Day 41. A day on a bike

Antigonish to Port Hastings (Cape Breton), Nova Scotia

9/27/23. 40 mi. AIS: 3:50. 10.4 mph. Elev. 1801 ft.

We had another pretty simple easy day. We didn’t have to travel far to our next stop for the day. The weather forecast said sunny but we saw very little of that today. It peaked out for about an hour around noon. Temps were in the low 60’s with a bit of wind. Whenever we were close to the coastline you could feel the chillier air in the wind. Unlike yesterday when we could see the water for miles, today we only had a few opportunities when we were close to a bay. Our landscape today had a few bigger farms, mostly country homes and woods along the way.

We took a few really nice backroads with minimal traffic. Far less dump trucks and heavy equipment than the last couple of days. We weren’t disappointed by that. We met several people curious about our travels today. All of them were both excited and astonished that we are headed to the Cabot Trail! There hasn’t been anyone who doesn’t love the Cabot Trail, telling us it is gorgeous with a dramatic coastline… and really steep😱. But we are stronger riders than we were 40 days ago!

I noticed the fall colors were beginning to really show up today. We rode through a low boggy area that was colorful. The locals seem to think we will see some pretty good colors as we get higher into Cape Breton.

Reflecting on the past two weeks in Nova Scotia, I’d have to say it’s a very beautiful Province. We have seen a variety of landscapes from river valleys to deeply wooded hills to the seashore coastline. Big farms with silos, small country farms, little tiny communities to small cities with lots of activity. Today we had lunch on the church steps of St Peter’s Catholic Church (no photo). It had a few nice steps up to the door and blocking the cold, coastal wind. The sun just happened to be out too! As we were sitting enjoying our lunch a car came driving straight up to us from across the road. Uhoh.. we’re going to get bounced, we thought. Nope… nice older man (maybe a priest or Monsignor in civilian clothes) jumped out of his car just to open up the church. Of course he visited with us about our journey, remarked on the chilly air, told us we were welcome to take a look inside and promptly drove straight back to his house across the highway.

Today we could hear chainsaws all day. It was not lawn mowing day…. It was a wood day.

The people we’ve visited with in Nova Scotia are very friendly. Their homes and friendly nature lead me to believe they are not pretentious people. They work hard on their properties (mowing and sawing). The pass us very carefully and even stop when we are waiting for traffic to clear to cross a street. Very few people seem to be in a big hurry. Maybe it’s different in the “city”, Halifax, but everywhere we’ve been so far is small town/country easy going.

Tonight’s motel/kitchenette is on the Cape Breton Island. We had to cross a tight narrow causeway onto the island. Just before the causeway we had to climb our only big climb of the day. Naturally it was in our granny gear and was quite long… but it wasn’t that hard. I guess I am getting stronger😊. All this leads to being able to accomplish the Cabot trail next week. The ultimate test of strength and determination. I think of all the hard climbs I’ve ever accomplished (even though I was younger) and tell myself I’ll be able to do it.

Tomorrow…

We are taking the Celtic Shores Coastal trail to Mabou. If it’s like it sounds we’ll be along the shoreline. We’ve heard it’s a nice well-maintained crushed gravel trail with rest stops. They allow ATV’s on the trail… but not dump trucks!! Looking forward to it!

Answers to ???’s…

Malignant Cove was named after a war ship The Malignant headed to Quebec that shipwrecked in that cove during the American Revolution 1770’s!