August 1, 2022. Crow Lake to Perth
Our canoe trip this year turned out to be a bike trip. Joel and I felt that, since I have had back pain from spinal stenosis, my lifting/carrying was seriously affected, and I could not be relied on to do the kind of work we both need for canoe camping. And since I can bike without much pain, we felt that a bike trip would work. Richard was good enough to allow us to use his cottage as a base. We had looked at the K-P trail that goes along the side of highway 38, from Kingston to Sharbot Lake, as a possibility. But it would have involved a trip of about 80 km, and we both felt that was too ambitious for us. We decided on another trail—the Tay Valley trail, which goes from Sharbot Lake to Perth. We would bike from the cottage, go north from Crow Lake via Cross Road, and pick up the trail east of Sharbot Lake. Sounds simple, eh? We were all set: a day’s bike to Perth, a day in Perth, and a day to return. Of course, it didn’t work out as planned. We got a good start thou...