Lake Ontario

Day 68. My day of rest did require a little cycling. Pedaled to the nearby church building to attend church. It was a small group, but very nice to be with everybody. Then, I rested and began finalizing my alternative route.

Day 69. Belleville to Kingston. 84 mi. 4259 mi TTD. 2553 ft elevation. Weather warm and winds favorable.

From the looks of the above route, I’m not a very good route designer. In reality, I wanted to see this area, so I chose to ride the extra miles down to the lake and back west from Belleville.

As I noted in an earlier post, I really like being by the water. Accordingly, on Saturday, I headed quite a bit off route and south towards Lake Ontario. Today, I went farther south and reached the shores of Lake Ontario. Above was my first glimpse of it between the trees and houses. Then I jumped on a wonderful rail trail, the Millennium Trail, and enjoyed about 40 km of pleasant riding.

The trail passed through some beautiful farmland and some swamps with these big white birds, which I think are swans. Fortunately, I was moving fast enough that the swamp creatures that buzzed and flew did not bother me much. It was a holiday in Canada, so I had a surprising amount of company on the trail.

It’s probably not a good idea to admit failure publicly. Maybe failure is too strong a word. Essentially, I am off the GNBR route I had planned on riding across Canada. I’m still planning on crossing Canada, but not on the GNBR.

I’ve been off the GNBR frequently. I didn’t even follow it across the Alberta plains. However, at the moment, I’m not even planning to try and find it or reconnect with it unless I just happen to come across it. If I hadn’t admitted it, I suspect no one would have even known because undoubtedly, nobody’s following this that closely, or if you are, I love you, but you should really get a life.

The GNBR is an amazing route, and Matthew, the guy who put it together, did an incredible job. For now, I want to tour more than pound down dirt trails. The fact that I spent $1,000 repairing my bike after riding through the mountains on Vancouver Island, BC, and Alberta is some indication of the type of riding required on the GNBR. Additionally, the GNBR route is often fairly isolated, and I’ve kind of been isolated enough.

I have to admit that upon waking this morning, I felt more enthusiastic than I have in a long time. It was exciting to have my own plans and directions. In fact, on Saturday and today, I rode differently than on most of the preceding days. I was not trying to finish so much as enjoy the ride. It made for a pleasant difference and excitement, not knowing what lay ahead. Of course, when I end up dragging my bike through a swamp again, I may retract all this enthusiasm.

Being along the shore of Lake Ontario for many miles was just constantly pleasant. There were many lovely parks, and most of them even had a food truck parked, since it was a holiday in Canada today. There were also fun little stores like the one above with a wonderfully pleasant older lady tending the counter. There were also historical markers. I even looked at some.

When Gloria and I biked along the shore of Lake Erie, I discovered that the Great Lakes played a large role in the War of 1812. Lake Ontario was also part of the War of 1812. I had to ask the AI to teach me about the War of 1812, since I’m the product of public education and only knew it was a war with Britain. Tonight I’m staying in Kingston, a major British port during the war and the site of a significant naval battle.

I also discovered that Trump wasn’t the first president who wanted to take over Canada. President James Madison wanted to take over parts of Canada, which was one of the motivations for the War of 1812. Additionally, George Washington sent an army north that almost took over Quebec during the Revolutionary War. So, Trump is actually late to the party.

There was also another fun ferry ride today. This guy near my bike was riding with 200 other people on a week-long fundraiser ride from Toronto to Montreal. He was quite thrilled because he believed himself to be the first of the 200, and no other bikers got on the ferry with him, which put him 15 minutes or more ahead of everyone. He also seemed quite proud that they were doing 120 km today. I didn’t burst his bubble but simply smiled and told him to have a good ride as we pedaled off the ferry, and I continued my 135 km day with a fully loaded bike and fat tires.

Tomorrow I’ll be leaving Lake Ontario and heading up the St. Lawrence to who knows what adventures.