Day 23: Headwinds and dogs

I had fun last night. The girl behind the bar is sick of small town drama and plans to move to London. A young man who works in the mines and is a rapper in his spare time loves Sudbury so much he has its smelting towers tattood on his arm. And a young lady is going through a divorce, out for a drink with her friend. So we all had a nice chat until it was time for me to go to bed. "Bye Anna! Good luck!"

Today was slow. My legs are tired and the headwind was ever present. I only did 75km and I'm knackered.

I took the busy highway out of town before a small Trans Canada Trail sign took me off the road. Ahh, to hear the birds and the rustle of the forest instead of traffic. The road was in a bad state, a crazy paving of potholes filled in over the years with different shades of tarmac. Bumpety bump, clatter, squeak. At least the bears would hear me coming.

The road wound it's way through the forest alongside the railway and next to a river - a river so lazy it was really just a long, meandering pond. Rushes blending the river with its banks and lily pads sitting quietly on the surface.

One section of new road near a mine was so wonderfully smooth! No shoulder but no traffic either, save two mining trucks with prism-shaped loads.

Most of the day was spent on a fairly remote road, just the odd house or driveway every few miles. On those roads, the level crossings don't even have lights, let alone barriers. Mile-long trains clatter along slowly, blasting their horns all the way. And the dogs on those roads are scary. They're not chained up and they bark and chase me along the road, getting too close to my bare ankles for comfort.

I had lunch in a truck stop and chatted to a few people. One delightfully eccentric lady who was driving to Vancouver on a 'spiritual quest' gave me a banana and a homemade muffin and said a prayer for me. A retired couple said "Vancouver, golly! Do you know you're riding into the wind?". Oh is that right? I hadn't bloody noticed.

Tonight I'm in Espanola. "That town stinks!", everyone keeps warning me. But the paper mill closed down and it smells just fine now.