Roadside Meltdown

Saturday morning was thankfully and luckily not rainy. I can't say it was dry as there was still a lot of water about from the previous hours of torrential onslaught, but the stuff had at least ceased to fall from the sky. We were soon loaded up and on our way Cobá. Outside of Tulum the road was good quality, with a nice wide shoulder and we took a gentle pace. Partly this was because despite being 9am it was already fairly warm and humid and partly because we have noticed a direct correlation between the speed we travel and the likelihood of Mexican stray dogs barking and chasing us. Admittedly our research has been pretty limited, but it does seem that if you're going at a more leisurely pace the hoardes of roadside pooches seem decidedly uninterested in you. As soon as we ramp up to our normal pace they can't get enough of scaring the hell out of us by snarling and nipping at our heels. So we're cruising along, it's maybe an hour and twenty minutes since we set off and Tom says "urgh I think I have a slow puncture in my rear tyre". I look at it. It's pretty flat. I comment that it does not appear to be all that slow so we pull over in a sort of driveway to fix it. Before Tom has even removed the wheel we spot a gash in the tyre about 1cm long.

This is not good. We don't have a spare tyre at the moment, we put our second spare on Tom's bike in Canada and since we weren't staying out much longer had thought we'd get away without a spare for our little stint in Mexico. We start trying to figure out what we're going to do:

Option 1) Try to fix it by lining he inside of the tyre with a note, we have a CAD$10 note, it's plasticky and we've heard of other folks get by this way. 

Option 2) I ride back to Tulum to get a new tyre from a bike shop.

Option 3) We try to flag down a bus or taxi for a ride to Cobá and hope they have some tyres for sale there.

Tom is cursing the tyre (after all this is the fourth tyre we've had terminal issues with) and is taking this very badly. Actually once we get the tyre off the wheel we realise that, incredibly, the gash doesn't go all the way through. The tyre isn't done yet. We find the puncture in the inner tube and I find a small piece of wire embedded in the tyre which is the culprit of this particular flat. Tom fits a new inner tube and starts the laborious task of pumping up the tyre. He is soaked in sweat. It's over 30 degrees (Celsius) and humidity must be about 95%. Admittedly it is not ideal flat tyre conditions, but at least the tyre is intact.

I can't say I was pleased about the flat or even the prospect of a dead tyre, but I just see overcoming these obstacles as part of the whole journey. Tom sees them as getting in the way of the journey and in his current state it causes him a great deal of anxiety and stress. I was finding it hard to relate to this, but then I had a little epiphany; if you recall back in Utah we faced a day of very strong winds and I ended up in a state of utter terror until I just got off my bike and walked. Tom is at a point where cycle touring in general is causing him the same level of stress and angst as I was feeling battered by the wind and so when things go wrong he has no reserves to cope with the problem. Coming to this realisation made me more sympathetic and also made up our minds about how we would spend our upcoming days. The remaining 16 miles to Cobá went without note, we checked in to our hotel, and headed straight out to the ruins. We'd been told it was a large site and better seen by bike so we pedalled down, however they don't allow you to take your own bikes, so our trusty steeds stayed chained up at the gate and we set off on foot.

The ruins at Cobá are the second Mayan city on our trip, the first being the ones in Tulum. They are indeed spread through the jungle and are impressive and thought provoking. There are bits where it really looks like the jungle is winning the fight to reclaim the area and you cannot help but think how much effort it must have taken to clear these patches and build these enormous constructions, the most magnificent of which is the Grand Pyramid. It is monstrous and from its summit you can see across miles of jungle, occasionally spying what look like little hills but which are actually overgrown pyramids. 

On our way back to the hotel we saw a crocodile! It was conveniently lounging on a collapsed pier under a sign saying 'Visite los Cocodrilos'.

The following day we ride to Valladolid, our first colonial town. It's a very picturesque town with colourful buildings lining cobbled one-way streets, beautiful old convents and pretty little squares dotted about and a behemoth of a cathedral, which looks like it was built to withstand a seige.

Valladolid is to be our staging post to visit Chichen-itza, probably one of the most famous Mayan cities and somewhere that has been on our detour list since before we set off, thanks to Rhys. We take our first bus out there and arrive at 8:30am. All the online guides tell us that arriving early means you miss the tour buses and the worst of the vendors though it seems pretty busy to us already. Almost by accident we stumble upon the castle, the iconic pyramid you may well recognise. 

The next few hours are spent wandering the site marvelling at the buildings, the carvings and the increasing hordes of people.

Towards the end of our visit I manage to trap a bee between my flip-flop and my foot and get stung on the sole. I've not been stung for many years and it was surprisingly painful, but Tom was quick to get the sting out and we had some insect bite stuff on hand so we were soon toddling around the site again and then back to Valladolid on the bus.

Scuppered Schedules, Sunburn and Snorkeling

Yes we said we were going to wring out the last drops of excitement and fun from our trip and we had all intention to hop on the bikes the morning after the last post and pedal South to Laguna Bacalar. Then we got an offer to go to Akumal with Meg, the Coloradan from the homestay, and we thought we can postpone a day to go snorkeling in Akumal, which means 'place of the turtle' in Mayan. So Monday morning we got up early to pack and get sorted so we'd be good to go first thing Tuesday. That's when we noticed that Tom's back had taken quite a cooking the previous day at the lagoon & cenote. Ok so I know it might look bad getting so sunburned, but here's the thing, you're not allowed to wear normal sunscreen in the cenotes or the lagoon as its damaging to the wildlife. What we should have done is wear a shirt, but we didn't, so here we are. Tom is as pink as a camarone and we have an afternoon of snorkeling planned. We've learned our lesson and we pack long sleeved tops for Akumal.

We have our first colectivo experience, which was surprisingly straightforward and easy. They are little minibuses that hurtle up and down the coast and are the primary way most the locals travel making them extremely cheap. We are dropped off on the highway by the Akumal turn off and walk towards the beach. Meg has had a recommendation of a place by the lagoon that has cabanas for rent and so we get in a (totally overpriced) taxi who says he'll take us to the lagoon. He starts saying the words 'caro' (expensive) and barato (cheap) but none of us are sure quite what he is getting at. He then pulls up outside a person's house and it transpires that he is saying we can access the lagoon here for 150pesos each or we can pay US$40 each at the 'other place'. It all felt a bit odd, like in India when the rickshaw drivers try to take you where they will get a commission, rather than where you want. But we paid the lady our money and followed her down this little alley. I was extremely dubious. We wandered through a garden, past a pool, and out to a little concrete area where two other gringos were sunbathing with a palapa umbrella and steps into the lagoon. Still a bit odd, but at least there's the lagoon and they're going to rent us snorkels pretty cheap.

The snorkeling was fantastic. Tons of beautiful, bright fish darted around the clear water. There were lush little islands with large leggy cranes holding still, eyeing the fishes below. As we explored the whole lagoon we noticed there were bizarre currents which you could both feel and see. Warm sea water mixed with the cool cenote water. We've never encountered anything like that before and coming up for air after diving down we both excitedly exclaimed that it was, inconceivably, warmer at the bottom! We spent happy hours gliding back and forth, all previous doubt and dubiousness gone from our minds. Tom is a total pro at diving down with his snorkel despite only ever having been snorkeling once before. I was totally in my element and with GoPro in hand was realising my childhood dream of working as an underwater cameraman, with a David Attenborough commentary running continuously in my head.

Sadly we didn't see any turtles, I don't think they venture into the lagoon, but it was a wonderful experience nonetheless and as the sun began to set we headed back in to Akumal for a meal on the beach before flagging down a colectivo back to Tulum. The three of us went back to Paola and Julio's to say a final goodbye to them and the kids. We ate fresh coconut, drank beer and left with an invite to stay with them again next time we're in Mexico. 

Morning came and with it so did the discovery of a load of blisters all across Tom's shoulders. We decided that spending 7 or 8 hours in the baking sun cycling south was a bad idea which would probably result in Tom losing a significant area of skin and opening up the potential for infection. So we extended our stay in Tulum further. A lively discussion started up on Facebook about the best course of treatment for the burn and after a day of cold green tea compresses we got our hands on some aloe vera leaf and carefully extracted the oozing, jelly-like centre to gently smear across the blisters. The morning after we were utterly amazed that the blisters had almost all disappeared and Tom reported it being much less painful. Nevertheless we spent a second day emulating vampires by avoiding all sunlight to be on the safe side. Thursday came around and we'd planned to cycle to the biosphere but the weather was obviously still concerned for Tom's skin and it poured with torrential rain all day so no outing. Friday morning was pretty fine so we grabbed our chance and went to Gran Cenote for more snorkelling action. 

It. Was. AWESOME. It's a sizeable cenote, 20ft below ground with huge caverns opening up underwater and overhanging areas you can snorkel into, swimming between stalagmites and stalactites with bats flying overhead and fish and turtles gliding along beside you. It really was remarkable. The water was unbelievably clear and we were both mesmerised by the sunlight streaming through the turquoise, dappling the sandstone and spotlighting darting fish. In the recesses of the caverns looking back out to the sunlight Tom and I both commented on how it had the feel of a cathedral. Golden sandstone lit up by the glorious blues and greens of the stained glass windows of water. 

Our photos do not do it justice, but we had a lot of fun diving around, trying to sneak up on turtles and just floating about in utter wonder. We picked up some BBQ chicken on the way home for lunch and just after we got in it started to pour with rain again. If we'd been snorkeling I think we might have drowned. It was relentless and phenomenal; the swimming pool was overflowing, our shower started to flood and the sound was deafening. So much for our planned trip to the beach that afternoon. Raymond, the owner of our little apartment, said there had been between 10-12 inches of rain in 24 hours. We were scheduled to leave the following morning, but were wondering if Tulum would again find a way to keep us there longer still.

¿Hablas Español?

We managed to ride from Playa del Carmen to Tulum without getting any punctures or heavily rained on. The road was much the same as the previous day - good quality dual carriage way with a decent shoulder - and we were in Tulum by noon. Though we'd been sent a map of the location of our home stay family's house and instructions that it was between "Jaguar y Tepezcuinde" this didn't do us much good as none of the smaller streets had any signs indicating their names and none of the houses had numbers. We knew we were on the right street, just no idea which was the right house. Having ridden the whole road and turned back wondering what we would do now a guy outside a cafe said hola and asked where we were going. When I explained we were looking for an address and showed him it on my phone he unfortunately didn't know where it was either. He asked a dude stood near him if he knew but no luck. He asked if we had a phone number for the family and then he called them to ask for directions for us. As we waited for our host family to come meet us we talked some more with Ramon. He'd lived for some time in Colorado and had now set up his cafe here, selling BBQ ribs and chicken. If he hadn't helped us we'd have had quite a palava finding the house.

Julio arrived by bike and led us back to the house. Along with his wife, Paola, and their kids Frida and Cesar they run a little homestay for students of the Spanish school. We have our own room with bathroom and share meals with the family. When we arrived there were two other students staying too. Linda is from Texas, but her Spanish is amazing and Hanna, from the UK, who is a bit of a polyglot.

After getting unpacked we headed to the beach, first time since arriving in Mexico. We took a taxi as we wanted to suss out a safe place to lock our bikes without having to worry about them. The beach was fairly quiet. Despite the white sand and palm trees the scene was not the tropical paradise of brochures. Grey clouds streamed overhead in a strong breeze and the sea churned. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, just sultry. We were famished after riding so headed straight for some food - fish tacos and prawn and cheese quesadilla. Yum! We then spent a couple of hours strolling around, swimming and strolling some more. Then it started to rain and we took shelter at a beach bar where they gave us some incredible fresh coconut with chilli salt. It was so delicious. The rain eased and by the time we ambled back to where we'd been dropped off our taxi was waiting there again to take us home.

Lessons started on Monday morning.  We were in a class with one other guy, Danny from the Netherlands (and we all know how good the Dutch are at languages right?) and quickly got onto basics and grammar for 2 hours, had a short break, then another hour of conversational Spanish with Paola and another student, Tom from Australia.  And this pattern continued through the week.  The lessons are intense and tiring, but fun and we do feel like we're picking stuff up, slowly.  The school also arranges additional activities on a daily basis - yoga each morning before class, then traditional Mexican board games, Mexican cooking and Salsa classes on different afternoons of the week - all in Spanish, of course.  Friday came around and we decided that a few more days would be beneficial so we opted to stay, probably until Wednesday.  Tom has really got the hang of the verbs and is much better at understanding the rules of the language.  I am better at just having a go - if I don't know the word I make it up or act it out, often Tom can help correct me, so we make a good team and I think a few more days and we'll be adequately able to fend for ourselves in Mexico.

Friday night we went out for a few drinks with Tom and Hanna to celebrate the end of the week and say bye to Hanna who was leaving Saturday morning for Cuba.  The weather was much better on Saturday (all week the rain has been on and off so we only got to the beach a couple of times) so we headed for the Mayan ruins with Tom and Danny.  

They are in a beautiful spot, on a small bluff overlooking the surrounding area and out to sea.  Tulum is the only Mayan city built by the coast and the city flourished between the 13th and 15th Centuries and faded after the Spanish conquered the area.  Now the site is inhabited by a large population of iguanas and seasonally visited by many turtles and tourists.

On the road just outside the ruins there were some hombres selling 'frio coco', cold drinking coconuts.  It's the first one I have had since I was last in India, 11 years ago.  It was delicious and I can't wait to drink more of them.  After we finished they split the shell and we ate the soft flesh with chilli salt and lime.  Our thirsts suitably quenched we headed for the beach for a few hours of swimming and snoozing before heading home for an early night.  All the brain activity from learning Spanish, plus the hours in the sun, the late night on Friday and beers have wiped us out.  This learning malarky is so much tougher than cycling!  We have a rough route lined up for the next bit of the trip, around the Yucatan Peninsula, which we've based on recommendations from Paola and Julio so we have some research and planning to do before we head off.

Hola Mexico!

I was stressing a bit about bike boxes before we got them.  The boxes we got when we were leaving the UK were too small and it was only due to good fortune that we were able to get bigger ones from the bike shop in Glossop (see Leaving the UK: The Last Few Stumbling Blocks).  So I was worried that the ones we were scheduled to pick up from Bicycles Plus in Oshawa weren't going to be big enough.  There's not a lot of bike shops in Oshawa and we were heading into Thanksgiving weekend so if these weren't good enough we might be in trouble since our flight was at 8am Tuesday morning and we were getting dropped at the airport on Monday night.  Tom was relaxed about it and Rhi said that if we were stuck then they had tons of cardboard boxes in the basement we'd be able to fashion something from.  Of course, as is always the case, worry does no good and in this case it was absolutely unnecessary.  The bike boxes Bicycles Plus had for us had housed 2 sizeable fat bikes and were perfect for us.  Plus they had saved loads of awesome packaging for us too.  Major thanks to the super helpful dude there who made our bike packing so much less stressful than when we left the UK.  With that bit sorted we just had to get all our other stuff packed up, which was easy enough and left us with lots of time over the weekend to enjoy Thanksgiving.  We had a fantastic meal with all of Rhi's family at her sister's house; the full works - turkey, ham, potatoes, loads of veggies, stuffed squash, stuffed mushrooms, gravy.  Amazing!  Then there was a whole plethora of desserts - pumpkin cheesecake, brownies, pumpkin pie, cherry cheesecake, apple pie.  The following morning we went to a farm for pumpkin picking, which was a lot of fun and we left with a good haul of Halloween appropriate squash.

We said a sad farewell to Steve and the girls and then Rhi took us to the airport late Monday evening.  Toronto Pearson Airport isn't bad when it comes to providing space for people hunkering down for the night; we found ourselves a couple of benches next to each other, with space for the bikes and luggage, overlooking a section of runway.  We ate our turkey sandwiches while watching The Wire and laid our heads down for the night.  Not the best night's sleep it must be said, but we both got a few hours and when morning came round though we were both a bit bleary eyed we were both functioning.  We checked our bags in ourselves and no one weighed them.  We then took the bikes down to the oversize baggage area and had to undo all the duck tape we'd only just put on, but the security guy was very friendly and nice and they had extra tape so it all worked out.  We had some breakfast and boarded the plane.  It was so much less fretful than our last flight.  The rest of the journey went by without note.  We arrived into Cancun at lunchtime and spent about 3 hours reassembling the bikes and repacking our gear.  An English lady who'd just arrived told us how impressed she was with what we're doing and many of the Mexican staff of the airport came to ask us about our trip and welcomed us to Mexico.  We finally got underway and were pleasantly surprised that the road had a decent shoulder and was remarkably good quality.  It was about 5pm, it was hot, humid and sunny and the road wasn't too busy or tricky to navigate.  Until we reached the start of downtown Cancun then it got crazy pretty quickly; the shoulder disappeared, traffic increased, the road spread to being 3 or 4 lanes wide and buses, taxis and colectivoes pulled in front of us screeching to halt by the side of the road to pick up and drop off passengers.  As we neared the centre of town it got so nuts we decided to walk sections on the pavement as we were genuinely worried about getting knocked down.  Check in was easy and we got the bikes and all our gear up to our room on the sixth floor via the lift.

After showers we headed out for food as we'd not eaten anything proper since breakfast.  It felt thrilling to be in a new country that felt so different.  It reminded me in many ways of India, but for Tom it was something pretty different.  As we wandered along we were gently accosted by advocates for one restaurant or another trying to entice us in to their establishment.  Alejandro on reception had suggested a place which is where we headed for beer and tacos.  The next day we lounged around the pool and chatted with other guests who happened to be from Kings Heath in Birmingham (where our friends Mel and Paul live).  The next day we planned to take a trip to Isla Mujeres just off the coast but when we awoke the sky was deep grey and rain was lashing down.  Well it is still rainy season, though honestly I thought it would be similar to monsoon in India where it erupts into a monster electrical storm and torrential rain falls for an hour or so each day and the rest of the time its sunny.  Not here.  Since the rain started on Thursday morning its barely stopped until Saturday morning.  The streets outside the hotel were shallow rivers.  There were actual whirlpools around some of the drains.  When buses drive past waves of water flood over the pavement and splash against the walls of the buildings.  Since the rain was so sever we checked out buses so that if on Saturday morning the roads seemed impassable we had an alternative option for getting to Tulum in time for our course on Monday morning.  Buses are cheap and frequent and everything I can find online says they have no problem loading bikes in with the luggage so we knew we had a plan B.

This morning we awoke and there was a little lightness in the sky, still grey and cloudy, but not quite so foreboding and it wasn't raining so we were all set for our first fully loaded day on the bikes for over 3 weeks.  Leaving Cancun was again a bit hairy, lots of traffic and not much shoulder to speak of, plus an incident with a lorry where he turned right directly in front of us very nearly causing us both to crash and a couple of run ins with loose dogs.  We made good time and were happy that despite feeling a little unfit our speed wasn't too shabby which was good because about 6 miles from Playa del Carmen, our destination for the night, it started to rain.  Light at first so we pushed on and hoped we could make the town before it got too heavy.  No chance.  It tipped it down and in no time we were soaked through.  We stopped to put our high vis jackets on proceeded through giant puddles of rainwater.  Just before a major intersection on the outskirts of town we pulled over to check the map.  Just as we set off again I noticed my front tyre was flat.  We got some shelter under some porches and changed the inner tube.  Our pump is pretty broken at the moment and its pretty frustrating work pumping up a tyre so we took it in turns and finally got it up to pressure (or at least what we thought was right since the gauge is one of the things that is broken).  Flipped the bike back over and began to load the bags back on when BANG!  Ear-ringingly loud.  I had a moment of thinking a gun had been fired then I realised that it was worse we'd caught the inner tube when we changed it and had caused a blowout.  Time to change the inner tube again, more frustrating pump based shenanigans ensued, but we got it sorted and got on our way.

Less than 10 minutes down the road I realised my front tyre was going down again.  ARE YOU KIDDING?!  What the hell?  We're not far from the airbnb place we've booked for the night though and the rain is just bucketing down so rather than stop and fix it we just get off and walk.  By the time we get to the apartment somehow my back tyre is also flat. This last hour and a half has to easily take our 'Most Punctures in the Shortest Time' award, especially since half that time was spent fixing punctures!  Not the best day ever on the bikes and the rain is still pouring so we are going to get drenched again when we head out for food, but it felt good to be back on my bike and we're really looking forward to starting our Spanish course so we can communicate with the super friendly locals better.  But right now its time to get out the puncture repair kits and fix some inner tubes!

Destination Reached! (For Now...)

We got up super early at Corey and Carol's as they had to get to work and it made sense for us to get an early start since we'd be cycling through city or suburbia for most of today's ride. We hadn't had any luck finding a host for what would be our last night on tour before getting to our friends' house in Oshawa but Corey and Carol suggested a host that they had stayed with in Mississauga so we'd contacted Andrew and he had very kindly agreed to host us even though he wouldn't be around. After eating breakfast together we were out the door shortly after 7am but within 5 minutes we had to repair a puncture on my front tyre. Not a great start, but we were still going again before our usual start. We'd decided to ride back the way we came a few miles to get on the canal-side bike path up to Lake Ontario but before we could get there we had to get off the road as the fog had come in so thick that it simply wasn't safe for us to be on this busy road despite donning lights and high vis jackets.

We managed to get to the fire station and hung out there for maybe an hour waiting for the fog to lift. It was pretty frustrating, we were about 2 miles from the bike path but didn't want to risk passing the busy intersection just up ahead when you couldn't see further than 20ft. So despite our early rising we didn't really get going until gone 9am. Once on the bike path it was very atmospheric with the fog still coming in waves and clinging to certain dips or corners. Finally it did lift and it was lovely, scenic riding along the Welland Canal. The plants lining the path were draped with spider webs bejewelled with dew glinting in the sunlight, it was a beautiful scene.

Occasionally we passed mammoth ships heading south, huge container vessels slowly working their way through the locks.

After the canal path ended navigating through towns riddled with construction and bad signage wasn't easy going, but we got on another bike trail after lunch which took us into Burlington.  From there we were on a fairly busy road through urban sprawl. In Oakville a road cyclist caught us up and while he was riding along chatting with Tom a woman opened her car door right in front of them. The other cyclist swerved, Tom managed to just avoid taking her door off and I screeched to stop inches from Tom. The woman looked utterly shocked and very apologetic as she witnessed it all up close. Hopefully it will make her check her mirrors in future since she very nearly took three riders out in one swoop. As our adrenaline levels returned to normal we made it into Mississauga and to our hosts' place. It had felt like a very long day after the foggy start and then the slow progress through city streets and we both fell almost instantly asleep. After our impromptu nap we went to the store to get food and settled in for an early night. We had a very slow start the next morning and didn't get on the road until 11am. We rode into Toronto and had what must be our most urban picnic.

The bike path through Toronto itself was pretty good and certainly helped us get through the city, but then we were on the road; the busy, narrow, potholed road for what seemed like an interminably long time. It was one of our worst days of riding. We had to be so wary of the cars, constantly vigilant for dangers in the road and forever stopping at traffic lights. It was desperately un-fun and exhausting. But the reward at the end of it was arriving at Steve, Rhi, Chloe and Molly's in time to celebrate Chloe's 9th birthday. This had been a goal of ours since before the start of the trip and it felt great to have arrived at our destination. Steve and Rhi are old friends of ours, also through frisbee at university, and it was lovely to know we were going to get to just chill out again, enjoying the company of good mates. It's been so awesome of Steve and Rhi to let us stay so long as they were also hosting Steve's parents, Ian and Christine, who have been over visiting from the UK. It's been really nice for us to have so many Brits around to talk to!

A week later, we were heading back into Toronto to meet up with my mum, Caroline, and my sister, Reanna, who were flying out to spend a long weekend with us. With only lightly laden bikes we opted to catch the train from Oshawa to Toronto to save us from hours of city roads again. We'd booked an apartment through airbnb and had a great few days eating out lots, doing some touristy stuff and just wandering the streets. It was so great to spend some time with family and do something different to how we've spent most our bike tour days. After waving them both off we headed to Jordan and Clarissa's place to spend a couple more nights in the city sorting a few things out. We met these two in Zion, way back in April, and they'd offered to put us up when we made it to Toronto (they featured in I am not an Iron Lion in Zion). It was awesome to meet up with them again, swap stories and update them on our tour. We got to sample some delicious Indian food too from the aptly named 'Roti Cuisine of India', which was fantastic as curries are not something we've come across much in our travels.

Tom had also arranged a visit with VanHawks, they are a new company in Toronto building bikes for the modern day urban environment.  Not only does the Valour look all slick and modern but they are built with a computer brain for easy navigation, blind spot detection and it all connects up to your phone and the web.  What more could you ask for?  After a very brief spin round the block we were taken inside to check out the techie bits.  The riding was a bit strange after riding our tourers pretty much non stop for 7 months but they felt comfortable and fine.  It's hard to get a proper feel for a bike after only a 400 metre loop in traffic.  Inside the offices we chatted about the navigation and other cool bits on the bikes. My favourite thing was the gears; like our bikes they have an internal hub, though not a Rohloff, so none of the derailleur issues you get on most bikes, plus they run on a belt drive, not a chain, so they were super smooth and very quiet.  Also unlike our bikes which have grip shift gears which click through from 1 to 14, the gears on the Valour are friction based, I don't really understand how they work, but the grip shifter is illustrated by a little cyclist on a flat bit of road and as you turn the shifter the flat road rises up into a hill so you just pick how much of a hill you're climbing. I thought this was a cool feature. Unsurprisingly Tom's favourite part was the techie connectivity stuff the bike can do.

On Wednesday we got the train back to Oshawa to spend a few more days at Steve and Rhi's. We've got a hectic few days coming up getting packed up and sorted for the next leg of our travels as we fly to Cancun, Mexico on Tuesday 13th October, but we've timed it perfectly as before we leave we'll get to experience Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend. When we get to Mexico we have 4 nights planned in downtown Cancun then we're riding down to Tulum for a week's Spanish immersion course where we will stay with a homestay family. We're really excited about this next bit, its going to be so different from all we've experienced so far.

Downpours and Rest Days

It had rained heavily during the night but it had just about cleared up when we left Ben's. We blitzed it along the road to Orwell where we stopped for donuts and coffee at a little Amish shop. Sat on the bench outside guzzling down half a dozen donuts we had a nice chat with an old Amish guy on a mobility scooter. He was very impressed by our trip and thought it was great we were seeing so much of the country. Having wolfed down all the donuts we set off north along the bike trail that would take us all the way to Ashtabula on the shores of Lake Erie. Here's something you probably knew already - 3 mega sugary donuts is too many in one sitting. I got this weird jittery feeling after only a couple of miles which only abated a little when we were joined by some other cyclists and the conversation distracted me from my sugary butterflies.

The cyclists turned around at about mile 19 and we continued north to the end of the trail and onto the roads. A few miles of faffing about on back roads, some of which were gravel lead us to our sixteenth state of Pennsylvania.

We were ready for lunch but didn't find a suitable spot for many more miles when we opted for a patch of grass under an oak. Ben had given us some lovely apples and a hunk of gorgeous looking Amish cheese for our lunch and it was a particularly delicious roadside meal for us. The wind was blowing quite strongly now and every now and again we'd have to protect ourselves against a barrage of acorns.

We caught our first glimpses of the lake after lunch and it was really hard to not assume it was the sea. Lake Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes but even so is enormous. We rode past fields of grape vines and were surrounded by the smell of Concord grapes, it was quite incredible. The sky had been looking increasingly ominous and then in a matter of moments it was bucketing it down. There was no time to put on jackets, we were wet through within minutes, but it was pretty warm and we had another Warm Showers hosts that evening so we'd be able to get everything dried out. It was the most torrential rain we've been caught out in on the trip and I really enjoyed riding in it. I found it quite exhilarating and amusing watching the waves of rain sweep across the road, feeling it cover every part of my body and hear it beat through the corn fields. By the time we made it to our hosts we'd been riding in it about an hour, it was still fairly warm and the rain had eased a little. 

Jason and Michelle were at a prior engagement when we arrived but had left us detailed instructions about where our room and bathroom were, where the laundry was and had left us food to eat. They came home earlier than expected due to the rain and we had a wonderful evening, eating fantastic lasagne and having fun with them along with Jason's Mum, Jeannie, and their friend JD. We were having a rest day the following day so after a delicious breakfast of sausage and potato pie we hung around a bit, then after Jason and Michelle left to go golfing we wandered down to the lake for a swim. The water was fairly warm, but the wind was pretty cold so we didn't last long. We warmed up back at the house in the hot tub then got ready as they were throwing a little dinner party in the evening. We had another fabulous meal and a very funny evening with the other guests.

Hard to Start

Thirteen days off and in one place is a very long time. We needed it and it was wonderful, but it's a long time. Time enough to unpack a lot of stuff and deposit it around the house. Also time enough to lose some fitness and feel a bit out of shape. I had intended to keep riding, just for fun, during our little holiday, but I caught some kind of stomach bug that required me to stay within 100ft of a toilet at all times so I only managed to get out on one ride once my gut regained control. In all honesty though it wasn't the cycling we were lacklustre about prior to our departure from Columbus, it was the packing. Nevertheless Wednesday morning came around and we finally managed to leave at around 9:45am spurred on by the thought of seeing more friends and family. Luckily there is also an amazing network of bike trails in Ohio and we were on one, the Alum Creek Trail, within five minutes of the house and rode this to the north edge of the city which made for a great start to our ride.

There was then a little faffing as the trail signage petered out and we ended up on quiet country roads for a few miles before picking up another trail. From Columbus to the shores of Lake Erie we will be almost solely on the Ohio to Erie trail, a series of bike paths and back roads stretching hundreds of miles. We both agreed it was brilliant to be back on the bikes and I'm sure that getting to ride quiet, picturesque bike trails improved our experience no end.

We stopped for lunch outside Centerburg, 'the geographical center of Ohio', just off the side of the trail. It was a perfect spot, grass to sit on and plenty of shade from a large building. Two riders stopped to talk to us about our trip and asked where we were headed. They were out on a day ride from Gambier, wished us luck and set off down the trail. We caught them up again a few miles down the way, got chatting again and they offered us to stay with them. We'd been planning to camp that night a little further than Gambier, but once we realised we would only be stopping about 7 miles short we were happy to take Ree and Jim up on their kind offer.

Gambier is one of the first places we've stayed in the U.S. that refers to itself as a village. It's the home of Kenyon College a small liberal arts university, the oldest private college in Ohio, and has a wonderful friendly, villagey atmosphere. We wandered up the hill to the coffee shop, met Bob, a friend of Ree and Jim's who is also an avid cyclist. Bob tipped us off that when we get to the shores of Lake Erie we'll likely be there when they harvest all the Concord grapes that they make grape jelly and grape soda out of which would be really interesting. Then we strolled across the road to the local pub and joined Ree and Jim's Wednesday night 'club' which was just a group of their friends that get together every Wednesday evening for a meal at the pub. It was great fun, we both had delicious burgers and enjoyed a funny evening together. Afterwards we strolled through the college grounds, which were very reminiscent of Durham University or other similar establishments, under a beautiful sunset.

After a lovely breakfast we said goodbye to Ree and Jim, with maps for the road ahead, full tyres and Clif bars. We were back on the bike trail in no time heading north east. We'd been warned that on the next section of trail, the Mohican Valley Trail, we may not be able to take it as they were due to start work on paving it. Sure enough when we got to the trailhead in Danville (not the same down-on-its-luck Danville that we were in previously) there were signs up saying as much, but a fairly official looking dude told us that though that was technically true he wouldn't stop us riding it and we'd just have to walk our bikes past the actual machinery down the track. So we set off along the dirt trail, happy we didn't have to navigate our way by road. It wasn't until we were at the far end of the trail that we spotted the machinery and walked by. Soon after we came to a beautiful covered bridge complete with inscription 'The Bridge of Dreams'.

The trail then deteriorated to such an extent that we couldn't follow it and decided to ride the next few miles on the road until we could pick up the next section of trail in Killbuck. On our way to the main road we got chased by a thankfully small dog with a totally uninterested owner. Tom ended up spraying our insect repellent near the dog to deter it and this seemed to work, well we got away unscathed. I was excited about the next trail as it ran through Amish country and the guide had said we could as much expect to see Amish horse and buggies as other cyclists. 

And sure enough we passed a few. The scenery was lovely; woods, fields, wetlands. It was easy riding too and we made it to Fredricksburg in time for lunch. It was a cute little town with a number of buggies and horses parked up and the girls serving in the ice cream shop were in traditional outfits with the shop T-shirt pulled over the top of their dresses. That was the end of the trail for a bit, but the route was still signed, taking us along the back roads past Amish schools, the kids in the playground playing softball, and through fields being tended by horse drawn machinery. It made a refreshing change from the countless miles of corn and soy we'd passed since coming back into the U.S. 

We rejoined the trail and were soon in Canal Fulton our destination for the night where we had arranged a Warm Showers host who despite being tied up agreed to let us stay in their trailer and then made us breakfast in the morning. The towpath trail then took us up through Akron and on to and through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We had picked out a road at the north end of the park to take us east along roads to yet another Warm Showers hosts just south of Chardon but this road turned out to be extremely rough and steep so we had to push the bikes up. We weren't far from Cleveland at this point and the roads were pretty busy and not good quality which made for tiring, unpleasant riding. By the time we rolled into Ben's drive we were on the verge of collapse but cold drinks and snacks soon revived us and we spent a wonderful evening together with his neighbours who are also Warm Showers hosts.