Day 41 London ON to Brantford ON

Day 41
London ON to Brantford ON
Miles Ridden 68.0
Climbing 821 Ft.
Total Miles 2975.3
Miles To Go 616.5

Another day that provided great cycling but not much to talk about. More  cool temperatures, winds out of the west, great roads and no big hills to slow us down. I think the good riding is keeping everybody's spirits up and avoiding any anxiety and tension that might be expected to set in on the last days of a long trip.

Beautiful rolling farmland

Riders on a wheat straw bale

The farmland between London and Brantford is some of the most productive in Canada and the farms and houses looked the part. This area used to be Canada's tobacco growing region before cigarettes were taxed to near extinction. There are still a few tobacco farms and a lot more of the old curing barns. One of the crops that replaced tobacco is ginseng which is grown under cover and tended by Chinese workers largely for export to Asia.  It takes six or seven years to mature and then the soil can never grow it again.

One of the few remaining tobacco farms

A group of abandoned tobacco curing barns

A Chinese worker tends the ginseng crop

The prosperous farming area and small towns we passed through didn't prepare us for Brantford. We had to go through the city center and it was as depressing as any rundown city in the U.S. Pawn shops and check cashing services seemed to be the only functioning businesses and homeless types were sitting or lying everywhere. A little research showed that Brantford had been hit hard by factories closing and the downtown area is particularly hard hit.

Tomorrow is our last day in Canada as we cross back to the U.S. for our last rest day.