As we made our way to Bancroft, the major town since Carleton Place, Katherine started to notice a weird squeaky noise from the back of her bike. It turned out that the two rear rack attachment to the part beneath the seat post (sorry our bike terminology is not very good so you’ll have to look at the picture) had sheared off and the other was barely attached. We made a quick fix with tie wraps that worked quite well. The attachments aren’t meant to hold weight but helps hold the rear rack in position. On Katherine’s bike the way they were bent and installed had caused them to eventually fail with all the weight we carry (on my bike the way it is attached wouldn’t cause it to fail as easily). We knew our fix would last to Bancroft and probably much further but we were keen on getting to a hardware store or a bike shop to do a proper fix. We were glad it wasn’t a major problem!
The bike to Bancroft was uneventful but we did pass an abandoned Provincial park that I thought was neat. It probably would have made a good rustic camp site. The only reason we knew it was abandoned was that it showed up on the GPS but not on the Ontario map, and there was no longer a sign for the park. Not sure why it closed but maybe due to lack of visitors?
When we arrived in Bancroft we couldn’t believe the amount of traffic that was going through the town (highway 62 and 28 intersect in town). So many cars! We followed the tourist info sign to the end of town and didn’t find the building, but right before we turned around we found a bike shop with a sign that said open 7 days a week and bike service, so we quickly went straight to the store.
The couple who owned the store, Clive and Chris, were very nice and got us fixed up in no time. It was a problem Clive had seen before so he made the attachment much stronger using another seat quick release. We decided to ask them about what the best route would be for us and where we could camp that night. They had great advice but there were not many camp sites near by. Another customer had walked in to pick up a repaired wheel and he could not think of many camp sites near by either. As we were wondering if this will be another ‘rustic’ camping night, the customer who had just came and left, came back into the store and said that we could pitch our tent at his cottage if we’d like. His name was Dan and he gave us the directions to his cottage which was very conveniently on the recommended route by Clive and Chris! If you are ever cycling through Bancroft we highly recommend the Trips and Trails Adventure Outfitting store run by Clive and Chris. They were super friendly and very knowledgeable.
We thanked Dan, and after leaving the bike shop we grabbed lunch and ran some errands around town, picking up groceries, bear spray, and a much longer rope to tree out food. The sky cleared and the hot sun came out while we were in town.
We then continued towards Farquhar lake near Wilberforce where Dan’s cottage was. We encountered a few big hills, but the route was very quiet, and had many ‘Share the Road’ signs.
When we arrived at Dan’s cottage we met his daughter Emma and his Wife Elizabeth. We also met their rabbit Stewart. Their cottage was on a very beautiful spot, and Dan, Elizabeth, and Emma were very friendly and welcoming to us. After we pitched our tent to dry out, I hoped in the lake for a quick dip. The water was very warm and it felt great after a day climbing many hills with our bikes. Dan and Elizabeth even let us use their outdoor hot tub and we very quickly recovered from our long day of biking.
We chatted to Dan, Elizabeth, and Emma and we got to know each other’s lives better. Dan also told us about the local geography which was very neat (we were just at the south tip of Algonquin Park). Dan cooked us an amazing BBQ dinner with homemade soup, and Emma made us the mashed potatoes and a fantastic dessert.
What an amazing end to the day!
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Trip Around The World 
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