Day 3 Fort York to Darlington

Turns out Darlington Provincial Park isn't wired. So I've been driven in to Oshawa to do a brief post. I gather facilities for getting online tomorrow at Presqu'ile are iffy too, so I can't promise a new blog for Day 4. Suffice it to say that we had another day of gorgeous weather and a long ride - 88 kilometres for those who did the whole thing. I wimped out, catching a ride on a support vehicle for the last 10 kilometres, and thus missing Second Marsh, that I would very much have liked visiting as it's a wonderful wetland area around the General Motors headquarters.
I also whizzed past Thickson Woods, one of my favourite spots, a piece of virgin forest in Whitby that's an extremely important migratory bird area. Its huge white pines date back to pre-settler times and were saved from being razed for condos by committed local naturalists who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase the land.
Most thoughtful gesture of the day: the team of massage practitioners that the City of Pickering had waiting for us at a rest stop. Thank you, thank you.
Tied for best food so far: breakfast at Fort York in the junior officers' mess; lunch in Ajax, catered by a local firm; lunch in Lincoln on Day 1 that I believe was prepared by a St. Catharines restaurant. Those were exceptional - the rest have been very good, thanks to all who cooked for us.
My personal favourite event of the day: Peter and Janet Stratis's 23rd anniversary dinner at a picnic table in the Darlington park. Wine, beer and an East Indian meal that had been dropped off in Ajax by their son and transported by a support vehicle to the park and heated in foil on a camp fire. There were candles and freshly picked flowers. And it appears it was no hardship to celebrate on the trail. "This is the best vacation," Peter said. "We've done all-inclusives, Greek island vacations, after three or four days I get bored. But you wake up in the morning, and you've got 100 k to go, there's no getting bored. And it's different every day. I love it."