All the way to Elphinstone!

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All the way to Elphinstone!

Tuesday, 10 July 2007

As had been planned, we took the day “off” yesterday. No alarm clocks & no timetable to follow, for a change. Had a nice leisurely breakfast of blueberry pancakes (Bob) & waffles (me). Then we ran some errands in town, and picked up some more groceries. Bob & I even split the dog-walking duties, he took Panna in the morning & I took her in the afternoon. Then we had to pack up again, to get ready to head to Elphinstone, which is a very small place, and we’ll be in a very small hotel, so I imagined we’d be “incommunicado” for a few days.

And what a difference a day makes! Yesterday had been fairly rainy & windy, not at all pleasant weather for a long bicycle ride. This morning, although it was cloudy and quite cool, the rain looked like it would hold off. And it’s amazing how well one can travel with the wind at one’s back!

Using Blue, as my intent was to stick to the pavement, I was able to travel the 78 kilometres between the hotel in Russell to the one in Elphinstone, in less than 4 hours. Strangely, when I’d checked the trail book, I must have mis-read some mileages, and at 40 kilometres, when I’d stopped for lunch, got the impression it was a 90+ kilometre trip, and figured there’s no way I’d do that. However, at 60 kilometres I saw a sign which indicated it was only another 19 kilometres away, and I was pretty certain I could reach Elphinstone in one shot. There’d even been another valley crossing, not as huge as the one at Asessippi Beach, or even the one from Sunday, but still with a significant descent followed by a fairly long climb - gotta do these things to get in shape for Ontario (ha!).

Bob & Panna had arrived at the hotel already & just as I was pulling up the skies opened up & there were 3 or 4 separate cloudbursts of very heavy rain - Bob said there’d been one with hail while he was waiting for me & he’d gone to see if I needed “rescuing” again, but he didn’t see me by the time he drove out from under that storm, so he figured I was OK (which I was.)

As I’d anticipated, there is no internet here, no phones in the rooms, no cell phone coverage, and the TV doesn’t pick up much - the owner said he’d had a satellite dish, but it got knocked down in a storm earlier this summer - guess they’ve had some rough weather out here. It is a bit of a dive - I’m sure he makes a lot more money off the bar, especially on weekends, as he says it’s the only bar within a large radius. But it’s got beds, toilets, running water & electricity, what more does one really need?? And the host does seem to be a fairly nice fellow.

DAY 19: 78.9 km, in 3:25 hours, ave. speed 23.1 km/hr, max. speed 43.8 km/hr (wow!)

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