August 1, 2021
August 1: Hamilton to Brantford
Misty Sunday morning through a green canopy of leaves
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Comfort Inn, Brantford $
UP early and excited to get rolling, when I peeked outside, what was supposed to have been a very rainy night... it was totally dry, though it was cloudy with the sun occasionally peeking out through the cloud cover. It is just past 7 am as I type this and the forecast now shows rain only starting at 11 am. That would be wayyy too early to get to my next hotel, but it would mean not cycling in the rain. Decisions will have to be made.
The decision was made. I ate my weird breakfast mix of club sandwich, fries, banana and yogourt then quickly packed up the bike and checked out of the hotel. Outside in the dry parking lot I made sure everything was secure and followed my gps route up and out from the hotel.
The route brought me through quiet tree-lined streets and through the McMaster U campus. Not only did I not attend this uni, but I also never visited the place so it was new to me. I have to say that it was quite pretty with majestic trees everywhere and nice quiet neighbourhoods surrounding it.
I soon found the rail-trail that would lead me right to Brantford. Right from the start I knew I was going to love it. It was like a tunnel through a canopy of green. Huge trees on both sides, with a wide margin of forest so it was like I was in the middle of pure nature most of the day. I don't think I have spoken the words "I am passing on your left" so many times, but people seemed to be quite appreciative. I always remember the time in 1991 when I was out jogging at Queen's U and came up alongside a young woman who hadn't heard me and it scared the wits out of her. Never having forgotten this, I always like to give ample warning. People were walking, jogging and cycling and until I was 15 km from Hamilton, there was someone every few minutes. The trail is plenty wide enough, though, so it was not a problem to pass anyone.
It was about the 15 to 20 km point that it started to mist or rain out. It was not enough to blind me with water over my sunglasses, but enough that I was getting damp, though not wet. The temperature was a few degrees below 20 C so I was warm, but cooled off when I stopped, but too warm to put on my jacket. The 15 to 25 km section became a bit narrower and the pavement changed to gravel then to mud with grassy sections - obviously not used as much. There was enough rain falling that some of the muddy sections looked quite shiny - which means potentially very slippery so I 'tiptoed' my bike through these sections, speeding back up to 20 km/h when it looked safe.
Arriving to the outskirts of Brantford, the rail trail suddenly was no more. I would think that the old right-of-way had roads on them from this point forward. Though no rail-trail, there were still designated sections for bikes or at least really quiet roads. This hotel seems to be at the north end of the city so I got to see a cross section from bottom to top. Lots of older brick homes, a few shuttered factories, some nice sections, some not-so-nice, but overall not a bad-looking place.
Knowing that I was coming close to the hotel I started scoping out the nearby restaurants. The one that caught my eye the most for dinner was My Thai. I haven't had Thai food in a few weeks now, so I think I am due. I pulled up to the hotel and under the entrance roof to be out of the mists and left the bike and walked into the lobby to see if there was any chance there was a room ready for me even though I was early to arrive. Lucky for me there was and it was on the first floor, so I was able to check in, and was told I just had to walk into the room, open up the patio doors and roll the bike right in. Perfect. I had stopped at a puddle a few km back to rinse off the mud so it was just a bit wet, so I put a few advertising flyers under the tires to keep the carpet clean.
I did not want to change yet, and went to the attached restaurant to sit on the patio and have a cappuccino. It was ok but not as good as the one yesterday. To get to the patio I had to go through the resstaurant (with my mask on) and I was very nervous to see so many unmasked people. I asked my server if she was finding people were double vaxxed, and she said yes, including herself.
My table had an umbrella but I was damp and it was cool out so I came back to my room to clean up and research the F1 race I had missed - once again, it seems the best race of the year is when I have no coverage to watch it.
Quite the rain day. There were warnings of severe thunderstorms with nickel-sized hail. I didn't see any of this severity but did see a lot of rain. The sun would come out, then cloud over with more rain. So, I stayed in to read and finish off the 'Professor T' series. It looked alright outside when I started to get hungry, but when I looked out there were some really black clouds and a bit of drizzle. I estimated that the walk to My Thai restaurant was about ten or fifteen minutes so I did a power walk as the rain stopped. On the way back it started to drizzle a bit but I was quickly back into my room for what was a tasty dinner-in-foam. It was tasty but not as good as the food from My Thai Palace in Sudbury and North Bay. Northerners know what they're doing!
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Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 86 km (53 miles)
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