Nova Scotia
Its good to be in a county that has money with the Queens face on it again!
Canada is HUGE. Lying in my tent playing with the GPS as you do, I discovered my house in Newcastle, England was 2611 miles away. The Alaskan border was 3162 miles away in a straight line and 4849 miles by the shortest road route.
Collecting the bike, a BMW F650GS from Adrians Cycles in Moncton, New Brunswick mid afternoon in hot sunshine I headed for Nova Scotia. The 12,000 mile service cost $324 Canadian (180 pounds sterling). Probably a good deal cheaper than a BMW dealer although I hadnt checked. Adrian, a Dutchman who emigrated in 1957 had a BMW dealership but now in semi-retirement has a shop selling spares, the occasional second hand bike and does servicing and repairs with his son.
There is a monument in Moncton commemorating the French who had settled Nova Scotia first, in 1604 (apart from the First Nation Indians of course). A treaty signed the area over to the British who from 1755 to 1765 rounded up the French and shipped them back to France or one of the French colonies. Some escaped and settled in Quebec. A similar monument in Nova Scotia celebrated the first Scottish settlers from the Highland Clearances, making no mention of the French they replaced. So, we forced the French out to make room for the Crofters we were evicting from the Scottish Highlands. Makes you proud to be British.
The river flowing through Moncton is known as the Chocolate River due to its colour caused by the mud. Sure enough it is very close to the colour of Cadbury Dairy Milk. The high tides cause a tidal bore to surge in the river twice a day.
Chocolate River, Moncton, New Brunswick
Road works made for a slow start out of Moncton but it wasnt long before the traffic thinned out and I was left with the usual winding road almost to myself. Its great how easy it is to find good, little used roads almost anywhere in North America. A flat bed transporter carrying a JCB type digger in the roadside ditch blocked the road while two heavy recovery vehicles pulled it out. I got chatting to two Harley Davison riders waiting in the queue. They were heading for Cabots Trail too. There was the two HD riders and a car in front of me and no other vehicle turned up in the 20 minutes I was waiting.
Northumberland Strait
140 miles later I camped overnight on the shores of Northumberland Strait then continued to Whycocomagh Provincial Park, Cape Breton in Nova Scotia via the Sunrise Trail. The weather had turned, looking overcast with some light showers. I was given a camping pitch next to a wooden shelter where I could cook and hang out if the weather was bad. This turned out to be such an asset, and with more rain forecast I decided to stay here and see Cape Breton as day trips rather than moving camp again.
Northumberland Strait Campsite
I saw another Bald Eagle flying over Bras dOr Lake near the campsite. That makes four in total since arriving in Canada a week ago. I'm still waiting for my first moose and Canadian bear though.
Cabots Trail lived up to expectations. Great roads and scenery. I first heard of Cabots Trail on a Billy Connolly travel TV program I saw whilst planning my trip and decided I had to come.
Cabots Trail, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Cabots Trail
Cabots Trail
Bay St. Laurence and Meat Cove at the northern end of Cape Bretton were well worth the detour. Meat Cove lies at the end of a five mile gravel road with stunning ocean views and boasts a cliff top campsite. I originally intended to stay here and take two or three days riding Cabots Trail. This would be the best way of seeing it but with so many wet days forecast, dashing round on the only dry day suited me best.
Bay St. Laurence
Bay St. Laurence
Bay St. Laurence
Meat Cove Campsite
Cabots Trail
Lighthouse On Cabots Trail
Cabots Trail
Cabots Trail
Baddeck, Cabots Trail
On a trip to Port Hawksbury I plotted a route on the GPS that included a stretch of unpaved road. Assuming that this would be another gravel road I wasnt concerned. It started off as a two lane gravel road then narrowed to a single, rutted, muddy track. I managed to stay on the bike despite the slipping and sliding but found thigh muscles Id forgotten I had.
Canadian 'B' Road
Canadian 'B' Road