A treat in Lake Superior Provincial Park was waking up to the warmest morning since Thunder Bay. Breakfast under the trees was also nice, but that's where the fun times ended.
The headwind from yesterday was back with a passion, and after passing Guy on the way out of the campground, I spent the morning battling with the wind, neverending hills, crumbling highway shoulder and the constant flow of traffic.
Seriously though, this isn't even unusual, this is the Northern Ontario experience for cyclists, day in and day out for over a week. But more on that in a future blog post.
At one point I saw a police cruiser pull over at a bridge and was trying to figure out why the officer was getting his picture taken there until I rode past and noticed the name of the river. Both the river's name and the officer's hairstyle were Baldheaded.
The 60 ish km to Agawa Bay were pretty slow, and I didn't get in until about 11:30. Even if the riding was terrible, at least the scenery is getting nicer the further south we go. It's as if the landscape is trying to tell me: "Pedal, pedal, you're almost out of Northern Ontario. I took a quick lunch break at Agawa Bay and appreciated their beach.
Past Agawa Bay, the road turned up again. So began the biggest climb of the day, only about 300m of climbing involved on this one but spread out over about 7 km with a flickering headwind kicked in. Near the top, I met an elderly man walking down the shoulder pulling a handcart full of gear. After checking to make sure he had enough food and water, I chatted with him a bit and discovered that he has spent the last 5 summers walking from St. Johns to here, doing about 500 ish km a summer and then picking up where he left off the next year. Very impressed, but sad that I forgot his name as I suffered my way up the next two hills and into the headwind for another 50 km.
Guy must have had a good day, as he went by the camp at Pancake Bay Provincial Park only 30 mins after I arrived. He followed my suggestion of hitting up the store 1 km down the road before coming into camp. We then sat down after a mutually tough day and cracked beers, chips, candy, smoked lake trout, etc.
A hard day but a nice, relaxing dinner as we talk about our imminent escape from the wilderness of Northern Ontario into the big city of Sault Ste. Marie tomorrow and speculate on what Southern Ontario and Quebec will be like.
Sure enough, another windy day dawned on us in Pancake Bay. After two tougher days I was just determined to make it into Sault Ste Marie in good shape, so I began with an easy pace.
I stopped briefly in Chippewa Falls to snap some pics and visit the memorial that marks the halfway point of the Trans Canada Highway (My halfway point is wayyy back to the west fortunately).
The wind played games with me all morning, sometimes giving me a slight push, and sometimes coming right down my face while I struggled to keep my speed in double digits on a 9% incline.
Still, I had a fast day into the Sault, arriving around 11:30 am. I immediately hit up the Superior Home Bakery at the entrance to the city, as I had starved myself for about 55 km to make room for treats. The donuts did not disappoint, they were delicious, huge and very well priced. Some of the best in Canada.
I then headed a few hundred meters to the nearby bike shop to begin a day and a half of rest in the Soo, feeling quite content to be full of donut energy and to have successfully escaped Northern Ontario.
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