ride for africycle day one (part three)

peterborough to presquille provincial park 110 km (part three)

the beginning of almost anything is usually the richest stage - your senses are hyped and everything matters - it should probably be that way always but it doesn't seem possible to absorb

the degree of detail for anything longer.

so the first day of this journey gets three entries - wow!

one of the best pieces of the ride south out of peterborough towards port hope and cobourg is that at one point you cross over the oak ridges moraine and there not too very far away is the sea - well lake ontario but i always think of it as "the sea".

it's sort of like a gift to see that expanse of blue shimmering in the distance and to know that you'll be right beside it eventually.

we ate lunch in a park in the middle of port hope and then rode out with an ambulance escort set up by paramedic bike buddy jim.

before we got into cobourg i peeled off to the right and rode as hard as i could to cut myself some time

to visit my mum.

here we are!

a handful of hugs and a kiss later and a bottle of water and a washroom break and i was off flying down the road to catch up to the team who had gone ahead.

here's downtown cobourg on a summer friday afternoon.

i came upon my aunt margaret who was waving at the side of the road and taking photographs of my passing through. later the team asked me if she was my mum - they'd all seen her cheering and waving and thought that was pretty cool.

so onwards through cobourg's outer edges and into countryside droppping down towards the lake onto

a familiar route that i'd taken a couple of times before on my way to and from kingston on my bike.

i love the big blue skies and deep green fields and woods. can't get enough - really i can't.

unless there's a bar with a big screen with hd in which case i'll pull over and get a handful of beers and sit with my bike buddies and cheer and jump around and laugh and yell indignantly when the refs mess up . . .

this one was in the town of colborne at gilligan's pub.

ghana lost. it was devastating! so we got back on the bikes and headed off to presqu'ille provincial park which was our night's location.

here we are setting up.

a really good night. a beautiful campground and a chance for me to figure out how to put up the tent i'd borrowed off my brother. it took three tries but i finally sorted out how to get the poles and pegs and bits and pieces to work together.

a really good day.

here's the google map for the day.