Shining like the sun
Smiling, having fun
Feeling like a number one
- Abba - "Super Trouper"
Day 37: White Lake – Lake Superior Provincial Park
163kms / 101 miles
I was definitely a ‘Super Trouper’ today as I managed to endure all of the things that set a recreational cyclist apart from a ‘hard core’ and obsessed cyclist – wind, rain, bugs, cold, cloud…. (just to name a few..!)
The pitter patter of rain on a tent can sound quite soothing in the morning but it is less soothing when you consider that you have to get up, pack a damp tent, dress in damp clothes, eat breakfast and prepare your bike in the next 1.5 hours… and it’s only 5:30am. All the while, about a trillion giant hungry mosquitoes are outside of the tent waiting for breakfast. Inside the tent are a million black flies – about .06cm in length and the most viscious little bugs I’ve ever seen. Last night while I was asleep, about 10 of them had a giant party on the back of my neck. My neck has since swollen up to reach a diameter equivalent to my tree-trunk thighs. Black flies are the provincial symbol of Northern Ontario (just as mosquitoes are the provincial symbol of Manitoba). It is also the symbol that the Tourist Board of Ontario tries desperately to neatly brush under the carpet… “Black flies…? What black flies…?”
The day ahead was due to be a long one – 160kms – and Andrew and Brendan were on Galley Duty so I decided to don the rain gear, brave the damp, rain, mosquitoes, wind and cold and wait for them… about 35 kms up the road in White Lake, the home of Winnie The Pooh..! Thank goodness for a lovely little establishment called, ‘Robins Donuts’ where I waited for the boys to arrive (and ate 4 donuts in the process).
Winnie the Pooh was a Canadian..!
On August 24th, 1914, Lt. Harry Colebourn, a Canadian Army Veterinarian purchased a black bear cub in White River, Ontario while enroute overseas. The female cub was named Winnie after his home town Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winnie was left in the care of the London Zoo on December 9th, 1914 while Captain Colebourn served in France in 1919. He gave her to the Zoo where she was watched and loved by many including author A. A. Milne and his son Christopher. While at the London Zoo, Winnie’s name was changed to Winnie the Pooh and A. A. Milne based his stories on this bear. Winnie died in 1934.
The rest of the day went well – it stayed rainy and damp for most of the morning and the sky remained overcast which may have been a blessing in disguise as whilst the notes said that the terrain would be ‘easy’ it was actually quite hilly. We nearly completely avoided the rain apart from a 5 minute
shower which managed to ‘dampen’ my rain gear (and get my Goretex jacket suitably sweaty). I have decided that in spite of cycling over 3500kms over the course of 37 days I am still a recreational cyclist as I do not enjoy biking in the rain and if given the choice, I’d much rather stay in the comfort of the coffee shop… preferably Tim Hortons.Interestingly today is also the Half Way day for Brendan and I who started in Vancouver rather than Victoria on our 72 day trip. We stopped for a ‘Half Way’ photo just as a giant black cloud was approaching us in the distance. Fortunately the wind carried it well into the opposite direction otherwise I wouldn’t look nearly so happy about being half way. The weather changed a few minutes later and as we cycled the mica mineral on the rock faces along the road sparkled in the sun.
Wawa:
We met up with the French Connection around noon, at around the 100th km and
had an enjoyable (fast) ride with them into Wawa where we discovered a TIM HORTONS...!! I was very much looking forward to Wawa and seeing the giant Canada Goose. There is an obsession among Canadians in building all things ‘big’ - big ‘Potash Pete’, big ‘Smokey the Bear’, big ‘Snowman’, big ‘Winnie the Pooh’, big ‘Moose’ – just to name a few. This particular monument of a ‘giant goose’ was dedicated to commemorate the opening of the last link of the Lake Superior section of the TransCanada Highway on the 17th of September 1960. The Canada Goose is a symbol of the Community of Wawa whose name is an Ojibway Indian word meaning ‘wild goose’. The sculpture was constructed of Algoma Steel products made from Iron Ore made from Iron Ore mined from m
ined by the Algoma Ore division - Wawa. Unfortunately our stop was only a ‘quickie’ as the mosquitoes took great pleasure in attempting to devour all of the tourists stopping alongside the ‘Wild Goose’ to take a photo.We still had another 30kms to bike and it was getting late so we hopped back on our bikes and fought a headwind back into camp. Normally 30kms is an easy ride to end the day after a short break but the wind certainly provided us with a challenge in getting to our final destination of Lake Superior Provincial Park. As soon as we left the rolling hills of Wawa we faced the ‘rugged terrain’ which led into the Park. I must admit, I enjoyed the rolling terrain but the change in scenery was a welcome treat – the hills continued but the vegetation changed and the number of lakes along the road soared exponentially. The trees were predominantly Yellow poplar, Silver Birch, and Spruce Trees. I must admit, it was a beautiful cycle into the park and while there were some steep, long and gradual climbs there were also many downhills. Unfortunately however the headwind and also the lake gusts greatly reduced the speed of descent on the downhills. Shortly after we entered Lake Superior Provincial Park there was a fantastic downhill over about 1.5 kms and led you to a smooth bend which overlooked the sparkling Lake Superior. Here was Old Woman Bay where Andrew and I stopped to watch Brendan rocket down the hill.
Old Woman Bay is a very scenic spot and is where the ashes of the late film maker (paddler and artist) Bill Mason were scattered. It’s called Old Woman Bay because in the cliffs the face of an old woman looks out over the bay.A long climb ended the day and I was happy to turn right into our campground which was overlooking a gorgeous clear lake and seemed to be relatively mosquito free. I was also delighted to have spaghetti for dinner and the opportunity to do a Turkey Hand Over to Gary. He deserved the turkey as he had actually fallen asleep on his bicycle (and fell off of it…) going uphill. Definitely ‘Turkey Award’ material..!
The Owen Sound Triathalon - Hmmmmmmmmm...
Another highlight of the day was a joint decision between Graham, Eve and I to enter a team in the Owen Sound Triathalon in a few days time. Graham would be cycling, Eve running and I would be swimming. Our main competition would be the team made up of Brendan (running), Andrew (swimming) and Yao (cycling).
I was happy to crawl into my tent that evening and it did not take me long to fall asleep after another fantastic day of cycling.
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