ON IN ONTARIO

After staying with Colin in Toronto for more than a week I had to carry on moving again. My bike, Old Saartjie, had lots of new bits and pieces fitted, and was certainly in much healthier condition than when I arrived in the city.

Thanks to Colin for the stay at his home, for organizing the presentation which I did, for giving me some spare bike parts, for entertaining me and showing me around his home town, for fixing my computer, and for the cash he gave me when I left to see me on my way.

On the 3rd day after leaving Toronto I camped in the back garden of Jim and Joan (friends of Colin) in Kingston, Ontario. Jim had cycled the Tour D'Afrique with Colin 10 years ago, the bike was gathering dust in the shed, so he urged me to glean from it whatever I needed (thanks Jim, your bike lives on!). The two of them wasted no time in taking me out for dinner and breakfast, and leading me on a walking tour of their lakeside town on a beautiful Saturday morning. It was nearly mid-afternoon by the time I left their house, heading north-east through Ontario province down the St Lawrence river.

Without really thinking about it, I assumed that the Thousand Island salad dressing originated somewhere in the Carribean. Now I discovered that the "Thousand Islands" are in this part of the world, where the St Lawrence river flows out of Lake Ontario east towards Quebec. The river forms the boundary between Canada and the USA at this point, and there are a number of high bridges crossing the border.

Earlier, while in Toronto, I was interviewed on-line by Dave Briggs, and the interview is posted on his TRAVELPAGES (click on this link to see it).

Daily distances cycled since Toronto have been:- Port Hope 96 km; Bellville 112 km; Kingston 71 km; Lansdowne 47 km; and Long Sault 129 km. The distance I've cycled so far since entering Canada in the West is 5 369 km, and the total distance on this trip is 115 169 km.