Halifax to Windsor: This trip started off on the wrong note. We had to change our plans since we couldn't get to Yarmouth early in the morning. The shuttles that I had checked only went in the afternoon. The Aunt person had plans so the SO and I decided to do the trip in reverse. We biked out of Halifax along the 2 initially and eventually switched over to the 1. We had left later than I would have liked (9:30ish) but we weren't going that far for the first day.
There were a variety of hills to go over as we made our way out of the Halifax-Sackville area. We stopped in Mt. Uniacke for lunch, where I got a massive plate of spaghetti (I have a feeling I know why I only lost 2lbs on the trip rather than my intended 10 or so). Part of it was the huge pasta I was intaking. The other part was the fact that the SO was slower than me. I had him at the front and constantly found myself just behind his wheel. It was a testament to my training but only further led to some frustration on my part since I was more than willing to pound over the hills, especially since I had a new cassette and derailleurs.
Once past Mt. Uniacke, things flattened a bit. We road into Windsor looking for a campground. We were directed to the Windsor Exhibition Grounds. For a mere $10 a night we got a campground with somewhat decent shower facilities (this ain't the Ritz). It was closer to the main highway, 101, than we'd like (2am listening to the logging trucks wasn't fun) but it was cheap. The other downside was again a lack of "services". MacDonald's served for both dinner and breakfast the next morning.
Daily Distance: 71.99KM
Windsor to Kingston: After having breakfast in Windsor we continued along the 1 until we hit Grand Pre. Part of this trip was a bit of a pilgrimage for me. Being an Acadian, this year was an important one since it represented 400 years since the first landing of the Acadians to North America -- 1604. I had missed the Congres Mondiale des Acadians that had been held from the 1st of August until the 15th but I wanted to visit the site anyways. I also managed to miss the family reunion (Bourques/Bourges), which is rather important to me since we were one of the first families.
I was greeted at the entrance to the Grand Pre Historical Site to a huge flag in purple, white and red flowers with yellow flowers making up the star of the Acadians. We rode the half km to the Museum itself. At a cost of $6.50 it wasn't bad. We even stayed for the 20 minute video on the Acadian story (which the Aunt person, who does film and radio work, was in both the beginning and the end). You can check out the following for more info on the Acadians: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadians and http://museum.gov.ns.ca/arch/infos/infoaca1.htm . It was all rather moving for me and at times I had a few tears.
Behind the Museum is the statue of Evageline, the mythical figure from Longfellow's poem of the same name: http://www.cajunculture.com/Other/Evangeline.htm . If you visit the site and see a grey tabby cat near the statue that is "Evangeline" the cat, the resident feline, who won't say no to a little scratch behind the ears. We went into the church, where I found both sides of my families names on the plaques that represented the first families that landed and the families that were part of the deportation in 1755.
We did depart after a quick visit to the Gift Shop and made our way to Wolfville. The route was a bit hilly until Avonport. It was here that we found a local who had hundreds of tricycles on his front lawn of a variety of designs. It seems he collects them along with CCM bikes, one of which was dressed extremely guadely in streamers and other finery. Once past Avonport, it was flat and the towns seemed to be extensions of each other.
We made the mistake of stopping in Kingston when we should have continued to Middleton and stayed there. In Kingston we stayed at Yogi Bear's Campsite ($33 per night for a tent!). I wouldn't recommend it for a cyclist as it is far from services and we had to order in a pizza. To make matters worse, it rained in the evening and we were swarmed by mating ants ( http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/Pests/flyant.htm ).
Daily Distance: 85.79KM
Kingston to Digby: We left Kingston and rolled into Middleton about an hour later, realizing that the campgrounds, right in the middle of town, would have been better. We went to the Capitol, a former 1930s theatre, for a hearty breakfast. Between Middleton and Annapolis Royal the route was flat. It was also rather cloudy and threatening rain. What we didn't know was that Hurricane Charly was on his way up the coast.
As we entered Annapolis Royal we stopped at the Tidal Power Plant to see "Sluice" the humpback whale that was trapped behind the plant. ( Tidal Power: http://www.nspower.ca/AboutUs/OurBusiness/PowerProduction/HowWeGeneratePower/TidalPower.html and Sluice the Whale: http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/08/25/f221.raw.html ). We had entered the area in a middle of a fog and saw nothing but people and foam. We went into the town itself and went for lunch at Compose Cafe, a little Austrian place. The food, albeit a bit on the pricey side, was excellent.
We made our way back to the highway. As we started I noticed I was having difficulties getting my foot into my right pedal. After bellowing to the SO to stop so I could check for rocks or such, I looked down to discover that my right pedal had lost a bit of metal and was in fact broken. Where the two screws were to hold it in place had twisted and I had to twist one down. The pedal itself was fine but I would have to watch that the metal wouldn't twist back up again and block my foot.
Once out of Annapolis Royal things got hilly. And then, IMHO, things go worse. There is a section of road where about 30KM between Annapolis Royal and Weymouth North, you have no choice but to ride the main, fast with little shoulder 101. We were forced to trundle along the gravelled shoulder. This was relatively ok but reduced our speed. In addition, because the highway was designed for modern cars, the hills were considerable. We did eventually make it to Digby under cloudy skies. We stayed at the Digby Campground, about a 10 minute walk from downtown Digby. Then again, Digby wasn't that big to begin with. We had dinner at the Fundy Restaurant and enjoyed the low tide view of the harbour. We got to see the boats come in from scallop "dragging".
Daily Distance: 91.88km
Additional Day in Digby: Since the SO believes we shouldn't bike more than 3 days in a row, we stayed another day in Digby in hopes of going whale watching. Generally speaking it's better to go on the Digby Neck to do this but I was worried about time and distance. Basically too much distance and not enough time. So we thought about using the only one in Digby. But repeated phone calls resulted in being told that there would be no travelling due to inclement weather. Hurricane Charly had hit. It poured all day on our day off.
We went to Josie's Diner for breakfast. Although it had started somewhat sunny with some clouds, the clouds won the day and remained for the rest of the day. We spent the day ducking in and out of gift shops. On the wharf is Oneills where we went for a cheap but good lunch (Digby Scallops -- deep fried or pan fried in garlic butter --for $10 including fries).Upon returning to the campsite we discovered that Charly's winds had blown our tent over and a fair amount inside the tent was wet. It wasn't too happy an experience. We tumbled dried what we could and went back to town for dinner at the Shoreline Restaurant (the one with the lighthouse on top). Again, I had spaghetti since we were going to do 100km the next day to push to Yarmouth.
Digby to ...: We went to Josie's for breakfast since it was on the way out. And then we continued on the 101, along the gravelled shoulder. Occassionally we were able to be on the road due to lighter traffic and a wider shoulder. Again, there is a lack of services. Just outside of Gilbert's Cove we were heading down the highway went I heard a thump and then things went slow. I thought I had a flat with the fish tailing that was occurring so I put on my brakes. It wasn't a flat. It was worse. The brace to my Blackburn rack had broken in half. The rack wouldn't hold. I managed to tie the rack to my seat post and walk it to the Gilbert Cove Lighthouse, where we called a taxi from Digby to pick us up.
We went back to Digby. I decided to call it quits since I was rather frustrated at the amount of repairs I had to endure for this trip. It made what should have been a fantastic trip into a totally irritating one.
Daily Distance: 22KM.
Total Trip Distance: 840KM Original Estimate: 1200KM.
Sigh. Next year I get a proper touring bike. This mountain bike I have has endured a fair amount eventhough it wasn't designed for it. I have to admit I never thought I would end up touring as much as I have and am probably lucky to have gotten this far (approximately 12 - 15,000KM over 6 years) without major repair.
The SO is talking about next year either doing Toronto to Gettysburg or Toronto to Quebec City. Maybe it will be better next year..
There were a variety of hills to go over as we made our way out of the Halifax-Sackville area. We stopped in Mt. Uniacke for lunch, where I got a massive plate of spaghetti (I have a feeling I know why I only lost 2lbs on the trip rather than my intended 10 or so). Part of it was the huge pasta I was intaking. The other part was the fact that the SO was slower than me. I had him at the front and constantly found myself just behind his wheel. It was a testament to my training but only further led to some frustration on my part since I was more than willing to pound over the hills, especially since I had a new cassette and derailleurs.
Once past Mt. Uniacke, things flattened a bit. We road into Windsor looking for a campground. We were directed to the Windsor Exhibition Grounds. For a mere $10 a night we got a campground with somewhat decent shower facilities (this ain't the Ritz). It was closer to the main highway, 101, than we'd like (2am listening to the logging trucks wasn't fun) but it was cheap. The other downside was again a lack of "services". MacDonald's served for both dinner and breakfast the next morning.
Daily Distance: 71.99KM
Windsor to Kingston: After having breakfast in Windsor we continued along the 1 until we hit Grand Pre. Part of this trip was a bit of a pilgrimage for me. Being an Acadian, this year was an important one since it represented 400 years since the first landing of the Acadians to North America -- 1604. I had missed the Congres Mondiale des Acadians that had been held from the 1st of August until the 15th but I wanted to visit the site anyways. I also managed to miss the family reunion (Bourques/Bourges), which is rather important to me since we were one of the first families.
I was greeted at the entrance to the Grand Pre Historical Site to a huge flag in purple, white and red flowers with yellow flowers making up the star of the Acadians. We rode the half km to the Museum itself. At a cost of $6.50 it wasn't bad. We even stayed for the 20 minute video on the Acadian story (which the Aunt person, who does film and radio work, was in both the beginning and the end). You can check out the following for more info on the Acadians: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadians and http://museum.gov.ns.ca/arch/infos/infoaca1.htm . It was all rather moving for me and at times I had a few tears.
Behind the Museum is the statue of Evageline, the mythical figure from Longfellow's poem of the same name: http://www.cajunculture.com/Other/Evangeline.htm . If you visit the site and see a grey tabby cat near the statue that is "Evangeline" the cat, the resident feline, who won't say no to a little scratch behind the ears. We went into the church, where I found both sides of my families names on the plaques that represented the first families that landed and the families that were part of the deportation in 1755.
We did depart after a quick visit to the Gift Shop and made our way to Wolfville. The route was a bit hilly until Avonport. It was here that we found a local who had hundreds of tricycles on his front lawn of a variety of designs. It seems he collects them along with CCM bikes, one of which was dressed extremely guadely in streamers and other finery. Once past Avonport, it was flat and the towns seemed to be extensions of each other.
We made the mistake of stopping in Kingston when we should have continued to Middleton and stayed there. In Kingston we stayed at Yogi Bear's Campsite ($33 per night for a tent!). I wouldn't recommend it for a cyclist as it is far from services and we had to order in a pizza. To make matters worse, it rained in the evening and we were swarmed by mating ants ( http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/Pests/flyant.htm ).
Daily Distance: 85.79KM
Kingston to Digby: We left Kingston and rolled into Middleton about an hour later, realizing that the campgrounds, right in the middle of town, would have been better. We went to the Capitol, a former 1930s theatre, for a hearty breakfast. Between Middleton and Annapolis Royal the route was flat. It was also rather cloudy and threatening rain. What we didn't know was that Hurricane Charly was on his way up the coast.
As we entered Annapolis Royal we stopped at the Tidal Power Plant to see "Sluice" the humpback whale that was trapped behind the plant. ( Tidal Power: http://www.nspower.ca/AboutUs/OurBusiness/PowerProduction/HowWeGeneratePower/TidalPower.html and Sluice the Whale: http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/08/25/f221.raw.html ). We had entered the area in a middle of a fog and saw nothing but people and foam. We went into the town itself and went for lunch at Compose Cafe, a little Austrian place. The food, albeit a bit on the pricey side, was excellent.
We made our way back to the highway. As we started I noticed I was having difficulties getting my foot into my right pedal. After bellowing to the SO to stop so I could check for rocks or such, I looked down to discover that my right pedal had lost a bit of metal and was in fact broken. Where the two screws were to hold it in place had twisted and I had to twist one down. The pedal itself was fine but I would have to watch that the metal wouldn't twist back up again and block my foot.
Once out of Annapolis Royal things got hilly. And then, IMHO, things go worse. There is a section of road where about 30KM between Annapolis Royal and Weymouth North, you have no choice but to ride the main, fast with little shoulder 101. We were forced to trundle along the gravelled shoulder. This was relatively ok but reduced our speed. In addition, because the highway was designed for modern cars, the hills were considerable. We did eventually make it to Digby under cloudy skies. We stayed at the Digby Campground, about a 10 minute walk from downtown Digby. Then again, Digby wasn't that big to begin with. We had dinner at the Fundy Restaurant and enjoyed the low tide view of the harbour. We got to see the boats come in from scallop "dragging".
Daily Distance: 91.88km
Additional Day in Digby: Since the SO believes we shouldn't bike more than 3 days in a row, we stayed another day in Digby in hopes of going whale watching. Generally speaking it's better to go on the Digby Neck to do this but I was worried about time and distance. Basically too much distance and not enough time. So we thought about using the only one in Digby. But repeated phone calls resulted in being told that there would be no travelling due to inclement weather. Hurricane Charly had hit. It poured all day on our day off.
We went to Josie's Diner for breakfast. Although it had started somewhat sunny with some clouds, the clouds won the day and remained for the rest of the day. We spent the day ducking in and out of gift shops. On the wharf is Oneills where we went for a cheap but good lunch (Digby Scallops -- deep fried or pan fried in garlic butter --for $10 including fries).Upon returning to the campsite we discovered that Charly's winds had blown our tent over and a fair amount inside the tent was wet. It wasn't too happy an experience. We tumbled dried what we could and went back to town for dinner at the Shoreline Restaurant (the one with the lighthouse on top). Again, I had spaghetti since we were going to do 100km the next day to push to Yarmouth.
Digby to ...: We went to Josie's for breakfast since it was on the way out. And then we continued on the 101, along the gravelled shoulder. Occassionally we were able to be on the road due to lighter traffic and a wider shoulder. Again, there is a lack of services. Just outside of Gilbert's Cove we were heading down the highway went I heard a thump and then things went slow. I thought I had a flat with the fish tailing that was occurring so I put on my brakes. It wasn't a flat. It was worse. The brace to my Blackburn rack had broken in half. The rack wouldn't hold. I managed to tie the rack to my seat post and walk it to the Gilbert Cove Lighthouse, where we called a taxi from Digby to pick us up.
We went back to Digby. I decided to call it quits since I was rather frustrated at the amount of repairs I had to endure for this trip. It made what should have been a fantastic trip into a totally irritating one.
Daily Distance: 22KM.
Total Trip Distance: 840KM Original Estimate: 1200KM.
Sigh. Next year I get a proper touring bike. This mountain bike I have has endured a fair amount eventhough it wasn't designed for it. I have to admit I never thought I would end up touring as much as I have and am probably lucky to have gotten this far (approximately 12 - 15,000KM over 6 years) without major repair.
The SO is talking about next year either doing Toronto to Gettysburg or Toronto to Quebec City. Maybe it will be better next year..
