Friday, 23 June 2006

Ingonish Beach to Big Bras d'Or, Seal Island (Nova Scotia)

My alarm went off at 5:30 and just as I was steeling myself to get up it started to rain - a reprieve - I settled back down to sleep. The rain lasted no more than an hour so I packed up the tent and set off into the cloudy morning. It was still breezy so the mosquitoes were kept at bay, although the dozens of bites I have were itching worse this morning. I even have a bite on my butt cheek - which I can only have got through 2 layers of clothing!

From the campground the Cabot Trail road heads alongside the north shore of the Ingonish Harbour inlet for 3 kilometres, and you can see the the road on the other side as it heads back on its 5 kilometre journey to the base of Smokey Mountain. If you're ever thinking of cycling the Cabot Trail, you definitely want to cycle it clockwise; that way you'll the prevailing wind behind you as you head northwards along the west coast and you'll have the easier climbs. The climb up Smokey mountain was the easiest of the lot and I was hardly ever in bottom gear. At the top I stopped at the picnic site which had good views of the road as it starts its descent the other side. Just as I set off again, I stopped to take a picture when John and Cathy arrived in their RV; they're always joking that I'm always ahead of them in spite of being on a bike, but more luck of timing than leg-power. We wer both stuck behind a garbage truck for a short way as it made its slow arthritic progress down the steep gradient, but once past it was an exhilarating fast descent. With nothing behind and a clear view ahead I could use the full width of the road and take the shortest fastest route all the way to the tight hairpin bend at the bottom.

Now I was back in the more mundane world of grinding out the miles. The road was a little bit hilly and the eind was gainst me, but not too much. I plodded south along the coast, playing leap-frog with the smelly garbage truck. I stopped at the French River General Store for a tea - a tea-bag in a polystyrene cup heated up in the microwave. Surprisingly good, so I guess the quality of the tea is the most important factor.

After another hour plodding along the road, I stopped at the Clucking Hen restaurant in North Shore for lunch. They laughed when I complained about their sign I had passed on the road. "Clucking Hen - 15 mins. ahead" It had taken me an hour I said... "Peddle harder" they laughed.

The cloudy weather yielded some rain for a few kilometres, but then it was just blustery and muggy. Shortly after Indian Brook I left the Cabot Trail and took the 312 road which runs alongside St Anns Bay and then onto a long spit, at the end of which is a cable ferry across the short gap to Englishtown. The ferry schedule said "5 minutes after first vehicle boards" but might just as well have said "When we feel like it". There was a queue of vehicles the other side, but weren't allowed to board. I waited for half an hour and finally there was a flurry of activity and the ferry finally came over. The sign also said "All vehicles - $5" but bicycles were obviously free.

From Englishtown, I was buffeted by the wind and had a hard climb up to highway 105. There was no choice of road. Turning left onto the highway I then had a long climb up Kellys Mountain with the cars zipping past and the lorries lumbering past more slowly. Luckily there was a good shoulder all the way. There was a scenic lookoff on each side of the highest point, one on the St Anns Bay side and one on the Bras d'Or side. I had a long freewheel down the other side until I turned into the wind again on the approach to the Seal Island bridge. I wasn't looking forward to the bridge in the blustery conditions but it turned out to be worse than I feared. As I climbed up to the bridge I could see that the shoulder disappeared completely. There was a sign saying no pedestrians, but nothing to say cyclists were prohibited. Up on the bridge the buffeting wind was quite strong so I just rode across in the middle of the lane so that any vehicles behind would just have to wait until it was clear to pass. Luckily there was not much traffic when I went across.

I was hot and weary after all that effort so I stopped as soon as could for another lunch, at Fitzgeralds restaurant. I was relieved to leave the highway at the next juntion and follow the signs to the Mountain Vista campground at Big Bras d'Or. I couldn't help but laugh as I rolled down the campsite road to see there ahead of me John and Kathy's RV. They must be getting worried now that they've acquired a cycling stalker. Once agin they invited me to dinner, so after doing a load of laundry I was treated to a lovely chicken curry. They are also planning to go to Newfoundland, but they're giving me a day or two headstart...

Distance: 84.5 km
Cycling time: 5:42
Total distance: 2315.5 km