August 7: Pelham to St. Catharines

August 7, 2021

Mural, canal and a GPS misrouting

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Capri Inn, St Catharines $150-ish

The saying goes 'When you play with a bicycle in high humidity you get wet', or maybe that's not quite the saying. Err, not a saying at all, but it certainly is so. The temperature has been stayIng in the mid to high twenties but the humidity has been creeping up every day. The result of this along with meeting up with sister later today, I would find myself leaving just as the sun was coming up to try to get going and to my destination before it was too late.

I'm in such a groove and know where everything is, that now it takes a few minutes for me to have everything on the bike. Even with the slight change of 'panniers on the front rack'and not 'panniers on the rear rack'. The boat was rocked but only ever-so-gently.

Again, my motel was in a pretty spot but fairly restaurant-free. I retraced my steps back down through that same valley as yesterday, again along the safety of the sidewalk until I got to everyone's friend Timmies. Not my fave, but the awesome-looking cafe across the road was locked up as tight as a drum. Too bad. After a quick snack, I resumed the re-tracing of my path yesterday, past the Steve Bauer sign, along the old railbed, until I got to the side of the Welland Canal, then turned northwards and new territory. Overall, this meant a re-tracing of about 8 km, but I was expecting this, and it meant I would not miss any of the route alongside the Canal.

The air was pleasantly cool, the orangey sun just above the trees just across the water, and as I rolled along, there were more pedestrians, joggers and cyclists than I have been accustomed to. I would say that 99% of them said hello or good morning back in response to my greeting. Unlike a rail-trail, there was a bit more undulation to the route, though still fairly flat.

At one point, up ahead I could see a freighter slowly chugging northward (downstream) through the canal. I stopped at a bend in the trail to get a few pics. Way up beside the bridge someone came out and gave a little wave as it glided past me. When I resumed I paced the freighter to find it going about 8 knots, but a speed I could easily outpace, which I did. Further along, I came to a lift bridge that crossed the Canal, and it was near a field where a group was playing cricket. Always a game that intrigued me, I stopped to watch for a while as I waited for the freighter to come through the bridge. On my very first bike tour in 1986 I remember asking Uncle Frank about cricket and the rules of play. It seemed to be a 'gentleman's sport'. Like baseball, one team was at bat and the other team were the fielders. The batters batted until their wicket was knocked down, otherwise they could play and make hundreds of runs. But they could stop for tea here and there during the game, and pause until tomorrow if they needed a break, and simply decide to switch roles if the sun was at the right angle. I guess with the internet, I should read up on the actual rules, but it always seemed quite random and funny and not so structured. But I still love to watch it.

Suddenly a siren went off and lights started to flash on the bridge, and up went the main deck of the bridge as the freighter chugged toward it. It just glided right through and once it had, the bridge slowly, and gracefully slid back down into position. Very cool.

Back on the trail, I was soon past the freighter and approaching Thorold. I stopped to ask a casual cyclist if he knew where the murals of Thorold were located. He wasn't quite sure, but thought they were somewhere along the trail. I hadn't marked the exact spot, but had a pretty good idea, so kept going. When my route had me leaving the trail, I stopped to study the map on my tablet, and it looked to me I was very close, so I went back and continued along the bike route and sure enough, about another 100 m there they were. There was an old warehouse alongside the path and along the wall facing the bike trail were a whole collection of paintings depicting historical points in Thorold's history, including the manufacturing of the Cannon Ball bicycle from 1895 to 1898. Sadly, not very long, and when I did a quick online search, I didn't find very much, either. Nevertheless, I am greatful that whoever put this route together did so and gave it this unique name. Of course, I had to take a picture of my Cannondale with the Cannon Ball mural. Then away I went.

I returned the 100 m to where my gps guided me away from the canalside route which would be leading me to my hotel in St Catharines. It was still quite a distance to go, and now the humidity was through the roof and it was quite warm. Initially, my route was along bike paths that wound through the city along streams and spillways of the canal. Despite St Catharines being a large city, I was in forested areas with birds singing away - the only ones I actually recognized were cardinals, though I didn't see any.

Then I was out of the trails and along city streets past strip malls and North American city ugliness. And finally, around the next traffic light, the gps kept telling me to get onto the QEW which is a four-lane superhighway where bikes are not allowed. I could see that my hotel was just across the bridge, but whether I set the gps to cyclist or pedestrian it kept directing me along this forbidden route.

I knew this was impossible so I re-traced my route somewhat, until some cyclists came along so I flagged them down and asked for help. They told me to head back the way I had come to Fourth Avenue, turn left, then follow it to Ontario Street, and turn left then just keep going until I got to my hotel. I had come through the Fourth/Ontario intersection a while back so I was re-tracing my route for several km. Grrr.

I pedalled quite a bit faster than my norm to that intersection then once on Ontario I just kept up that same speed. Initially it was pretty then went through derelict industrial factories that were being torn down. What a sad reflection on us - that we expend all this energy creating something, only to knock it all down when it is perfectly fine to replace it with some other temporary structure.

All this way, my gps was still trying to get me to u-turn back the wrong way. Even as I was just across the road from the hotel it wanted to send me the wrong way. Only once I pulled into the driveway did it point forward to the doors and then say I had arrived. I have never had this issue before, so maybe there is something about the street that was changed. I don't know.

I checked in and paid, though my room wasn't ready. But, the owner said that she and her husband were cyclists and they had a locked garage for them and I was welcome to put my bike in there if wanted. Awesome. I popped off the bags and rolled the bike in - I would rest easy for the day knowing the C'dale was safe. I called sister to come get me - she is only 20 minutes away - then sat and waited for her arrival.

Sister picked me up and whisked me away to their place in Grimsby - and there sat my car. Similar to when you drive to an aiport then are magically whisked to some distant part of the world and it makes your head spin, going for a ride in a car makes my head spin if I have been cycling for a while. It is kind of unworldly. Having brought all of the gear from the bike I was able to unload that which I would not need - jacket, bungee straps, lock... and on and on until I had only absolute necessities for tomorrow's ride. MUCH lighter, indeed.

Then we just relaxed and hung out all day. By now the humidity was absolutely gross so we stayed indoors, but it was just nice to be with them after not having seen them much since the start of the pandemic. After a great Thai supper, sister whisked me back to my hotel where I retrieved my bike from the garage and rolled it right into my room - with the owner's permission, of course. I packed up the bike for tomorrow's final riding day, and just relaxed the rest of the evening since I wanted to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow since it would be a very long day.

The morning is my favourite part of the day. Soft sunrises over the water are amazing. Welland Canal (Welland, ON)

Lift bridge along Welland Canal (Welland, ON)

There were quite a few rowers out this morning as the sun rose over the canal. (Welland, ON)

This view of the canal sort of reminded me of the Douro River Valley (Welland, ON)

Sunrise over the Welland Canal (Welland, ON)

I kept leapfrogging with this freighter which was moving about 8 kt. (Welland, ON)

Freighter coming through the lift bridge. (Welland, ON)

There are a number of murals illustrating the history of the town, though quite a bit of it is in disrepair. Here is one showing the Cannon Ball bicycle, made here from 1895 to 1898. (Thorold, ON)

The Cannon Ball and the Cannondale. (Thorold, ON)

Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 339 km (211 miles)

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