We haven’t done much cycling this month for various reasons; one of which was travelling to Canada to visit Colette’s brother and his husband, who live in downtown Toronto. After doing the touristy thing at Niagara falls, we all went north to spend some time in their lakeside cottage near Haliburton. On the Sunday, Colette and I decided to try hiring some bikes and exploring the rail trail that starts at Haliburton. The weather had turned a little cool and it was going to be dull and cloudy but luckily we had brought suitable clothing with us.
We turned up at Algonquin Outfitters shortly after they opened at 11am (due to it being a Sunday) and asked to hire bikes. We had the choice of mountain bikes and somewhat lighter looking cruiser type bikes with more limited gearing. We opted for the latter and were handed bikes that looked pretty much brand new.
The bike hire cost about $105 CAD after taxes, which was quite pricey for a day’s hire, especially as they wanted them back by 3pm. However, we were on our holidays and when were we going to be back again? So we didn’t quibble about the price.
I was more concerned that the bikes were hired out without a spare inner tube or pump and asked what I was supposed to do if I had a puncture. I got a very vague reply, and only later did I realise that I should have used the word “flat” instead of “puncture”! If I had looked a bit more closely at the wheels, then I would have found out that these Specialized Alibi bikes were running solid tyres and that a puncture would be impossible!
We headed off from the centre of town towards the start of the rail trail, marked prominently by a jet plane and steam locomotive parked up on the grass. The trail runs 35km to Kinmount along the line of a disused railway. It has been made into a trail for walking/cycling and ATV/motorbikes during the summer and ski-doos during the winter. Our start was a little faltering though, as I had to keep getting the Allen keys out of my backpack to adjust the seat heights till we got them just right.
The trail itself ran through trees, with little to see for most of the time, but they thinned out occasionally to give views of Gelert Road, running alongside, or sometimes swampy areas. I was on the lookout for turtles in the swamps, or wildlife of any kind, but there was not much to see unfortunately.
The compacted gravel surface was ok for riding most of the time, but some spots became more sandy and we struggled a bit. In retrospect, maybe we should have gone for the mountain bikes. On the other hand, the ride was pretty flat.
Prior to the ride, I was on the lookout for any cafe stops that we might be able to make on the way. The only thing I could find was the Little Tart shop in Donald, which should be able to furnish tarts, but we weren’t certain about the availability of coffee. We breezed right through Donald without noticing on the way out and carried on for another few miles before we stopped to reassess our route.
First of all, we didn’t have enough time to go all the way to Kinmount and back, so we would need to turn back before that. Secondly, Colette wasn’t a fan of the soft surface of the rail trail, so we decided to take a diversion back via Ritchie Falls Road to Gelert Road and head back on tarmac (or whatever solid surface that roads are made of in Canada).
Unfortunately, this detour took us up a hill. Maybe only about 5% gradient, but our bikes ran out of gears and it was hard going. However, we persevered and made it back to Gelert Road, which was much better, though still a bit broken up in places.
After a few miles on Gelert, we came to Donald, signposted from this road, and made for the Little Tart. The shop wasn’t a cafe, as I suspected, and sold only tarts. But what a selection there was! That Canadian speciality, the butter tart was to the fore, alongside a range of other mouthwatering varieties. We were due a break and a bit of a snack by now, so we decided to share a butter tart and a coconut cream tart.
I went into my bag to look for my wallet but came up with a blank. I was sure that I had been keeping it in the same pocket as the Allen keys, but there was no sign of it. It wasn’t in my jacket pocket either. I searched everywhere three times before coming to the conclusion that I didn’t have it any more and that it was likely lying on the trail somewhere.
That was going to be a problem, as we couldn’t pay for the tarts and Colette wasn’t carrying any Canadian cash. The kind man behind the counter told us to just take the tarts and go off and retrace our steps to find the wallet. Somehow I managed to put the wallet panic out of my head for a moment of calm to savour the delicious coconut cream tart before entering search mode and heading off towards Ritchie Falls, leaving Colette to enjoy her butter tart and then head in the opposite direction in search of the errant wallet.
The situation put a spring in my step, as I zoomed onwards, on the lookout for a wallet that might have fallen from my back pocket or backpack at any point, or most likely at the places where we stopped to adjust our seatposts. I was trying to postpone thoughts of all the hassle of cancelling the cards and the problems that would cause us on our holiday, deciding to believe that the wallet wasn’t properly lost until I’d searched every bit of track that we had visited earlier.
Just as I reached Ritchie Falls and stopped for a natural break, my phone went off. It was Colette. The signal wasn’t great, but I heard her say she’d found the wallet. Relief to the power of two! Now I just had to get back to Haliburton for 3pm to hand back the bike, hopefully catching up with Colette on the way.
So I turned around and headed back up the now familiar stretch of rail trail. After a while, an oncoming ATV driver signalled me to stop. He explained that Colette had stopped him earlier to ask him to be on the lookout for a cyclist of my description and to tell him that she’d found the wallet. That was very nice of him. And his wife added that she was headed to Haliburton to hit the shops!
I finally ran into Colette a couple of miles short of Haliburton, and I was so glad to see her. It turned out that she found my wallet in her own bag. I think I must have handed it to her when I had my hands full after paying for the bike hire and manhandling the bikes out of the shop. What’s more, she found out just after I headed off from the tart shop but I didn’t get the message for ages, despite her repeatedly phoning and sending messages, due to the poor mobile coverage. And then she had returned to the tart shop to pay for the tarts but the nice man had refused to take her money. Aren’t Canadian people lovely?!
So finally we reached the hire shop and handed the bikes in without any hassle at five past three. All in all, quite a memorable day’s cycling, but not for the reasons we expected!