July 15 –Balsam Lake Provincial Park to Stonyridge

Bike log: 109.0km, 620m of vertical, avg. speed 26.6 km/h

The heat let up a bit today – definitely a relief! Still plenty hot, but at least it wasn’t a complete meltdown out there. And there was a pretty stiff breeze as well to help keep cool. Of course, it was a headwind for almost the whole day, but it was well worth it.

Lots of raccoons around these parts. There was also a skunk that wandered through our campsite this morning in exactly the same place that this “little” raccoon was. This guy obivously does not miss too many meals.

We travelled exclusively on secondary highways and backroads today. We passed through the towns of Coboconk, Fenelon Falls, Bobcaygeon, Buckhorn, and Woodview. It was a great route, not much traffic (considering it is Friday and we are in cottage country) and the shoulders were mostly good. The roads were actually in better shape than some of the main highways we’ve travelled as well. We wanted to avoid highway 7 – which goes through Peterborough towards Ottawa - for as long as possible. Tomorrow is a Saturday, which I am hoping will be light traffic for that road.

Most of the towns we passed through would actually be classified as “towns” in my opinion. This is in contrast to many of the towns (dots on the map) that we have passed through in other parts of the country. We are definitely in a more populated region! The towns actually look like viable concerns as well – not like they are about to dry up and completely disappear, nor do they appear to be solely dependent on a single huge factory or mill. Nice to see, for a change!

This is a really nice part of the country to pass through in summertime as it is cottage country. It is known as the Kawartha Lakes region. There were many lakes that we passed by, fairly decent sized ones too. The roads were excellent to ride on – rolling hills through farmland. Some of the lakes are part of a waterway system known as the Trent-Severn waterway that is connected by locks.

There were no good opportunites for a mid-day swim, not to mention the fact that with the headwind we did not have the time to take off, but this campsite (Pilgrim’s Rest campground) has a nice little beach as well as a little river. We shot the rapids too!



As with most of the private campgrounds we’ve stayed in, this one has its share of trailers that are here permanently, with little decks or outbuildings hanging off of them. Sometimes I almost expect Ricky and Julian to show up.