We woke to sunshine again, and we were back to enjoyable cycling, thank goodness.
After an enormous hotel breakfast, the early miles were worrying, because the roads were still terribly rough, and a strong easterly was starting to blow in our faces. After an hour, even taking 5 minute turns on the front, we were struggling to hold 14mph. Typically, the wind increases through the day as the heat builds, and with 116 miles to ride we were facing another very long, hard day in the saddle.
The first sign of changing fortune was being overtaken by a tractor, with a pick up truck following. I am never one to miss some drafting, so I sprinted up behind the pick up, and Tim joined me. The guy driving seemed surprised initially – it was probably a first for him – but then he relaxed and waved, and seemed quite happy to have us sheltering from the wind a couple of feet off his rear fender whilst doing 20mph. It didn’t last long – unfortunately they weren’t going to Niagara – but it lifted the spirits.
Port Dover, after 35 miles was a lovely holiday town with a beach on the north shore of Lake Erie. Here we had a repeat of the enormous breakfast we had eaten just 3 hours earlier! This was the first tourist spot we had seen since Ludington, and we lingered down by the harbor taking photos and reluctant to move on.
In the cafe we met a guy whose fishing family had moved from Hastings in 1910 to join the fleet out of Port Dover on Lake Erie.
The shore road was beautiful. It wandered in and out of small coves, with great views of the emerald blue lake – and the road surface was not too bad either! I had not realised what a holiday hot spot this is. Once we had passed the enormous steel works, the accommodation was graded by social class. First there was very expensive real estate with expansive lake views, with new mansions being built. A few miles east there were normal looking wooden houses, but still with their own beach and lake view. A few miles later and they were simple wooden cabins and sheds. And finally we reached the caravan sites and camp grounds! But this was Sunday, and all of it was teeming with life – people swimming, having barbeques, or just sunbathing. It was so good to have something to look at! And the wind seemed to have dropped a little.
At Dunnville we were forced inland to cross a river. We had a huge salad lunch with a mountain of mashed boiled egg and shredded chicken on salad veg. Delicious. And we restocked our supply of between-meals muffins which had run dangerously low!
Another 20 miles of good lakeshore riding brought us to Port Colborne. There was a very big lifting bridge over the river. We had to ride across some very slippery metal grill.
A final 20 miles of lanes took us NE to Niagara Falls itself. From several miles away we had been able to see the huge plume of cloud or spray rising from the falls, dwarfing even the high rise hotels.
Imagine booking a room in one of those and then finding you’re on the wrong side to see the falls! (We are in a cheap motel with a great view of the main road.)
We are saving the Falls for our day off tomorrow. Tonight we only got as far as the nearest steakhouse. A 16oz sirloin and american cheescake to follow has just finished the day off nicely.
I have to say I am finding it quite difficult to believe I have cycled here all the way from Seattle! It seems a lifetime ago. 3250 miles in 30 days! The last four, in particular, seem to have had us flying eastwards, first across Michigan in 2 days and now across Canada in 2 days. (Ok, perhaps that should be ‘a tiny part of Canada’ – I am in danger of getting carried away.) Anyway, tonight’s steak was washed down with a celebratory beer or two.