Sault Ste. Marie to Thessalon, Ontario

I dawdled setting out this morning, finally rolling out of the Super 8 parking lot at 10:30.  I had found some good maps for the Lake Huron North Channel (LHNC) trail, a relatively recently completed network that connects the Soo to Sudbury, and I intended to follow them as much as I could. For the most part the LHNC avoids Highway 17, which I was keen to do.

I cycled out of Sault Ste. Marie on Queen Street, past Algoma University, and onto 17B.

Highway 17B goes through the Garden River First Nation, where apparently at least one person wants to ensure you realize you are on "Indian land." 

After Garden River I passed through Echo Bay, and then headed inland where I was now on rural roads, mostly passing farms, but also this Presbyterian church!

While apparently snow was falling back home, I was worrying about sun burn and dehydration!  

At a place called Desbarats, I had to head south to the highway because the LHNC joined a gravel road, and my bike's tires cannot handle gravel.

It was only a 12 kilometre stretch, but it was miserable, because in many places the paved shoulder was virtually non-existent, and Highway 17 has a lot of traffic, including a lot of semi-trucks.

At Bruce Mines I was able to leave the highway and go back to the country roads, and it was quite the relief.  I was beginning to worry about what the highway would be like further on, but for the rest of today I was able to stay on the LHNC

The non-highway routing means cycling further distances, but it was well worth it, because it was far more relaxed (most of these back roads had virtually no traffic at all), and the rural roads were also quite shady!

I arrived in the little town of Thessalon just after 15:00, and checked in at the Carolyn Beach Inn.

This place is expensive ($130 after tax), but I have a Lake Huron view!

They also have a nice restaurant, and as soon as they opened at 16:30, I went for "lunch" of whitefish from the lake.

After lunch (I am calling it lunch, because I had not eaten lunch, and it was not going to be my last meal of the day!), I enjoyed the motel's private beach.

My trip from the Soo had taken me 97 kilometres, which was tantalizingly close to 100, and I was curious to see the town anyway, so I went for a little (5 kilometre) ride into Thessalon before the sun set, thereby finishing my metric century of riding for the day.

Something I had noticed along my bike ride and again here in Thessalon are these large solar panels.  

Back at the motel, I went for dinner and watched the sun set over the lake (quite the view!).