Thursday, August 29, 2004, 50.3 miles: Coffee in the room today, so no scramble to get going, and we have a host tonight! We eased out of the motel just before checkout time and headed back to the Confederation Trail heading west.
The trail itself is well maintained and it seems like every little town it passes through tries to out-do the last one with trailside and in-town facilities. We just enjoyed the two “climbs” of 3% and about 3 miles each, and of course the downhills on the other side while seeing very few other cyclists and fewer vehicles at the crossings. We got off the trail and stopped in the town of Kensington for a little refreshment at the Island Stone Pub before continuing to Darnley on the roads.
We made it to our Warm Showers host, Dalton, about 4 and he was on his porch sunning with a martini in his hand. Kindred spirits — work hard — relax hard! After throwing our laundry in his machine, an outdoor shower, and hanging the laundry out to dry, we took a short jaunt to the beach on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and then we relaxed with a wonderful dinner of many, many mussels to go with our cocktails. Dalton was certainly the WS host extraordinaire. A retired high school and college music teacher (PhD in music) from NH, he was spending the summer solo while his wife was back home, still working. I asked Dana if she’d like to stay another day and she didn’t think he’d go for it. As we were getting along so well and my history with WS hosts, and as one myself, I had the opposite opinion and said I would broach the subject. Dalton didn’t hesitate to answer, “Of course!” We can do a ride together tomorrow!
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