Day 77: Belleville, ON -> Wellington, ON

Date: Monday, July 31, 2023
Start: Belleville, ON (Staying with family)
End: Wellington, ON (Staying with family)
Distance: 42km

We woke and said goodbye to my sister Tori, who was off to work.  It was a short stay, but I'm always so happy for the time we get together.  The bulk of the time we spent together through our lives was as children, and so each visit as adults is like meeting and getting to know a new person.  As a crusty older person who thinks he's seen everything, I love when my sister surprises me with her clever wit, intelligence, tenacity, insight, and strong sense of justice.  She's worked really hard for what she has in life and I'm happy to visit and see how well she's doing (and share in some of that success by sleeping in a bed on a cross-country bike trip!).  There's a lot of unspoken understanding between siblings, but I continually learn about her when I visit and I'm never disappointed in what I find.  I love you sista!

My brother-in-law (who I just called brother) Sean is similarly sharp, clever, funny, and a strong sense of the just and good world he wants to live in.  We share a love of science fiction and history, and I'm always happy for whatever time we get to spend together.

But it was 10am and we had to get moving.  We had another reunion just down the road, and we were running late.  We thanked Sean again, hugged, and started off into Belleville.  I can't wait to come back and spend more time with family here.

We took off into town and rode to The Brake Room, a combination coffee shop and bike shop that I wanted to visit before leaving Belleville because of previous happy visits I'd had there.  Waiting for us was my cousin Gregor who lives not too far away in Prince Edward County and who I likely haven't seen in about 10 years.  He was waiting for us and we grabbed a coffee before setting off for the day.  We caught up on the trip so far and our adventures in biking and running over the years.  We grabbed a photo together and set off into Prince Edward County!

The day was cool but not cold, and the views were spectacular.  It really helped that we had Gregor as a guide to show us around the area and take us on the back roads in this idyllic farming area.  I took pictures of some of the scenes and settings we passed with trepidation.  The hay is being harvested, and the corn is high, and all of this is pointing to it being late summer with autumn creeping up.  At some point I'm going to have to get to St. John's, Newfoundland and end this trip before the snows find me!  But for now, it was pretty glorious and peaceful.

I also got to ride with Skipper and Gregor, two seasoned cyclists.  Riding like this was pretty unfamiliar to me and it felt nice to be surrounded by like minded people who enjoyed doing this.  Not since Alberta with Kip and John had I ridden like this!

We rode through the county and to the shore of Lake Ontario, then turned towards Gregor's house.  Once there we took a tour of his wonderful place, showered, changed, and headed out for lunch.  We ate and drank at Midtown Brewing Company (recommend!) and met some of the folks that work and brew there (Hi Stew!).

After lunch we took a little tour of the south end of Prince Edward County, particularly Sandbanks Provincial Park where "the largest bay-mouth dune barrier system in the world" is located.  From what I saw, I can tell you they got some serious dunes there!  And the water at the beach really surprised me.  You could see the colours of it change as it got closer to the beach.  From dark blue further out, to a dark teal to a bright and clear kind of aquamarine.  It's the kind of water you see in tropical areas, so I stunned to see the same effect up here in Lake Ontario!

After showing us a few locations that really gave us a strong sense of the size of Sand Dune park, we headed back to Gregor and Kim's place and sat outside conversing and catching up some more on our families, lives, and interests.  Skipper and I took a swim in pool that was so warm it was tough to get out of it!  While we did this Gregor cooked a whole chicken in a "green egg" BBQ (I've never heard of this so forgive me if they're well known).  And eventually it was time for dinner.

The food was wonderful!  Chicken and vegetables is basically my entire diet when I'm not biking across Canada so this was a real treat!  After dinner we joked that we should get the cards out as we had the night before....and that's how we ended up playing euchre.  Thanks to my partner Gregor for his suspreme skill.  We bested Kim and Skipper 2 games to none!

Once the night had wound down, we all set off for bed.  Another day of goodbyes and reunions.  Another night in a bed...always a good night!