The Roads Swollowing me Up.

Day 16.

I could hear the tent being blown around last night as I tried to sleep. Since it had been a headwind yesterday I was reasonably confident that the wind had come up and that we would have a tough days cycling to Oyen. We had to make the 145km day regardless of the weather as we have got slightly behind schedule. Sure enough after having had breakfast at the local diner in Delia we headed out into a strong crosswind that got more head windy with every right hand bend that the road took. The temperature rose from 25C to 36C at lunchtime. With the constant wind and high temp it was a hard day.

Espresso Gauge Nudging 38C

 

The terrain was that of gently sloping pasture land with numerous ponds where we saw ducks and ducklings. In all honesty though today was just a hard grovel in the heat with plenty of crap soft drinks consumed. (And the ever present mossies).

The highlight was getting to camp and the wind has finally dropped. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring but I do know that I have an unconsumed blueberry muffin to have for breakfast with my coffee. Adi ate hers today so she is out of luck.

Blueberry muffins don’t go off do they?

Alberta

Day 17.

Once again we awoke to a strong wind. But this time it’s blowing from the North so it’s a pleasant 23C. With expectations high for an easier day in the saddle we set off. A check of the route last night reinforced thoughts that although it was another 145km day we had a cross to tail wind and we were headed into Saskatchewan which to all intense  and purposes means no hills. We had a small in- tent brecky and at the 60km mark we stopped at a diner on the border for a coffee. 

That was the last sustenance that passed our lips until 6pm!

Nothing is ever as it seems when cycle touring in foreign lands. Shortly after that coffee, which in retrospect should have been downed with a cooked breakfast as only the North Americans know how to put away, we went into big sky country with no services of any kind and then hit gravel roads with no signs anywhere! No traffic anywhere and no people anywhere. If it wasn’t for my compass I might have thought that we were totally lost.  I kept us on track but no thanks to the guide book we were following. Adi got blown off the gravel road twice in the crosswind but my extra panniers, weight and wider tyres kept me pretty grounded.

Coffee, Muffin , Cookie.... Anything! There's Got to be a Gopher I can Eat.

By 3pm we had re-joined a sealed road but due to lack of road maintenance, the recent hot weather and heavy trucks the seal was like porridge to cycle through. Even last year in Bolivia I hadn’t encountered such stuffed sealed roads.

By 6pm we had reached our destination of Eston Sk. I felt sorry for Adi as she has gone like a Trojan and today should have been easy so we got a motel. I can’t believe that in a dumpy town like this the motels are still $80!

It’s a bit early to tell but this area of Saskatchewan seems pretty run down. I’ve seen derelict towns on the West Coast of NZ, with better roads and more paint on the dwellings, than I’m seeing at the moment. It’s all a bit reminiscent of our US tour across Nevada where you have to search for the ‘Yes We’re Open ‘sign in the window to distinguish between the derelict buildings and the still functioning ones.

A Lick of Paint Might be Needed Soon.