July 19; 122 km 519m vertical, hot and sunny at last

Sault Ste. Marie to Iron Bridge
A busy day today. We had to tear ourselves away from the TV live coverage of Le Tour and go down to the mall to get the laundry done and do some shopping. You should have seen the laundry. A Soo city map went into the washer with the clothes. When I got back from Big Mac TimB was just unloading our kit from the washing machine. It was all covered in about 2 quadrillion pieces of soggy paper and the machine had the another 2 quadrillion pieces inside so it took a little longer to get the laundry done than we had anticipated. After we had stowed everything away we creamed up for a day in the sun and I had to scoff a couple of cheeseburgers to work up enough energy to get my leg over and then we were off. After leaving town we moved onto the dual carriageway that took us 55km before we set eyes on anywhere to have a rest. We stopped at the first little restaurant that we saw and ordered the biggest pot of tea they could find. It did six mugs and then we had a refill. It all helped to wash down the lemon-cranberry muffins and at the end the owner would not let us pay a cent because she was so impressed with us riding across Canada. I should have had a steak and a beer. After we had sufficiently re-hydrated we set off and did the 62km that got us to here in Iron Bridge. We are in a nice little motel owned by a Spaniard and the attached restaurant is leagues ahead of the run of the mill places. It will be a shame to leave after only one night. Now it is time to get the telly on and catch up on Le Tour. Night night.

July 18; 125 km 791m vertical, cool & foggy

Montreal River to Sault Ste Marie
We managed an earlier start today. TimB was up before 6:30, I got tea in bed while he cooked breakfast (am I glad that I’m the mechanic) and were on our way by 9. The fog was still down to the tree roots so there was not a lot to see. We climbed the hill that we had come back down last night and nearly got above the fog to see a pale sun and then it was back down the other side of the hill into the gloom. Things were going well until after about 19km I told TimB that his back tyre was getting wider and wider. Sure enough, another puncture for me to fix and while doing it we found that the tyre was so worn the rubber was loose exposing the casing in several places. The chances for food and drinks were more frequent on this stage, the hills were fewer and less steep so we made good time to the Soo where we headed, via the Tourist Centre, to the nearest bike shop for an urgently required tyre. After fitting it we settled in a town centre motel so that we would be able to take full advantage of the street festival that is on this weekend.

PS Thanks to all those who posted comments and for their kind wishes. My back is much better today. TimB

July 17; 114 km 1019m vertical, warm and humid

Wawa to Montreal River
We are back in the saddle again. After 3 days of lying in bed with my knees higher than my hips, we decided to throw caution to the winds and head for Sault Ste Marie. As a test I loaded up my bike and road once around the parking lot to see if everything worked. It did. Riding my bike is not hard on my back, but getting on and off my bike is a little more complicated than usual.
We left Wawa at 11 and headed south for Montreal River. I road slowly for the first 10 km and then I tucked in behind TimG and let him do all the work. The winds were not strong, but they were from the south so I biked in TimG’s slipstream most of the way. We stopped every 25km for a rest and granola bars. The road had major hills and we hit 3 uphills that climbed more than 4km and along the way we got some nice views of Lake Superior and it’s precipitous shoreline. The road went through Lake Superior Provincial Park for 89km and there were no motels, hotels or restaurants so we had to do 111km without our usual 1 hour tea and lunch break. When we hit Montreal River we headed for the restaurant we had seen advertised at the exit from the park. Unfortunately, it was no longer a restaurant, just a food store, but we did get a tea and some bad news - there were no motels open for another 50km down the road. While I was asking other customers about a campsite, the lady told me there was a resort with chalets just 3km away back down the steep hill we had just climbed. We now have a lovely (wooden) chalet on the shores of Lake Superior with a large patio window where we are watching the rain fall gently into the largest freshwater lake in the world.

PS from TG. Just in case you don’t already know: Lake Superior surface area 31700 sq. miles (that’s about one third the size of GB); East-West 382 miles N-S 160 miles; max. depth 1279ft; avg. depth 489ft; volume 3 quadrillion gallons; avg. temp. 40F (yep you don’t see anybody swimming in it); water turnover 191-199 years; tour around the lake 1300 miles.

July 14, 15, and 16

We are holed up in Wawa, Ontario due to injury. TimB had a back spasm on Sunday night (Hexenschuss uff Deutsch) and is resting in bed for 3 days. During this time he has been waited on hand and foot by TimG who is proving to be an excellent nurse. Thanks goodness for the Tour de France on television.

Many thanks to everybody for the birthday wishes. I had expected to spend the day on a bike saddle not nursing a cripple but at least I get to rest between fetching tea and meals and doing the laundry and ……….

Day 44 July 13 97km 705M vertical 12°C Cold rain SW wind

White River to Wawa
We had a cold, wet and miserable day, but not all at the same time. It was raining heavily this morning so we had a leisurely breakfast and departed White River at11:15. The rain was lighter but the wind was in our face as we headed straight south so we had a wet journey for the first third of our day. Suddenly the rain stopped, the road dried up, and the wind shifted to our back. We made the most of the tail wind and cruised along at 29 kph for the next third of our day. The sun peaked out briefly, just to tease us, and then the temperature dropped to 12°C , the wind turned to face us and the sun disappeared. Our cruising speed dropped to 19kph. The last third of the day was drudgery fighting the cold south winds. We pedalled into Wawa and immediately found the Tim Horton’s for hot tea and cinnamon buns.