Saskatchewan

Leaving Wainwright in the late afternoon we hit the road bound for Saskachewan. Less than a kilometer out of town we got this view and more or less could see what we had ahead of us. 60km later we reached the border and 25 beyond there we arrived in a cute little town Neilburg, Sask. We started looking around for a campground we heard was in town. We ran into a father and son out for their own bike ride. They invited us over to stay with them and we were happy not to have to stay in the gravelled parking lot that was supposed to be the campground! It was a great night, and after a hearty omelette and toast breakfast with Sheldon, Lorelie, and the kids we left to see more of Saskatchewan.

The pedalling was pretty easy for the most part, but we ran into more hills than we were expecting. The northern route we took has more valleys and rolling hills than the route we originally planned for our trip. Although most of the highway had very little for shoulders, and the pavement was rough and rocky, the traffic was light and it was easy to stay out of the way. Our biggest troubles came when large tractors crossed our path, we had to watch out for some slow moving large loads.

From Neilburg we passed through Cut Knife, Sask and checked out the worlds largest Tomahawk, had some of Lorelie`s tasty energy bars and powered on to the Battlefords. After going from visitor info, to the public library, to a corner gas station in Battleford and not being able to find anyone who was willing to help answer any questions, we got frustrated and headed another 5km over the brigde to North Battleford. After a few more negative experiences with the people in North Battleford, we finally (after 120km) found a campground we could stay at. After 1000km of cycling, this was the first time we had people yelling at us out of their cars, and making inappropriate comments. It was disapointing after being shown so much hospitality on our trip to have such a negative experience and we were glad to get moving again.

After another 80km day we arrived in Hafford, where once again the people were friendly and we found a free local camping area next to the town ball diamond.

Another 80km and almost no washrooms later we reached Shellbrook, and another community campground. By the end of the day the headwinds were so bad that we were pedalling hard and barely moving. We saw several twisters in the fields around us that were at least 30feet wide at the bottom! This is something that we don`t often see in BC, so it was a little bit scary but also a little bit exciting. One of these passed through on the highway between us, but luckily it was behind Joanna and she didn`t know about it until after it was gone.

Our last day in Saskatchewan was a short 45km ride into Prince Albert, where Luke`s cousin Kenny met us and drove us back to Flin Flon, Manitoba, Luke`s hometown.