Day 67 - Our last supper !!! , hurricane ? what hurricane ???

We crossed into Cape Breton today

August 31

The buss around camp is that a hurricane ( tropical storm ) is heading our way , lots of rumors early in the morning , even the name of the monster was uncertain with Othello being top guess, only tidbits of info during the ridding day and then more rumors early in camp until finally the truth starts coming out , it’s still in the atlantic heading to land , it wont arrive here until Saturday or Sunday , and its name is Earl, so it looks like it will either affect our sailing trip to Newfoundland or our last ridding day into Saint Johns , but  to soon to tell. 

So back to today , mosquitos had us on the run again this morning , hungry little buggers they were making a lot of us leave earlier then usual. 167 was the distance for today and since we were on galley duty we needed to get in early, but not by pushing to hard as tomorrow is the real tough day as we do the Cabot Trail with three summits to climb, so we did not want to burn our legs today. 

We set an easy but steady pace and were actually pushed a bit by the wind to our first stop 45 km out in Antigonish were breakfast was had. From there it was a good fast ride to Cape Breton ( 100 km mark ) pushed by very good tail winds and then it got tough as the winds started coming straight at us and we started climbing and it was another scorcher of a day with my bike computer reading 36 at one point, progress was slow but steady . Lunch was peanut butter sandwiches and bananas in the shade by the side of the road , no fancy dinner today !! but we did treat ourselves to ice cream with just 17 km to go, getting into camp with enough time to set tents us before the cooking started with enough energy left to tackle tomorrows challenge 

It was our last supper to cook as a galley crew , beef burritos was on the menu a camp favorite and once again lost of praise was given out, all thats left is to cook breakfast in the morning !!! 

Lots of mechanical problems today , Taso and Brigitte both had broken spokes , Trevor suffered a slow leak and Ed sliced his tire and luckily was able to patch it up and make it into camp, The bikes are tired !!!!

Only a handful of pictures today . 

Total ridden today: 170.5 - Average speed: 23.3 - Ridding time: 7.17

One of the few pictures I took today 

Galley crew number 5 , a great group of people and a pleasure to work with !!!!

( Janice, Ed, Rhiannon, Trevor, Brigitte, Randy and myself )

Day 65 - I am in Nova Scotia !!!

August 30

Todays dilemma was which ferry one could catch , first possible one was the 11.15 , next the 1.30, so we left camp with no expectations , Janice, Murray and I , Ed had gone on ahead as he thought he would not be able to keep up with us today , we were all a bit tired from yesterdays sprints . 

We started of taking the set route , rode through Charlottetown again and did not stop this time, met up with Ed at the Tim Horton’s, we did not stop other then to tell him we were rolling by. The route was a bit confusing as street names and road numbers did not seem to match up but at the end we kept going east and arrived at Hwy 1 as per route instructions . At that point we realized it was just possible to make the 11.15 crossing if we just kept going at a good pace and did not stop for then next 45 km and so we rode on watching the cars go by at a rapid speed obviously heading for our ferry , we speed up the last 5 km and arrived just as the first cars started coming of the ferry ( as it had just docked ) . We got our tickets and joined a large group of out buddies already there including Ed !! , ( he took the Hwy straight through ) , more of us arrived as the cars were being loaded and I think we all made it exempt for two that went to the bike store in Charlottetown do try and solve spoke problems . 

The sailing was smooth , 75 minutes and we then proceeded to the provincial welcome sign for the usual picture taking, from there it was on to New Glasgow were we found a nice Irish pub , in the middle of Scottish country ?? and had our usual afternoon meal , me a very good lightly battered fresh haddock with chips and a very refreshing pint of Stella followed by a delicious bread pudding , when finally all consumed and many cheers latter ( we have accepted the end is near and toasts are plentiful when we drink !!)  we reluctantly left into the sweltering heat of the afternoon ( temperatures in the 30s ) . Needless to say we rode on slowly , but happy , to out destination a very nice camp ground near the town of Merigomish and once again find ourself camped by the water. 

I was sad to leave P.E.I. behind as it is one of my favorite places in Canada and because of the rush to catch the ferry I took no more pictures ( so I will be back and bring Evelyn with me so she can see it too ) Nova Scotia so far is very similar to Ontario as far as farms and landscape go , but the towns have a very European feel to them, we only covered about 40 km so far so tomorrow I’ll get a better feel of the province. 

The next two days will be challenging as tomorrow is a century ride and we cook at the end of it and the day after we climb the Cabot Trail . A good night sleep is needed !!!

Live life to it’s fullest , ride a bike !!!

Total ridden today: 134.9 - Average speed: 23.3 - Ridding time: 5.46

Waiting to board 

Nan a last minute arrival 

Don with a sign left on the side of the road for him 

Leaving P.E.I.

Cormorants 

Pictures on board ( Tom photographing Andy, Randy and Beth)

Maria Anne and I 

Just a boat going the same way we were 

Nova Scotia 

Shirley and Daniel arriving at the pub

Murray outside our chosen pup of the day

Some of the gang enjoying them selfs 

Bread pudding , so so good !!!

Slow ride out of town

These guys were having a ball bathing in the river by the side of the road 

Everone was taking pictures of the sunset 

Day 64 - Fast riding , slow eating !! - another provence down !!!

The bridge to P.E.I.

29 August

Today we left early for the bridge to go to P.E.I. , we are not allowed to ride across so we had to wait for a shuttle to take us there , the understanding that the first shuttle would be there by 8AM and take 15 of us. So early we left and today Serge joined us and we rode fast , I mean very fast !! to get there, and we were one of the first , hard to do that at  7 in the morning !!! . Our mistake was not taking a number right away as we took pictures of the bridge so we ended up on the second shuttle which only takes 7 bikes at a time and round trip is about an hour. 

Once on the other side we did the usual pictures at the provincial sign and then headed to Victoria By The Sea a very pretty village by the water as the name suggests , on the way we passed through the rolling countryside of this province , doted with farms and very neatly kept houses , its a very peaceful place it even has it’s own particular smell ( probably the red clay , maybe the potato fields, maybe a mix of both ???)  

In Victoria we had breakfast at a very nice Hotel, it was suppose to be tea but except for Murray we all had coffee I had a smoked salmon and egg salad sandwich which once again was delicious !!!, we had a good time here even trying on some of the hats .

From there it was another fast run to Charlottetown to spend the afternoon sightseeing , we actually went off route to do this as there was some modifications to it already re: bridges out. 

After our fast and furious ride in we headed to the city center if search of the Parliament building and Cows ( world famous ice cream store ) , we spotted the Parliament but searched out Cows as our first stop and had some of the best ice cream of the trip !! I had a Don Cherry ( cherry with chocolate chips in it ) ummm umm good !!!

Then it was a tour of the Parliament were Canada was created , very moving to see the place were the fathers of Confederation worked on the principles that made this country what it is . 

More eating then at an out door patio were pizza and local beer were consumed in quantities , both delicious , we were joined by Simo and Jaques at the end and a good time was had by all . 

Then as we were about to head out Serge suggested we go down to the pier , once there pictures were in order and as we set up to do so a gentleman offered to take them , it turns out he is a busker and was preforming there , he asked if we wanted to hear him play and of course we said yes so we spent some time there enjoying his music.

From there once again another fast and furious run for camp 11 km away arriving with just enough time to throw up our very wet tents ( from the due of the morning ). Two helpings of clam chowder and salad later !!! I got the rest of my stuff together and now finally at 9 Pm in the dark I’m writing this . 

Today was an excellent day , weather was great , cycling was great , scenery was great , companions in the adventure were great to be with, and this provence is a beautiful place to be in !!!

I took way too many pictures today , here are just a few of them and it's a lot of pictures !!!

Total ridden today : 96.4 - Average speed 23.4 - Ridding time : 4.06 

Loading bikes onto shuttle to cross bridge 

We arrived in P.E.I. !!!!!

The bridge from the P.E.I. side

Victoria by the Sea

We almost has breakfast here but they did not like us so we moved on.

Trevor and Brigitte 

Breakfast at the Hotel ( Serge , Janice and Murray )

Murray, myself, Simo and Serge

The Hotel

Bob C with an ice cream from Cows

Charlottetown 

The legislation for P.E.I.

Were confederation began 

The fathers of confederation 

The parliament building

Were we eat our afternoon snack 

pizza and beer !!!!!

Serge

At the water front ( myself, Ed, Janice, Murray & Serge )

The gentleman busker