On Blueberry Hill...
- Fats Domino - "I Found My Thrill on Blueberry Hill"
Lake Superior Provincial Park - Goulais River
170kms / 105 miles
170kms / 105 miles
The mosquito swatting dance was in full swing by the time I emerged from my tent this morning. An omelette was on the grill and I quickly packed my damp tent into the ‘dry’ bag keen for an early start to a long day on the road – 170kms which is a long one and required some organization – plenty of peanut butter sandwiches and also plenty of water for the journey. We had ended yesterdays ride into Lake Superior Provincial Park with some hills which was a taster of what lay ahead for the day – more rolling hills in the park but some beautiful scenery and views along the way. While I still find hills a challenge, I do constantly keep reminding myself that ‘what goes up must come down’ and I take time out to really ‘soak up’ the downhills so that I can appreciate the pain that I went through in getting up the hill..! 
The morning flew by and Andrew and I covered about 40kms before I even realised it. The hills also help pass the time as while your average speed going up the uphills seems to go down, it balances out because the average speed on the downhills is between 35 – 40+kms / hour. Oftentimes the momentum from the downhill can be used to get well into the next uphill. It is a strategy and the gear shifting involved has certainly given my wrist it’s life and strength back as I hop between my big cog and my small cog. The weather also cooperated as we had a lovely tailwind to compliment the sun throughout the morning which sometimes seemed to carry us from one hill to the next. It was one of the first times on this trip that I can definitely say that I feel like I’ve improved and am certainly building up the strength required to make the kilometres pass more quickly and with considerable less effort than it had before.
Andrew and I stopped off at the lovely Elizabeth Cove where we met up with John, Dave, Lani, Thomas and Andre
a. Elizabeth Cove is a lovely sheltered beach area still within Lake Superior Provincial Park. It felt as though we were standing on the beach of the ocean in the Caribbean with the rays of the sun bouncing off of the water which seemed to sparkle like diamonds glittering in the sun. It was nice to have a break and enjoy the scenery and plan our next stop. The Pictographs in Agawa Rock were recommended in our Notes but we decided to ‘play it by ear’ to see whether we’d make the 3km side trip plus 500 meter hike to see them.
We were then faced by a huge set of hills which drained me of quite a lot of energy and so I decided to have a ‘water break’ just outside of the Pictograph entrance. We then decided to reward ourselves for the fact that we rather gracefully had conquered the uphill section and took the side trip do
wn to Agawa Rock. (http://www.northernontario.com/index.aspx?l=0,1,3,16,114,155
The Pictographs were cool and whilst they did require some rather precarious hiking in bicycle shoes (down a steep and slippery rocky cliff) it was well worth the effort. I was thankful that we’d decided to make the stop. Sometimes I find that I get so intent on finishing the day and getting my tent set up and my journal entry written that I forget that this trip is also meant to be relaxing as well as educational. Stops like these are what I will definitely remember most about my summer adventure.
Following the Pictographs we looked forward to what had been rumoured to be a 3km downhill. There was about 6kms of uphill (although it felt like about 20!) before we hit the downhill but we did eventually get there..! This also marked the end of Lake Superior Provincial Park. I have learned that Lake Superior terrain provides some fantastic views prior to being rewarded with a great downhill but unfortunately Lake Superior terrain also provides some huge and unexpected wind gusts which counter the tail wind so the wind seems to come at you from all directions and swirl around. It can take between 5 – 10kms / hour off (at least!) your downhill speed and make it feel much less… exhilarating. The 3km downhill was great but if the wind had been in our favour then it would have been comparable to some of our downhills in the Rockies. The road was also a bit tricky as at the end of one of the steep sections coming off of the downhill out of the park was an 80 degree turn which could be a hair raising experience if a transport had been coming down at the same time as the cyclist. Dark rubber wheel marks in the asphalt told me that a lot of trucks do really have to yank on their steering wheels to make the hills closing bend.
We made a well deserved pit stop at the top of a huge hill outside of Montreal River where I finally had my coffee and devoured a bag of ‘Bits and Bites’. Andrew also bought one of the best Oatmeal cookies I’ve had in ages and ages – good ballast for the remaining 80kms left in the day. Here we met up with Andrea and Thomas with whom we continued to cycle for the rest of the afternoon. Andrew made the mistake of confiding in Andrea and Thomas that he had started to nickname me ‘The Fox’
as I used to be a ‘Rabbit’ but now I am in a ‘hunting’ mode looking to overtake cars and cyclists and anything that dares to venture into my path. It was a bit of a bold statement to make to Andrea and Thomas as they are both extremely strong cyclists and they are always together (they’re actually on their honeymoon..!!). We confided in them our strategy in overtaking and their eyes suddenly lit with an air of competition… They quietly slipped out of the restaurant while Andrew and I got ready to go. Suddenly we realised that they were trying to get away and a mad 40km overtaking race soon kicked off. We raced Andrea and Thomas up and down the rolling hills, around sharp bends, past the tall granite cliffs… every time it looked like we would overtake them then you could see Andrea pull out in front of Thomas or Thomas pull out in front of Andrea and they’d draft off each other for speed and pull ahead of us. It was hilarious and I am certain that they could hear us giggling behind them just as loudly as we could hear them. It made the 40kms pass very quickly and provided us with a much needed distraction from the long day.
We rested at the ‘Canadian Carver’ (just past Pancake Bay) which Andrew (a Kenyan educated in the ‘Queens English’) thought was going to be a huge restaurant which served Sunday roast (which is what a ‘carvery’ is in England). He was devastated to learn that in Canada ‘carver’ does actually mean ‘wood carver’ and discovered this upon walking into the restaurant expecting to be met with the sweet scent of horseradish, roasted meat and dumplings but instead found saw dust, totem pole carvings and wind chimes… He confided in Thomas that while he was disappointed about the carvery mistake at least there was the promise of 'strip
pers in a mall near to the campground that evening..' At this point we also had to break the news to Andrew that in Canada you would have a better chance of buying plastic gnomes for your front yard than strippers in a strip mall. Apparently they don’t have ‘strip malls’ in England… and if they do, they’re certainly not called ‘strip malls’. Poor Andrew, all this was nearly too much for him to take in for the final 30 kms into camp. Needless to say, he would not be finding his thrill on Blueberry Hill..!!
I always struggle with the last 30kms particularly on long days and today was no exception. The cloud which had been trailing us all afternoon finally managed to catch up with us and threatened rain. The gusts coming off the lake also made it a lot cooler and gave us a bit of a headwind. I was definitely tired and looked forward to the campground and the opportunity to rest. We had a good laugh in the final stretch and when we saw the Goulais River sign we knew we were nearly there.
The Blueberry Hill campground was nice – it was more RV oriented but we had a huge field in which we could pitch our tent and the washroom / shower facilities were excellent. Unfortunately, for a rest day it was rather isolated and nothing was especially walkable except for the infamous ‘strip mall’ which was 2kms away. It also didn’t have a wireless internet connection which is what the Rest Days generally have allowed me to do – catch up on my blogging..! BUT, having said that we had a relaxing evening and I fell asleep in my tent at around 8:30 -- an early night after a great day of cycling. I looked forward to tomorrow's Rest Day and our 'off piste' trip to Sault Ste. Marie..!
The morning flew by and Andrew and I covered about 40kms before I even realised it. The hills also help pass the time as while your average speed going up the uphills seems to go down, it balances out because the average speed on the downhills is between 35 – 40+kms / hour. Oftentimes the momentum from the downhill can be used to get well into the next uphill. It is a strategy and the gear shifting involved has certainly given my wrist it’s life and strength back as I hop between my big cog and my small cog. The weather also cooperated as we had a lovely tailwind to compliment the sun throughout the morning which sometimes seemed to carry us from one hill to the next. It was one of the first times on this trip that I can definitely say that I feel like I’ve improved and am certainly building up the strength required to make the kilometres pass more quickly and with considerable less effort than it had before.
Andrew and I stopped off at the lovely Elizabeth Cove where we met up with John, Dave, Lani, Thomas and Andre
a. Elizabeth Cove is a lovely sheltered beach area still within Lake Superior Provincial Park. It felt as though we were standing on the beach of the ocean in the Caribbean with the rays of the sun bouncing off of the water which seemed to sparkle like diamonds glittering in the sun. It was nice to have a break and enjoy the scenery and plan our next stop. The Pictographs in Agawa Rock were recommended in our Notes but we decided to ‘play it by ear’ to see whether we’d make the 3km side trip plus 500 meter hike to see them.We were then faced by a huge set of hills which drained me of quite a lot of energy and so I decided to have a ‘water break’ just outside of the Pictograph entrance. We then decided to reward ourselves for the fact that we rather gracefully had conquered the uphill section and took the side trip do
wn to Agawa Rock. (http://www.northernontario.com/index.aspx?l=0,1,3,16,114,155The Pictographs were cool and whilst they did require some rather precarious hiking in bicycle shoes (down a steep and slippery rocky cliff) it was well worth the effort. I was thankful that we’d decided to make the stop. Sometimes I find that I get so intent on finishing the day and getting my tent set up and my journal entry written that I forget that this trip is also meant to be relaxing as well as educational. Stops like these are what I will definitely remember most about my summer adventure.
Following the Pictographs we looked forward to what had been rumoured to be a 3km downhill. There was about 6kms of uphill (although it felt like about 20!) before we hit the downhill but we did eventually get there..! This also marked the end of Lake Superior Provincial Park. I have learned that Lake Superior terrain provides some fantastic views prior to being rewarded with a great downhill but unfortunately Lake Superior terrain also provides some huge and unexpected wind gusts which counter the tail wind so the wind seems to come at you from all directions and swirl around. It can take between 5 – 10kms / hour off (at least!) your downhill speed and make it feel much less… exhilarating. The 3km downhill was great but if the wind had been in our favour then it would have been comparable to some of our downhills in the Rockies. The road was also a bit tricky as at the end of one of the steep sections coming off of the downhill out of the park was an 80 degree turn which could be a hair raising experience if a transport had been coming down at the same time as the cyclist. Dark rubber wheel marks in the asphalt told me that a lot of trucks do really have to yank on their steering wheels to make the hills closing bend.
We made a well deserved pit stop at the top of a huge hill outside of Montreal River where I finally had my coffee and devoured a bag of ‘Bits and Bites’. Andrew also bought one of the best Oatmeal cookies I’ve had in ages and ages – good ballast for the remaining 80kms left in the day. Here we met up with Andrea and Thomas with whom we continued to cycle for the rest of the afternoon. Andrew made the mistake of confiding in Andrea and Thomas that he had started to nickname me ‘The Fox’
as I used to be a ‘Rabbit’ but now I am in a ‘hunting’ mode looking to overtake cars and cyclists and anything that dares to venture into my path. It was a bit of a bold statement to make to Andrea and Thomas as they are both extremely strong cyclists and they are always together (they’re actually on their honeymoon..!!). We confided in them our strategy in overtaking and their eyes suddenly lit with an air of competition… They quietly slipped out of the restaurant while Andrew and I got ready to go. Suddenly we realised that they were trying to get away and a mad 40km overtaking race soon kicked off. We raced Andrea and Thomas up and down the rolling hills, around sharp bends, past the tall granite cliffs… every time it looked like we would overtake them then you could see Andrea pull out in front of Thomas or Thomas pull out in front of Andrea and they’d draft off each other for speed and pull ahead of us. It was hilarious and I am certain that they could hear us giggling behind them just as loudly as we could hear them. It made the 40kms pass very quickly and provided us with a much needed distraction from the long day.We rested at the ‘Canadian Carver’ (just past Pancake Bay) which Andrew (a Kenyan educated in the ‘Queens English’) thought was going to be a huge restaurant which served Sunday roast (which is what a ‘carvery’ is in England). He was devastated to learn that in Canada ‘carver’ does actually mean ‘wood carver’ and discovered this upon walking into the restaurant expecting to be met with the sweet scent of horseradish, roasted meat and dumplings but instead found saw dust, totem pole carvings and wind chimes… He confided in Thomas that while he was disappointed about the carvery mistake at least there was the promise of 'strip
pers in a mall near to the campground that evening..' At this point we also had to break the news to Andrew that in Canada you would have a better chance of buying plastic gnomes for your front yard than strippers in a strip mall. Apparently they don’t have ‘strip malls’ in England… and if they do, they’re certainly not called ‘strip malls’. Poor Andrew, all this was nearly too much for him to take in for the final 30 kms into camp. Needless to say, he would not be finding his thrill on Blueberry Hill..!! I always struggle with the last 30kms particularly on long days and today was no exception. The cloud which had been trailing us all afternoon finally managed to catch up with us and threatened rain. The gusts coming off the lake also made it a lot cooler and gave us a bit of a headwind. I was definitely tired and looked forward to the campground and the opportunity to rest. We had a good laugh in the final stretch and when we saw the Goulais River sign we knew we were nearly there.
The Blueberry Hill campground was nice – it was more RV oriented but we had a huge field in which we could pitch our tent and the washroom / shower facilities were excellent. Unfortunately, for a rest day it was rather isolated and nothing was especially walkable except for the infamous ‘strip mall’ which was 2kms away. It also didn’t have a wireless internet connection which is what the Rest Days generally have allowed me to do – catch up on my blogging..! BUT, having said that we had a relaxing evening and I fell asleep in my tent at around 8:30 -- an early night after a great day of cycling. I looked forward to tomorrow's Rest Day and our 'off piste' trip to Sault Ste. Marie..!
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