Day 44 Tobermorey to Owen Sound– 66 miles

After a very pleasant evening I retired to bed early at about 8pm, read my book for a half hour or so and was just drifting off to a peaceful sleep when the fireworks started; on and on they went followed by groups of noisy youths with load music and cars rumbling up and down the drives.

The noise went on until the early hours and to add to my frustration as I tossed and turned I slowly got the feeling that I was getting closer to the ground. I was, there was a leak in my blow up mattress and at midnight I had to pump it up again, which isn't easy to do silently. Sadly at about 3am I was back to semi inflated and felt as if I was at sea. I managed to cobble together some covers to make sure I wasn't sleeping on rock and get a couple of hours sleep but at 5am despite heavy rain and a short day ahead people started getting up so any chance of sleep was gone.

I finally got up at 6am, still in the dark and sorted tent mattress etc away. It had been raining quite hard overnight but it was only really drizzle now so I packed my waterproofs and headed out at about 7.30am leaving Randy to do his breakfast duties and joined by an ailing Taso.

There are a few people suffering from bugs in camp at present, no one has missed a ride yet but some are suffering quite badly and with long days ahead that can't be much fun, I just hope I don't get any of it.

Quite soon after we left camp the heavens opened again and we stopped to kit up. Waterproofs are a bit of a mixed blessing at they do keep the worst of the rain off you but you still get soaked from perspiration as you are working so hard, but, as with the thunder storms at Kenora, the temperature was high so at least we weren't getting cold.

We stopped for a quick bacon sandwich and a dry off after about 30km and then hit the road again during a lull in precipitation joined by Don.

About 20km down the road we could see another heavy downpour approaching so we pulled off the road to hide under tree and see out the worst of it. A couple of minutes later the owner of the tree appeared on his porch and invited us in for coffee. We accepted and within a couple of minutes we were resting in the White families dining room whilst our riding gear was in the dryer sipping steaming hot coffee. We were of course extremely grateful for this act of generosity and it was quite a difficult decision to then leave the warm house and head out into the rain again.

Some 20km further down the road we caught up with Randy, who had passed us whilst we were warming ourselves, in Tim Horton's at Wiarton. We had a bite to eat and a drink by which time the rain has stopped and although it was overcast and very humid looked as if it was not going to start again soon. We seized our chance and got back on the road only to find our route blocked due to a tipple fatal accident. We were re-routed and stopped moaning about the weather in light of what we had just been told!

We soon knocked off the remaining 40kmand although managed to stay dry for most of it just got caught as we hit the campsite and gently doused again.

After setting up a still wet tent I hit the shower and the dryer and dried my gear ready for tomorrows longer 105mile ride into Alliston and, at last, a rest day. On the way back from the showers the so called 5 Star Girls ( Randy and Toms wives named so as they refuse to camp under any circumstances) were on the site and they had brought me a huge pile of fresh fruit and other treats which were greatly appreciated.

We also had a visit from a couple of people who did the trip last year, it was really interesting to hear about their trip and how many of the themes seem to be repeating themselves this year

Dinner tonight was chicken curry which has gone down very well with some corn on the cob donated by last years tourists. Hopefully I can catch up on my sleep and be ready for an early start to ensure I get to Alliston in time for the Lakes to pick me up.

Onwards and Upwards!