Day 9 Clarenville Km 1175

After a good night's sleep in Gander at the Inn on Bennett, we were treated to an excellent breakfast-  orange juice, fruit salad with yogurt, mini-quiche with ham, croissant, orange slice garnish and coffee.  We got on the road about 8:15 and headed in a southeasterly direction, which meant wind in our faces for the first half of the day.  With the starting temperature about 8C, we didn't bake.  There were a couple of big hills just before Gambo, Joey Smallwood's birthplace.  The next place of note was Glovertown, and that's where we saw another bear.  This guy was much younger, smaller and skinnier than yesterday's bear; we have not yet seen a moose.  Not far after Glovertown, we stopped at the entrance to Terra Nova National Park for lunch.  Immediately thereafter the road turned south, which turned the headwind into a sidewind.  Even with many, many hills, we made good time to Port Blandford, at which point we decided to continue to Clarenville.  We arrived at the Information Centre just after 6 PM and thought that we probably just missed the open time.  Fortunately they stay open until 7 PM so we got then to call the B&Bs, which were full, so they booked us into the  Restland Motel which offers breakfast with their rooms.  We had dinner at a restaurant in the adjacent mall.  I started with their own seafood chowder, which was excellent, and finished with a double burger plate.  The latter was interesting because the chips come with a savoury dressing and gravy; it was surprisingly tasty but not what you would call health food.

Day 8, Gander

After a nice breakfast of ham and eggs, fruit salad, cereal, juice and coffee, we hit the road at about 8:30.  The temperature was about 15C, it was overcast and the wind was from the east.  Other than the odd hill there wasn't a lot of work provided by the road; the wind made up for that and more.  As the day progressed the temperature dropped a bit and the wind picked up significantly.  It took us until after 5 PM to reach Gander, probably a good 2 hours longer than it would have with reasonable winds.  We were told that there were moose hanging out beside the road between Badger and Grand Falls/Windsor so we kept our peeled for them.  Unfortunately, all we saw were moose footprints, particularly in the mud off the road, and highway warnings about moose.  Apparently there were 660 moose-vehicle incidents in the province last year.  Just east of Grand Falls/Windsor they have a series of detectors on both sides of the road and warning lights start to flash if moose are detected crossing the road.  The highlight of our views today came about 13 km west of Gander when a good sized black bear crossed the road just in front of us.  An interesting manmade subject was a rather large pipeline (?) that crosses under the TCH east of Bishops Falls; it must have been at least 3 metres in diameter.

We checked into a B&B, Inn on Bennett, then walked up town for dinner.

Day 7, Deer Lake to Badger

Caesar Salad to go?

After a good long rest in Deer Lake we set off eastward under ideal conditions, warm and sunny with no wind or hills.  This made our progress better than anticipated so we just kept riding and riding; finally at South Brook we made the decision to try for Badger.  We made it shortly after 6 PM or just over 10 hours to cover 187 km.  This compensates for a short day yesterday.  We had only a few places that required us to really gear down; for the most part we kept up a good pace for us.  At noon we stopped and ate the Caesar salad that we bought at the supermarket last evening.  It hit the spot, a family sized salad for just the two of us.

Day 6 Deer Lake

Along the TCH

View in Corner Brook

See the man

Today was an easy day with a ride of just over 50 km and the wind in our favour.  The temperature was warm and the skies overcast off and on.  Just outside of Corner Brook we stopped to see a rock formation that looked like a man's face, complete with cap.  He is just right of centre in the lower half of the picture.  In Deer Lake we stopped at the information office and decided to try Auntie M's Lucashouse B&B.

Day 3+

Day 3 North Sydney km 428, 144 km

Last night we checked into the Econolodge because of its location, close to the beginning of the 105 for this morning.  After a continental breakfast at the motel, we hit the road shortly after 8 AM to find our warmup for the day was a hill, which we were not ready for.  The day was warm and sunny, and what little wind there was came from our backs- good show.  The trees are busy showing their new-growth green and the lupines are busy lining the road sides.  It is incredible how well the lupines grow here.  Just before 11 AM we arrived at the small settlement of Whycocomagh, and pulled into a restaurant.  We decided to try having a hearty brunch to see how well it would hold us.  I had steak, eggs, toast, hash browns and coffee, while Susie had scrambled eggs and toast.  The experiment showed that more is better later in the day.  While passing through Baddeck, Susie became low on energy and enthusiasm and wanted to stop for a rest.  I couldn’t find a rest stop that she liked so, we finally just stopped and had some food.  This did wonders as Susie’s energy returned for the most part, and we continued on our way.  A while later, we saw a sign that read “Kelley’s Mountain- you will go up 240 metres in the next 7 km”.  This was the major bump that shows up in the TCH graph.  It was long but certainly tolerable, and it provided us with some great views on each side of the mountain.  The ride down the other side was fun but too short.  Crossing the bridge over the entrance to Bras D’Or Lakes was interesting because of the cross winds and the hill that it presented us.  After arriving at the ferry terminal, we waited in line with the freight trucks forever it seemed.  Eventually we got our chance to put it on our plastic.  The system for collecting fees seemed overly bureaucratic because the computer was slow, and required way too much information like our names, sex, address, etc and the attendant had to enter the credit card information by hand.  We left our bikes in a lane and left the ferry area for the town and found a Subway at which we had the best meatball subs ever.  The server really loaded the veggies on and did so happily; it was a great supper.  We had a nice chat with one of the other servers who wanted to know about the route we use to get from NS to Ontario.

After returning to the line, we started chatting with fellow from the area because he was a triathlete and was interested in our biking across the country.  He had lots to tell me about racing triathlons and bicycles; it turned out to be a good lesson for me about the strategy involved in bike races.  I was able to impress him  with saying that Simon Whitfield had visited our house as a pre-Olympian teenager.  After getting quite cool, this fellow invited Susie to sit in the car were it was warmer.  Eventually the loading attendants took pity on us and loaded us so that we could get warm.  The ship was really nice with reclining seats and lots of TV; the hockey game was on and NJ was winning 2-1 in the third.  They looked like they might make a series of it.  Susie fell asleep while the ship was still docked, and I dozed for a bit.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.  I wanted to send a message to Nicole but couldn’t get internet access.  Eventually I got up and walked around because I wasn't sleeping, and found a public terminal at which I could send a message.

Day 4  Port aux Basques to Midway Motel half way to Corner Brook

The night on the ferry was pleasant in the sense that we met some nice people, but it was not restful for me; Susie managed to sleep reasonably well.  We could have had breakfast on the ferry at 6 AM but were still full so we decided to stop for breakfast along the way.  That was a mistake because after leaving Port aux Basques the next restaurant was at 100 km.  Coming off the ferry the wind was blowing the flags straight out, which was a sign of things to come all day.  In the late morning we came to a convenience store and picked up some coffee and sandwiches which really helped.  The day was sunny on and off and warm and did I say windy; the wind was in our face pretty well all day after we the first few turns coming out of PB.  In the afternoon, I saw a wolf on an access road, and call for Susie to stop.  The wolf just stood there looking at me giving Susie a chance to return and see it.  No moose yet but this was our treat of the day.  At about 100 km we arrived at the Irving gas station and had lunch/supper.  It was a good thing that we didn’t depend on the restaurant that was listed as being nearby the motel because it was still not opened for the season.  We checked into the motel at 110 km, washed a few clothes and turned on the TV.  After only a couple of hours of sleep on the ferry, I slept really well and woke up refreshed and rested.

Day 5 Corner Brook 650 km

We got an early start and rode the 29 km to the restaurant, which was perfect timing.  I had there hearty breakfast of 3 eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, potatoes and toast, while Susie had just bacon and eggs plus one of my sausages.  While having breakfast we had a nice chat with the waitress and a couple from here who were returning to retire after several years of work in Alberta.  Everywhere we turn, we end up in a good conversations with nice people; it makes it fun to travel like this.  I’m trying not to lose weight by eating more at breakfast this trip; by convincing Susie to eat a sausage from my plate trying to maintain her energy.  By the time we got to Corner Brook we had eaten up everything that I was carrying except for the beef jerky.  The day was sunny and warm, even hot at times; I had to get down to just a  shirt under my safety vest.

On arriving in CB we stopped at the information office for advice.  We talked about motels and B & B and decided on the latter.  Another couple were on the phone to the B & B, and passed the phone to us after they made their booking.  Then it was a quick ride down the hill just a block off the main street and next to the hospital.  After checking in and getting cleaned up a bit, Sean, the proprietors brother, gave us a ride to the bike shop where I picked up a set of peddles for Susie’s bike because they have been squeaking.  I was concerned that they might soon seize up and cause more trouble  Then it was off to the bank, Sobey’s for food, a couple of drug stores and the liquour store for can of beer.  Tonight we had a huge salad and home cooked hamburgers because we had access to a full kitchen- a very good meal of the type that we have at home.  Around 9, Sean drove us up to a view point overlooking the town, where we were able to see the sun set over Bay of Islands; on way the to and back he gave us full tour of the town complete with social history.  This was a company town with Bowater being the employer.  He showed us the upscale area where the management used to live.  Now three of the big homes belong to the bishops of the main churches.  Talk about nice people and so helpful.  This B & B is isn’t extraordinarily elegant but is very clean and well equipped.  Making dinner in their kitchen was easy and all the dirty dishes went into the dish washer.  In the morning, it’s was self-catered breakfast with evervthing that we wantedl.  We planned to bike just to Deer Lake today because there is no convenient accommodation at about 100 km; Sean confirmed this from his personal experience and from the internet.  At any rate just over 50 km be good for our bodies.

Day 2 Port Hastings

Today we left the Tulip and Thistle just outside of Truro and rode route 4 to New Glasgow.  We tried to stay on 4 but the signage was not good so we ended up on the 104, which we rode through to Port Hastings.  The day started our cool and foggy but then turned sunny and warm.  The wind was not in our face today so we made much better time and distance.  Yesterday we covered 108 km and today 172.  We are in the EconoLodge close to the intersect that we will use tomorrow morning, and this limited our eating options somewhat.  Tonight we "dined" at the A & W next door, mainly because we were too tired to contemplate much more.

This picture shows a ship being loaded with ore at the mine located right at Canso Causeway.  It also shows the great weather we had today for biking.  The graph below shows that we had more hills than we anticipated; some of the locals said that there were one or two hills in today's section.

2012 June 07

This morning we left Blair and Krista's house between 7 and 7:30 after a very hearty breakfast and a big send off by the kids.  Blair plotted a route for us that avoided the traffic of the Bedford area.  The wind was in our face all day so we decided to call it a day in Truro; we stayed at the Tulips and Thistle B&B on Pictou Road, a few kilometres east of town.  It was a really nice place and the owners (Ann and Larry MacCormack) are really nice people.  The weather today was cool and mostly overcast.  When pulled into the B&B, I knew I had a problem with my right clip in, so I got off on my left foot.  The right shoe would not release so I had to take my shoe off and then diagnose the problem.  The clip-in attachment on my shoe had lost one of the screws and wouldn't release on twisting.  Removal of the shoe required dismantling part of the pedal and banging against an Allen wrench inserted against the clip-in.  After a good night's sleep in a really elegant house, we had a gourmet breakfast.  Susie had the chef's choice, which turned out to be eggs benedict.  We certainly would stay there again.