Looking back across the hills, valleys, meals, water and weather, there were inevitably (it seems), some unlovely things along the way:

• Most obvious and obtrusive were the large black pickup trucks, the Ford 150's being the archetypal villains of the piece.  Most of these were clearly not working vehicles, being far too shiny and wholly unsullied by trade names and logos.  (They looked like prime candidates for the spray-on mud bought by owners of Chelsea tractors in the U.K.)  We were whooshed far too often by the drivers of these brutes, too often at speeds well beyond posted speed limits.  Dangerous things, penis substitutes…
• Far too much of the wild life I saw in our ride was dead along the roadside, usually squished: too many raccoons, woodchucks, small birds, skunks, squirrels, and chipmunks.
• Marring the rolling countryside, especially within Toronto's peri-urban spillage, were grossly oversized dwellings, faux Tuscan being the ordure du jour.  Double unlovely points were assigned to those with monster pickup trucks in front of them.  (My photos of rural architecture included none of these.)

Happily, some lovely things left us with stronger memories, and they ensure that the story ends on a positive note:

• A journey in southern Ontario takes a cyclist into broad-leafed forest, patches of woodland that are the remnants of the Carolingian Forest, which once stretched from the Carolinas to the Great Lakes Lowlands.  We frequently saw willows, which can be seen in the Ottawa Valley, but not in any numbers.  Occasionally, we would ride under great cathedral ceilings of huge maples, which cloaked the road in cool deep shadow.  Half a century ago, great elm trees created similar vaulted canopies over rural roads in Eastern Ontario, but by the 1980s, those magnificent trees were largely gone, destroyed by Dutch Elm Disease.  (Saskatoon is worth visiting for many reasons; one of them is its urban forest of elms.)

• With a hot dry June just behind us, the country air was full of the scent of newly mown hay in the fields. Awaiting tedding, drying and baling, it triggered memories of childhood on the farm.
• Roadside flowers would make a delightful appearance now and then—white, yellow and blue daisies on the verges and in the ditches, and occasionally splashes of pink somethings on southern-facing banks. There were even orange gumdrops of clustered tiger lilies—beautiful, but fast, cheap, and out of control, swarming their neighbours.
• Some of our chance encounters appear in the day-by-day notes of our ride but there were more, of course.  As I climbed a hill out of the village of Glen Williams, a recreational cyclist came abreast of me, and we chatted.  Kevin was interested in our bikes, and was keen to do some more touring.  With a buddy, he had cycled a couple of hundred kilometres of the Bruce Trail on his mountain bike—I complimented him on that, no small achievement.  He mentioned his neighbour being a longtime cyclist. One thing led to another, and shortly afterwards, Bob was talking with Roger, a cycling buddy from the ‘70s and ‘80s:

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Notes on Gear: 

Lastly, a few notes on touring gear and the performance of the Raven:

1)     Panniers, etc.:  I used my Arkel Dauphin 32-ltr waterproof panniers at the rear, rather than the slightly smaller (28-ltr) Dry-Lites.  The Dry-Lites would take my clothing and supplies readily enough, but left me with little extra space for snacks on the road.  The Dauphins were far from full as a result.  (I should have used the extra space for extra snacks!)  On longer tours, I’ll use the Dry-Lites at the rear, and mount the Dauphins on a front rack.

Handlebar bag:   I reverted to using my small Arkel handlebar bag, after trying frameless Axiom bags on day rides and overnights.  The latter are very light, and quite spacious.  They are also much less weatherproof than the Arkel bag, and their velcro mounting straps are less secure and convenient than Arkel’s excellent alloy fixtures.  The Arkel bag and its mounting struts together weigh over a kilo, but I find that the convenience and weatherproofing of the Arkel are worth the extra weight.

Frame bag:     On this trip, I used a Revelate Tangle medium frame bag to store my rain jacket and booties, my TiGr Mini lock, my Click-stand, and a few other odds and ends.  Of these items, I used only the Click-stand regularly (the rain gear, not at all).  With the medium frame bag in place, the water bottle on the downtube is much easier to reach and replace than it is if Revelate’s large bag is on the bike.  On tours where I need a full set of rain gear, I’ll continue to use the large frame bag.

2)        Mechanicals:  Nothing to report.  Uneventful is Good.  All the bikes worked well:  Bob had to repair a flat in Wellandport, but that was all.

3)         Electronics:  My cellphone died on the day before I left to rendez-vous with Bob and Graham in Orillia.  This was the only technical problem I had on the ride.  I couldn’t get the phone repaired or replaced before leaving home, so Bob and Graham kindly let me use their phones to check in with my family en route.  In other circumstances, I’d have bought a cheapo prepaid talk-and-text phone.

If readers want to get in touch directly with comments or questions, you can email me on jsaxbyatbelldotnet