Day 34. Bicycle mechanics!

Cold Brook to Beachbrook Campground (Newport Corner), Nova Scotia

9/20/23. 47 mi. AIS: 4:53. 9.6mph. Elev 2123 ft!

Last nights campground was called the Sherwood Forest. It was in the pine trees and behind it was a huge forest. Sometime in the night I heard coyotes howling… but I thought they were wolves! Do they have wolves in Nova Scotia? No they don’t, but the Eastern Canada coyotes are bigger than our southwestern US coyotes.. twice the size! Size of a border collie. Anyway… I had wolf dreams after that!!

We woke up to a nice dry tent. Easy pack up. We haven’t had a dry tent for quite awhile. Happy about that. We had a plan to stop at a bicycle shop in Kentville this morning when it opened at 9am. Made it right on time. Jim wanted them to check our chains for too much stretch. Mine was fine but his was pretty much toast. They recommended changing his cassette too but couldn’t match the 36 on his bike. (This is the gear that helps us climb the steep hills with all our gear… it’s not a common size). My bike needed new brake pads, so we had all those things taken care of this morning. Took about 1 1/2 hrs. All of this is important for our Cabot trail climbs and descents… it’s going to be gnarly. 😱

The first bike shop was called Valley Stove and Cycle. Not only do they carry a huge variety of bicycles and gear but sell all kinds of wood stoves too! Got all the seasons covered. Bill, the owner, was a good guy and took care of us right away. He suggested Jim try another bike shop in Windsor.. which was on our route.

Leaving Kentville we jumped on the rail trail. This time it had a nice surface so we cruised along pretty well. The next town was Wolfville. It had a pretty good sized University.. Acadia University. About 5000 students. Really cute main street with lots of restaurants and shops. Beautiful Victorian homes near the campus. Looked like an interesting community. We didn’t spend too long there… in and out of the IGA (grocery store).

Next stop was a historical site memorializing the Acadian deportation. It’s called Grand Pre. Also gives credit to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for his poem Evangeline… commemorating the deportation. Anyway it was time for a little history lesson about Nova Scotia’s ancestry… and a picnic lunch.

This concluded the easy part of todays ride. Our next stop was Windsor… bicycle shop. One of the workers at the Stove and bicycle shop gave us turn by turn directions to Windsor to keep us off the busy Hwy 1 of yesterday. It was a beautiful ride with plenty of “Upsy-Downsy”. The last road into Windsor was great… called Bog Road…brand new asphalt, bog on oneside and a few homes on the other. Quiet and smooth.

As we entered Windsor there was a bike shop right there. Different one than Bill at shop #1 told us about. This shop was called The Spoke and Note.. all things bicycle up front and music in the back (guitars and such). Tony, the owner, young family guy, had the right cassette size! He popped Jim’s bike on the stand and changed it out in about 15 minutes!!!

Tony recommended Lisa’s Cafe down the street for dinner. Good food. Our campground was quite a bit further with no restaurants anywhere nearby. We needed to eat an early diner then ride the 2 more hours to camp. So dinner at 3 ish it was. Dinner special… homemade lasagna and Caesar salad. Lisa boxed us a Peanut Butter Pie “to go” to eat at camp tonight. Perfect… don’t forget the Coca Cola. Needed some caffeine if I was going to make the remaining Upsy-Downsy, 22 km of this. It did take 2 hours too! We had 2 detours. Bridges were wiped out around here from torrential rain in early August. So many short steep climbs! Oh…and with the detours the traffic was busy… and it was at the 4:00 to 5:30 traffic hour. To remind you, none of these roads have shoulders and most of the time the outside foot or so is deteriorated.

The road to tonight’s campground was soul crushing. It finished with a steep climb (or walk). I just call that plain cruel… but we made it. Mark, the campground owner, was super nice. Took care of all our needs. There is just us and maybe two other “seasonal” campers still here. Things are winding down quickly in Nova Scotia. We had a nice hot shower and are cozy and happy in our tent. And the peanut butter pie with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle was sweet and decadent and hit the spot after a tough finish to a climbing day.

Tomorrow

To be determined. Not very many options for places to stay. We shall see what happens. It’s either a short day or a big day!