Jen's East Coast Adventures

What I really wanted to title this day was "Heartless Hills, Horrific Heat, Horrendous Bugs and a Heavenly Hammock", but that seemed a bit too long for a title; maybe a sub title!

So I started this day off quite slowly... well, slowly as far as pedaling goes, busy in other aspects. I woke at 7am, so I filled up my whirlpool bath tub, then headed down to the beach. Private beach, absolutely beautiful, and I was the only one there. I went for a swim, walked down the beach, walked back, swam again, then went to warm up in my pre-prepped tub. I don't think I will even find a more luxurious way to clean up after a swim in the ocean!

I then went for my "included with the room" breakfast, and saw some continental stuff on the side counter. Helped myself to some granola and yogourt, muffin and juice and sat down to enjoy the view. The server then came up and asked me if I'd decided on a hot entree, and I sheepishly admitted I was going to stick to my "included with the room" breakfast, and they said the hot meal WAS included with the room! So I then had some mexican style eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and toast. And coffee, of course.

Finally got underway around 11am. I ended up playing cat and mouse with this other guy touring on a bike. I managed to catch him in a pic as he passed me when I stopped to take some pictures of a church. I passed him when he'd stopped for something, then he passed me when I stopped at a craft store, and then I stopped for lunch, and he was in the same restaurant! Bizarre! But he was just finishing, so I didn't bother him.

Heading out, I stuck to the highway because I hate backtracking, and wanted to come back on the CT (I'm not going to write out Confederation Trail each time, so from now on, it's the CT), and that's when I really began to appreciate the CT; the hills were non-stop!! Not major, but anything on a bike with about 100lbs of gear on it is an undertaking. It decided to get quite hot out too, so by the time I reached a beach, I was ready for a break. The sand was lovely and white. They call it the "singing sand" because it makes a musical noise due to the high amount of silica in it. I don't know about singing, but it made a neat squeeking noise when I walked down the beach! The water was heavenly though, and by the time I'd gotten dresses and was ready to start again, clouds had come out, so it was perfect!

I reached East Point just after the lighthouse shop closed, but it still made for some pretty pictures. I headed down the west side of the point, and I guess with the dropping temperatures, the bugs decided to come out. There were some HUGE bugs; I was literally dodging them with my head as I pedaled along! So I was looking for a camp ground, but the one the map said existed... didn't. The B&B in the area was booked (this was where those ROFFA guys were doing their fishing tournament, so all accomodations were full), so I ended up heading down the CT for a bit, then just camping in the woods beside the trail. It was pretty rough, and hard to find a spot level and open enough for a tent, so I ended up stringing up the cheap hammock I'd bought and fixing it so my single man tent was set up on top of the hammock (the bugs were too bad to sleep without some sort of bug netting). It was pretty cool! Oh, forgot to tell about food; I had brought only a few meals with me, and decided to cook up the lentil chile; always delicious, although it would have been better with some cheese.