Manitoulin Cycling Odyssey – Day 3

My wrist continued to improve today, but still required me to ride one handed most of the day. We decided to ride to Gore Bay. The Manitoulin Island Cycling Association has 14 routes published on their website. We decided to do the Gore Bay-Lake Wolsey Circuit. It was about the distance I felt I could tackle, but allowed for longer rides from the cottage to the start for those who wanted. David and Wayne cycled the 16km to the start and Dayle and I drove. We encountered a new chip and tar surface where we expected to start cycling, which I thought would be too hard on my wrist. Most of the roads up here have not been recorded by Google on Streetview. We flagged down a passing motorist and asked how long the rough road lasted. The answer was, about a mile. So Dayle and I drove until the surface improved, and parked. Here we are ready to ride.

It was a perfect day to ride today. The temperature, the light, the lightly travelled roads. In the first 10km that I rode, we were passed by only one car! We passed forests and fields and a few farm houses and farm buildings.

Wayne joked that a Conservative must live in this house.

We had a tailwind all the way to Gore Bay.

Gore Bay has a lovely waterfront with a boardwalk, splash pad, playground, and tennis and basketball courts.

After exploring the park we found Codfather’s, a good local restaurant with a rooftop patio, where we all chose to have the local whitefish and chips lunch. It was delicious.

We toured the rest of the waterfront and a few streets of the town of 900, which is the home of Manitoulin Transport, whose trucks I often see on the highway.

After lunch I decided to try riding with a tensor bandage for support rather than the splint I have been wearing. It make it easier for me to hold the bars, but I still had too much discomfort to hold them for more than a few minutes. There was a great piece of street art that is quite different than many I have seen before.

This farm was at the corner where we started to head back south.

From this point on we were riding into the wind, but it was fairly gentle, as is the landscape. The picture below show a ubiquitous split rail fence running perpendicular to the road.

As we headed south we were in between Lake Wolsey and the North Bay Channel, eventually on a manmade causeway with boat access in the centre. Lake Wolsey would apparently be more accurately called a bay of the North Channel as it separated only by the manmade causeway, and not completely so, due to the opening in the centre under the bridge.

We encountered some more new tar and chip road south of here, which I cycled, and it wasn’t as bad as I feared. There was also another beautifully deserted and sometimes canopied section that we cycled through.

When we got back to the beginning of the circuit David and Dayle retrieved the car so I didn’t have to ride the tar and chip section . Then Dayle and Wayne cycled back to the cottage, while David and I fetched groceries. We tried the small grocer in the small town where we are staying, but it was more of a convenience store so we drove into Mindemoya to the FoodMart. We all arrived back at the cottage about the same time. It was warm enough this afternoon that we barbecued and ate dinner outside.

The swelling in my hand continues to diminish, but I had a colourful surprise when I removed the tensor bandage. I guess I am on to the next stage of healing.

The night is still warm, and very quiet in the little village where we are staying. Even with the lights of the village the night sky is impressive.


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