Day 57 St. Catherines to Bryon 124km Uphill 2026 ft Downhill 1692 ft

Breakfast was served at the school from 6 – 7 a.m. Ed W wants us to have everything in the gear truck by 8 a.m. so that the trucks can cross over the border asap. We have been asked to carry our passports and meet by a designated parking lot close to the border by 9:30.

Barb is on sweep so we set out in two groups. First line: John, Pete, Jake and then 50 ft back we formed another line: Andy, Louie, Gerry and myself. We figure this is the safer way to travel. John knows the area (one of the many places he has lived in his life) so he biked us by the Floral clock but unlike Saturday evening no one was around, so we could take some great pictures. (Opps the person taking the photo for me didn't quite take it, so I cannot share this photo with you).

Next stop, the Falls Next stop, Tim Hortons. I don’t have the photo on my camera but Pete has a picture of Gerry K with a Timmies coffee in one hand and a doughnut in the other. He can say that he has experienced what it means to be a ‘true Canadian’.

When we were touring Niagara on the Lake I came upon the following script and I would like to share it with you. If any of you caught Barb Mellema’s blog the day before we crossed into Canada you would have read that she wondered where all the igloos where. So I thought I would enlighten any US citizens that have been reading my blog. Here goes………

I, Cynthia Aukema do not travel by dogsled
A loonie is a dollar not a relative
I live in the second largest country in the world
Winter only lasts one season
I live in a house not an igloo
I do not know your second cousin John in Saskatoon
Our currency was not based on Monopoly money
The Parliament buildings are not made of ice
The maple leaf is our national symbol
We are the BEST hockey players in the world
I AM CANADAIN

Anyways, back to the blog.

All the cyclists were at the designated meeting place by 9:30. We followed Billy Den Harder (the guy on the motorcycle) to the Rainbow Bridge. I have never experienced an easier crossing. They opened 3 lanes up for us and just let us cycle across. We didn’t even have to show our passports. I’m not too sure what Ed did in advance but it sure was sweet.

We had been warned to say in groups of 3 or more because of the rough neigbourhood just as we passed over the bridge. I didn’t really notice that much (I’m used to Detroit).

The remainder of the day was very smooth. Great shoulders to ride on. We had some side wind and Louie generously allowed me to use him as a wind break. For most of the ride it was a tail ride. Barb bumped into us at a snack shack around 30 km from the end. She expressed surprise and then asked where we had turned wrong! We had to admit that we were heading in the right direction but then Billy D came by on his motorcycle and said that we were going the wrong way so to follow him. Which we did……WRONG move. After 7 ½ km we came upon Billy and he said ,’opps, I think this is the wrong route’. We asked some locals how to get back on the route. So instead of a 123.1km day we did 138.9km. The upside is that the route was very flat so the extra km weren’t too hard on my body. Time on the bike 5:36:22

Tonight we are staying at Southwoods RV park. It’s a great place. We have a nice grassy site. We can log on to the parks internet (fantastic), and the camp has also donated free firewood for us to burn tonight. The downside is that our tents are parked downwind from the campfire…oh well, life goes on.

Tomorrow is 123km day with a few shorts climb. It will get very cool tonight so a great evening for sleeping. Till tomorrow, Cynthia