This morning we set out early with Mari, who kindly offered to drive us over Ambassador Bridge to Canada, as there are no bicycle friendly crossings in Detroit. Her small red car was loaded to the brim, inside and out, with our three bikes, six panniers, three day sacks and handlebar bags. Plus ourselves. We were nervous for her suspension on Michigan's crevassed roads.
A couple of brief questions got us through customs relatively pain free, and then we were in Canada. Mari dropped us off at a McDonalds near the border where we could use the free wifi to plan our next moves. We said our farewells, and went in for a second breakfast.
After planning the route, contacting a potential host and finishing our teas and coffees we set out for a supermarket to do a resupply. Camping gas is proving elusive, as are road maps. We failed to acquire either today. As we prepared to leave, Jake noticed a few bubbles in his tyre. This spelled the end for that tyre, as it could blow at any point, meaning our next port of call would need to be a bike shop. Easier said than done in an unfamiliar city, on a Sunday morning with no internet. The customer service at Real Canadian Supermarket were outstanding, and found a list of bike shop numbers in the phone book, called them all to find which were open and gave us the address! A stranger came over, who was looking to buy a bike from a shop in town, and knew it was open today also, although not until 12.
We knew there was a Walmart down the road, and with time to kill we decided to try there for maps and gas. Again, no luck. However we did find a foldable tyre that should fit. We bought two, one as a spare. Outside, we fitted the new tyre, with groups of curious strangers stopping by to chat. On inflating the tube though, twice the bead popped out of the side and the tube exploded, leaving us two tubes down and with ringing ears, costing us $20 for the privelage. I returned the spare tyre.
We decided to go for the bike shop instead. It was 1230 when we arrived, and they had everything we needed, including a new tyre for Jake, new tubes, and a good quality foldable spare tyre. They also gave us directions to a good lunch spot with internet access, since our phones do not have data in Canada. Warm Showers server was down so I couldn't inform the host I contacted that we would not be making it that far today. We set our sights lower, to a campground 25 miles away along Lake St Clair.
A pleasant cycle along the lakeshore and we arrived at our campground by 4pm, fresh and looking forwards to an early finish and a dip in the lake. It was one of those days though; The site only sold weekly pitches. The woman in the office, after some effort, googled us another campsite South of there, 16 miles. Our closest option, we went for it. 16 miles of arrow straight road into headwind taught us for expecting an easy day with an early finish. We made it by ten to six in the evening, and a Cornetto from the campsite shop made it all okay again.
The best thing to come out of today though, by far, has been discovering Dairy Milk chocolate in Canada! We each had a large bar to ourselves.
Tomorrow we will join the Lake Erie shoreline road which we follow to Niagara.
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