Madawaska Highlands - Day 1
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As a dry run for our Eastern Canada bike tour this fall Katharina and I decided to do a 3 day local tour to work our legs,
get some of the gear issues sorted out, and simply enjoy a summer's weekend riding through some beautiful countryside. We
were blessed with perfect weather and a couple of really nice camping spots.
Saturday, July 30, 2011 - Carp to Black Donald Lake - 101 km
Drove in the morning to Carp and parked at my friend Dana's house. Saddled up the bikes and rode off on Donald B. Munro.
Gorgeous day with sunshine, cool temperatures and a light breeze, unfortunately coming in our face though. We tacked
north-west until we got to Pakenham and took a break
in the park down by the river. We stopped at the liquour store and tried to
buy a small tetra-pak of wine, but they only had three liter ones or glass bottles so we decided to forgo this pleasure.
Head out towards Waba and took a back road for a while to get away from the traffic. This ended shortly and we were back on
Waba road battling the cars again. At White Lake we stopped in a park by a dam and had a lunch of cheese and bagels. There
was a french fry truck there so we decided to get some fries, but unfortunately it was too early. Katharina took a quick
swim and then we head off again. Just as we left the fry truck opened, but we were now fully fed. A short time later we
arrived in Burnstown and stopped at Neat Cafe for a coffee. Lots of other cyclists had the same idea, and we chatted with
one of the staff members who had done a bike tour through France. Riding the 508 to Calabogie kind of sucked as it was very
busy. I am not sure where everyone is going to along here, but wherever it is sure must be a crowded place. At the Eagles
Nest trail I stopped and chatted with some hikers as I waited for Katharina to catch up. We took a final food break here
and then slowly continued on the rolling terrain. Finally we turned off onto Centenial Lake Road. There was no road sign,
but I knew it was the right place as there was a big sign proclaiming "The Eagles Rest", which I knew was a general store
along this road. Once we got to Black Donald Lake we started looking for a campsite. We found the one which I used
extensively in high school, which amazingly is still there despite being completely surrounded by cottages now. We moved
on. Not much further I spied a trail into the woods which led to a little campsite on a small bay. Despite being somewhat
close to the road we decided to stay as it was a good spot to swim, and I was uncertain if I could find the campsite that
Wendy and I found twelve years ago.
Starting out in Carp.
A very elaborate memorial along the road just outside of Pakenham.
Rest stop at White Lake.
Bridge over the Madawaska River to Burnstown.
A trip to Poland would not be complete without visiting the appropriate embassy first.
Our campsite with an exhausted girl in the middle of it.
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