I set off at 7am and rode to Waterbury, VT, to meet up with Pete, Tito, and Beth. Pete pulled in minutes after I did, and Tito and Beth arrived five or ten minutes later. We gassed up and hopped on I-89 to begin our adventure.
In Montpelier we left I-89 and got onto Rt 2, which we took all the way to Bangor, ME. The ride through eastern Vermont and New Hampshire was nice, but nothing new to us, of course.
In Rumsford, ME, Rt 2 makes a 90-degree right turn at a four-way intersection. Unfortunately for me, there was gravel in the corner that blended very well with the pavement; both Tito and I failed to see it. Tito almost went down, but I didn't see this because I was initiating the turn myself. I hit the gravel patch dead-on with my front tire, and it slid out from under me. I was on the ground so suddenly that I didn't even notice losing traction. Luckily the damage to me was minor (bruised and slightly tweaked right knee, patch of rash on my elbow where my skin rubbed against the inside of my jacket). Damage to the bike was mostly saved by the crash guard -- here's a pic:
Tito and Pete picked up the bike for me after I assured them I was fine, and I limped over to assess the damage. Entirely cosmetic, with the exception of a shattered right front turn signal. Beth retrieved the pieces of the housing, and we duct-taped it roughly back together to protect the still-working bulb. It performed flawlessly for the duration of the trip.
After I downed some Advil and drank a bottle of water, we continued without incident through Maine and arrived at the Canadian border around 4:30pm. From there we continued up Highway 1 to Saint John and checked into a hotel for the night. Once changed, we headed into town, did a little sightseeing, and had dinner.
Being on the Bay of Fundy, Saint John experiences very impressive tides. This was shortly after low tide (note the high-water line on the pier):
Closer view of the lighthouse:
The city's waterfront, as seen from the pier:
Beth, Tito, and Pete:
As it turned out, Saint John's Canada Day fireworks had been postponed due to rain, and we got to watch them after dinner. Ironic that we, a bunch of Americans, got to watch fireworks on the 4th of July in another country.
Saturday, July 5, 2008, Saint John, NB, to Murphy Cove, NS
Saturday morning we checked out of our hotel and rode over to the ferry dock to head over to Nova Scotia.
The ferry was due to depart shortly after low tide, so we got to see a lot of exposed seafloor next to the dock. Here's Beth checking it out:
Exposed seaweed- and barnacle-covered rocks:
The ferry:
The area adjacent to the dock:
Tito waiting for the ferry to begin loading:
Finally we were able to load the ferry. We were advised to put our bikes in gear and tie them down.
Our departure from Saint John was delayed slightly while we waited for other traffic to enter the harbor.
Once the cruise ship had cleared, we set off. Leaving the Saint John harbor, I noticed this apparent relic of World War 2 sitting atop the island:
Crossing the Bay of Fundy took about three hours, which I mostly spent on deck watching for whales. Didn't see any, but I did spot plenty of harbor porpoises.
Approach to Digby harbor:
By this time the tide was coming in fast enough to create an impressive current. Note the marker buoy creating a pretty big wake in the foreground:
Entering Digby harbor and preparing to dock:
During the crossing, we had a conversation with a fellow passenger who has a summer cottage in Nova Scotia; he suggested that we follow him to a small seafood market for lunch, so after docking, we did exactly that and found ourselves at the Royal Fundy Seafood Market in Digby, which had a small attached restaurant. Digby is famous for its scallops, so I had a scallop burger for lunch -- six or seven sauteed scallops on a bun, with a side of fries and cole slaw. These were without a doubt the best scallops I've ever had in my life.
After lunch, we took Rt 8 across Nova Scotia toward the Atlantic coast (which proved to be a bit of an adventure in itself -- Rt 8 was being repaved, and a surprisingly long stretch at the beginning was dirt -- much of it pretty loose and squirrely). We picked up Rt 210 and Rt 325 to the coast, then Rt 3 toward Halifax. Rt 3 proved to be frustrating -- sections would go through small coastal towns (which were inevitably slow going, with tourists and low speed limits), and then long sections would just run away from the coast and through boring inland areas. Thankfully, after passing Halifax and getting onto Rt 7, the scenery improved as the road stuck a little closer to the shore. In the last ten miles or so before arriving at Murphy Cove, the scenery got beautiful and the road got smooth and twisty.
One thing that utterly amazed me though (and would continue to do so for most of the trip) was how incredibly calm the water was. Here we were on the North Atlantic, and there was no surf. None at all. It was like a pond. And not just on isolated coves, but even on open-ocean beaches. Weird.
We arrived at Murphy Cove and found our campground, which proved to be a bit disappointing. It was packed with RVs, facilities were pretty spare, and soon after we got set up, a dense fog rolled in. We turned in soon after dark, slept for a short time, then were awakened by a bunch of kids in their early 20s or so who were partying several campsites away. They got increasingly drunk and managed to keep us all awake till after 3am (except Pete, who'd wisely taken an Ambien). They finally got too drunk to carry on, and we were able to get a few hours' sleep.
Sunday, July 6, 2008, Murphy Cove, NS, to Meat Cove, Cape Breton
We awoke early, packed up our stuff, and fled the Murphy Cove campground by 7am. The morning was foggy and chilly; we took Rt 7 east along the coast, passing through a variety of small fishing villages, and stopped for breakfast in the town of Sherbrooke.
From there we headed further east on Rt 211 and Rt 316, passing through a fascinating countryside of scrubby pine trees, small coves, and tiny fishing villages. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip, with absolutely incredible scenery and a nice winding road. I wish I'd gotten more pictures, but we were having a great time riding and didn't stop much.
We continued along Rt 16 and Rt 344 toward Cape Breton.
We crossed the Canso Causeway into Cape Breton and took Rt 4 along the Bras d'Or Lake toward Sydney, then Highway 105 to the Cabot Trail. The eastern side of the Cabot Trail proved disappointing -- there are a couple short twisty sections that are nice, but most of it is kind of boring, passing through a number of small tourist towns. This was the best view on the eastern side:
We continued up to the northern tip of Cape Breton, leaving the Cabot Trail and taking Meat Cove Road, the final five miles or so of which are loose, gravely dirt with lots of elevation changes and tight corners -- I discovered why the V-Strom's stock Trail Wing tires are nicknamed "Death Wings." Those things don't handle very well in those conditions. So we kept our speed down, and we made it to the Meat Cove Campground to spend the night. This place was incredible -- we camped on a small plateau at the edge of a cliff over the ocean.
Tito, Beth, and Pete going over the map:
Sunset:
There was a nice breeze coming in from the sea, which kept the bugs to a minimum. I slept with the rain fly off my tent, and awoke in the middle of the night to see lots of stars through the mesh ceiling. I put on my glasses and stuck my head out of the door of the tent, and the sight was absolutely breathtaking. I've never seen so many stars. I could see the Milky Way clearly. Amazing.
Monday, July 7, 2008, Meat Cove, Cape Breton, to Montague, PEI
I awoke at 5:45 to find the sun already quite high in the sky. We set out along the western side of the Cabot Trail...
...and soon discovered the really good part, between Pleasant Bay and Cheticamp. This part of the road, passing through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, was amazing. Great road surface, really nice twisties, incredible scenery. We saw a big moose, and stopped for photos in the place that's in all the brochures. Here's Pete posing for the publicity shot:
And the view from the overlook:
From there we proceeded to Cheticamp, stopped for breakfast, then headed southwest along the coast, where we were treated to mile after mile of scenery like this:
Eventually we crossed the Canso Causeway back into mainland Nova Scotia and headed west to Antigonish, then north on Rt 337 to Cape George, where we stopped to see the lighthouse.
From there we hightailed it to Caribou to catch the ferry to Prince Edward Island. About to dock in PEI:
We stopped at a welcome center and asked about campgrounds and restaurants, and ended up making our way to Cardigan for one of their famous lobster suppers. This was a five-course meal, consisting of seafood chowder (outstanding, and all-you-can-eat), a salad, a large bowl of steamed mussels, a lobster with veggies, and finally dessert. Delicious meal.
After dinner, as the sun was setting, we rode to Brudenell Provincial Park to camp for the night. We checked in amid swarms of mosquitos and were advised that they were much worse in the campground itself. So we left our gear on, rushed to get our tents set up, then fled inside them for the night.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008, Montague, PEI, to Moncton, NB
Tuesday morning we quickly packed up and fled our mosquito-infested campground. We rode to Charlottetown, had breakfast, then embarked on a loop of Prince Edward Island, up to the northern shore, stopping off at the Anne of Green Gables house so Pete could get pics for his wife, then looped back south. PEI is beautiful.
We crossed the Confederation Bridge back to New Brunswick, and headed for the Moncton area, where I'd learned there was a Scorpion helmet dealer. WIthin minutes of arriving there, I'd replaced the scratched face shield on my helmet. We stopped off at a couple other dealerships while we were in the area because Pete was hoping to find a suitable mesh jacket (it was incredibly hot in New Brunswick), but unfortunately he had no luck.
At this point, Tito wanted to head north and Pete wanted to head south to the Bay of Fundy to witness the tides at their most extreme point. Due to the conflicting desires, and also due to the nasty heat, we decided to just get a motel room in Moncton for the night. Pete decided that in the morning he would ride south along the Bay of Fundy, take his time to photograph the tides, and have a slow and easy ride back home, while Tito, Beth, and I would head north as originally planned.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008, Moncton, NB, to Campbellton, NB
By the time I woke up on Wednesday morning, Pete was gone. Tito, Beth, and I packed up and set out along the New Brunswick coast. Parts of the ride were very nice, with small villages right on the sea:
I found it interesting that a lot of the bridges were timber-framed:
This day ended up being the least appealing, though. Much of the ride was very boring, and it was unpleasantly hot. And finally, in the last few miles before the Quebec border, we got rained on heavily. I was completely drenched. Instead of trying to camp in the rain, we decided to get another motel room, so we stayed at the Super 8 in Campbellton.
Thursday, July 10, 2008, Campbellton, NB, to L'Anse-au-Griffon, QC
We set out from Campbellton a little later than usual, crossed the bridge into Quebec, and took Rt 132 along the coast of the Gaspé Peninsula. We had lunch a short distance before Percé (site of a famous rock just offshore), then stopped again in Percé to take pictures and have a cup of coffee.
Approaching Percé:
The Percé rock:
The Percé cove:
We continued along the coast from Percé and stopped shortly before the town of Gaspé to take a few pictures.
We were hoping to camp for the night in Forillon National Park, but a fogbank had rolled in so we continued along Rt 132 until we had emerged from the fog. We ended up at a very nice campground in L'Anse-au-Griffon.
There were thunderstorms in the area, but we were lucky in that they always passed us by. The clouds made for quite a display at sunset.
Friday, July 11, 2008, L'Anse-au-Griffon, QC, to Tadoussac, QC
The next morning we got up early and set out shortly after 6am in order to make the 11am ferry from Matane to Baie-Comeau. The morning was overcast and chilly, and we had 270km to cover to get to Matane. We stopped for a short breakfast/coffee break at the first Tim Horton's we could find (which was at least 150km away from our starting point), and I dug into my luggage and retrieved my fleece vest because I was freezing. After this point, thankfully, the sun came out and the weather warmed up a little.
I'm going to have to go back up there sometime and take some pics. The road is great, lots of twisties and amazing scenery, and in places it runs atop a seawall built at the bottom of cliffs, just above the Bay of St Lawrence. If the surf had been just a little higher, we would have gotten drenched by it. Thankfully it wasn't.
We made it to Matane at 10:15 and got in line for the ferry, and were soon underway.
Tito and Beth on the ferry:
The ferry crossing took two and a half hours. Upon arrival in Baie-Comeau, we had lunch, then took Rt 138 southwest to Tadoussac. This was a mostly boring road, until a few miles before Tadoussac the landscape became mountainous and beautiful.
We pulled into Tadoussac and stopped off at the dunes just outside of town for some pics.
Proof that I was actually there:
We then checked into our campground, set up our tents, and then went into Tadoussac to do a little sightseeing. Tadoussac is a beautiful little town with a nice harbor.
Tadoussac's church is one of the oldest on the continent.
After walking around a bit, we had dinner and headed back to the campground.
Saturday, July 12, 2008, Tadoussac, QC, to Burlington, VT
The next morning we stopped in Tadoussac for breakfast, then headed up Rt 172. This runs northwest, parallel to the fjord at whose mouth Tadoussac is situated. This road was amazing -- it winds its way through the mountains, with lots of really fun sweepers and gorgeous scenery. We made a slight detour into the town of Ste-Rose-du-Nord to get a view of the fjord itself. The town itself was very scenic too.
We continued up Rt 172 to Chicoutimi, then picked up Rt 381 out of La Baie. Incredible road -- winds like a rollercoaster through the mountains. We were having so much fun riding it that we never stopped to get any pics, unfortunately. I need to go back and do that one again!
We stopped for lunch where Rt 381 joins Rt 138, and at this point I decided to just head home instead of stopping for the night in Quebec City. Tito and Beth hadn't really had any alone time for the entire trip, so they deserved to be able to spend a pleasant weekend by themselves in Quebec, and I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. It was only about 300 miles to get home from that point, so I just made my way past Quebec, said goodbye to Tito and Beth, and hopped on the highway. I crossed the border in Highgate Springs without significant delay and was home by 7:15pm.
It was a terrific trip. 3074.8 miles total. Great roads, great food, great scenery, and great company. Parts of it turned out differently from what I expected -- northeastern Nova Scotia was unexpectedly gorgeous, the Cabot Trail was (I felt) overhyped when only one short section was really outstanding, New Brunswick was mostly pretty boring, and both Prince Edward Island and the Gaspé Peninsula were much nicer than I expected. And Tadoussac was beautiful.
Definitely the best vacation I've had in years!
--mark
"Sometimes ya' gotta hold a candle to the devil."