Susanne Island

Struck down by another endless rainy day that totally extinguished even the bright and ever-positive mood of Sanj.

After 30 miles of downpour we gave in.

Blind River presented itself a crappy Motel, and we jumped at the chance. The motelier knew we were at his mercy - we were both drenched, mud-spattered and wheeling filthy bikes...the 'deluxe sea view' rooms were round the back, tiny, smelly, had interesting mould patterns crawling across the walls of the bathrooms and the 'sea' could only be seen after walking 4m outside. I maxed out the heating and turned on the air-con before rapidly turning the latter off due to the foul decaying stench it kicked out. Neither of us cared; shelter cures many ills.

Laundry. Coffee. Beer. Food.

I asked the waitress in that evening's restaurant what the"White Fish" was on the menu.

"White" she's replied

Perfect. We ordered two. They were fresh and delicious.

...

The morning was thankfully brighter as we set off for Bruce Mines. Sanj sung as he cycled behind me and occasionally dropped one of the 5 thousand Free Tibet leaflets he'd had printed into farmers' mailboxes. I wondered what the average Mennonite's opinion might be on the geopolitical issues surrounding Tibetans.

What with leafletting, taking interviews, organising protests and communicating with his supporters/funders, progress wasn't all together fast. Sanj is supposed to be doing the Trans Canada Highway - a lovely flat, sometimes well maintained road with a hard shoulder that varies between 2m of beautiful cleanly defined tarmac .... and ditch. I've heard of others who've chosen this route and can't quite understand why -:would cycling the edge of the M25 41 times be pleasurable even if it had pretty views? Complete with potholes, tyre fragments, random bits of rusting metal, a zoological bounty of roadkill, not to mention the unforgiving and endless speeding by ofa semis, RVs, caravans and trucks; I think I'll stick with the trail.... at least as much as possible.

Sanj didn't quite understand why I was suggesting a longer route (TCT), although to be fair I'm learning there's a bit of a communications issue as many of my questions result in a standard "Yes brother" response.

Still, he seems happy to follow for now, so we spin on together....and my Superior Thunder Bay problem looms ever closer.Read more