Day 41-Thessalon, Ontario
Pancake Bay Provincial Park to Thessalon
Distance: 162 km
Temp: hot

Another hundred-miler today-the hills weren’t as bad as the past few days as we are now out of the Canadian Shield, which is responsible for most of The Big Hills.
We had one really steep and long hill heading into Sault St. Marie (The Soo) which had my muscles gasping for air, reminding me of little baby birds, mouths agape, screaming for food.

We stopped off in the Soo for a free coffee, offered by ‘JJ’ who had done the ‘Tour D’Afrique’ last year; some riders met him at a coffee shop yesterday and they got to chattin’ about his adventure, and ours.
He owns a hotel in town, and obviously felt some camaraderie with us, and offered us the beverage, to which we all gladly agreed.
Afterwards we set out through some of the streets of the town; it’s quite a pretty town.
The ride today was a mix of undulating hills, treed terrain, and open fields-the area is becoming noticeably more populated, as the areas we’ve come from have been quite desolate and sparse.

Overall so far the roads in Ontario have been the worst; today there was often no shoulder, or the tiny shoulder that existed was so cracked and worn they were unrideable, forcing us onto the road with the trucks.
I am not usually a nervous rider in traffic, but these trucks are doing my head in; a couple of times I had to put my breaks on, and ‘white knuckle it’ while they almost brushed up against us-especially when one is passing at the same time in the opposite direction, leaving no room whatsoever for mistakes.
The worst kinds of trucks to pass are the live-stock trucks-I hate that more than anything for a couple of reasons: I hate seeing the pink little noses and ears poking through the slats, and also the smell.
Even worse is when it’s raining, and we get splashed with the guck of pig’s bums and all that-blech!
As a result of seeing these sweet little pink noses sticking out, Lewis has decided that he will no longer eat pork (I don’t eat it either, I used to out of pseudo religious reasons, but now because I also hate seeing them on the trucks.)
Lewis has declared that once he gets home he will cease pork-consumption; in the meantime before we get home, I think he is on a mission to eat an entire pig.
One of the Aussies reported that she had really good ‘Peabody’ bacon the other day (they don’t get Peameal in Australia.)

We all thought it was really cute.

Tonight’s campsite is one of the best so far, not so much because of the facilities, but because of the scenery; we’re on Lake Huron, staying pretty much on the beach-after dinner we sat around a fire and listened to one of our talented musicians strum a few ditties on his gee-tar.
It really was the quintessential camping experience, sitting on a beach at dusk, watching the moon rise, while listening to some good tunes.

Lewis and I set up our tent in what we thought was the perfect spot; we had a gorgeous view of the beach and water, and were sitting in our chairs enjoying the view.
Wouldn’t you know that a couple on the tour came and set up their tent right in front of ours, blocking our view!
I asked if they wouldn’t mind moving their tent over so as to not obstruct our view, but they chose this moment to pretend to not to clearly understand me, as they are French speaking.
It seems their grasp of the English language comes and goes at the most opportunistic of times!
But privacy amongst campers does not exists as we all seem to pretty much set our tents right on top of each other (more so in bear country,) I have offered one guy the chance to set up his tent inside ours, as he seems to like being so close to us-I can’t figure out why though, as I think I know who the ‘phantom-pharter’ is, and suspect he is in my tent!