July 16, 2014. Toronto to Burlington, ON. 40 Miles.

Ann, Dianne and I left the hotel before 8 AM, hoping to miss most of the traffic. We were routed on the roads for the first couple of miles, and took the lane and ran with it... there was only one lane most of the time due to construction.  We got on the Waterfront Trail at 2.3 miles and ran into rush hour bike traffic!  There were people commuting to their jobs, people out for a leisurely ride, and people who appeared to be training for the Tour de France! It was very hectic getting out of town.

We had to detour off the trail when we found it blocked--there is construction everywhere!

We stopped after about 8 miles to take a farewell photo of Toronto. We had 3 pages of cues today, and were off and on the Waterfront Trail (WFT) all day. At some points our cue sheets did not include portions of the trail and when that happened I followed the WFT signs. This caused a parting of the ways at around 20 miles into the ride; I followed the trail signs and Ann and Dianne followed the cue sheet and I did not see them the rest of the ride! I also did not see the SAG, and Ann was kind enough to load up with snacks for me in case we met up later on the route (thanks Ann).

They take their bike trails seriously here... I found signs for car crossings when the trail passed through busy areas. We could see Lake Ontario off and on through the day, always a welcome sight.

 

I arrived at the hotel just after noon and my room was actually ready! I retrieved my luggage and by the time I was out of the shower Dianne and Ann had arrived. Dianne and I went to lunch at the pub in the hotel. It was super! We topped it off with coffee and a dessert sampler.

 

We did our laundry and read and played Scrabble until dinnertime. We had dinner overlooking the lake. Below are Deb, me, Ann, Pat and Barb. It was a pleasure to be on the grass and out of the parking lot! We love that we have a traveling chef, but I could do without eating on the pavement.



Above are Tracy, Ann, Joanne, Lorna and Dianne.  Here we are helping ourselves to the kabobs, rice, salad, roasted artichoke hearts and bread prepared by our chef Sue (below right) and her sous chef Peggy.

Our dinner was cooked on a newly purchased hibachi grill, and dessert was s'mores, also prepared on the grill. Jo was so into roasting the marshmallows that we set up an assembly line to prepare the crackers and chocolate for the hot marshmallows. She did not want to eat them, just roast them!

When we'd all had enough she recruited people from the boardwalk next to us, so she could keep on cooking... this little boy wanted to roast his own, and Cy helped him sandwich it. Jo still kept on cooking them, urging his parents to have one too! They were all very nice about it, thanked us, and wished us safe riding tomorrow.

Map meeting very quickly got out of control, and was completed with more laughter than confusion (it's sometimes the opposite). After Cy was done telling us about riding into Niagara Falls tomorrow, Mary got on her knees to present the find of the day to Ann. Ann is a veteran roadside picker, her best find so far on this trip the green chair that is now in the SAG wagon. Today Mary and her riding partners found a fork in the road and took it, presenting it to Ann with a flourish at the end of this most enjoyable day.