Bicycling New England, the
Erie Canal, & around Lake Ontario 2005
Port Hope to Picton Ontario

July 28, 2005
Distance 70.1 Miles

Last night while Jim was cleaning the bicycle, he discovered that two spokes on the rear wheel were broken. They may have been broken for several days since we hit some very big potholes during the last two weeks. So today we rode the entire distance with 2 broken spokes on the rear wheel. We again woke up much too early and after eating breakfast and loading the bicycles we were still leaving the motel by 7:30 AM. We again headed east on Hwy 2. Yesterday and today were the first days since we left Buffalo when we were not in a residential or commercial area. Until we were at least 30 miles north of downtown Toronto, we were always in one city or another. Finally we got to an area where we actually saw farmer's fields growing corn and soybeans. Today we saw a number of orchards as well as wheat fields and dairy farms. After passing through Cobourg, both Mary Kay and I had needed a pit stop and we were now in a very rural area. The good news is that we found a hidden place on the side of the road. After a few more miles on Hwy 2, we turned onto a side road and headed south toward Lake Ontario. The road continued south until it reached the lake shore and then it turned east. We stopped just after the road turned east and ate a snack on the lake shore. If we had gone another quarter mile, we would have been in a park that had a port-a-potty and we could have eaten our snack sitting on the grass instead of sitting on rocks.

We continued east and again rejoined Hwy 2 heading east. After a few more miles we reached Colborne where we stopped in a restaurant and ate a second breakfast snack. While eating breakfast, we looked at the phone book to find bike shops on our route. It wasn't looking like we were going to find one. We continued to Brighton where we again turned toward Lake Ontario. After several miles we came to the Trent Sevem waterway. We crossed the water way on a swing bridge and stopped to take pictures of some boys who were swimming in the waterway. As we were taking pictures, the bridge operator was getting the boys out of the water so he could operate the swing bridge because three boats were waiting for the bridge to open. We got to watch to bridge open and close.

We got back on the road and pedaled. Scott and Barb stopped at an antique shop and had a snack and potty stop. Jim and Mary Kay kept going. After a couple more miles, we found the Hot Stove Bakery. Jim was hungry and Mary Kay saw a sign that advertised fish and chips. Mary Kay and Scott went inside and found 5 little old ladies baking cookies. So, we all got really good oatmeal cookies and Jim got a butterscotch swirl ice cream cone.

The little old ladies confirmed Scott's suspicion that Hwy 1 was shorter than Hyw 33. We also met a French man asking directions-his English was about as good as Barbara's Spanish. We think we got him going in the right direction. We were minding our own business and pedaling down Hwy 1 when we found a fruit and vegetable stand. We stopped and bought cherries and blueberries. They were tasty. We also met a kitty we called George. George decided Jim was his favorite. If we had stayed there for an hour, Jim would have taught his little friend to keep his paws off the table.

When we got to Hwy 33, we had to cross a lot of really fast moving traffic to get into town. We stopped at a Canada Tire, which is kind of like Fleet Farm. We met a guy who rides his bike all year round. He recommended a bike shop and motel.

The bike shop fixed the broken spokes and the motel had 2 empty rooms. We ate at the bar attached to the restaurant. We had to wait 45 minutes so we could order from the regular after 6:00pm dinner menu. The funny thing was the restaurant only had 1 menu and about 15 tables. I guess it is one way to cut down on lost menus. Then, Jim, Scott and Barbara ordered the seafood fettuccini and Mary Kay ordered the salmon. Dinner was served and the seafood fettuccini was really hot/spicy. It was almost as hot/spicy as the mustard on the Toronto Hotdog. After dinner, we went for a walk and met 2 puppies and a 14 year old greyhound on our way to Scooperman's ice cream shop. Jim says that we biked for a total of 3 more minutes than yesterday, but went 5 more miles than yesterday.