Day 79: Kingston, ON -> Perth, ON

Date: Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Start: Kingston, ON (Kingston Mill locks on the Rideau Canal)
End: Perth, ON (Staying with friends)
Distance: 98km

We woke on the lock to a glorious morning.  It hadn't been too hot overnight, so I managed to get a decent sleep!  We packed up, split some oatmeal for breakfast, and let our tenting gear dry in the morning sun.  We looked at possible routes for the day, and decided to play it by ear...which is an odd saying as ears would have nothing to do with it.

After about 16km we reached a bakery I'd found along the way called Cookery just outside Inverary, Ontario and we ducked in for a morning snack.  We found a surprisingly nice bakery filled with all kinds of goods and had a tough time deciding.  We eventually both settled on a cranberry scone and I also grabbed a Portuguese tart.  We topped it off with chocolate milk.  We sat outside and ate.

And ooooooohhhhhh boy was it good!  Best scone of the ride so far definitely goes to this place.  The outside was crispy while the inside was still moist and almost cake like.  It crumbled at each bite.  It wasn't too sweet, and the tartness of the cranberries blended perfectly with the overall flavour.  It was really something.  The Portuguese tart was similarly delicious.  But the scone was the highlight.  I think it's difficult to do a scone that's easy to recognize as better than the average scone, so I was really impressed.  Thank you to the folks at Cookery for showing us something!

We hit the road and passed through Inverary, Missouri, and entered Perth Road.  There we considered our options.  We could continue on the highway but there was a fair amout of traffic and the shoulder wasn't great.  We could take a back road.  Or we could hop on the Cataraqui Trail.  We opted to get off the highway and try the trail, knowing that if it was rough we could still take the back road.  Sure enough...that's what we did.  The trail was nice, but it's tough to get any distance when riding on gravel.  So we jumped onto Opinicon Road and started towards Lake Opinicon and Chaffey's Lock.

The road in this section was VERY hilly.  But the trade-off was that there was almost no traffic and we had the road to ourselves.  We passed many lakes and ponds and especially enjoyed coasting down the hills after a climb to cool off.  An interesting feature of the area was how sparsely covered the ground seemed to be in the forests in this area.  You could look into the woods and see far into the distance as there was no brush, bushes, or smaller trees growing up.  My best guess is not enough light was reaching the forest floor, but it was an interesting feature of these woods.

After about 50km we pulled up to another lock in the Rideau Canal.  This one was called Chaffey's Lock and we stopped here for lunch as we watched more boats transit the locks.  People kept coming up to us with questions about our trip and we were happy to chat and let them know what we were up to.  We had plenty of questions for them about their boats and where they were coming from.  After eating we noticed that giant clouds were gathering south of us.  Not wanting to stick around and find out where they were going to land, we hit the road after about an hour.

The road out of Chaffey's was mostly flat and we took some local highways until we found highway 14 which brought us over another lock in the Rideau Canal: Narrows Lock.  This happened to be the high point of the system, and we noticed the water seemed to be flowing the opposite way from the previous lock.  We stopped for another quick break and to watch them operate the lock with it's giant cranks and old timey mechanisms.  It really was surprising to realize that this technology had largely remained unchanged since it's instillation.  This lock had a small car bridge over it and while the other bridges had used motors to open, this one used a giant crank/handle to turn the bridge opened.  Here's a video showing you the bridge in motion:

It was great.  We spent a lot of time admiring the construction of the lock, how it still operates, and the fact that it was originally a military project and now is still used for tourism and pleasure boating!

We had to keep going however.  We still had 30km to Perth and the day was warm.  We continued down the road and at some point took a maple syrup packet that Gregor had given us for energy.  "Gels" used by runners and cyclists, but they're usually synthetic stuff and this one was straight maple syrup with salt and ginger.  It powered us the rest of the way!

We had to stop at one point to rescue a turtle that was trying to cross the road.  We'd seen several that had been hit by cars, and all day we'd seen many signs that warned drivers to watch out for them.  Skipper gets some karma for making sure this little one made it across and lives another day!

We continued to ride and made it to Perth by around 4pm.  We rode through town - which was a shame because it's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area - and to our destination.

Tonight we were staying with some family friends who live in Perth: the Fishers.

I know I wrote above that we were staying with friends, but the Fishers are more like family.  Bill and Lyne grew up with my parents and had their children at the same time as my parents.  Consequently, their oldest son Kurt and I were born less than a year apart and also grew up together.  I never had a brother growing up, but in Kurt I had a best friend...and it felt like the same thing.  We played hockey and baseball together.  The stories abound about the stupid or silly things we did as kids.  His family moved away after grade 6, but I've never forgot our time together growing up.  His parents - Bill and Lyne - were also like surrogate parents to me.  I spent a lot of time at their house.  Kurt's grandparents were also present in my life, and one of his grandfathers was our baseball coach and a real mentor.  Their whole family played a big part in my life, but I hadn't seen them since Kurt's wedding in 2011.  We aren't related, but they are all like family to me.

So it was with much excitement that we arrived at their house just outside of Perth.  Bill and Lyne welcomed us and we showered while starting the motions of catching up.  Not too long after, Kurt arrived.  I'll be vague here because some things don't need to be publicly posted.

I felt like a child again.  We spent a lot of time talking and exchanging stories and experiences.  It was an incredible feeling to be reunited with my friend and also rebuild that friendship as adults.

We all had dinner together and again I felt like a kid as that's what I was the last time I'd sat around a table with all these people.  At some point later in the evening it was time for Kurt to go home, but we got a picture to remember the reunion by.

Not too long later it was time for everyone to go to bed.  We all tucked in after another extraordinary day of adventure and homecoming.  I can travel across the country by bike, but reunions like this feel like traveling through time.  Knowing those old bonds are still strong makes me feel so lucky and grateful for the people in my life.  What a day...