Bright Lights, Small City

The upside to wild camping in areas which may or may not be entirely legal is that there are really no distractions to keep you up late. As a result, I fell asleep early and wound up waking up pretty early as well. Now, maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s just today, but getting up before 6:00 seems to find the mosquitos moving as sluggishly as I do at that hour. And, there didn’t seem to be as many. I’m not saying I’m going to start getting up at 5:30 every day, but there may be some advantages.

The big disadvantage to both getting up early and to camping out at the beach is that it meant I had to backtrack into town to get breakfast this morning. Oh, and apparently Subway isn’t open that early. And apparently WiFi doesn’t work in this town. At least, not at Robin’s. Sigh.

Eventually I’ll get to post all these updates I’ve written. Of course, if you’re reading this then that’s already happened. Editorial: Obviously, I found WiFi and was able to post not one, not two, but three updates.

The plan for the day was to get to Dryden. A mere 110 km ride. And it was a ride that would be aided by a tailwind. Yes, it’s true. An actual tailwind. Not a very strong tailwind. Certainly not of the calibre of the headwinds I’ve been facing for much of this trip but a tailwind is a tailwind and I’ll gladly take it. And it was glorious. Okay, maybe not quite glorious. It was still chilly and I’m still waiting for shorts and t-shirt weather. But the tailwind was definitely a step in the right direction.

The only “challenge” today was a brief construction delay. And that was minimal. Seriously, it was a very easy ride to Dryden. These are the days where you really enjoy being on the road. Sure, there were hills but they were fun hills. Sure it was chilly but pedalling keeps you warmish. The day was also aided mentally by my early start. It didn’t change my actually ride time but when it’s 10:00 and you’ve already travelled 60 km it just puts you in a happy place. Well, in this case it put me in the middle of nowhere but you get the idea.

By 12:30 I was pulling into the parking lot of Tim Hortons in Dryden. 110 km before 1:00. Not bad. As such, I rewarded myself with a hot chocolate and a donut. Actually, I had two hot chocolates and two donuts but it was spread out over a few hours. Yes, that’s right. I was at Tim Hortons in Dryden for a few hours. It may be a town of 8,000 people, but it’s not like it’s a major hub of activity.

Anyway, for the first time in a couple of days I actually had a WiFi connection and could update my blog. This always takes a lot longer than expected. Today was no different. Eventually (ie. around 4:00), I got everything up-to-date and a decision regarding tonight’s accommodation needed to be made.

As indicated earlier, my original plan was to get to Dryden today. Which I did. However, it was still only 4:00. The wind was still blowing favourably. The sun was very much shining. Vermilion Bay was only 45 km away. And it was June 20th – the days don’t get much longer than that. The decision was obvious. My cycling would continue.

To say that the ride from Dryden to Vermilion Bay was easy would be an understatement. I was stunned how quickly it went. At one point, I literally thought about five minutes had transpired but in reality I had travelled 13 km. And for the first time on this trip it actually felt like summer. Real heat. Real sweat. And if I didn’t know better I think it actually gave me energy. I cycled along without a care. Basking in the warmth I’ve waited so long to enjoy. The terrain was even different. Wide open farm land spread across rolling hills. The fun kind of hills where the momentum on the way down can propel the bike most of the way up the next one. I reached Vermilion Bay in a little over 90 minutes. It felt like 20 minutes.

As expected, there isn’t much in Vermilion Bay in the way of services but there are some motels, a few stores and restaurants, a gas station, and a chip wagon. I stopped at the chip wagon. This ended up having a significant impact on the rest of the evening. While waiting for my large fries to be prepared, three other cycle tourists also arrived at the chip wagon. And so I met Rob, Michael, and Fred. The latter two were actually travelling together, while Rob had just joined them along the way.

Like myself, they weren’t entirely sure where they would be camping tonight but invited me to join them. After filling up at the chip wagon we ended up heading down to the government dock where we found a beautiful pavilion waiting for us. We officially had a home for the night.

The rest of the evening was spent discussing trips, routes, bikes, food, and other such things. Rob and Fred attempted to catch some fish off the dock but were unsuccessful so there was no late night snack from the lake.

There were only two minor downsides to our camping location. The first is that it became abundantly clear very early that there would be freight trains going past regularly throughout the night. And those things aren’t exactly quiet. The other thing we discovered was that the pavilion had automatic lighting. It would not be a dark and quiet night. I suppose I could’ve moved my tent out from under the pavilion but after an early morning and a long day on the road I didn’t anticipate having any trouble sleeping. I didn’t. I heard the train a couple of times – barely. As for the bright light. Everything was dark behind my eyelids.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 157.52 km
Ride time: 6:43:08
Average speed: 23.44 km/h
Maximum speed: 49.10 km/h