Day 40: Solo once more

The mosquitos greeted us over breakfast and we sweated into our rain gear to avoid bites. Then we rode 2km to the border and another 2km to a shop on West Hawk Lake to fill our water bottles. We were off the highway then - glorious! There was almost no wind at all and the hills were short, gentle ups and downs so we made brilliant progress. 

After 30km, there was a sign for a picnic bench and we were starting to get hungry. I pulled in, the others behind me, but no sooner had I slowed down than I was swarmed by mosquitos! In the minute I spent walking in fast circles then pushing my bike back to the road I think I doubled the number of bites on my body. Don't think I'm hungry any more, let's hit the road! 

We passed a British couple on a tandem recumbent bike and stopped for a chat - one from Edinburgh, one from Newcastle. It was nice to hear familiar voices but after a few minutes the bugs drove us apart.

We rode another 20km before our bellies started complaining and we had to stop. We found a slightly breezy section of road, propped our bikes against each other and stood on the gravel verge to made and eat our wraps with only a few midges for company.

Then we breezed through another 20km before we had to part ways. It's been amazing having Simon and Bettina as riding buddies. They've introduced me to stealth camping, showed me new things to eat on the road and made me a faster, stronger rider. It felt natural to have company and I think we were a good gang. But it felt fine to ride away from them, too. We said our goodbyes and I rode into the flat farmlands where we'd emerged from the forest, content on my solo ride once more.

The last 55km only took me two hours, so I was done by 3pm and arrived in Lac du Bonnet having clocked an easy 120km today.

I'm waiting in town to be picked up by Dave MacDonald, who is going to be the instructor on my Wilderness Survival Course for the next 7 days. I'm excited about learning some new skills, having time away from the ride and seeing some wilderness close up! What I'm not excited about is sleeping out with the bugs. I hope Dave has some tricks up his sleeve that will help me survive being bitten by billions of mosquitos, midges and no-see-ums!