Sunday, 09 July 2006

Chance Cove Provincial Park to Trepassey

I had my alarms set for the morning, but ignored them all. My joie de vivre has evaporated and I don't know how to get it back. For the whole trip I've really enjoyed the cycling, even when the weather's been bad - (in a masochistic sort of way) but now it suddenly seems like a chore. (Not a good situation considering where I am!) Maybe I've just been on my own too long. Hopefully it's just a passing phase... I've only cycled just over half the distance I cycled last summer around the North Sea.

Eventually I pulled metaphorical socks up, girded my loins, (whatever that means) packed up the bike and set off at 8 am. If I thought the 6 km back up the rough gravel track was hard, once I turned onto the road I was cycling straight into the wind. This part of the Avalon Peninsula is fairly flat and barren with only a few small trees and shrubs dotting the landscape. No hiding place from the wind. I toiled along at only 8 - 10 km/h having a miserable time, trying to distract myself from my slow progress any way I could. Even here I saw sign of moose; large muddy hoof-prints in the road, but no moose.

The day was cloudless but hazy, but I felt no warmth from the sun because of the wind, which I know can be a sunburn risk. At Portugal Cove South I had some brief respite from the wind as the road turned to the north, but from Biscay Bay I was again heading west. By the time I reached Trepassey I had been cycling for nearly 3 hours and had covered only 36 km. I stopped at the Trepassey Motel Restaurant to see if a breakfast would cheer me up.

It occurred to me that today was the World Cup Final, and that if I stayed in the motel and had a lazy day, then I could watch the match on cable TV. That was certainly more appealing than going back out into the wind for 4 more hours. I felt a little bit guilty, but I soon forgot about that when I found out that the room had a bath - my first for two months. A good hot relaxing soak, even if the water was tea-brown even before I got in. Looking out of the window I could see the motel washing flapping horizontally in the wind and was glad to be out of it. As an added bonus I got to watch the Wimbledon men's singles final too.

Distance: 36.0 km
Cycling time: 2:59
Total Distance: 3297.0 km