A short walk over to his favorite Lebanese bakery and expert suggestions on what short of meat, cheese, potato or thyme pies to get left us stuffed and happy.
With that he bid us goodbye and even biked with us for the first 3-4 Km to show us the way. How classy is that! We were sad the visit was over but he had his much missed family coming home and we had other people to see and places to go.
For many weeks we had been looking forward to our visit to Ottawa but a strict scedule had to be followed if we were going to see everybody who we wanted to visit! Chop chop everybody, this may be a day off but there will be no lollygagging! Shape up or ship out!
First stop, Gatineau, where both Leah's aunt Nancy and WarPo's family friends Marc and Susan lived.
The Ottawa region bike paths put the rest of the places we have been to shame. They are beautiful treelined and shaded paths which run all over not only the city but also the suburbs and even over the great Ottawa river to Hull, Gatineau and Chelsea. It is therefor such a shame that the signage is so confusing and that on a loaded bike the curbs are so huge! Call us bike snobs, but as wonderful as the path are, they could still use some work.
Even still, from Ottawa we wound up and down and all around the beautiful cool woods until we arrived at marc and susans house on chemin beausolie. Since being there as a child almost 15 years ago, the house was as beautiful as I remembered though the trees in the front yard were a tad bit bigger. With promises by Alan and Ginny to return that evening we dropped off our bags and headed to the perfect place to be on a hot summer day: the Gatineau river at Nancy's house.
Before we could get to the river we needed to eat! Nance had this all covered. Despite having to pack for her trip to Vancouver tomorrow, she had somehow found time to make up a scrumptious lunch! Yum yum!
A short while later found us swimming, napping and chatting on a quiet dock down by the river. The water was perfect, cool on top and refreshing below.
Alan and Ginny headed back to marc and Susan's (you can hear their tale tomorrow) while us young folk continued to enjoy the kindness and generosity of Nancy. Once again, we were stuffed full with great food and even taken up to see a beautiful sunset in Gatineau. However to our dismay, the sun did not set tonight. No, it lowered into the fog, which warned of the real heat to come. Checking the weather made the fear rise in my belly. The day after tomorrow, 36 degrees...
Distance: 30.58 km
Time on bikes: 1:56:50
Average speed: 15.6 km/h
Distance from Vancouver: 5416 km
Start: 10:00 am
End: 1:30 pm
Wind: none
Conditions: sunny and hot
Cheers
- The Warpotay Team
Location:Chelsea, Quebec
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