Saturday, 17 June 2006

Antigonish to Havre Boucher (Nova Scotia)

The day dawned cloudless and sunny so I was up bright and early in search of breakfast - at the appropriately named Sunshine on Main. I'm sitting here now over my second pot of tea waiting for places to open. the plan is to have a shorter cycling day today as the next campsite is about 50 km away, but the next one after that is another 70-80 km, which is more than I've done in one day so far and too far on a hot sunny day. So, internet and other things around town first and then hopefully a leisurely ride this afternoon...

I spent some time in an internet cafe uploading photos, but it was too expensive for me to stay for too long typing at the speed I do, so I did some shopping until the library opened at 10 am, when I could spend an hour laboriously updating my blog - this damned blog, it's taking over my life!

I went to the relaxed Tall and Small Cafe for a last English Breakfast tea and a bun before going back to the campsite to pack up the tent and bike. I think people must become conditioned to living a drive-thru lifestyle; when leaving the campsite you're supposed to post your site pass into a little box on the wall. I saw someone drive up to the box, and not being able to reach, pull forwards and reverse 2 or 3 times until they were close enough to reach. (Rather than just get out and walk the 2 yards...)

By the time I left Antigonish it was about 1 pm and still a beautiful day with just enough breeze to keep from getting too hot. Unfortunately as far as the route was concerned I had no choice but to use the 104 highway. Some of the time there is a broad shoulder, but going over bridges and uphill the shoulder disappears completely. (Just when you need it!) This wasn't really a problem as every car and lorry gave me a wide berth. Ironically some of the best views of the day were from the highway as it is not lined closely with trees as many smaller roads are. After about 8 km I turned off the highway to detour on quieter roads through the Acadian region of Pomquet. I was then back onto highway 104 for a couple more kilometres until I could turn off onto route 4.

At one point I noticed that the temperature hit 34 C, so when I got to Monastery I stopped at a little store for an ice cream. Oh my God - this must have been the world's biggest ice cream, except it can't have been as I only ordered a meduium and not a large. Big Mama's Death By Chocolate must have had at least 12 scoops of ice cream piled up onto a little cone ("Everything's big at Big Mamas" - and only $2!) It was impossible to eat it faster than it was melting in the heat. I must have looked like a little kid with chocolate ice cream all over my hands and face. I needed a wash afterwards. I don't think I could have lifted a large ice cream!

From Monastery I found that I had less than 10 km to go to the Hyclass Ocean campground at Harve Boucher. It's in a really beautiful spot right down by the water. I found the one spot with a bit of shade to pitch the tent and spread out any last remaining damp things to dry in the sun and breeze while I went down to the beach area to relax and enjoy the sun. Mannfred gave me a bargain price of $10.

Distance: 51.2 km
Cycling time: 2:53
Total distance: 1882.8 km