Day 24 Binscarth to Minnedosa – 88 Miles

After another cool night we awoke to a cool morning and misty conditions; I had a hearty breakfast of eggs and potatoes and together with the other two, now nicknamed, Monkies we headed off at about 7.30am.

Today’s ride was still relatively flat but as the day went by the mist cleared and the heat increased so we finished in the warm with broken cloud.

We made our first stop of the day in a very small town called Birtle, which quite clearly found it difficult to manage 40 cyclists all arriving and demanding coffee etc in its two small café’s. What was really interesting was that the locals sprang to the assistance of the café owner and gave up their seats to help him wash and serve.

Our next stop was Shoal Lake, a picturesque little town where I finally managed to find an ATM that spoke to the world and could draw some cash. We then headed for the local café for lunch and were treated to a pythonesque scene where Chinese woman fails to understand English guy and brings Orange juice instead of Coke and then fails to understand Canadian guy and takes four attempts to accept an order for a BLT. I even got asked if I want “lavy” on my fries, I declined and then found out she meant gravy!

Lunch done we had a largely  uneventful ride into camp stopping only briefly for a drink where I met a family that emigrated from Burton On Trent 10 years ago and to buy some crisps for nibbles before tea. The second half of today was like riding through rural Northants, lakes trees and rolling green fields it’s a complete change from yesterdays huge fields and lack of cover.

The campsite is beautifully located, alongside a lake but is absolutely horrid in terms of mosquitoes so its take cover whenever you can.

Dinner was a rice concoction with some spice in it, a few have gone into town to eat; but we had peach Cobbler for pudding so all was not lost and as I type our first fire of the trip is being set, so we should be in for a pleasant evening.

Tomorrows maps are out and it’s another 88 miler.

Onwards and Upwards!