Mountain Biking 2:50:00 [3] 50.4 km (17.8 kph)
'Bent and I biked to Inglewood and back - mostly rail trail with some country roads that included a stee-ee-eep, muddy, rutted hill near the end of our ride.
I used my new ergonomic handle bar ends, which are supposed to distribute the weight on your hands to prevent numbness in the fingers, which I sometimes have trouble with. I'd heard rave reviews on them, but although the bar ends looked undeniably ergonomic, they seemed to make my hands go numb even more quickly. So I think I'll go back to my basic, cheapo gel-covered bar ends. Oh well...
While my hands were going numb, so were my toes! It didn't seem that cold out, but apparently it was.
Trekking (3 hrs) 2:30:00 [1]
'Bent and I met up with Knobless, Gorgeous and Nikki to hike from the Grange to Belfountain to try Dave Corner's new cappucino bar, The Shed. We didn't hike all the way from Inglewood because Knobless' knee is pretty painful these days. So imagine our surprise when our local guides veered away from the tame Bruce Trail to follow some little pieces of flagging tape marking a planned trail. First we had an interesting exploration of the huge ruins of the lime kilns, accompanied by great info from Nikki, who happens to be the author of the book "Caledon". After that, the trail's route became more dubious, then finally the flagging tape disappeared. We clung to the edge of the escarpment for awhile, then descended the precarious, rocky, slippery slope to the swollen Credit River. No chance of crossing, so we climbed back up and side-hilled through rocky terrain, actually finding some flagging tape again.
Then we spotted a big pond below, with a mossy old rock dam at its end. We made another long, slippery descent and ignored the sign saying that "Crossing this dam is a chargeable offence under the Conservation Authorities Act. Keep Off." We imagined the headlines announcing that the Conservation Authority had laid charges against a group of well-known environmental activists, including the chair of the Caledon Environmental Advisory Committee, the editor of Alternatives Journal, the head of Caledon Clean Air Clean Energy, a director of the Caledon Countryside Alliance, etc. But we made it across unnoticed, and scrambled up more escarpment on the other side until we eventually arrived at the Bruce Trail side trail near Belfountain. By this time, Knobless wasn't the only one with sore knees! Although it had been difficult going, it was a beautiful area to travel through, and it was surprising to find an area with such a wilderness feel so close to a village.
We carried on into Belfountain and had awesome coffees and snacks at The Shed. Gorgeous led a totally different route back, which saved us an hour and did not involve any clinging to steep embankments by our fingernails. We kind of missed the adventure, but on the bright side, we got back to our bikes in time to head home before dark!