Today we would be leaving the Prairies, leaving Manitoba,
and entering the Canadian Shield and my home province Ontario. I was quite
excited to be leaving the Prairies because the Canadian Shield promised trees,
rocks, water, and some hills :)
The day was a long one because we had to cycle 171km and
just yesterday we cycled 170km. But tomorrow would be a rest day which was a
blessing after 6 straight days of riding.
Louise and I cycled together. We entered the Canadian Shield
quite quickly and my spirits lifted. It was so amazing to see trees and rock
appearing. The transition from Prairies to Shield was awesome.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Rennie which was a
slightly depressing town. The sign of the town said “Welcome to Rennie, home of
something or somebody famous ... someday ... maybe...” Funny, yet sad.
After stopping at Rennie Louise and I cycled down Route 44
which turned out to be quite the experience. The road was quite narrow, with
trees surrounding you, and there were rolling hills. There were also horse
flies, lots and lots of horse flies, who wanted to gobble up chunks of your
flesh. We were literally chased by these flies for 20-30km. It was absolutely
ridiculous. Louise and I were booking it to try and escape them but they just
kept up with us and whenever they had the chance they would bite our bottoms,
hands, arms, legs, anything. It was not a fun experience. We finally reached
the town of West Hawk Lake where we took a much needed break free of horse
flies.
Within 5km of West Hawk Lake Louise and I reached the
Ontario/Manitoba border. I was so thrilled. I cycled all the way from British
Columbia to my home province!
We met a couple at the “Welcome to Ontario” sign. They
cycled from Calgary and were heading to Montreal. It was awesome meeting
cyclists outside our group who were also riding across the country.
Once we reached the border we still had 50km to go. That last
leg was a challenge. We were tired from the long riding segment and once we
reached the border all we wanted to do was be in camp right away. Louise was
going a bit slow as she was tired and I was getting frustrated because of it,
but I continued to cycle with her and together we made it to Kenora. We were so
relieved to have made it to Kenora. It was such an accomplishment after a long
day and a long stretch of riding.
When we made it to camp we were met with congratulations
from fellow riders. Clarke handed me some salt-covered cashews and it was the
best thing he could of done, I was so grateful for those cashews. I was spent
and craving salt and protein and those cashews hit the spot. It was the best
end to a long but good day.
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