Day 48 - don't be late for dinner !!!!

August 13 

Today we were determined to make it into camp before dinner was served , a difficult feat for our group who like to stop and eat , stop and take pictures and stop and explore, and to that a ride of 164 km and the words “ not going to happen “ jump out of peoples mouths. 

So with with that goal we set of early this morning just after 7 once again without Bob as he was not feeling good today. We set a brisk pace and maintained it , no stopping !!! we were on course !! At the 50 km mark we arrived in Picton and agree it’s time for a breakfast stop , so as we ride through town looking left and right for the right establishment to feed us Ed points to one but it’s decided that no, not what we are looking for , we then come to a stop at the next lights and a van pulls up beside us and says “ that restaurant you pointed at has good food ! “ we quickly quiz him on it and he says tell Heather I sent you . So we turn around and ride the sidewalk back and send Ed in to see if there is a Heather inside , he comes back out and tells us the waitress was to busy but there is about a dozen people in there so it must be good , with that we all go in . It turns out Heather is the waitress and the food was great !!! another omlet down in the history books !!!!

From Picton we head to the ferry but first there is a side trip up the hill to “ Lake on the Mountain “ a sacred place in indian lore. Great views up there of the bay and behind us we fine the lake , it’s about 60 meters higher up then the Bay , there are no apparent waterways that feed the lake yet it constantly drains it self by a waterfall down to the Bay

From there we cross on the ferry to the main land and start our run towards Kingston , this turns out to be a beautiful route hugging the water mostly and when not in pretty farm land , lots of apple orchards here and even grape vines ! with wineries here and there .  We stop in Bath for our ice cream break !! . 

Kingston itself is a huge city and we don’t have time to explore, there is a obvious clash between old and new that does not fit together very well it seems and the roads we traveled through town were some of the worst we've been on , we stop at City Hall an impressive building but don’t go in ( no time ) we bypass the penitentiary museum and the Fort , have a quick lunch stop a Tim Horton’s and leave town . One day I will come back with time to explore this city as I think it has many hidden treasures. 

We now bear down and pedal hard heading east , we are now in “1000 Island “ area and have at times beautiful view of the water and islands we come to Gananoque and run into some other riders and all stop in front of what looks like a very nice pub , they are going in for a drink we hum and haw and then follow them in , it turns out to be a internet cafe style place that also has some very nice beers , I have a Harp something I’ve not had since the days I lived in Ireland !!! we have our pictures taken under the doorway were the quote of the day reads:  " Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everybody else would understand if you fell apart , that is true strength “  

From there it was a rush to camp and we made it in time unfortunately missing some good foto opportunities , but I will be back here with Evelyn as this is a truly lovely area and deserves a better look !!

Dinner today was awesome !!!, pork chop!!! , corn on the cob , rice with sauce and for desert pie courtesy Allen Metcalfe ( I probably misspelled the name and will correct later) Allen is a past cross canada rider and always offers great advice on the Tours forums .

Another great day on the road !!!!!

Total ridden today: 167.6 - Average speed : 23.2 - Ridding time: 7.17

Up on Lake on the Mountain 

This is Lake on the Mountain

Ferry crossing

Cormorants 

Kingston

Gananoque

 " Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everybody else would understand if you fell apart , that is true strength “