This year's vacation and bicycle tour were a little different than in previous
years. Although myself and Susan are avid cyclists and would love to just cycle, we
decided to combine our love of cycling with some visiting out in the East Coast of Canada.
I really wanted to cycle attend the Atlantic
Canada Bicycle Rally (A.C.B.R.) out in Prince Edward
Island (PEI) this year and I wanted to cycle around the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia again. Luckily we were able to do both.
This is the first year that we've need a roof rack for the car. Most of my cycling vacations either start in Ottawa or involve boxing up the bike and taking it to the airport. After some looking around, we decided on a Mondail SportRack. This unit is equipped with a couple locking mechanisms for the rack and for the bikes themselves. We test drove it around to some remote starts for training rides and it really handled well. So, we packed up the Toyota Corolla with the bikes and headed off toward Quebec City.
We arrived quite wearily at Rodd's Mill River Resort in PEI which was the start of the Atlantic Canada Bicycle Rally. We chose the tenting option for the rally in the adjacent Mill River Provincial Park campground, but after seeing the resort, I was ready to change my mind. Luckily our finances wouldn't allow us to change, as we had a great time in the campground with lots of other cyclists. The reception dinner at Rod's was great. The organizers of the tour were there with plenty of maps and answers to what seemed like a million questions. I had talked with the main organizer Gary Conrod in the past on the phone and through email. and it was great to finally meet him in person.
We spent the next 3 days cycling around the North Western part of PEI. Each day was planned out with different rides for every kind of rider. Myself and Susan always took the longer rides of about 100km. and we just loved the scenery. As we were in one of the more remote parts of PEI, we did ride a few rough roads, but all in all the road surface was pretty good.
Our trip took us visiting in Charlettown PEI with some friends for a few days, then we took the ferry across to the mainland and headed up to the town of Baddeck on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. We toured around the town and camped at the nearby KOA. A small change late in our plans meant that I was the only one that was going to cycle around the Cabot Trail this time. Susan would drive around the trail with the car and all our stuff. This made for quite an easier trip without panniers, tent, sleeping bags, etc. that we were planning on. This was my second trip around the Cabot Trail, so I knew what to expect. The first day was a relatively easy ride of only 90 km. We set up camp in Cheticamp that afternoon and did a quick cycle up from the campground to one of the scenic lookouts (and back 24km.) where we had this photo taken. This one is where most of the Cabot Trail photos seem to be taken. Day 2 of the trip was 110 kilometers and is the most gruelling of the 3 day route as I climbed several mountains from the campground in Cheticamp to Ingonish. The 3rd day was again, quite enjoyable with only 105km of rolling hills as I made my way back to Baddeck and another night at the KOA.
This was the end of our main cycling in the area. After the Cabot trail, we drove down to camp at the Ovens Natural Park which is a beautiful spot down near Lunenburg. en route there, we ran into a group of cyclists that we met at the rally the week before. They were just finishing up a one week post tour. We spent a night in Halifax and then headed down the Evangeline trail to the Digby neck to go Whale Watching in Tirverton, Nova Scotia. We had absolutely beautiful weather up until this point and unfortunately the weather wasn't co-operative to see Whales. I guess we'll have to go back again. So, as we wrapped up our vacation, we headed back to New Brunswick to visit friends and relatives in Fredericton and Grand Falls. The last day was a long trip driving back to Ottawa to a comfortable bed and a tail wagging dog of mine.
We really enjoyed the Bicycle Rally out in PEI and we're already making plans to go to next years event out in St.George in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick. I hope to see you there.
,__o Greg Goodwin
_-\_<, "Life's a Journey, not a Destination"
(*)/'(*) whitey@magma.ca Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada
http://www.magma.ca/~whitey
For more information on Cycling in Atlantic Canada, be sure to check out the Atlantic Canada Cycling Information Site.
