Monday 30 August 2010

So far, so cool, so close, yet still so far

Yesterday as planned, we cycled 62 miles into Burlington, so that today’s ride into Toronto would be a short 37 miles, giving us plenty of opportunity to enjoy the views along the lake shore and cycle without urgency. Consequently, our breakfast this morning was very relaxed, so relaxed that we didn’t even have the routes programmed into Margaret and GaGa! Fortunately we were lucky enough to meet Jeff and Alisa over breakfast, who informed us of the Waterfront Trail: a route designed for cyclists and pedestrians with a desire to steer their way around the perimeter of Lake Ontario, and a route that they had followed the day before from Toronto to Burlington. Following their advice, we jumped aboard Trusty and Steed and headed North East on the Waterfront Trail toward Anthony’s favourite city in the world.

It was a very hot and humid day today and ‘sweating profusely’ was on the menu. So much sweat in fact that, half way through the ride, we decided to take ourselves off the beaten track and navigate our way through the Rattray Marsh Conservation Area toward an open bit shoreline on the lake. 30 minutes later, we emerged from the Wood and onto a secluded sandy beach. Before you could say “I’m so hot and sweaty I think there’s a Jacuzzi in my belly button”, we had ripped off our clothes behind a nearby tree, carefully avoiding any accusations of lewd conduct, donned our swimwear and dived head first into Lake Ontario. We swam around for about 15 minutes then hung ourselves out to dry before returning to cycling attire.

Rejuvenated, we made our way back onto Lake Shore Drive for a short 10 mile ride along the main road before getting back onto the dedicated shoreline boulevard that took us all the way into Toronto without a single vehicle in sight …very nice.

We arrived at the Cambridge Suites Hotel (Anthony’s favourite hotel in the world) and, being Kat’s first time in Toronto, she was very happy with what she saw. With lots of time before dinner, we chilled out in our room for a while before heading out to see what was new and interesting in the city. It didn’t take long. 2 blocks from our hotel we found ‘South of Temperance’, a new restaurant that had been open for all of 10 weeks. Gotta say, the food, atmosphere and service were perfect. Thanks to Tom the co-owner and Kate our lovely waitress, we had a great night.

More rest tomorrow.

Us x

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