Soo to Sudbury, Part 4: the final run

Our last day! It was a bit poignant. Although I suspect most of us were looking forward to a hot shower and a real bed. Buut to get there, we would have to bicycle another 81 km.

As had been our experience, the community-organized breakfast was wonderful. They accounted for vegan as well as regular tastes, and has a wide variety of foods, including cold and hot cereals, baked beans, pancakes, fruits, and of course bacon and eggs and sausages. We were well set up for the journey ahead. And this in a town of under 5,000 souls. We wondered what Dundas would have done.

The terrain again followed the Spanish River for a while, some of it along the Trans-Canada. Wide shoulders, but a fair amount of traffic. The we were off on side roads across a few hills and some older country-side. Once more, some Mennonite farmers. We saw a man in a horse-drawn carriage (I want their hat and their beard). And once more, the organizational expertise of this group showed through: there had been a wash-out since they planned the trip, and they were able to find and mark an alternate route to get us safely around the damaged trail. It all went pretty smoothly. 

Sudbury claims to be the fourth-largest city in Canada, by geography. We discovered this to be true, as we entered the “city” sometime in the morning, even though we were nowhere near our destination. We travelled through Nairn Centre and into Whitefish, where lunch was provided at the Centennial Park. There was a beach there, so I took off my shoes and waded in to sooth the feet; it felt great.

Unfortunately, there were still over thirty km to go, so we had to get going. More gravel, more hills, more trffic. But we made it to the city, and then wound our way into the City itself. Our route was a bit circuitous, stopping for a bit at a Sudbury-sponsored water stop with a beer chaser (well, there was a craft brewery with a truck offering samples and selling where possible). Then on through the main part of the city and finally ending at Science North, a complex of buildings, including an Imax theatre, where there was an official “Finish Line”, complete with applause and a medal.

This day, we pedalled over 80 km, and I did overall about 310, It felt good to have done it. But it also felt good to get to the hotel and have a shower, a bit of a nap, and repack. Supper that evening was grand, in the “Cavern” of the Science North building, hollowed out of rock, as you would expect in a mining town like Sudbury. Lots of thanks and speeches (William counted 45 applause moments). OFf to bed at the Travelodge, a hotel down in its fortunes. And up in the morning to an awful breakfast—by far the worst on the entire trip: they ran out of coffee, bacon, eggs, and so on. 

Back to Barrie and off home, for the end of a wonderful trip. Well done, if I say so myself.