It was going to be a slow easy day with an unexpected but great twist to its end.

We’d used back roads for most of the day, intentionally steering clear of the highways and buzzing the southern edge of Lake Ontario. We’d stopped a few times for bum brakes and photos but for the most part, going had been slow with the State speed limit being only 55mph and we weren’t about to get pulled over for the sake of getting somewhere 10 minutes.

By late afternoon we’d pulled into another wooden fronted gas station, filled up were about to hoist ourselves once again back into the saddle.

Doug and Jan had pulled up behind us blocking our way as Jan leant out of the window and asked a barrage of exciited questions. Lisa was already grinning as we answered as best we could, explaining that we were heading off to try and find some local camping. With that Jan surprised us and as sure as hell her husband Doug when she blurted, “Hey we have a camper van you can come and stay, we live just down the road, do you want to come and stay the night with us”? Lisa looked at me, I looked back and we both looked at Doug who was now smilling. “Are you sure”, we asked more than once, giving Doug an opportunity to get a word in. We were genuinly blown away by their kind offer, and within minutes were joking about the frequency that Jan and Doug drove into gas stations to pick up stray Euroean bikers. We accepted their kind offer.

We’d thown on our gear and had followed Jan back down the road we’d just ridden up and then taken a left before pulling up into their home. The viewpoint from their home overlooking the lake was stunning.

With a few beers bought and some burgers thrown on the grill we sat down and started to enjoy the company of our new friends and their wonderful hospitality and enthusiasm. We’re still 'wowed' by the trust, hospitality and friendship we’re shown by people we meet as we travel. When we’re shown so much hate, crime, perversion and abuse by the world’s media it’s easy to start to believe the world is a bad place. The reality is that for the most part people are generous and hospitable, good and kind. But those qualities just don’t make the dramatic TV we’ve all become addicted to.

With our new friends we headed down to Sodus Point and watched a beautiful sunset over Sodus Bay and took a drive by Sodus Point Lighthouse.

…ain’t travel grand. BTW - Lisa giggles at the name.

We’d left Jans late with the idea of heading out to Chimney bluff’s. By the time we’d realized that we’d taken a wrong turn, we’d gone 20- miles out of our way. In fact we’d not taken a wrong turn, we’d simply missed the ‘turn’. The Bluffs were pretty but we’d arrived at mid-day and with the sun overhead there were no dramatic shadow that would have added a dimension and size to these knife edged coastal rock formations.

We’d walked the beach, ridden into the wrong car park, repacked the bikes twice before find the right place and scrambling up the steep dirt track to find the small narrow track that would get us to the bluff overlook.

The day was getting hotter and we’d not been drinking enough water and Lisa had felt the walk - the heavy boots and hill had taken it out of her. With a few photos snapped we’d ridden to and through Rochester and into Oswego.

Our day ended up with a motel room and a movie. Lisa was feeling the effects of the day. Hancock was good fun and yes…Will Smith has another huge hit on his hands.

We plonked ourselves down in one of the tables nearest the window and whilst Lisa ordered the coffee’s...and after being asked if she wanted her coffee wet or dry...(?!)....I laid out the laptop and our electronic parafanalia.

We were going to be here all day. By late afternoon we’d got a fair bit done and were about to order our 5th coffee of the day. A young shaven headed man we’d heard deep in conversation earlier was on his way out of the door.

5 seconds later he was bounding back in full of enthusiasm and barely able to contain his excitement. He was stood over us, wearing a grin from ear to ear and asking a flood of questions. It was obvious this wasn’t going to be a quick 2 minute chat and Chris’s questions seemed to be a little more thought out than the usual…”how big is your fuel tank” that we normally get.

He’d obviously travelled and was keen to hear about Africa.

Chris is a youth Pastor at a local missionary school, not to mention musician, author and general good guy. We’d discussed our current issue about getting internet connection and our frustration at not being able to update our site as we want.

You could see the lightbulb come on in Chriss’s head. “Hey, we run the missionary school just down the road, it’s 6 miles form here, we have dorm rooms, a kitchen and internet connection. Right now it’s empty, why don’t you come and stay with us”?

It’s too good an offer to pass up, so tomorrow we’ll be packing up and heading dowm the road.

Thanks Chris, see you soon.

Wow, what a welcome, Pastor Kirk, the owner and driving force of the school came across and said hi and struck us as a power house fo faith and inspiration to many.

With a tour of the school we had our bags off the bikes and into a room within 30 minutes.

Now it’s down to work.

With the late night we left mission school a lot lot later than we intended and rode down to Watertown. Crashed out in a Days Inn and went to the movies. It had been great to have been housed at the mission school but we now just needed some private time for Lisa and myself and something to take our brains off presentations and computer stuff.

We were on our way back to the campsite fairly late in the evening and decided to pop into the local supermarket for some breakfast items – yes- this supermarket was open all night! Upon reaching the cashier Simon began talking to the people infront of him, Donna and Dan and after just a few mins they said that we could come and camp in their backyard! They already have a house-full and a few more will make no difference. WOW – aren’t people kind. They realized that we wanted to be around for the Ironman – not that we knew that it was one before we arrived mind you! We will go and see them tomorrow just to make sure.

OK, so we’ve had another great meeting at the same super market we were at last night. Coming out of the market we met Freddie and friends checking over the bikes. Maddie was in the front of the 4X4 that they’d arrive in. After the usual “hey, hi’s and how are you’s”, Maddie got my attention and shouted “Hey English kid will you sign my ass”, OK, that’s a bit friendly I thought?

Yeah, I’d just misheard. Maddie leg was hurt and what she’d actually shouted was …will you sign my cast! A few minutes later and we’d found a pen and I was sitting on the ground trying to think up something clever to write on the black cast.

We’d mentioned about camping on Donnas lawn and then Freddie spoke up. “Hey my parents have a bunch of apartments that have just been remodeled, there empty now and unfirnished but you could have one for a few nights if you want”.

This was great the idea of an apartment was fantastic. The weathers been bad and more rain has been forecast. We’d already made some calls and all the campsites and motels are fully booked.

We’ve arranged to meet up with Freddie tomorrow and head down to the apartment after letting Donna and Dan know. They were happy that we'd found somewhere dry to stay for the next few days

The follwing day we ended up being asked by Freddie and the others to do out on the boat and do some water-skiing - or rather wake boarding. It just a shame that I cant join in but Simon did and had a great time - he really is quite good especially as its been many years since he has tried it - and then only once. We had a great time and it was exhilarating to be out on Lake Placid in a boat - and a fast one at that! Fun. Such amazing opportunities seem to come our way. Thanks Freddie

3.2 mile swim – 112 mile bike ride – 26.4 mile run. All in the same day, now doesn’t that sound like fun???

Lake Placid is absolutely buzzing. 2100 athletes and their families, trainers and entourage have taken over the town and there’s a cool excited atmosphere on the streets.

Today was an early start. We’d planned on photographing the day and the pro elite athletes were starting their swim at 6:45am, which meant that people, other cameramen, film teams and spectators would be securing their spot from 5:00am onwards. Uhhgggggg! Nobody should have to get up this early. The alarm had gone off at 5:00am and Lisa and I had walked the 15 minutes into town and found a spot by the edge of Mirror Lake. The town was already packed and thousands of athletes were heading over to the starting line. Hundreds of others were greasing themselves up and or pulling on expensive looking wetsuits.

We’d found a good looking location yesterday from where we could photograph the start. The bank was choca block with people; we were going to have to get creative. I knew exactly the kind of photo I was after; I wanted to really capture the real madness of the water start, the physicality of it. We’ve had friends back in the UK who entered triathlons and had been told of the brutality of the water starts. This one was going to get nasty as it was the qualifier for the Ironman world Championships in Hawaii.

20 minutes before the start I’d taken the plunge literally and waded into the lake with the camera and mono-pod. You can check out the photos and make your own opinion as to whether we caught the essence of chaotic frenzied start. I like one of the shots in particular.

The day had started with s feeble sun and now even that had gone and had been replaced with the once again heavy clouds. It had started to rain just as the swimmers got into the water - I think we ended up wetter than them! With the rain coming down harder all the time we headed back to the apartment to dry off and check out the images.n God! we are lucky not to be in the tent!

We headed back into town as the rain came down even more; but this time we were in full motorbike waterproofs with.....sandels! Very sexy. Now we were going to spend the rest of the afternoon trying to get photos, whilst protecting the camera gear.

We did our best to photo a few of the pro athletes finishing but the rain was making it almost impossible. The two of s trying to huddle under or one small umbrella whilst trying to protect the cameras from drowning made getting good shots almost impossible. It hadn't stopped raining all day.

We headed over and into Dan and Donnas’ restaurant, Pasta La Vista, with the intention of having 1 beer and sharing 1 burger, that didn’t quite happen. Donna had already prepped the bar staff and to our surprise had arranged tonight’s meal and drinks on them. After, all our time on the road we were still shocked, obviously in a good way. Let me try to explain what I mean. Sure we’d spoken to Donna and Dan and had got on really well, but so do lots of people, probably every day. Both of them are genuinely nice people. They struck us as warm and genuine. So why did they decide to simply provide us with a complimentary evening. As I’ve said before, we’re just riding bikes a long way, we’re not curing cancer or saving children. Sure we’re also nice enough, I think we’re polite and pretty friendly but to be on the receiving end of so much outright hospitality, seemingly given without agenda…it’s humbling and we’d be weird not to ponder on it. I mean, they have a business to run and bills to pay so to just say “hey whatever you want to eat is on us and by the way here’s a bottle wine to enjoy whilst you’re deciding”, that’s a pretty big deal, well it is to us. Not just in term of the monetary value but more importantly the gesture itself.

Well, we had a great evening and spent a good part of it talking with Donna as she worked and feeling a little sorry for Dan who’d completely lost his voice.

We eventually left at 12:00 and staggered back to the apartment. It was a fun walk back. Lisa, a little worse for wear from numerous cocktails, decided that the orange police cone would make a much better hat for the 20 minute walk, and luckily I still had my camera .........

Freddie and Nelson’s parents have been out of town for a while working on the boat in which they live for part of the year. With their return today we’d also accepted an offer to stay with them in their home for a few nights.

We were about to hit a hiccup. With both bikes loaded we’d waited for Freddie and his Land Rover. Lisa was already on her bike and turning the key in the ignition. Nothing, nothing was happening. No lights in the dash, nothing. I figured that the autocoms linked directly to her battery has just run it empty, so a quick jump start and we’d be sorted.

With the jump leads hooked up I was suddenly and frighteningly transported back to the Amazon. With power entering her bike, plumes of acrylic smelling white smoke was lofting gently into the air from the host of wires that snake around Lisa’s bike. “Shut it off, shut if off”, Lisa yelled. Oh God I hate this electrical stuff. 15 minutes later and we’d nervously applied power a few more time to try to see where the smoke was coming from. It was the main wiring loom for the bike.

We needed a plan. Freddie had bike trailer that he could attach to the back of the landy, which was the solution.

We manhandled Lisa’s F650GS onto the trailer and with me following made the short drive up to Freddie’s parents home. We parked right up in the spacious garage. Another 30 minutes and with the mess of wires stripped and cut the problem was obvious. The main live wire from the battery to the alternator had chaffed and touch several other, had heated up and then the lot had burned through the paint of bike’s frame and then soldered it’s together, frame and all. What a mess.

A quick phone call to BMW and I was feeling sick. A new wiring loom was $964.00 before TAX and would have to come from Germany, that would take 3-weeks; the install cost in labor would be $2,000.00 or more. OK, well all of that was out of the question.

I had several conversations with Freddie about sorting it ourselves and although only 20, Freddie convinced me that he knew what he was doing when it comes to electrics. For some strange reason, he had me convinced. We don’t really know Freddie but yeah, he had my confidence, and so with the decision made to try to fix this ourselves we headed over to Saranac Lake and the auto shop.

With 8, 10, 12 and 14 gauge wire bought along with some pretty sturdy waterproof electrical connectors we set about stripping and cutting the bad wires. To tell you the truth I pretty much just held stuff and watched as Freddie confidently cut, sliced and installed the new replacement wire. Heat shrinking the connectors would ensure they staid water-tight.

Two hours after starting this worrying task, we checked the connections, reattached the battery and nervously turned the key in the ignition and pressed the starter switch. Lisa’s 650 barked to life, cleared its throaght and then roared. Lisa had heard the familiar noise and had come running out of the house, wearing a huge grin.

Freddie was physically thrown back as Lisa hugged him enthusiastically.

Tomorrow I’ll sort out cable tying the wires and putting the guts of the bike all back together.

Thanks Freddie, you’re a life saver.

With the bike worries behind us we set about enjoy an evening with the Mills family and getting to know a little about Fred senior and Eilene. The fact the Eilene is a gourmet chef didn’t hurt matter. Dinner was treat.