What a Gay day

After barely surviving the pirate attack the previous evening, I thought it best to ship out early the next morning and head for Halifax. I'd planned to stop a few times on the way at places the guide books had mentioned, so the plan was for a simple short day without any hassle.

I still hadn't booked anywhere to stay in Halifax, but I didn't think it would be a problem. By now I was in need of a washing machine again, so i was keen to stay somewhere that had a laundry facility. For that reason I had thought about a hostel as they always cater well for the traveller, but it seemed none were available. Not to worry though as Frank's room would have two queen beds, so I had that as a fall back.

As an added bonus Frank was bringing out my ear plugs that I'd left in my main bag with him, as I'll pick it up at the end of the trip. These things were custom made to fit my ears and really help with fatigue and drowsiness on the long sections.

The weather here is as changeable as at home, which makes it a bit trickier to ride without a visor as I lose some UV protection. The folks are a hardy bunch though, still visiting the beach, though I wouldn't call it sunbathing.

Just across from that same beach was one of the memorials for the Swiss Air flight 111 that crashed in the sea just off the coast. The recovery operation was split between two sites on shore, which made a triangle with the crash site itself. This is the memorial near Bayswater with the other memorial from Peggy's Cove below.


They thank the community for their help at both sites, as everyone was pitching in to help recover what they could. Sadly, no-one survived the crash. Although places like this can be sad, it's also a chance to reflect and be grateful for what we do have.

From there it was a short ride into Halifax itself. As I hadn't eaten all day I stopped off at a McDonalds. I know it's not the healthiest thing, but they do offer free wi-fi in a lot of their outlets which can be handy for keeping in touch. Frank has sent a text to say he'd arrived and was in his hotel, and I was still chasing down a place with laundry, but having no luck. The back-up had also fallen through as Frank had a king bed, rather than the queens we had been expecting. It was about 3pm by now, and the day had heated up so i was feeling all hot and sweaty again, so I figured the best plan was to head to the same hotel as Frank and just check into my own room for a couple of days, as I was getting tired of moving on every day.

At this point I was heading to the hotel that Frank had sent me a link to, a Holiday Inn in Dartford, just across the water from Halifax. This however is disputed, and someone claims he sent me a new link to a different hotel, in downtown Halifax. I couldn't reconcile what Frank was telling me he could see form the hotel window, with what the map said he should be able to see, so I set off for the casino as it's an easily recognisable landmark. In doing this I went through the park area where traffic just came to a stand still. The engine began to overheat, and even though the fans kicked in, the heat just welled up right through me.

It turns out that this weekend was the gay pride march in Halifax, hence the closed roads, and the distinct lack of hotel rooms. I'll spare you the next couple of hours of me getting more and more annoyed, mostly with myself, and riding around the city, but I eventually found a hotel on the main street for bars, that I could see Franks hotel from. The room was somewhat expensive, but the location was right and it had parking for the bike. To give you an idea, here is the kitchenette area complete with dishwasher. I don't even have a dishwasher at home.

The bonus with the hotel though, was that it had a guest laundry.

Anyway, quick shower, and change of clothes and we were off out for the night. It turns out that Frank has this weird thing of wanting his picture taken while eating, so this is the man himself in the Five Fishermen in Halifax.

From there we went to one of the breweries, but the tours had finished for the day, so we ended up in a pub called the lower deck which had live music.

Frank had to work the next day, so I made sure he was back at his hotel by midnight. In true Rock'n'Roll style I then went and did some laundry.