Hadashville, Manitoba to Kenora, Ontario

Another great day of cycling, out of Manitoba and into Ontario. 

I left Hadashville at 8:15, stopping about 6 kilometres down the road at Prawda to get breakfast at a gas station.  Once finished my coffee, I was back on the bike and made good time.  I entered Whiteshell Provincial Park, which was absolutely beautiful.

I had to slow to coasting at one point because several deer decided to cross the highway in front of me!

I detoured from the highway once to West Hawk Lake to get some water, and after that it was just a few more kilometres before I entered Ontario just after 11:00.

With Manitoba behind me, I have now cycled across Alberta (2006), Prince Edward Island (2011), Saskatchewan (2012-2014), British Columbia (2008, 2015, 2016), and Manitoba (2014, 2017)!  I was feeling pretty good!

I had now left the prairie long behind, and was cycling through forest and rock.  

I reached Kenora shortly after noon.  

I was pretty tired, but happy with my speed, and I enjoyed cycling along the Lake of Woods' north shore and through downtown Kenora to get to my motel.

At dinner time I went for a little cycle around downtown Kenora, and along the shore of the lake again.  

Obviously summer is a popular time to be on and around Lake of the Woods.  I even noticed the Safeway has docks so boaters can do their grocery shopping without having to go far from the water!

I ate at a craft brewery that's done a really nice job taking over a historic fire hall.  

Winnipeg to Hadashville, Manitoba

This morning I headed out from McFeetors Hall at 9:00.

Rather than head straight out of the city I took a more scenic route towards the Assiniboine River, past the legislature.

I went around the back along the Assiniboine to The Forks.

I cycled by the Museum of Human Rights and crossed the Red River on the iconic pedestrian bridge.

From there it was through Winnipeg's industrial east side and eventually out of the city.  Just at the Perimeter Road I stopped briefly at this nice cemetery.

The military section of the cemetery reminded me of the Commonwealth World War cemeteries I have visited in Belgium, France, and Singapore. 

I rode out on Highway 15 due east and was loving it as far as a town called Dugald.

After that unfortunately the highway had no paved shoulder--and in many places not even a white line, and so really was not a very viable route for me.  At Anola ("home of Corey Koskie"), I opted to take Highway 12 due south to the Trans-Canada.  Highway 12 also did not have a paved shoulder, but it was much quieter and anyway it got me to the Trans-Canada fast.

From where Highway 12 met the Trans-Canada I had just another 55 kilometres left, and was making excellent time.

About ten kilometres from the hotel I stopped at a rest stop where there was a food truck serving hamburgers and milkshakes.

I took half an hour or so to enjoy lunch at a nice picnic table.

I reached the Riverview Motel at 14:45, and checked in.

I struggled to communicate very well with the nice Chinese lady who runs the place, but she was quite accommodating and ended up doing my laundry for me for free.

Around 18:00 or so, after a good cold bath, hot shower, and lazy time in front of the TV, I cycled into the tiny village of Hadashville for dinner.  The Trans-Canada is actually a real mess in front of the hotel because they are redoing a bridge that crosses the river, so I took the back country roads.  

Hadashville is very small, but it has a little Ukranian restaurant called Sophie's, and I was able to get a great dinner of borscht, cabbage rolls, latkas, perogies, and pumpkin pie, and a nice Ukranian beer!

East from Winnipeg

I have been blogging this summer about chipping away at connecting my Winnipeg-the Pacific route by cycling from the Alberta/Saskatchewan border to Saskatchewan River Crossing, Alberta, which I have now cycled half of (Red Deer to Saskatchewan River Crossing).

But I still intend to do a full cycle trip that will further my way across Canada.  In terms of distance (but perhaps not difficulty) my planned route is the most aggressive I have undertaken: Winnipeg, Manitoba to Thunder Bay, Ontario.  For the most part, I have ridden my across-Canada route east-west west of Winnipeg, and west-east east of Winnipeg, and I have decided to continue that direction with this trip.

My trip began auspiciously last week.  At work on Friday (August 11), I was chatting with a co-worker, Aidan, (literally in the men's room) and it turned out he is an even more serious cycling than I am, having previously raced with the Alberta provincial team.  One thing led to another, and eventually he told me he was heading over to Western Cycle (a bike shop down the road) and would ask if they had a box for me to use flying my bike to Winnipeg.  I had already confirmed with Greyhound that they had a box I could buy, but Western Cycle was more convenient, and Aidan told me they often had packing material with their boxes that would help protect my bike in transit.

An hour later Aidan showed up in my office, and said, "call Western Cycle up and they'll get a box ready for you and it'll only be $10."

"Perfect," I said, "I'll call them right away."

Then Aidan told me how he had had to return a tool and was given store credit he had not entirely used.  He handed me a slip of paper.  "This is the credit for $10.19, you can use it for your box.  Maybe you'll owe them 30 cents [for the GST], but anyway it's most of the way there."

He generously refused the $10 cash I tried to hand him and told me he was happy to vicariously participate in my adventure.

I went to Western Cycle after work, and there was the box, complete with useful packing material.  When I went to the cashier to pay, I handed her the slip for $10.19 and pulled out some change to pay the tax.

After a minute of punching into the till, the girl looked at me and said "Oh, it's all good, I just made it so $10.19 covered it."  She punched the price of the box in as $9.70 instead of $10 so that the $10.19 would cover it perfectly!

I am pretty sure these small but generous gestures of support bode my trip well!

The box barely fit into my rental car, but I managed!

I flew to Winnipeg on Wednesday.  Air Canada delayed my flight over three hours, which ticked me off pretty good, but what are you going to do?

I picked up another rental at the airport and drove downtown.

There I delivered my still-in-the-box bike to MEC to tune up.

From MEC I headed over to the University of Winnipeg campus where I am staying at the McFeetors Hall dorm.

That evening I went to Shaw Park to watch the Winnipeg Goldeyes beat the St Paul Saints at Shaw Park under an amazing prairie sky.

Today I ran around the city, preparing for my bike trip, getting a hair cut, and visiting the human rights museum.

Around 18:00 I picked my bike up from MEC, just in time to ride it to Investors Group Field to watch the 7-0 Edmonton Eskimos play the 5-2 Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Unfortunately, the game did not end well for Edmonton. :(