Day 5 – Erinsville to Carlton Place: Poison ivy, friends on the road and a surprise host

Distance: 132km

Elevation: 856m

I woke up with a bit of a heavy heart. The sun was shining, I had slept well, but the feeling was there. I was feeling existential. What am I doing here? Why do I do all this? Who cares?

I made coffee and breakfast and had a chat with my wife Carolin. That helped.

I packed up and was in the saddle at 9am. The route today was extraordinarily beautiful. Lakes changed with forests and swampland over and over again. There was an overcast sky with perfect temperatures and hardly any traffic.

After about 40km, I ran into three local cyclists Silvia, Sean and Brian. They were from Carleton Place and were on a gravel day tour.

We started chatting for a while and they had all sorts of questions and wanted some pictures with me.

Sean explained to me how Poison Ivy looked like and what pain it can cause. It was all around us. “Be careful when you take a bathroom break” he said. I will certainly add that to my “more important” knowledge section.

Brian was a retired high school teacher who had 5 sons, one of them actually named “Karsten”. He typed his contact info into my phone and offered his support to find a host for tonight. Just in case. So far, all Warmshowers hosts had turned me down.

After a while, we wished each other save travels and went on. That encounter had put a big smile on my face. In 8 years on the road, this had never happened to me before.

I had planned to get as close to Ottawa as possible so I tried to cover some ground. My legs were feeling stronger and I felt mentally good. Also the rain and some steep hills which I had to push Rosinante up didn’t change that.

There were hardly any villages along the route so I had to improvise my lunch. I reached out to Brian regarding finding a host.

He responded swiftly “You have a place at Sylvies house tonight”. Oh wow, that was awesome.

After about 100km, I reached Perth where I had an early dinner. Hmm, delicious. Then I cycled the remaining 30 or so kilometers to Silvia’s place. I did not know what to expect. She had been rather quiet when we had met today. Later I learned that she first thought I was one of these “hobos on wheels” who were on the road forever as drop outs from society.

Silvia was cleaning her bike when I arrived. They also had done a 130km round on their light gravel bikes. “I was not sure if you would make it all the way here” she said. I felt proud and a little insulted at the same time. We both laughed.

She showed me “my studio” and suggested with some authority that I put my dirty clothes in the washing machine. I gladly accepted.

She was a pro host with AirB&B which explained why everything was so perfectly organized. She refused any payment and said “Consider it my donation to your worthy cause”.

Silvia started making dinner as her kids came home. A boy and a girl, both very friendly. Her husband Adam was owning a micro brewery and was working late tonight. They had moved here not too long ago from Ottawa.

While we were chatting in the kitchen, two of Silvia’s neighbors came over, their husbands also being cyclists from Carleton Place. It was a fun round and we laughed a lot. I got some Chili with Mac’n Cheese – a great combo.

Around 9pm I excused myself and went to bed with a happy heart.