8/2 - West Lorne, ON to Port Dover, ON - Day 48
 

The theme of the day was: "What a great day to ride!".

It was a pretty high mileage day, 94 miles. But it turned out to be one of the nicest days on the tour. We left breakfast at 7:10.

The skies were overcast and temperatures for this early in the morning were on the warm side. The ride was mostly in farmlands while following the shore of Lake Erie. Most of the farms were corn but as we went on, we saw a lot of tobacco being grown. We also passed where they cured the tobacco. The building was called tobacco kilns. Two or three story rectangular buildings with no windows. Many farms had rows of these buildings.

By 8:50 we had traveled 28 miles and stopped in the town of Port Stanley at the Bridge Restaurant and Tavern for morning coffee and muffins. By 9:40 we were back on the road. We had a nice tailwind that was pushing us along and the road was flat. Perfect conditions!

A second theme of the day could have been: "gee they grow a lot of different stuff here". As we rode on, close to the 40-mile mark, we came across farms growing peaches, apples, potatoes, tomatoes and onions. We reached the lunch stop at 11AM having traveled 52 miles since breakfast. The picnic stop was on a beach overlooking lake Erie. I can't get over how much the lake reminds me of the ocean. A wooden lighthouse was even nearby.

After getting a bite to eat, we waded into the Lake then left the picnic stop by noon. On the way out of town we stopped at the lighthouse. Which is the oldest one on lake Erie. Following lunch, the number of addition crops increased, there were cucumbers, asparagus, soybeans, cherries, barley, green peppers, wheat, apples and blue berries.

The roads were mostly 2 lane county roads with good surfaces and the winds were to our backs. At times, I think that the tailwinds must have be greater that 15 mph. With ten more miles to go, we stopped in the town of Normandale for ice cream. The remaining road was fairly hilly but went quickly.