Prettiest day on tour … so far …
Why?
Why cycle tour? There’s all the pain of hills, the discomfort of sweaty humid days and rainy wet days and of course there’s the head winds. There’s fa-ti-gay, and the sinking feeling when you think there is no way you are going to get another pedal turn out of your legs. There’s the raging thirst on a hot day that cannot be satisfied by the lukewarm water in your bottle.
It doesn’t sound like much fun.
But …
Butter tarts and bikes and annoying virtual people
I have an imaginary friend. She lives inside my Garmin 820. My Garmin is a navigational device that sits on my handlebars. I upload pre-plotted courses to it, and it guides me through the day, giving turn-by-turn directions. It is when I press start on a course for the day that “she” (also known as “the bitch”) makes herself known.
When I start pedalling, getting my 30kg barge of a bike rolling, she, who calls herself my “vitual training partner” shoots off …
Gorgeous day riding the Rideau
We wrench ourselves from the bosom of little India, after two delightful days of rest and relaxation with Mak’s family, and hurl ourselves back onto the road. After a few days of rest, the bikes feel lighter, and the legs more enthused about pushing the pedals. It’s nice to stop a while, but the road beckons, and we are soon cruising along …
We made it to Niagara Falls!
On this trip we took the bikes Canada. We started at Saint Albans, Vermont and made our way by bike and train to Quebec City, then pointed south-westish and rode all the way to Niagara Falls along some of Canada’s iconic and historic waterways.
The map below shows our journey. On this trip we: …
Au revoir Quebec … je me souviens
But we survived. The little yellow weatherboard is still firmly anchored to the ground when we wake after a particularly rainy night. While we wait for the final rains to disappear, we feast on a three course breakfast …
Suburban beginnings and wild endings
It has happened. We have done a sterling job up until now to avoid it, but today there was little choice. Stranded in the wilds of Canadian suburbia, we have …
How much do I love thee? Let me cut the metres.
Either he loves me big-time, or he’s sick of my grunting. Either way, today we have a route change. We abandon the route I painstakingly plotted which traveled via a couple of lakes and potentially wonderful Canadian scenery, and replace it with a shorter, largely downhill version …
Fatigue (fa-ti-gay)
Michel Thomas, celebrated language teacher, tells us often in his French audio course, that so many words in English come fron the French. (In direct contrast to the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, who insists that everything comes from the Greek.)
Fatigue is one of these words. Spelt the same in both languages, it obtains some cachet with the French pronunciation. We’ve adopted the French pronunciation, as best we can, and given it our own special meaning. …
The day throws all it can at us to stop us getting to Sainte Gabriel
“What are people like you doing in a place like this?”
Neil and I exchange a look. We’re in what would appear to be the nicest restaurant in town. It is packed with people. We’ve just had a fairly nice meal, with great service from our English-speaking waiter. It’s late, and we are about to head to tonight’s home for sleep. …
Hurrah for an easy day into Trois Rivières
Sonia, our host, is an inspiration. She is a jeweller, teaches jewellery making, has an apartment and studio in Quebec City as well as this place, and has a very lovely life. For two corporate escapees, it is fascinating to find out how other people live, and to see the happiness that comes from a seemingly simple life. …