Cabot Trail and Beyond

There are a few phases of the trip, it starts with the wedding, then rolling around on the bike, and finally the cooldown at the end with a couple of days planned for Montreal. then seeing family again around Ottawa.

On the riding part, one of the things I was most looking forward to, was the Cabot Trail. It's a 185 mile scenic drive around the north western coast of Nova Scotia, named after the explorer John Cabot.

When I got up is was damp and foggy, so for the first time I decided to put on the Aerostich Roadcrafter goretex suit that I'd bought. This thing is a one piece luminous yellow riding suit, of a kind that no-one seems to wear here, so I attracted more odd stares than usual.

I ran the trail anti-clockwise, or counter clockwise as they would call it here, so the first part is up a small mountain called Old Smokey. I can't say much about the scenery for this section as the fog was so bad I had enough to do just looking for bends. The road surface also wasn't great for a lot of the first part with potholes as at home, but also large cracks as if the roads was being forced upwards. I've seen lots of these cracks all the way up from Toronto, and to repair them they seem to flatten them down and fill them with a kind of tar. Even with them filled they can still tramline your tyres so you need to be careful around them.

I stopped for breakfast at a place called Coastal Waters, where a guy sells t-shirts for bikers stating that they have completed the trail. I was risk, but it can go very carrying enough junk so didn't feel like adding to it, but the steak was fabulous. While chatting to a couple here, they told me that a biker had been hit before on the trail, by a car which didn't stop. He had come round a corner in a 30km/h section and the car was in his lane. His friends were behind and managed to help him, but he'd damaged his shoulder and face. Lots of the bikers here wear sort of half helmets with an open face and cut high so the ears and bottom of the back of the head are unprotected. I don't fancy them at all in the rain.

When I left there it rained for a couple of hours. My suit kept me mostly dry, but I found I'd left a vent open which had let in some water. I've spent an hour or so in most towns trying to get a repair kit for my helmet, but no-one seems to stock Shoei here. A guy in one store told me it was just too high end for most bikers here. So, without it I've been forced to ride with an open helmet, plus sunglasses most of the time as the rain goes into your eyes otherwise.

The Aspy Fault runs through the park, and the guide had told me that the experts think this is connected with some of the valleys in Scotland. I thought she was at it, and was just playing up to the accent but the sign here confirms it.

This is the valley the fault runs through. At this stage I was soaked, but the weather was beginning to get better on the west side of the trail, so I'd dried out again by the time I'd finished the loop.

I filmed two sections of the road, but I can't edit the film here so I'll have to do that when I get home and then repost to this section.



With the trail complete I headed off to Sydney where the ferry leaves for Newfoundland, with the plan to stop at Louisbourg on the opposite coast before getting the ferry around midnight. Sadly I ran back into the rain and got soaked again, making this section really unpleasant. It was getting later in the day and with a sudden brainwave I decided to check the opening times for Louisbourg as I didn't want to ride all the way there to find it closed. It was now 3.30pm and it closed at 5pm, so I decided not to bother. It's a shame as I'd really wanted to see it, and for those who don't know it was the main French fortress in this part of the world, which they held while Britain and France were fighting over the fishing grounds and Canada itself. This fortress is actually a replica re-built and populated with actors during the day, because as ever when the British finally took the fortress they razed it to the ground.

Instead I went to the cinema to dry off and watched Captain America. It was ok, was the best I could say about it.

From the it was an overnight ferry to Newfoundland, on which I couldn't get a cabin as I'd booked late, and so was left with a reclining seat. This was actually ok as it was quiet with maybe only six people in a space for forty. It turned out the rest were camped in the lounge where the wifi was. This caused some drama for two girls who had a cabin but wanted to stay up in the lounge all night drinking and talking loudly. Eventually the staff sent them to their beds.