Day 42 - North Bay to Mattawa ON - 65.5 kms
Day 42 Progress to Mattawa ON - 4.345.5 kms
Our Saturday alarm went off at 9:00AM, and by the time we wandered over for the Howard Johnson's Free Breakfast, we found out breakfast was over at 9:30! (Seems a bit early for a Saturday!?!) Fortunately, the manager took pity on us and brought out some bagels, bananas and orange juice.
We packed up and rolled away around 11:15, not really in a hurry since we knew we only had 65 km's to ride today. On the way out of North Bay we passed the Dionne Quintuplets museum, which appears to be the actual house they were raised in - although we assume it was relocated from its original location. We also expect that anyone who is not in the baby-boomer category (or older) will have to google the Dionne Quintuplets to understand why they have a museum...!
We packed up and rolled away around 11:15, not really in a hurry since we knew we only had 65 km's to ride today. On the way out of North Bay we passed the Dionne Quintuplets museum, which appears to be the actual house they were raised in - although we assume it was relocated from its original location. We also expect that anyone who is not in the baby-boomer category (or older) will have to google the Dionne Quintuplets to understand why they have a museum...!
Cam steps up to order his Poutine. About an hour later we came upon a chip truck beside the road claiming to have the "Best Fries in the World". We could hardly have considered our trip to be complete without sampling this world class cuisine, plus we rationalized the we needed to supplement our very light breakfast.
We both ordered "Poutine" which is french fries with gravy and hunks of melted cheese. Our plan was to use this as fuel to power us over the rolling hills to come and to get us to Mattawa without another food stop. We can state that to the best of our knowledge, they do have the best poutine in the world - as neither of us had ever ordered it before this trip!
We both ordered "Poutine" which is french fries with gravy and hunks of melted cheese. Our plan was to use this as fuel to power us over the rolling hills to come and to get us to Mattawa without another food stop. We can state that to the best of our knowledge, they do have the best poutine in the world - as neither of us had ever ordered it before this trip!
Our welcome to Mattawa! If you've been following this blog for the last week or so you know the recurring theme has been the poor riding conditions the narrow Ontario shoulders provide. So for the sake of time, let's just say those conditions continued. But today's many rolling hills meant the road contained frequent sections of dual lanes for ascending the hills, so it was a good news / bad news scenario. (The good news was there was a wider section of pavement to ride on - the bad news was it meant we were climbing a hill!) Nevertheless, before we knew it, and after less than 3 hours of riding, we found ourselves rolling into the town of Mattawa.
The Mattawa welcoming committee - Joan, Ethan, Angelin & Nadine! Perhaps it was the afternoon heat, or the fact that we are not used to seeing signs with our names on them, but we nearly missed the first of two "Welcome" signs that had been set up for us! We are starting to feel like celebrities with all of the attention! Cam decorated his bike with the Canada helium balloon - secretly hoping that it will help take some weight of the spokes in the back wheel!
We proceeded to Tim Horton's where our iced drinks were "on the house" as a couple of the Tim Hortons staff had heard that we were coming (see photo in the Photo Gallery)! We then got to meet Joan Lagace, her daughter Nadine and grandchildren Ethan and Angelin. They are related to Cam's cousins Lori and Ernie (our Day 4 Angels of the Day) and had been following our progress. In addition to setting up our welcome sign, they gave us a generous contribution for El Jordan as well! Thanks so much for your awesome welcome to Mattawa - we are quickly learning that Northern Ontarions are a very kind and welcoming people!
This theme continued after we said goodbye and were getting our bikes ready to head towards our motel. A couple with a young baby asked us where we were biking. They were very interested and impressed with the story and wished us safe travel, but after having gotten into their car to leave, the popped back out and asked us when we were going through Ottawa? They are from Ottawa and were hoping to invite us to get together with them while we were there, but unfortunately, they won't be back in town yet. Disappointed that it wouldn't work out, they instead gave us some good advice for our visit to Ottawa. We have truly been impressed with the openness and kindness of people here!
We proceeded to Tim Horton's where our iced drinks were "on the house" as a couple of the Tim Hortons staff had heard that we were coming (see photo in the Photo Gallery)! We then got to meet Joan Lagace, her daughter Nadine and grandchildren Ethan and Angelin. They are related to Cam's cousins Lori and Ernie (our Day 4 Angels of the Day) and had been following our progress. In addition to setting up our welcome sign, they gave us a generous contribution for El Jordan as well! Thanks so much for your awesome welcome to Mattawa - we are quickly learning that Northern Ontarions are a very kind and welcoming people!
This theme continued after we said goodbye and were getting our bikes ready to head towards our motel. A couple with a young baby asked us where we were biking. They were very interested and impressed with the story and wished us safe travel, but after having gotten into their car to leave, the popped back out and asked us when we were going through Ottawa? They are from Ottawa and were hoping to invite us to get together with them while we were there, but unfortunately, they won't be back in town yet. Disappointed that it wouldn't work out, they instead gave us some good advice for our visit to Ottawa. We have truly been impressed with the openness and kindness of people here!
Mattawa sign #2! On the way through town to our motel, we stopped at Nadine's very cute little store - the "Couch Potatoe" where she had also made an awesome sign welcoming us! She graciously contributed some of Cam's favorite Freezies to help cool us down, and we also stocked up on some snacks for the evening! Thank you so much for the kind welcome Nadine!
We got checked into the Valois Motel and had a very relaxing afternoon. Ken caught up on his sleep with a nice nap and Cam was able to get caught up on some administrative stuff (yuck!) and then did a ride down through the main street of town. We went for a very nice dinner at the restaurant at our motel, which offered a great view of the Ottawa River, and Quebec which is just on the other side. We learned that Mattawa played an important role in the exploration of Canada as the voyageurs came up the Ottawa River, and turned into the Mattawa River, which connects to the Ottawa River at the townsite. The Mattawa River took them to Lake Nipissing and then to Lakes Huron and Superior. The town is adorned with many cool wooden statues commemorating some of the historical figures who played a role in that history.
We got checked into the Valois Motel and had a very relaxing afternoon. Ken caught up on his sleep with a nice nap and Cam was able to get caught up on some administrative stuff (yuck!) and then did a ride down through the main street of town. We went for a very nice dinner at the restaurant at our motel, which offered a great view of the Ottawa River, and Quebec which is just on the other side. We learned that Mattawa played an important role in the exploration of Canada as the voyageurs came up the Ottawa River, and turned into the Mattawa River, which connects to the Ottawa River at the townsite. The Mattawa River took them to Lake Nipissing and then to Lakes Huron and Superior. The town is adorned with many cool wooden statues commemorating some of the historical figures who played a role in that history.
The Ottawa River - the route of the Voyageurs...
With an early arrival today, we have been able to complete our blogging sooner, which will allow for an early night to bed. This will be important, as we have been warned that tomorrow we have a very hilly 105 km ride to Deep River. The forecast calls for sunny skies and 30 degrees Celcius, so we are hoping to get a bit of an earlier start as well.
Ride Details:
- Distance: 65.5 kms
- Riding time: 2 hours, 53 minutes
- Average speed: 22.7 kms/hour
- Wind: West (light)
- Temperature: 30 degrees Celcius
- Cumulative: 4,345.5 kms
Tomorrow's Destination: Deep River, Ontario - 105 kms
See more ride details on Strava and more photos from today on our Photo Gallery.
Ride Details:
- Distance: 65.5 kms
- Riding time: 2 hours, 53 minutes
- Average speed: 22.7 kms/hour
- Wind: West (light)
- Temperature: 30 degrees Celcius
- Cumulative: 4,345.5 kms
Tomorrow's Destination: Deep River, Ontario - 105 kms
See more ride details on Strava and more photos from today on our Photo Gallery.