Barrie and Penetanguishene – Day 4

Cindy offered to guest blog our final day. Readers, you’re in for a treat!

We woke up on day four pretty rested and ready to tackle 654 m of climbing physically if not mentally. We gathered Gail‘s belongings and went to her apartment for a delicious breakfast of cereal, yogurt, fruit, boiled eggs,  bread with some unusual homegrown berries – Josta berries, a hybrid between gooseberries and blackberries – orange juice, and tea.  

Gail had to go to her mother‘s house so we quickly got ready and met her in the garage so she could open the garage door and give us those two seconds to get out before the gate would come crashing down. 

We headed out of town along a multiuse path that followed the shore. Lisa stopped to take photos of the reflections in the water.

On Huronia Rd we came across a property littered with gastley blue geodesic domes.  Conspiracy theories abound on Reddit. Is it owned by a misunderstood hippie or a creep?  I don’t want to find out.

Next we were stopped by a cute, friendly construction stop sign holder.  He wished us a safe journey as we continued down Huronia -a pretty good road – until we were stopped for real by water main replacement construction.  The detour sent us across the 400 and down a road that Lisa already had tiles on. It made us reconsider our plan to stop in Bradford for lunch.  

At 89 we came across Burger Station, where we stopped for a chocolate milk and to pick up BLTs to take for lunch.  We headed east on 89 over the 400 back to  Huronia which had gone through a name change.   I think this is where the REAL Hills began, gentle at first, then transitioning into steep bastards. 

This is also where our side trips out and back to collect tiles became a gravelly, fishtailing, climbing nightmare.  There is no other reason to go down these no exit roads!

After one particularly gruelling side trip, we reached the top of the hill on the main g road and found a shady spot (without a ditch) to sit and eat our BLTs, which were quite tasty.

We really had our ups and downs as we travelled south towards home. We were almost ready to tap out and make the call-but~an  oasis called The Grackle awaited us in Schomburg.  

The Grackle is a busy coffee shop named after a bird.  Apparently grackles are a sign of positivity and hope (11 Common Grackle Spiritual Meanings and Symbolism).  It is a Bicycle Friendly Business.

I had iced coffee and an award winning butter tart to regain my positivity and hope!   You know what Lisa had.  Fuelled up, our outlook improved and up and up we went until our path flattened out.  

Unfortunately now it was rush hour and the Albion-Vaughan road was busy with huge trucks and a minuscule shoulder.  Car traffic was also heavy on Countryside. It seemed like a few drivers deliberately pulled right so that we would have trouble getting by them to beat them through the intersections.  But we have mad skills ya know and we made it to civilization.  Each of us arrived home where our spouses welcomed us back with dinners made by their own loving hands. 

No ride is complete without checking Strava … wait, what? 

954m of climbing!  We are Amazons.