peterborough to cobourg

once a year i ride my bicycle down to my mum's home in cobourg.

i see her more often than that, but this is a ride.

which means it takes extra effort.

so there's a form of satisfaction in not only getting there, but getting back home.

leaving my own family is always hard.

but then there's the open road, a bicycle propelled and steered by myself.

so the trade-off of a small amount of misery for a large amount of happiness works out - eventually.

to get to cobourg means crossing lots of long rolling hills. if you look at these two photographs, you should know that the hills in the distance are the height of land also known as the oak ridges moraine.

there are many other steep climbs and racing descents before i even get there.

riding almost entirely through countryside. the road is fairly quiet and you can hear the birds, the crickets, cows, the odd bit of farm machinery, the wind rushing past your ears,

and of course the sound of the tyres on the pavement.

and then the scenery does change abruptly when you enter the ganaraska forest.

there's a rich hush about the rows upon rows of conifers.

and then magically after a long climb around a sweeping bend you get your first glimpse of lake ontario

(it's just right of centre in the image).

on the africycle ride, bike buddy michael prepared me for this moment.

it's so simple,

this matter of the sharing of the very simplest and most astonishing joys.

and then before you know it you're in port hope.

in port hope there's a lovely coffee shop called dreamers

where you can get a really good americano and a crazy cookie (yep that's what they're called)

that like many baked goods, tastes a lot better than it looks!

nicely fueled up it's back on the road and across the bike lane beside highway two to cobourg!

here's the google map link for my ride from peterborough to cobourg.