As you can see from the Tumblr posts, my Lake Erie tour has begun. Here’s a brief recount of the first 7 days.

May 26, Saturday (day 1)
Sandusky, OH to Euclid, OH (76 miles)
The ride to Cleveland was fairly scenic and on the lake. Getting through Cleveland, however, was not enjoyable. There may have been a more cycle-friendly route but I wound up going through some less-than-scenic areas. Ended up at a very nice Ramada for the night.

May 27, Sunday (day 2)
Euclid, OH to Ashtabula, OH (60 miles, 136 total)
Finally got back within view of the lake. Passed through Geneva-On-The-Lake which was rather interesting. About 8 miles from Conneaut, a strong storm blew in just as I came to a small park with a covered shelter. Some folks stopped to ask if I would be OK and indicated that the storm was supposed to continue late into the afternoon and was worse toward the East. Unfortunately, I didn’t check my own weather source and headed back about 5 miles to Ashtabula for the night. As it turned out, the storm moved further east rather quickly. Oh well…

May 28, Monday (day 3)
Ashtabula, OH to Westfield, NY (77 miles, 213 total)
Retraced the 5 miles that I backtracked yesterday and retuned to route 531. Nice ride through Conneaut and south over the main bridge on route 20. Eventually worked my way back over to route 5 and had a very pleasant ride through Erie, PA. The last few miles in PA were on very rough roads but fortunately they changed to butter in NY. Finished the day at a nice little motel.

May 29, Tuesday (day 4)
Westfield, NY to Fort Erie, Ontario (76 miles, 289 total)
Pleasant ride early but with some nagging knee (right) pain. Lowered the seat a bit which seemed to help. Thunderstorms seemed to stay just to the south of the lake and although I went through some sprinkles, I never donned the rain gear. Buffalo has some very nice bike trails but navigating them can be a pain. Fortunately, another cyclist helped guide me to the Peace Bridge. Walked across the bridge, survived the customs “interrogation”, and checked into a Ho-Jo in Fort Erie.

May 30, Wednesday (day 5)
Fort Erie, ON to Dunnville, ON (43 miles, 332 total)
Some nice roads near the lake plus about 5 miles on the Friendship Trail into Port Colborne. Unfortunately, the headwind and the saddle sores (actually, just a sore saddle) still made for a tough day. Checked in to the Riverview Motel.

May 31, Thursday (day 6)
Dunnville, ON to Port Rowan, ON (56 miles, 388 total)
Took a very direct route to Port Dover where I had lunch. Then followed the coast to Port Rowan where I checked in to a very nice B&B (Seasons House).

June 1, Friday (day 7)
Port Rowan (rest day)
Today’s forecast was for all-day rain so this made for a great place to take a day off.

If all goes well, I’ll take a shuttle from Windsor, across the bridge into Detroit, on Tuesday morning and hopefully get back to Sandusky on Wednesday.