Day 14: Sunday, 15th July. Destination: Carriage House Inn, Sodus Point, New York

Three miles to Selkirk and breakfast within a stones-throw of Lake Ontario, still frustratingly out of sight. Short stack of blueberry pancakes for Edward & I, which turned out to be of epic proportion and defeated us half way through. We had them wrapped to go, and I managed to disgust Edward by eating mine cold and doughy a little further down the road. A long day in the saddle (69 miles) with a mild but persistent headwind for most of it, but the cycling was fairly flat. We stopped for lunch in Fulton, an unremarkable town redeemed by a long, wide bridge and a characterful red-neck family diner where I managed to disgust E&E again by choosing oatmeal for lunch.

16 miles further down the road we reached Fair Haven, technically on Lake Ontario but once again keeping it just out of sight. We stopped at a pretty, white-painted art gallery - because a sign outside promised a café - and made our way through the lobby past sundry local paintings to a small servery area where a matronly lady stood in front of an impressively shiny espresso machine. Good news, as strong coffee is hard to come by in these parts: most diners preferring to serve the translucently weak filter variety. The good news was short-lived, though, as the lady had no idea how to use the machine and proposed to use the filter beside it. Edward (knowing about such things) wanted to help, but the lady was stubbornly resistance to his advances. I sloped out of the gallery clutching a plate of muffins, resigning myself to filter; but Edward was persistent and about 20 minutes later came out of the front door proudly bearing three hard-earned cups. Meanwhile, Ewa had more success across the street, bringing back delicious ice-creams. I have a feeling we sung some ice-cream related song as we headed out of town, but I could be mistaken.

Finally we reached Sodus Point and our first evening on Lake Ontario. Our B&B was a lovely house in a perfectly manicured neighbourhood. We ate at a lakeside restaurant, were people arrived by speedboat. It seems to me that by reaching the first of the Great Lakes I’ve successfully crossed the first discernable chunk of my journey – at least, from the perspective of a US wall-map. It has been good so far, and apart from a few itchy insect bites on my legs, all is well.