FOLLOWING the Ottawa River we left the forest landscape behind and found ourselves riding through farmland once again.
It dawned on me that Canada is as varied as it is vast; I have biked through roughly 1000 miles of mountains in British Columbia, 1000 miles of farmland in the Prairies and now 1000 miles of forest here in Ontario.
Today we pounded out 116 miles from 'Mackey' to the edge of the capital city 'Ottawa'.
My legs are now pretty weary and my bum is rather numb - I have cycled for 10 consectutive days now from Thunder Bay, averaging over 93 miles per day.
I need a bit of a rest!
Before our arrival in 'Ottawa' we had a few obstacles to negotiate: support car 'Wilbert' refused to come out of a rather steep and gravelly road-side slope after a drink-stop, a heavy shower cooled us off nicely and the police pulled us over, made us walk to the next highway exit (!) to find a quieter route to follow into the city... My ride buddies Sharon and Debbie have been fantastic - we have worked as a team against the headwinds and time always ticks by much faster with company whilst on the road.
I honestly don't know what I would have done without their support and huge efforts out here.
The girls are constantly pitching tents, preparing food, topping up water bottles, working out the route and so on to keep the expedition running smoothly. Doing this whilst also biking hundreds of miles with me is exceptionally hard work and they do it so dynamically and with such good humour, it's amazing! We have become very close after spending 24 hours a day together for nearly a month...
There's less than 1000-miles left to ride now to Halifax in Nova Scotia.
The ride doesn't end though until I dip my toes into the Atlantic.
