Once we forced ourselves out of our cozy sleeping bags, we waterproofed ourselves as best we could and had cold breakfast huddled under a park bandstand.
No matter what preparations you take, after a few hours of cycling, rain gear or not, you get pretty much soaked to the bone. Fortunately, the weather was relatively warm so besides being generally uncomfortable we weren't shaking from the damp.
One fun thing about rainy days is that about the only living thing you'll see on the side of the highway is other bicycle tourers. Seeing your cold wet self mirrored by another cyclist makes you laugh a bit at the ridiculousness of biking 110 km in pouring rain.
Weather aside, as you can see from the photo above the landscape today was absolutely beautiful. We rolled through picturesque villages, farmland and breathtaking views of both the St Lawrence and the Appalachian mountains. Besides a few rough sections of construction it was pretty much picture perfect.
Not every campsite we settle into is a wilderness paradise. This evening we're camped across from a large castle apparently owned by Jolly Old St. Nick. Nothing is more surreal than biking out of a summer storm and into rousing rounds of Jingle Bells being projected from an eleven foot statue of Pere Noel. This aside, the site has really fit the bill. We found a gazebo to cook under and are currently running every article of clothing we have through the dryer. (I really wish I took a photo of the castle, I'll try and include it in tomorrow's post.)
From what we hear, as of tomorrow we will potentially start to see seals in the St. Lawrence. Salt water here we come!
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