Day 35: Kenora to Dryden, ON (130km)

We are loving North Ontario! Our day started with a great breakfast chat with Barb and David, who made sure we were well fed and informed of the highway conditions ahead (Thanks again for the wonderful hospitality!). On our way out of Kenora we still needed to pick up some bug screens and camp fuel (as well as some cyclist fuel) so we ended up hitting the road at a very late 11am.

Although it may have started a touch late, our cycling day couldn't have been more perfect. The constant hills have been an exhilarating change of pace from the prairies. We're sure the climbing will get more intense further into the shield but so far the hills have been short enough for us to power up them before racing down the other side. Around almost every bend in the road is another beautiful lake sparkling between the trees, it required enormous restraint to talk ourselves out of setting up camp and basking in the water all day.

However, a highway sign did caution us against the perils of not taking breaks (see photo). With this in mind we took an extra long lunch at a lake and enjoyed our first midday swim of the season.

We continued on toward Dryden, feeling euphoric to ride speedily without the wind in our faces. Originally we had hoped to free camp tonight since we figured the campgrounds would be full and/or party central on the Saturday of a long weekend. However, the forest switches to farmland in the last 40km into Dryden so we pulled into the Birchland Campground and we're glad we did. The campground is just outside of town, very quiet, and includes showers and firewood (a major annoyance of ours is the number of campgrounds that charge extra for showers). Tonight we've also met Marieve, with whom we've just spent the last few hours sharing a campfire and good conversation. She's been travelling since Montreal and is heading to the Okanagan with her dog Shiraz tucked into a pannier. I'm sure most of you who know how puppy-crazy Alex and I have been for the last few years will not be surprised to learn Alex is now scheming how he can rig a dog carriage system for future trips...

Anyhow, on account of all of our visiting to top off an amazing day we're going to cut this post short and head to bed.