Friday, July 14th - Miller Lake to Meaford - 116kms

Meaford is an older Ontario town on Georgian Bay with old brick commercial
buildings in the downtown area. They are either very well looked after or
restored to keep the pleasant atmosphere of this old town. The homes in the
area are again brick, extremely well looked after with beautiful gardens.
The night before we started out, we had about eight hours of thunder, lightening
and rain, but again it stopped raining about 5am. Just in time for us to pack
up. The day cleared and by the time we left it was lovely sunshine.

We did about 40kms on the road to Wiarton where Sally, Jean, Donna and Bryan
did some shopping at the Sally Anne Thrift Store. They really got some nice stuff!

The next 40kms was around the bay to Owen Sound. Beautiful homes right on
the water. It was a nice change from the highway. Stopped in Owen Sound for
coffee and doughnuts (and directions), but since there are some major hills
going out of Owen Sound, the doughnuts didn't last very long!! Horst and Mary
ran into a lady that saw the group leave Mile "O" in Victoria on May 24th!!
What a coincidence!

Our tents in the campground were pretty close, so you had to be careful what
sounds you made in the tent. Even a squeaker sounded like a rocket going off
and of course everyone would make comments. And the snoring...

Saturday, July 15th, Meaford to Elmvale - 70kms

It started out a beautiful sunny day and we had 35kms of bike path to ride
on. A real treat! We ended up in Collingwood and they just happened to have
a 1/2 triathalon in progress. The place was packed!! Sonie did a little work
for them and she ended up getting a volunteer t-shirt, water and a bunch of fruit.

We continued on the back roads on to our camp at Elmvale. We stopped at a
farm along the way, had our lunch, fed the animals in the petting zoo and six
of us shared a homemade rubarb and raspberry pie. We weren't in camp more
than 20 minutes when a huge storm dumped on us. About two hours later another
storm went through which was twice as bad as the first one, and lasted twice
as long. Peter, Gordon and Jean cooked up a great spaghetti dinner along with
a nice green salad for the 30 of us. We finished off with fruit salad and thanks
to the generosity of Stan Gieschen of Royal Printers of New Westminster,
BC, we devoured 36 fine pasteries such as rum balls, fruit custard tarts, almond
chocolate biscuits, chocolate covered shortbread, etc. Thanks again Stan!!

Sunday, July 16th, Elmvale to Norland - 110kms

After the rain yesterday it continued to rain all night but again, stopped
about 5am, just in time to pack everything up. As we started out the clouds
were very black and looming, and we got caught in a few showers, but by the
time we got to camp the sun was out. Nice for drying tents. Most campgrounds
we get to use their covered eating areas, so we don't have to put up the big
cook tent. Bill and Gizella Augustine drove up from Toronto to meet us last
night, and Bill rode with us today. We really enjoyed their company. A good
thought came to us today that we have stopped so many times at Tim Hortons
that we should have gotten them to sponsor us - or buy shares in the company!!
It was a lovely ride - nice rolling hills, pleasant countryside, almost pleasant
enough to forget about the headwind and the rain.

Monday, July 17th - Norland to Bancroft - 110kms

We have had a lovely ride. The ride was nice but was a bit like a rollercoaster.
The weather sunny, but cool, enough to make cycling enjoyable. The camp we
stayed at was right on a lake. The cooking team prepared 90 shishkabobs for
dinner, along with all the trimmings. Absolutely wonderful. Rejeanne and
Rachelle took a pedal-boat out on the lake. I guess they didn't have enough
today. After dinner the skies clouded over, and then boom - thunder, lightening,
hail and a whole bunch of rain. We were still sitting in the eating tent so
we were nice and dry, but outside you couldn't see 100ft in front of you.
The road turned into a river of water. You really had to be there to appreciate
the intensity of the storm. All of our tents survived nicely with only small
amounts of dampness. The rest of the night it cleared and the big bull frogs
started calling their mates. They made quite a noise. Everyone tried to blame
Gordon with his snoring, but it wasn't him this time.

Tuesday, July 18th - Bancroft to Denbeigh - 65kms

Before we left everyone sang Happy Birthday to Rachelle in both English and
French. We had another nice riding day but again rolling hills. One of the
hills called McPherson Hill was a beauty. Some of the riders called it another
Cardiac Hill, but others called it names I can't put in print. We arrived
early in camp and caught up on a lot of chores, including naps. Ontario is
a province of rivers and lakes, but we have had a real problem with getting
drinking water. Not all water is drinkable, so you have to ask first before
you drink. When you find drinking water, it can be highly laced with chlorine.
In some places the provincial government has supplied bottled water to the
different small towns. I assume this has all happened because of the e-coili
polluted water at Waterton, Ontario. We celebrated Rachelle's birthday with
cocktails before a lovely dinner and birthday cake. Again we sang the birthday
songs in both languages and had a great time, taking lots of pictures of Rachelle
standing under her 60th birthday banner.

Wednesday, July 19th - Denbeigh to White Lake - 100kms

We got off to a great start. The road was great with not too much traffic.
The weather was cool, but sunny and we had mostly rolling hills to ride on.
Just enough hills to keep your heart beat up. We all stopped for lunch in
Renfrew and carried on to Burnside for a huge ice cream cone, which now seems
like a daily occurrence. We arrived in camp ahead of the truck but within
an hour the truck appeared and it was time to unload. To our surprise, Marilyn,
Alex and Mike turned up just before supper and we had a real nice visit. Marilyn
and crew have arranged for a lot of activities in Ottawa for tomorrow and Friday.
The Ottawa Bike Club are cycling out to Carp to meet with us tomorrow and
guide us into the city. We will all be wearing our new Canada cycle shirts.
Jacque, Shirley and James were our cooks tonight and we had an amazing curry
dinner. James and Geradine had some friends visit and they brought a carrot
cake which was absolutely delicious. Thanks very much!! On to Ottawa!

Thursday, July 20th, White Lake to Ottawa - 90kms

An absolute perfect day to cycle. Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was about 18 degrees. Mike's map to get to Carp was perfect, as we cycled down the country roads. Hardly any hills and the countryside was very green from recent rains. The members from the Ottawa and CCCTS bike clubs met us in Carp as we arrived at 11am. We had a nice visit and the first group guided by Garfield started out to Ottawa. We left earlier than the rest as we had to unload the truck before it went in for repairs. It was a very fast ride along the country roads and bike paths. There was about ten of us in each group. We followed the Ottawa River to the Good Companion Centre on Albert Street in downtown Ottawa.

Most of the other two groups stopped in at Betty Darvell-Jones's home on the way and had lunch on her sundeck. Betty is a member of CCCTS and rides with the Ottawa club. I understand she is soon moving to the West Coast.

As the group was escorted through the city to the Good Companion Centre, CTV, a piper and a special sign was waiting for them. As the piper was piping and the TV cameras rolling, the Sea to Sea 2000 riders rolled in to an exceptional warm welcome.

After all the excitement, we set up camp in the basement of the Centre, had our showers and even washed clothes. No time to dilly, dally as dinner was set for 4:45pm. The cyclist were asked to assemble in the lobby and again
on camera we were piped into the dining room to a standing ovation from other members of the Good Companion Centre. We all split up and sat at different tables with the other Centre members and had great visits. We had amazing singers entertain us. Marilyn and friends put on several skits for us. Our group did the "I am Canadian" skit.

The dance started at 7pm to a live band and singer. Some stayed and danced, others went to bed early and still others took a walk up to the Parliment Buildings and watched a military band salute. The dance was over at 10pm and by this time we are pretty tired - time for bed.

Up at 6am our hosts had the coffee perking and were starting to prepare breakfast. Gordon and Bud got the grill out and started cooking up the sausages and bacom while the rest cooked the eggs, etc.

At 10am our hosts provided a shuttle service to the Greyline Tour Bus in town and at 10:30 a big group of us embarked on a two hour tour of Ottawa for free, compliments of Good Companion Centre and Greyline. Each of us spent the afternoon doing our own thing but we had to be back at 5pm as the Good Companion members
were putting a pot luck dinner for us. Again, we sat down to homemade dinner, including meat dishes, salads, vegetables, cookies, cakes, etc, and if that wasn't enough, we finished off with three different types of ice creams. The hospitality of these people was absolutely incredible.

After eating dinner and visiting with our hosts, some of us just laid down to let the food digest and others walked up to the Parliment Buildings for the Military show. We were all in bed by 10pm as we had to be up by 5:30am to pack our bags, etc into the truck and be ready to go by 7am. The reason for this is that Starr Kelly had arranged for all 36 of us to have breakfast at Moe's World Famous Newport Restaurant. They provided a shuttle service
to the restaurant, we had a beautiful breakfast of eggs, bacon or sausages, hashbrowns, toast and coffee, and we were brought back to our bikes by 8am. Some local members of the CCCTS and Ottawa bike clubs were there to guide us out of Ottawa. Of course, the piper was there to pipe us on our way.

There are so many people at the Good Companion Centre that made us feel like royality. I, on behalf of all the riders, would like to thank everybody who helped out. A special thanks to Starr who was the engine that made everything work; Marilyn M, our fellow rider who worked very closely with Starr and the Good Companion Centre (the spark in Starr's engine); Kay W, who so diligently looked after all her new found chicks, Elizabeth M, who amongst all the other things she did, piped us in and out of Ottawa. More thanks to Greyline Bus Co. for our wonderful bus tour; Mr. Moe Atallah, the proprietor of Moe's World Famous Newport Restaurant (which is the official World Headquarters for the Elvis Sighting Society) and last, but not least, all the members of CCCTS and
the Ottawa Bike Club that made our in and out of Ottawa so easy.

TUNE-UPS BY SALLY S

A personal highlight of my stay in Montreal involved two tune-ups - one for my Marinoni and one for me.

My bicycle emerged from two days of attention sporting flashy purple and black handlebar wraps (a gift from my friend), with every spot of dirt and grime removed. It was almost unrecognizable. It was re-oiled with a special product called 'Slippery Spitt'.

My tune-up was very much overdue and badly needed. It started with an oil massage by Michel who after reviewing my recent activities decided the emphasis would be on lower back and legs. I was told to relax and breathe regularly. Starting on the back, pressure was applied to various key spots and the questions asked were ...

"Do you feel that, Madame Sally"?
"No, I don`t".
"Remarkable"!

A little later..."Surely you feel that, Madame Sally"?
"No, I don`t feel a thing".
"Remarkable!"

After several more enquiries and `remarkables`, Michel asked my age.
"65 years"
"Remarkable!"

My self image had progressed from something like a beached whale to an emerging athlete - especially after he told me he loved massaging active people.

We then progressed to the legs. The right leg was massaged and pressured and still there were no tight areas. I imagine Michel was thinking this lady has little sensativity and more pressure was applied. It happened on the left
leg quad as I suddenly rose from the table with a little yelp. That was jiggled pain free. Thanking my new friend Michel, I emerged feeling great and was met by another staff member who said "come with me - your friend arranged it"

The second hour of tune-up involved a salt scrub, shower and then a vigorous loofah rub. By now, I was glowing. I was told to have minimum physical activity the next day, but the day after I would zoom.

That would be truly remarkable!

EATING WITHOUT GUILT BY NOREEN T

Here we are at day 65+ and eating more all the time - and everyone looking very trim and sleek.

We start off our day with a huge pot of porridge, also several dry cereal, oranges, bananas, tea and coffee - and toast if you are able to burn it yourself.

Then we pack our lunch for the day from an array of breads, cheese, sardines, cold meats, eggs, peanut butter, jam, as well as any leftovers from the night before. Also fruit, trail mix and juice.

Our three person cooking teams have produced the most amazing dinners - often under very trying conditions. We always have a huge salad, great main courses and dessert - and such varieties!! We usually fall into our tents very stuffed!

But the best part of the day's eating is finding local ice cream, milk shakes and pies. Dairy Queen and McDonald's will do in a pinch, but better still are the local ice cream parlours where there is a vast choice of flavours from
which to choose. Any local homemade pies are always wonderful and there is no hesitation when asked "with ice cream?" - of course!! One day several of us had stopped at a farm market to have our lunch at their picnic table and Bud bought us a rhubarb/raspberry pie which we devoured immediately - no ice cream available - but simply delicious! Another wonderful taste was a huge "small" cherry cone at a small store at Burnside in Ontario where a group of us sat on the steps in the sun (rare occasion) licking happily away.

As soon as we have finished lunch we start looking for a good ice cream spot to fill the holes. Of course, this must all end after the 31st of August, but in the meantime we are happily pigging out to keep our legs pumping away for another day!

JO ANNE BREAKING BARRIERS BY GORDON

Jo Anne joined Peter and us in Ottawa and she has been a welcome addition to the group. As Jo Anne started riding out of camp in Quebec, she was full of enthusiasm as usual. Now the 'official' version is that as she was riding down a slight grade towards the electronically-controlled gate, she was trying to put her shoes into her clips. She hit the bar, snapping it off. The rumour is that she was putting her lipstick on, but who do you believe??

The good news is that she stayed upright on her bike and kept on going. The bad news is the campground needs a new bar for its gate!

Oops!!!

Sometimes because of our busy schedule we forget the funny things that happen to us during the day. Here is one that just came back to me.

S and her husband were cycling through the quiet country roads of Ontario when S had to have an urgent call of nature. Of course, there wasn`t a tree in sight. When you are in a situation like this, you have to make do with what you have, long grass. So into the ditch and the long grass she went and was quite successful in her mission. To be on the safe side, she called out to her loving husband who was standing guard on the road "is it ok to stand up?". He started to answer "yes ..." and before he could add "except for these three cars" she stood up. Of course she was quite embarrassed with the situation, but to her credit one of the cars gave her a toot.
Well done!!

go to - Part Seven


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