Day 9 – Sunday, September 21, 2008

Morning view: cows!

We woke up knowing that it was our last day on the bikes!   But we weren’t entirely sure how long we had to travel today. We thought it was somewhere between 60-75km.  We knew we had a few climbs to do but it would be mostly flat or downhill today – yeah!

Once again, my knees were aching so Reuben had the trailer for the start.  I contemplated biking out of the way towards Milton and catching the a bus home, but Reuben reminded me that it was important to finish this trip on our bikes.  My knees were just in so much pain I didn’t think I could make it.

After 9 days cycling, Eden still loves the trailer!

Since we were now close to home, we were starting to recognize the names of roads and local signage.  We stopped at a playground for lunch again.  By this time, Reuben was truly exhausted from pulling all of our gear.  He lay on the bench and couldn’t move.  I made lunch, played with Eden and at the end, took the trailer back again.  We had almost finished the climbing for the day and then downhill it would be downhill the rest of the way!

Reuben, exhausted.

It was slow-going with me pulling the trailer but it gave Reuben a good rest.  We then saw one of the most amazing signs ever.  It said “Hamilton”.  We were now in our home city and nearly there.  We stopped in for our last break at Tim Horton’s. Then made several wrong turns and traveled probably an extra 10km out of our way.  Yes, we were in our home town and we got lost.  Twice.  On one of these detours, Reuben took the trailer from me as I just couldn’t do it anymore.

Back in the driveway.

Pulling into our driveway was just momentous.   I had had so much fun, but I think I almost cried I was so happy to be home — and so happy that we had made it!

Kilometers travelled: 93
Hours on the bikes: 5.5

Trip Totals:
From: Sudbury, ON
To: Hamilton, ON
Kilometers travelled: 648
Hours on the bikes: 38