Any Port in a Storm

I rode along the north shore of Lake Erie all day today. But I usually couldn’t see the lake, being at times a mile or more inland and at other times, having the lake obscured by trees or even corn.

I rode through many small port towns; I started in Port Stanley, finished in Port Dover, and rode through Port Bruce, Port Burrell, Port Royal, Port Rowan, and Port Ryerse. 
The Port Stanley Marina.

Port Burwell, Home of Mikel Gould, World Arm Wrestling Champion.

The non-port town of Copenhagen, which bore no resemblance to Copenhagen, Denmark, which is a big port city.

I also encountered consistent headwinds on the order of 15-to-20 mph sustained. About 48 miles into the ride, I texted Lailla and asked, “Which ‘Port’ is closest to Simcoe? That’ll give me a goal and I’ll probably request extraction there.” (Simcoe is where our hotel for tonight is located.) “Port Dover” was the answer, which was another 20 miles up the road from where I was at the time, but 15 miles short of my planned finish town of Peacock Point. So that’s where we agreed to meet. I finished today with 68.4 miles and an average speed of 12.1 mph. 

A couple short wind samples.

Here are some other interesting pictures from today:


There were a lot of crops other than corn and soybeans. There were apple orchards vineyards and there were many vegetable crops, including Roma tomatoes, bell peppers, butternut squash, red cabbage, pumpkins, and asparagus. And pictured above was something that surprised me: tobacco. (I actually asked the farmhand what it was and he confirmed what I suspected.)

More fall colors.


There were many signs for the Toast the Coast Trail and wineries, breweries, and cideries to go along with the signs.

Finally, I did get a few better pictures of wind turbines today:


The turbine blades were probably 6-to-8 feet in diameter. 

Tomorrow’s planned ride will take me to Niagara Falls. We’ll stay on the Canadian side and cross back into the US on Monday morning.

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