Day 46 Hamburg to Canandaigua.

There was only a continental breakfast available this morning and we were quite late starting off after that due to the difficulty of getting a pump that actually worked to pump our tyres up!! There were several pumps but it was a constant scramble to get either the red pump or the 'girlie pink' one, as these were the best. One or two of the others were OK if you had someone else to hold the head of the pump onto the valve while you pumped up to typically 110psi, but the rest were no good at all. Our 5 eventually set off and as most people were heading for a local bicycle museum we did the same. We did take a wrong turn in some road works and so arrived there just after the guided tour had started, but we didn't miss much. The owner/curator/guide chap was clearly passionate about bikes and everything connected with them and gave a very interesting talk about all the exhibits. It was hard to believe that this was a private collection as there was so much. The talk was very American biased and there was only passing reference to anyone else who had possibly invented anything, Americans invented the bicycle, the pneumatic tyre (tire in American), won all the first races and were instrumental in all major developments, apparently. If The USA ever needs a propaganda expert to serve the coutry, then this bloke would be the man for it!!
After we left our pace wasn't high until we realised we were being pursued by a big black cloud complete with heavy rain, lightning and thunder. At this point we increased to a much brisker pace to try to reach the SAG which was only a couple of miles away. About a mile from the SAG as we entered a little town heavy spots of rain started falling and the lightning was very close by, followed instantly by ear splitting claps of thunder. I was on the front, shouting that the SAG was close by, when all of a sudden a lightning bolt hit so close by that the street lights, which were turned off, illuminated for a moment before fading off!! At this juncture I looked behind and people were peeling off to find shelter wherever they could, some rode into an open garage next to a house and the owner not only welcomed them in, but started finding chairs for them to sit on. Meanwhile I carried on as fast as I could (it's amazing how fast you can go when there's the prospect of a ligtning strike!) and got to the SAG which was next to a filling station where there was shelter under the canopy.
The storm passed quickly, but of couse left wet roads and where there was mud from road works it meant a dirty shower from tyres. There were some long hills and the vineyards had disappeared, being replaced by huge fields of wheat, some of which were being harvested. At around mile 55 we saw that Skip had a punture, normally not a noteworthy event, but in this case it was as Skip was one of only two people not to have had a puncture at all so far. We passed him and within about 50 yards my front tyre punctured, only my second and the first on the road. It was quickly changed and I had to dig about 4 or 5 pieces of glass out of the tyre.
The second SAG was at 69 miles in the delightful town of Avon, which was how I imagined 'small town America' to be. Not only did we eat SAG food, but also went for lunch in a nice cafe (remember the eat on sight policy) where the locals were all interested to hear the story so far.
Upon arrival at the hotel we relaxed a little before I went off to visit the town and Lake Canandaigua, both of which were worth the visit. Lake Canandaigua is the largest of The Finger Lakes that this area is named after. They are long narrow lakes in valleys carved out by the last ice sheet. Back at the hotel I cleaned The Mule down and went for dinner.
The distance today was 110.1 miles.