Camera dictates stopLast night presented me with a much more satisfying sleep than the night before, definitely a better rest to ride by. But of course, riding waited for another breakfast of Belgian waffles topped with blueberries, peaches, and maple syrup. Do you think I'm getting spoiled?
Wooly caterpillar walks
Down an empty road
Something about the environment of Hillsdale House seems to generate good conversations among strangers. It may partially be encouraged by the breakfast room setup, with several tables for six in the center of the room. That certainly encourages strangers to sit together, which is good for solo travelers like me. In addition, the sitting rooms at the inn were well used. It was rare that I was the only person sitting down there. For breakfast this morning, I joined a couple from London (England, not Ontario). I had started talking with her yesterday at the inn, and when they ended up in the same restaurant as I did last night, she came over to see how my dinner was before she ordered her own. Wonderful people. We were joined by a couple from Drumheller, Alberta - a place that had actually jumped out at me one time when I was contemplating a bike tour in Alberta. Sometime later... I had the somewhat wacky idea of having a quick breakfast and an early start on the road this morning, but I have to admit that I enjoyed my breakfast visiting enough to have no regrets about starting out at 10 o'clock. I knew it was going to be a relatively short mileage day, so leaving that late didn't bother me at all.
My first goal after leaving the inn this morning was to stop at the German bakery to pick up one of their wonderful cinnamon raisin pastries for a mid-morning boost. I wish there was a bakery like that one at the start of every cycling day. There isn't, so I'll enjoy it while I can.
The road tilted up almost as soon as I headed to the south. The grades were very gentle though, so crossing South Mountain was much easier than yesterday's jaunt across North Mountain. Obviously that's based on today's experience only, but I suspect that tomorrow is more down than up since I'll be headed towards the ocean. It wasn't a total uphill day though. There were some downhills, and amazingly enough there were some relatively flat sections too.
I haven't seen too many animals along the road here, no squirrels and chipmunks playing suicide games with bicycles. There is an occasional dog who insists on barking at me and I've taken to talking back at them "bark, bark, dog. bark, bark!". I did surprise what I think was a quail, and I had to take a photo stop when I saw a wooly caterpillar crossing the road. That doesn't really surprise you, does it? I saw it steadily creeping across the road, and just ahead there was a nice guardrail for my bike to lean against. Bike resting for a moment, I grabbed my camera and crouched in the road to take a picture. Fuzzy creature, black and brown and black, crawling, moving quickly across the road - but slowly enough to give me time for camera play.
There was no need to follow directions today. I started south on route 8, and I stayed on that road all day. It was a quiet road, with no shoulder. Traffic? An occasional car sped by, and some lumber trucks flew by too, mostly unloaded. For the most part I had the road to myself. The scenery? As I expected the road was tree-lined for the entire distance. The color was still mostly green but there was the occasional splash of yellow or orange. I imagine that this road would be gorgeous if you could time a trip right to catch the fall colors since there appear to be a nice mix of evergreens and broad-leafed trees. It's getting cooler, the colors can't be too far behind. It was a good riding day, cool temperatures, swirling winds, blue skies decorated with wisps of cirrus clouds.
I stopped at Kejimkujik National Park and took a quick hike - with my camera & Rover, of course. I headed down the short trail to Mills Falls, stopping often to capture images of the forest and of the river and falls. The falls jumped into view much too early, so I continued down the path for a while longer. The little piece of the park that I visited was beautiful; I think I'll need to plan a return trip with Kejimkujik a non-biking focus. A little bit of kayaking and some hiking is probably in order here. Unfortunately, even though I was told of their existence by Brian's warning in my guestbook, I didn't see any Blanding's turtles while I was in the park. For some strange reason they just weren't hanging out at the turtle crossing sign. According to the park brochure, this is the time of year when you're likely to see the babies: "Toonie-sized hatchlings emerge from the nest and are often seen on the road".
Brian - have you actually seen these guys? And are they really the size of a Toonie? Oh, they really are. The brochure shows an image of a toonie next to the baby turtle; their head and legs stick out beyond the circle, but wow, they are tiny. That must be a formula for disaster if they really do wander on the road.My home for the night has gone from very nice to somewhat funky to very nice to even funkier. I wonder if there is anyplace in between the very nice and the decidedly odd. Tonight I'm at the Whitman Inn in Kempt (although their mailing address says Caledonia, which is still a healthy number of kilometers down the road). It's just past Kejimkujik on route 8, the right place to stop from a mileage standpoint. It wasn't a long mileage day, and I would have been happy to keep riding another hour or so, but I think the next place to stay is in Liverpool, probably 40+ miles from here. Enough, my wheels stop here!
As I showered I noticed a distinct smell to the water, almost a sulphur smell. I came downstairs hoping that this wacky place had some bottled water because I don't think I can drink what pours from the faucet. Ah, good luck! There is a spring water dispenser in the sitting room. I'm saved!
Unlike the Goodwin Hotel in Weymouth where the restaurant served the community as well as the hotel guests, the restaurant here appears to be for guests only. That's not totally unexpected given that the inn is somewhat in the middle of no where. I didn't have great expectations about the food here but this time the somewhat funky hotel has a very good chef and nice fresh food. My selections? Red pepper and tomato soup, followed by pan-fried scallops with garlic & herbs (what else! I think I'm addicted...), roasted potatoes, and a hot mixture of zucchini & tomatos. I finished with a scoop of lemon sorbet. The chef outdid himself, and the food was wonderful. Funny, given where I am, I expected simple food, and that's really not what was served. It was a nice surprise, and good fuel for tomorrow too.
After swirling all day, the wind finally disappeared. As the sun started to drop, the temperatures seemed to drop too, so I went to pull the windows closed. Sitting in the tree just outside of my window was a plump bird. It reminded me of a robin, but its colors were brighter. I tried to grab a photo of him or her, but the shutter speed was so slow that I expect the picture to be blurry. Maybe I'll get lucky.
Back to sea level tomorrow...
