Poland Tour 2003
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Summer was beginning and that itch to ride was starting to cause my legs to quiver. A week before this mini-tour began
I realized a long weekend was coming, so I grabbed a map and a particular name caught my eye. That's where I'm going
to ride... to Poland it is! I called my buddy Rob up, and he was keen on the idea too. Saturday morning finally
rolled around, and we left for the unknown. The quest for Poland had begun. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that
Poland is a tiny town in Eastern Ontario... not the European country!
Sat May 17 - 91 km - Ottawa to Poland
Rob came over around 08:30 and we head out shortly after. It was a beautiful sunny day, cool and not too hot. We rode
through the trail behind Bell High School to get to Moodie and then South to Fallowfield. A light tailwind pushed us
along as we rode west. After passing Eagleson Road, we switched over to Flewellyn to get away from the traffic, which
was not too bad, but enough to be annoying. We continued on through the country and turned onto Dwyer Hill Road. It
was a little busier along here, but after a couple km we came across a trailway (rail to trail conversion) which was
heading in an appropriate direction, so we decided to take it. The going was a little rough, as it was a dirt trail
which had been ridden by horses, but it was nice to ride side by side and chat as we went. There was a
cool bridge under Hwy 7
that we took some pictures of and then a couple km later we left the trail onto a hard-packed dirt road.
We followed dirt roads for a while, which were smoother than some of the paved ones we rode along today. Eventually,
we got on route 17 and rode into Almonte where we had lunch down by the river beside a church. Rob made some delicious
tofu pita sandwiches which filled us right up. We head west out of Almonte down route 16. At first the traffic was
quite busy, but it disappeared after we passed a turnoff to highway 7. The terrain on the west side of Almonte is
completely different from the east. In the morning we were riding on perfectly flat roads through farmland. Leaving
Almonte in the afternoon, we hit rolling hills through forests and rocky outcroppings. As we were coming up one hill,
Rob's bike started making a clicking noise. It turned out that his front deraller cage had self destructed and was
being struck by the crank arm. We rode up to the top of the hill because there was somewhere to lean the bikes, and
then fixed the problem by wiring the cage together with some fine steel wire. I have been carrying that wire for about
25000 km in my tool kit. It felt good to finally be able to use it! We were starting to get tired and considered
stopping for a break in Middleton, but instead decided to push on to Hopeville, a few more km down the rode. We
stopped and had a snack on some church steps and watched people, many of them motorcyclists, go in and out of the
general store/gas bar. About 10 km further, we reached our goal.
Poland at last! We took a couple pictures of the
sign and then rode through the town which consisted of maybe 10 or so houses and an old run-down church. A few km
later we spied a trail into the wood which we followed. After pushing our bikes in for a while and exploring for a bit,
we found a good place for the tent on the side of a hill, with a small lake at the bottom. The blackflies were
absolutely horrendous, so we quickly set up the tent
and dove inside. We dozed for a couple of hours and then decided
to brave the blackflies and cook up some supper down by the lake. After eating and cleaning up we took a hike for a
couple of km down the ATV trails, our sense of direction being aided nicely by a bottle of rum which Rob had brought.
Sun May 18 - 99 km - Poland to Merrickville
The woods were almost silent last night. Except for the occasional owl and a single gulping frog, it was very quiet and
we got a good sleep. I got up before Rob and walked down to the
lake which was shrouded in mist in the early morning
sunshine. I looked into a small pool of water in the rocks and saw a bunch of twigs swimming around. I pulled one
out, and it was some sort of insect which had covered its sticky body in small twigs and pine needles for camoflauge.
A little later Rob wandered down and we cooked up a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and oatmeal. As the morning
warmed up, the blackflies began to emerge, so we packed up camp and hiked back to the road. We pedalled off back to
Poland to another beautiful day. We rode past Hopetown and continued down 511 all the way to Balderson. As we
entered the town, I said 'Don't they make cheese here?', and sure enough we soon came to the Balderson cheese factory.
Of course we stopped and bought some fresh curd and a block of extra-old cheddar. We ate and rested on some stone
benches in the shade. We then continued to Perth where we stopped briefly at the grocery store to pick up some
supplies. We tried the liquor store to replenish our fluid supplies, but it was closed as it was too early. We head
out of town on route 1, which had fairly heavy traffic, but slowly dwindled as we got further from the city. At one
point, some hick in a pickup truck started blaring his horn at us. He had to slow down before passing because of
oncoming traffic, but then pulled in front and started driving realy slowly to get in our way. After a minute or so
of this, he floored it spitting gravel from his tires. I guess he showed us. The funny thing was, there were three
bicycles in the back of his truck. I guess he never rides them. After a while we got to Rideau Ferry, where we stopped
for lunch down by the water at a bunch of dirty docks. As we were eating several fishermen pulled in to dock with
friendly greetings. At this point, both of us were feeling really tired. Neither of us are really in shape for
two back to back metric centuries, but we were riding them anyway. We continued on down winding back roads. The amount
of traffic was very suprising (and annoying) for the class of roads we rode on, but at least the scenery was nice, and
we could not ask for better weather. Near the Hwy 15 crossing, we found a chip stand and bought some french fries. We
met another couple who were touring on a tandem, going the opposite direction so we chatted a little. After resting
a while, we continued on, deciding to take a shorter route to Merrickville, despite heavier traffic because both of us
were quite tired. The traffic was not too bad, and most people were very polite while passing. We saw tons of
motorcyclists. One of them was my instructor for the motorcycle course which I took last fall. We stopped briefly
at the locks in Smiths Falls, filled up on water a rested a while in the shade. We finally reached Merrickville and
rested by the locks here on the grass. There were tons of people in Merrickville. I guess it is the place to visit
on a sunny Sunday afternoon. We stopped by the liquor store on our way out of town to pick up something to keep us
warm for the night before continuing on to a place in the woods. We hiked in and set up camp. On our way in we saw
fresh bear tracks in the mud. I have never seen any animal signs in this area other than deer, so this was interesting.
After setting up the tent, we both fell asleep for an hour or so, and then cooked up some supper of mac and cheese with
fresh brocolli. We found a place to hang the food, and then took a hike for a while to help the ingestion of the
brandy. The sun was then beginning to set, so into the tent for what will hopefully be a good nights sleep.
Mon May 19 - 49 km - Merrickville to Ottawa
Slept like a rock last night, but with strange dreams because some bird, which made a noise like an engine trying to
start, kept on trying to start that engine all night. When I got up just after sunrise, the bird had finally shut up.
We ate a breakfast of oatmeal pancakes and then packed up camp. As we were leaving, the bird started cranking that
engine again. It was a beautiful morning yet again, and we cruised along with no wind and no traffic. The traffic got
heavier when we got on Franktown road, but it was only for about 20 minutes until we came to Richmond. We stopped
at the Richmond Cafe, and ate a second breakfast, which was good except for the home fries, which were mediocre lightly
spiced boiled potatoes. It was a pretty uneventful ride the rest of the way. The sun became hotter, and there was
little traffic once we got off Richmond Road and through to Moodie. We rode through the path behind Bell High School
again, and then pulled into my house. Had a cold beer and fired up the BBQ for some eats before Rob left to head home
himself.
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