Today was 71 miles and the first half was kind of glorious but the second half wasn’t!

But first, last night: we dined at a place in Picton called The Acoustic Cafe which is said to have the best burger in town as well as live music. We needed something substantial and we love live music so we were in. The young man on the little stage was named D. B. Tait, and he was a fine fingerstyle guitarist playing blues on a Mule slide and a seasoned Gibson J-45 (I think.) He played Robert Johnson, John Fahey and other classic tunes by bluesmen and he played them well. When he took a break, we chatted about our favorite guitar players like Fahey and Bert Jansch and Leo Kottke. He’s a sweet and talented guy who also plays in a band called Kojak.

Lisa was already working on her post and I asked our server for a whiskey recommendation but she said she didn’t know much about it. I was curious about Canadian whiskey – I only know Jameson (and love it) – she said to talk to the bar guys, so I did. One said “are you going to be around for a while?” and I said, sure.

He went out and bought a bottle of whiskey made in Canada. Then he gave me a glass – he said they thought Kentucky bourbon was the best and warned me to stay away from the mass produced Canadian brands, but that this was the best small batch whiskey in Canada. It was yet another really nice Canadian gesture (and a good nightcap.)

Anyway, we had a great night in Picton.

This morning, we took off at about 9:00 and after about 8 K, we had to get in line for the ferry across the inlet and over to the Loyalist Parkway/Highway 33 and then rode to Kingston and the ride was great – wide clean shoulders and beautiful lake views to our right all the way.

But as we started the trip around Kingston (where we left Lake Ontario behind) and headed north to Westport, things began to get a bit more dicey. We rode north on the Perth Road and it was ok at first, but deteriorated quickly – the road itself was in terrible shape and the shoulder was loose gravel – pretty much impossible to ride on. AND it was hilly, climbing up out of the lake and into the forest – and there was traffic blowing by us at too high a speed.

We were within 20 miles of our destination in Westport but it was a very intense ride, as we tried to stay out of the way of the heavy traffic, and on the inches of rough pavement that were available to us, as well as climbing some steep hills. I’m sorry we weren’t able to appreciate the wild north woods of the Frontenac forest, as it was really beautiful, but we were both totally fixated on staying upright and out of the way.

But we made it – 71 miles from Picton to Westport and, of course, a stop at the first brewery we came to!

We checked in at our BnB, hosted by the lovely Donna and Keith, showered and had a wonderful and restorative meal next door at The Cove Inn.

We always need some time to debrief and decompress after a day, especially after an afternoon like the one we had. But we had food and wine and conversation with each other and our server and our hosts and are now ready for a good night’s sleep. We can’t wait to meet with our Ottawa friends tomorrow and the next day NO biking!