Grey-Bruce Boomers Winter2023

y May Tettero
TRAVEL
I
’ve been climbing for over two hours and it’s
been raining all day. My only companion is the
electronic navigation voice that comes out of my
phone, which is mounted on my handlebars, and
now she tells me to continue on for 550 metres. That
is just over half a kilometre.
Approaching the Pyrenees
Mountain Range.
“I can do that,” I say to myself. My mind is going wild
with fantasies of what could happen after said 550
metres. A change in direction? Arrival at a mountain
village? The top of this mountain? I look up at the
treetops on both sides of my path and think perhaps
I’m seeing some light.
Despite wearing rain gear, my cycling shorts are
soaked and feel like a huge, wet diaper. I’m near
the top of my Subjective Discomfort Rating (SDR),
but the word ‘diaper’ distracts me momentarily and
makes me think of the three children I have raised
into adulthood and my four grandchildren as well.
The youngest grand-daughter, Noora May, is just a
year old and I can’t wait to see her when I get back
because she has learned to walk during the five weeks
I’ve been away.
It must have been half-a-kilometre by now, and sure
enough, the disembodied voice tells me, “Now keep
left, then continue for 1.2 kilometres.” I see I’m at
another switchback and there is no relief in sight.
Just as I think I can’t go much longer, suddenly
I’m entering a hamlet in these French mountains.
Civilization means coffee, and within a minute I see
the longed-for café. Under the awning, a collection
of hikers, or pelerins as they are called here on the
Chemin de Saint Jacques, are seated at a table. Their
packs, adorned with large scallop shells symbolic of
the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, are leaning
against the wall. Red and yellow rain ponchos are
draped on the balustrade and make for a colourful
scene on this dreary day.
Community Volunteer
Income Tax Program
Volunteer with us for our upcoming CVITP
Program at our Walkerton, Chesley,
Kincardine and Port Elgin Branches.
No experience necessary.
Soon I discover that I have arrived just past 2 p.m
WINTER 2023/24 • 5