Today really tested what I could do. One thing I learned from this week is the importance of a decent breakfast. Today, I only had a bowl of Corn Flakes and a small thing of yogurt and an hour into the ride I was starving.
Part of the tour included a pass to Upper Canada Village. I’m not normally interested in touristy things, but I had a good time looking at all the old stuff from the 19th century. I’m slightly embarassed to say that I was one of the first in the group to arrive and one of the last to leave. I took a bunch of pictures and had a ham sandwich for lunch. This last part was a mistake. I should have eaten more because later on in the day I had some problems, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
After Upper Canada Village I rode a bunch of bike paths, including a nice one called the Long Sault Parkway, but it was pretty bumpy. When I got to the bike paths going through Cornwall I wasn’t sure if I was going in the right direction, but I figured as long as I stayed along the water I should be ok. Where I got really worried was where we were supposed to get off the bike path and on to Route 2 for the last stretch into Lancaster. I either missed it or was on the wrong path because I had no idea where it was. I saw a sign on the road beside me that said Lancaster was in that direction so I got off the path, walked my bike up a hill beside the highway and got on. I had no idea where I was going, to be blunt. I wasn’t sure if the road I was on was Route 2 (for the life of me I could not see any signs) or if it was going to take me where I needed to go in Lancaster. To make matters worse, I was down to one granola bar and almost completely out of water. And did I mention it was stinkin hot? Well over 30 degrees.
I ate the granola bar and drank the little water I had left and hoped I came across a store or chip wagon – anything to get something cold to drink. Several kilometres later I came across an oasis in the form of a chip wagon and got a cold Pepsi – I really needed the sugar. I also found out that, yes, I was on Route 2 and Lancaster was only a few kilometers away.
The motel we stayed at was a run-down fleabag place called the Impala but the air conditioner in my room worked and the water coming out of the faucet was cold so I was more than happy.
I got in around 4:15, which was largely because of the two hours I spent at Upper Canada Village, so it was a pretty long day.
Next: On to Montreal.