Day 44: Salty prairies

The past few days have been lonely and not much fun. I think the weather is partly to blame, but it's not the whole story. The highway is boring, there are no viewpoints or picnic benches, and I've only had two proper conversations with people I've met since I left the hostel in Winnipeg. I was hoping today would be an improvement.

When I woke up, I couldn't hear the wind. Good start. By the time I'd got up and opened the curtains, it even seemed a little sunny! Hooray!

I had a pint of chocolate milk and set off out of town. Then after 5km I saw a breakfast diner and stopped for pancakes and eggs. On my way out, I chatted with a nice couple about my journey and the storm that has just passed.

So it was 10am by the time I actually set off. There was still a breeze coming from the north and there was quite a bit of gradual uphill, so I wasn't much faster than I was yesterday! But it was a lot more pleasant in the sunshine. Every time I saw a 'summit', I'd get there to find that it continued to go up after it, just less steeply. So despite being in the prairies, I'm now at the highest point I've been in Canada so far - about 700m.

I was stood by the side of the road having some trail mix with my bike between my legs when I saw a touring cyclist coming the other way! I happened to be at a section of highway where the two carriageways were connected by a short road so I waved and gestured for him to come over for a chat, but he pointed ahead and carried on, which made me a bit sad. Touring isn't supposed to be about being in too much of a hurry to chat!

Later, I saw a hitch hiker trying to go west. I stopped to say hello and learned that he's from Monteal going to BC. He was in the middle of absolutely nowhere! At least 40km from a town. And he had no water because he'd had to camp out the storm yesterday. So I gave him a litre of mine and wished him luck.

The wildlife was out and about again in the sunshine. I saw a fox, an otter, a falcon, bees, butterflies, crickets, frogs and birds. The red-winged blackbirds are back to flying around my head, "chht-chht-chht brrrrrr", presumably annoyed at me for being near to their nests. Quite a few yellow-headed blackbirds around too.

In the afternoon I saw a sign for the international centre for seabirds, which I thought was odd, 2000km from the sea, so I pulled in. Two bikers outside smoking cigars said hello - Bill and Doug live in Victoria and are on their way home after failing to get to a wedding in Thunder Bay because the highway is closed just east of Regina due to flooding! I must have come through just in time.

The seabird centre had information on the salt flats, lakes and salt marshes in the area that are important for migratory birds. There were webcams of plover feeding on the marsh and nesting in the grass, their little fluffy young ones having survived the storm. Once back on the road, I saw huge piles of salt ready to be processed and sold. The brine lakes here are 7x saltier than the ocean.

With 20km to go, I was getting fed up but then a turn in the road gave me a tailwind on the home straight and I breezed into the little town of Morse having ridden 120km today. My cheeks are slightly sun burned and I'm pretty tired but happy to be camping again. I went to the only restaurant in town and ordered a steak sandwich, which turned out to be a steak on a slice of white toast. Then I read my book at the campsite for a while as the sun set and a sliver of crescent moon became visible high in the sky. My tent is about 50m from the railway line. The rumbling clackety-clack sounds like 50 jet planes taking off one after another, and that horn is pretty damn loud!