August 6, 2024, Cornwall to Brockville, Ontario











   Most of the day was cool with gray skies, starting out at about 60 and got up to about 70. The first half of the ride was mainly on dedicated bike trails or very quiet roads.  

.   Love the creativity of the Waterfront Trail sign. It looks like waves, and if you look closely, the bottom one is a fish, the middle one a leaf, and the upper is a bird. Very appropriate!

Early on, we changed our mind and decided to follow the Waterfront Trail route and ride through a string of about 11 islands connected by bridges and causeways, like beads on a string. Originally we were thinking of staying on the road along the mainland as that was shorter. We were certainly glad that we took the way we did as it was beautiful quiet riding through parkland, with herons, ducks and geese in the areas between islands.  

   The last miles of our ride today were on a busy highway with no paved shoulders. Thankfully we have heard that tomorrow will be better.   

   We stopped at a beach in Morrisburg to use the restrooms and eat a snack. We talked to a guy sitting on a bench there. He was from Quebec and his wife was scuba-diving nearby. When the seaway was created, a dam was put in which flooded several small villages which the diving group was visiting. 

   We saw a couple with loaded touring bicycles coming the other way and stopped to chat. They took early retirement and now bicycle all over the world depending on where the “summer weather“ is, except to go to visit their kids and grandkids in Australia or parents in England. 

.   Our warm shower hosts for tonight had recommended stopping at the Battle of the Windmill National Historic Site east of Prescott. We probably wouldn’t have stopped there otherwise as it was slightly off the route. There was a rebellion in 1837 against British colonial rule which was suppressed, and most of the rebel leaders fled to the US. There they made plans for an invasion to restart the rebellion. In November 1838, they landed at the windmill and a couple of battles took place until the rebel leader surrendered. Some were tried and executed, more were acquitted, some were pardoned, and about 60 sentenced to be sent to Australia. Later on, it was turned into a lighthouse.  

    BAs we rode through the main part of Brockville, we went over a raised curved area of the street and saw a sign that said, Canada’s first railway tunnel. So we turned around to investigate. The tunnel’s one end was just to the left of where we had crossed over it. It had big doors to close it off, like the tunnels on the Sparta-Elroy rail-trail in Wisconsin. Lots of people were taking pictures in front of the entrance. When we walked inside the tunnel was lit up with different colors of lights and had information signs every so often about why and how it was constructed. One interesting thing is that it has been forming stalactites much faster than caves form them, but still only one millimeter a year. 

        After walking through it, we found we were quite close to our warm shower hosts. We had a great time chatting with them about their biking adventures in South Korea, Europe, USA, Canada, Thailand, and New Zeeland. They have stayed at many Warm Showers houses on their travels, as well as have hosted many people.