Still Smiling: Upper Canada Village to Saint Zotique, Quebec

Ruth: We planned on a long day today so that tomorrow’s ride into Montreal would be easier. The first 40 Kms were beautiful. The Long Sault Parkway enroute to Cornwall links the chain of islands that were created when the area was flooded for the Saint Laurence Seaway in the late 1950s. Over 6,000 people and their houses and businesses were relocated. Below is a church on it’s way to Upper Canada Village.

We visited my friend Wendy’s family home in Cornwall.

In Cornwall the rain started lightly but an hour later it was picking up steam. A kind man let us use his garage to get our rain gear on and wait out the worst of it. Instead of easing the rain continued to increase and Gord and I decided to just push on towards the motel we had booked 34 kms down the road. With the rain and a strong head wind we were head down and focused, but apparently not focused on our route. We were 7 kms north of the river before we realized we had taken the wrong road. Crossing the 401 should have been a clue, but we missed it. Our final destination was now going to be my longest day ever at 110 kms. The final blow, literally, was my back tire. I pushed my bike the last kilometre and fell into a hot bath.

Slightly revived, we shared a meal of stout, lasagna, carrots and pecan pie with Ian, a fellow cyclist, who also braved the day.