8/06/10 Picton to Presqu'Ile

The worst day for me since we left. My left knee was continually cramped and it could let me do more than 1km before cramping again. Eventually I found out that not clipping my shoe helped a lot. We were on the Wine Route so we stopped at a wineyard, Sunbanks, where we tasted like 10 different wines because Xavier was never satisfied. Eventually my knee didn’t hurt anymore, so we decided to buy a white wine and left.

Then we took a very bad decision, that is to follow the road in yellow dashes on the map. We happened to go on something that was not really a road but more of a whole in the ground-pound of water-gigantic rock-massive whole-multiple pounds of water (see video). It’s probably fine when you have a mountain bike, but with all our luggage it was not as fun. I fell off at some point because I couldn’t unclip my feet and I was falling on the side. No permenant damage for me, but my bike got a part of the rubber on the handlebar torn apart.

We eventually got out of there and had a nice dinner with the bottle of wine in Presqu’Ile arbor. Distance : 60km

7/06/10 Kingston to Picton

We had never left that early 9:30am. Things are a little bit slow in the morning when you have to pack up everything back on the bikes: the tent, tarp, sleeping bags, mattress, million bags. It’s a great day with lots of sun, but also lots of wind so we’re not going as fast as we wish. But the view is beautiful with Lake Ontario almost looking like the sea.

We take the ferry in Glenora to get to Picton. Getting out of the ferry we saw a public toilet, so we decided to wash some clothes. As Xavier was washing and I was outside trying to wring out our clothes, people were waiting for the ferry and listening to very loud country music. So we used our bikes as clothes lines and continued on our way.

When we reached Picton, we got everything to cook some pasta with shrimp and cream, best meal since we left. We had no more water so we went to a gas station, that actually didn’t have a bathroom but they had a hose. It wasn’t really a hose, more like a giant fountain because there were so many holes in the tube that it was splashing all over. So I was there with my mittens and my tuque in a pool of water trying to fill the water bottles while Xavier was fighting at the gas pump to fill our small bottle of gas for the burner and spilling most of it on the ground. We got out of there both soaked, Xavier with gas and I with water. We slept between a grocery store and a field and it wasn’t bad. Distance : 72km

6/06/10 Gananoque à Kingston

Une petite journée de repos. Seulement 30 km jusqu'à Kingston puis on rencontre notre hôte Carl qui nous fait visiter la ville. C'est bien de déambuler dans une ville sans avoir à pousser un vélo de 90 lbs. Distance: 30 km

5/06/10 Johnstown à Gananoque

Une autre journée ensoleillée mais la nuit a été très humide. Il faut tout faire sécher. On décide de déjeuner à Prescott, magnifique petit village. La journée se fait en luttant contre le vent. On arrive à Brockville en plein weekend de régates. On repart vers 17h pour un sprint de 50 km à travers le 1000 islands parkway. On arrive tard à Gananoque et on se permet le luxe d'un souper au resto en amoureux. Distance: 81 km

4/06/10 Cornwall-Johnstown

Une belle journée de vélo ensoleillée. la Waterfront Trail est très belle. On passe par de belles îles et d'humides forêts de pins (voir le vidéo). On s'arrête a Johnstown, minuscule village où les gens nous regarde d'un oeil louche. Au port, il y a un mythique restaurant des années cinquante avec de la musique Country et un plancher qui colle.

3/06/10 Coteau-du-lac à Cornwall

On prend le temps de se reposer et ne partons qu'à 13h30 de Coteau-du-lac après avoir squatté les toilettes du IGA. La journée est pluvieuse mais nous pédalons. Ouf, nous arrivons finalement a Cornwall mais il est presque 21h. On campe incognito dans un parc à la sortie de la ville. Distance: 75 km

2/06/10 Montreal à Coteau-du-lac

Nous voilà parti pour 6 500 km. Les compteurs sont à zéro. Après des adieux difficiles en famille, nous prenons la route jusqu'à Coteau-du-lac. En route, on fait une pause repos à la plage de Chateauguay on s'entraîne des kytes-surfeurs.

Le souper est bien mérité et le vin est bon. Merci Sophie! Malheureusement, le ciel est menaçant et la soirée se finira sous le pont. Distance: 80 km