Km, 458m Vertical Climb, Clear and warm.

Walsh to Gull Lake. The sun was up early and so were we. A cuppa tea, a cuppa coffee, decamp, a wave to Shelley and the squirrels and we were off. It was only 2km to the Saskatchewan border but 40 to the visitor centre where we took our first break. Tim B. sorted out maps etc. in the Centre while I sorted out a large cone of ice cream at the ice cream parlour on the edge of the car park. We moved on a couple of minutes to the cross roads at Maple Creek for a warm lunch at the gas station and then onwards to Gull Lake. For accommodation in Gull Lake we decided to try the hotel which looked pretty run down and thankfully Laura, behind the bar, had a two bedroom apartment with kitchenette available about a block away so that’s where we ended up. After a quick visit to the shops, a cooked supper (Tim B. needs some practice on the sunny side up eggs), a shower and a change of clothes it was off back to (yes you guessed it) the bar. When we were asking for a room Laura had said that she shuts the bar around 9pm if it is quiet so we hot footed it over there around 8:30. Laura was still there with a couple of local customers and we were soon busy chatting away. Bob Wellmann told us all about coyote hunting, steer roping, bronco breaking, the importance of different types of sage with their high protein content that are essential for the survival of buffalo and cattle on the range and about how many cow/calf pairs can be kept on a section (that’s a square mile). What do you get when you cross a buffalo with a cow? A beefalo. Yep, we learned that too. You know you're having a good day when the bartender buys you a drink. Anyway, sometime after midnight we decided to leave the serious drinking to those that don’t ride bicycles and staggered off back to our room and conked out within seconds.

Day 17 June 16 116Km, 321m Vertical Climb, Clear blue sky and getting warm.

Bow Island to Walsh. Well I didn’t avoid the mossies. They bit my bum through my cycling shorts, both cheeks, back of both thighs, both knees, face and left wrist. So, first move after decamping was to visit the hunting sports shop in town to get some insect repellent. Bow Is. is not a very big town (about 10 shops) but the sports shop is Canada’s largest supplier of hunting bows and we got free education on the relative merits of crossbows and longbows and no insect repellent. When the need arises get a longbow because it shoots further and insect repellent at the foodstore because it is cheaper than the hunter’s odourless variety.
Eventually we got on our way through the prairies. We saw an occasional bend in the road and it went gently up and down most of the time. The prairies are not flat, they may seem like it to you folks in cars but that is probably because you’re asleep most of the time. We stopped in Seven Persons at the only cafe in town where all seven persons were having lunch. The microwaved toasted sandwich was not a success. Next stop was Medicine Hat where, after a more nourishing lunch break, we changed on to the Trans Canada Hwy for the last stage to Walsh situated just before the Saskatchewan border. Walsh is two gas stations and a few houses near the RR track. We saw there was a restaurant and bar so we set up camp on the small campground next to the Shell station. Shelley came over from her home to give us some advice on where to put the tent and when we asked about the location of the advertised washing machine she said it no longer worked so she took all our dirty laundry and put it through her machine. Now wasn’t that nice of her. Toilets and hot showers were available so after we got cleaned up off we went to do some shopping only to find that both gas stations only sold junk food, so off to the restaurant which was closed and lo and behold so was the bar. As we were the only people on the camp site we sat and chatted to a few Richardson Ground squirrels before turning in for an early night.

Day 16 June 15

Lethbridge to Bow Island. We left Lethbridge at 11 AM and headed down the road to Medicine Hat. We have changed the planned route to avoid going directly thought the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. We met 2 cyclists on the route who had gone through Cypress Hills and they lost their third companion when his bike was destroyed by the gravel roads. Since we both have road touring bikes we decided to play it safe and stay on the paved roads. Unfortunately we will have to go on the Trans-Canada which we were hoping to avoid. David, our host from Lethbridge accompanied us for the first half day and then he returned to Lethbridge. Near Tabor we saw two farms with strange looking Alberta Beef. We carried on to Bow Island, where we camped at the municipal park. Hallelujah the camping was a success. Since we are saving so much money by camping we ate out at a Chinese buffet. What a great way to avoid the mosquitos. We slept OK and woke up warm and dry.

Day 15 June 14 Rest day in Lethbridge

The longest trestle bridge in the world near Lethbridge
Day 15 June 14 Rest day in Lethbridge