Just finished putting lots of pictures at the front of the BLOG.
I'm not sure whether I get to sleep tonight. I spent most of last night putting a few pictures on the BLOG. I have many more, and some of group activities that are still waiting to get on the BLOG.
It looks like I'm going to the very end of this tour in St Johns Newfoundland. I just purchased my flight from there to Ottawa. At one time I thought that I might stop in Sydney NS or Truro NS or Halifax NS. I decided today to stay in St Johns for at least a couple of days after the tour ends since this will be my first trip to Newfoundland.
I fixed yet another tent pole today. It was one that I got a couple of years ago in Kamloops. That great store of "Northcity Outdoors" in Thunder Bay supplied me with another set of spare replacement poles - you know, like spare tires you carry them around with you until you have problems. You know, I did order up those strong winds at Kaliper Lake to give my tent poles a stress test. Are there any other tent pole pieces that still want to break? Is this problem over with?
Today the alarm went off at 7 am after I slept for 3 and a half hours. I immediately took my things to Carleton University and put them in the TourDuCanada truck. The University residence is 2 km from where I live. I returned home to have a large breakfast after visiting the TourDuCanada truck. I had 4 eggs scrambled plus lots of toast.
Somehow, I had lots to do at home:
Go to MEC Mountain Equipment Coop store at noon on Monday and get 2 tires, 2 pair of bike shorts, and new gel insoles for the bike shoes. I need at least 1 tire as the rear tire is very thin. New bike shorts are needed as they are showing weak spots on the side and will probably have holes by St Johns Newfoundland.
Fresh Air Experience store to get a new bike mirror. Luckily, they have the model that I want.
Wash clothes and determine which are still OK. A newer pair of jeans is needed since the old ones look like they will soon bet big holes in the crotch. I decide that 2 pairs of bike shorts are developing weak spots that will become holes. I add another pair of socks to my gear so I'll have the same number as the number of underwear shorts.
clean bicycle. First I just clean the chain with the chain cleaner machine. Then, I decide that all the bike needs cleaning so into the bath tub it goes and is soon soaked with orange Lysol
Replacements made to bicycle parts:
rear tire - getting thin
bike mirror - looks like it is about to break
Loeb Merivale grocery store. I buy a few things and note that the store will close on August 27 - my favourite grocery store?
Add pictures to this BLOG
Divide BLOG into parts so each part loads faster on the computer.
Somehow my time of departure from Ottawa is a bit late at after 11 am. I get to camp in Hudson a bit after 6 pm.
I plan to take a very short route compared to TourDuCanada`s 176 km route -- Leitrim Road to Russell Road which I plan to take to its eastern end at County Road 9; there I plan to turn right to Road 10 which will lead directly east to a hamlet just north of Hudson. Instead, I find a large DETOUR sign at the end of Russell Road - "Road Closed for Bridge Repairs" - and take the detour north to Highway 17 at Plantagenet. There, my route follows the detour along Highway 17.
Around this point, 3 other TourDuCanada riders show up. I ride with them for awhile. They plan to take Highway 17 all the way to Hawkesbury. I take Road 20 and 24. By Hawkesbury, I am 15 kilometres shorter than TourDuCanada route.
TourDuCanada route crosses into Quebec in Hawkesbury. Instead, I continue on Road 4 on the west side of Ottawa River. When the road turns inland, I take the second paved road after the expressway. This is marked Concession 5 at one end and Concession 3 at the other where it connects with Grande Montee. This road becomes Interprovincial and goes to Point Fortune where the TourDuCanada route has riders taking the ferry back to Ontario. Ah, I am back on course and follow it to Hudson.
My route from Hawkesbury to Hudson was 10 km longer than TourDuCanada route so my total day was 5 km shorter. My day would have been much shorter if there was no detour on Road 9.
almost all of today's ride is very flat as it is along Ottawa River and in the valley of the South Nation River which is very flat. The South Nation drains most of Ontario that is South East of Ottawa.
Ottawa River sections of today's route are very pretty. Those through valley of South Nation are just fields and fields of farmland with some bush and marsh. There are lots of homes along the Ottawa River.
Somehow, I slept very little in Ottawa. There was too much to do. I need to catch up tonight. I did not take any pictures today in spite of the good weather. I was in too much of a rush ... I'll take pictures of this section of TourDuCanada at a later point in time...
Another big task at home: decide where to finish this trip and how to get back home at the end. The task would be much simpler if the trip ended in Halifax where there are reasonable air fares and one can get the train. As it is, the trip ends in St Johns, Newfoundland on September 3 or 4 - only a brunch on September 4 that is optional? My schedule includes returning to work on Wednesday September 7.
AT first, I favor somehow taking the train from Halifax or Truro. The latter by ending TourDuCanada trip in Sydney on Thursday evening when it gets there. My initial options are 2:
ride with TourDuCanada to Sydney and have 3 days to get train in Truro on Monday at 2 pm. Investigation shows that cheaper trains sold out on Sunday, but available for Saturday and Monday. The train takes about 24 hours and I do like train travel. Cost of train is $140.
ride with TourDuCanada to Newfoundland and get plane on Sunday. Cost of Plane is $300.
I favor the train. I leave my decision for a few hours and think up a THIRD alternative. This is to ride with TourDuCanada to Newfoundland and get the plane on Tuesday morning for $267 ($230 in total). At first, I argue against this option as I see only hotels in St Johns for $120 per night. Much more investigation finds hotels at $60 per night. This third option is finally the winner since I feel that it exposes me to yet another part of Canada. If I were to go there alone in the future, I should need to pay the cost of getting there. I cannot get a refund from TourDuCanada if I do not take the boat to Newfoundland. This is a sunk cost. After all, this is a vacation to see a little of all of Canada, isn't it? Ah the cost of adventure?
I now have some of Sunday and all of Monday to see around St Johns. It's unclear if I need a room for Monday night since my flight is so early and I want to ride the bike to the airport since the flight is `Tango/Air Canada` and can use one of their bike bags for the bike. There is no need to box the bike under this option ... and the bike charge is still $65.
Its getting dark too early to keep a good diary? I saw all and did all on my ride through Montreal today. Last time I added a ride around Isle Perrot to the CycleCanada route. I skipped it this time and looked for new adventures. I decided to do a side trip to Mont Royale. As get closer to downtown, see Mont Royale get larger, north of Lachine Canal where are on TourDuCanada route. My side trip there starts with Rue Montagne to base of Mont Royal and then other roads so can go from west to east on Mont Royal Boulevard. I eventually do all this and restart TourDuCanada trail at the same point. IN Mont Royal park I ride the bike on the recreation trail to the lookout that gives a view of the city. I then continue on this trail around the summit to get a view to the west. When back on Boulevard Mont Royal, I get a view of the South East which includes Olympic stadium.
Eventually, I'm back on TourDuCanada route. It goes along Lachine Canal, through port of Old Montreal which is somewhat like Harbourfront in Toronto, and up Jacques Cartier bridge. Half way across the Bridge, I decide to visit islands of old Expo 67 and bicycle around the race car track - Molson track? Cyclists, runners, and roller bladers are allowed to use it when there are no car races in progress. I go 2.5 times around track. There is new pavement since I last visited four years ago. The track is being prepared for some upcoming event by putting new names on ad boards that overhang the track and fixing one grandstand. My speed increases to 42.6 kilometres per hour at one point when riding with some of Canada`s best riders. I recognize them ... What a blast it is to ride around the Casino on an island in St Lawrence River in Montreal!
The fate of the "partiers" last mentioned in Calgary surfaces again. They decided to stay in Montreal to party and did not know the destination of the next night, here in Pointe-du-Lac. They called the owner/manager of TourDuCanada and could not find out ... They did not show up tonight and were not expected. Hopefully, they will meet with us again in Quebec City?
No, another section of tent pole broke on the trip from Ottawa to Quebec City. Luckily, I had a good section to replace it. The new piece was a couple of centimetres too long so had to be cut off.
Here I am in a branch of the public library in Quebec City. There is no public internet access available at Laval University where TourDuCanada is staying. This keyboard is a bit different, but I'm getting used to where to find the markers for HTML verbs like "<" and ">"... and the "/" is an upper case "3". New things to learn about.
The morning started slowly for me as I plan to not do too much today on TourDuCanada rest day. I do need some rest as after Quebec City, there is a 6 day dash to middle of New Brunswick. I decided that 1st priority is using the Internet to check email and update this BLOG. Both were skipped since Ottawa since access is not easy to find and there are so many other things to do during the day.
Last evening, the housing representative at Laval told me that Internet access is available in the basement of the Library. That's where I used it 4 years ago when I was here on another tour run by CycleCanada, "Tour Atlantic." I immediately found the university library and discovered an empty room where the Internet terminals used to be. The next step was to inquire at the main desk of the library. The staff there told me that public internet access is no longer available. The staff gave me a list of Internet cafés. Upon further prodding, the staff told me of this branch of the public library that is 10 blocks from Laval University.
Today, use of the internet is still my priority today. I once again set out to find internet after having a small breakfast in the University cafeteria - breakfast is included in our rooms, but not very big, and there are no second servings available except they let one fill one"s coffee cup twice (I cannot find an apostrophe sign on this terminal!). The rooms themselves are tiny. Each room is usually for a single person. An extra cot is squeezed into each room in the summer so more people can be accommodated, I guess? Anyway, there is a bed and a cot in each room. It IS crowded. I'd say TourDuCanada's stay in Quebec City is just in another type of Brand-X accommodation since the conditions are very crowded and the food is very scarce.
After breakfast, I returned to my room to look at some maps and tourist information and, then, set out to find this branch of the public library. I found the branch after finding Rue Joffre on Rue Ste Foy, going along Joffre to find Rue René Levesque. The sign outside said open 13:00 to 17:00 samedi et dimanche - open 1 to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
It was just after 10:00 at that point. I decided to ride along René Levesque toward city centre and see what I could find. I found a grocery store where croissants were on sale for $1.99. Somehow I paid the cashier in French - I have very limited skills, but can count? I ate two croissants immediately. Remember, breakfast was meagre. I needed them!
Further along Rene Levesque is the Quebec Theatre. I took a picture of an interesting sculpture. The sculpture is white and has 3 skinny humans. Next, I took a picture of the 10 Quebec flags in the park across the street. Were these flag poles originally constructed for flags of Canada"s ten provinces?
Further down the street is the provincial legislature - National Assembly. I got a picture of it before the rain started. Since then, it has rained all day, heavier at times. The temperature is cool enough that I feel OK in my goretex-like rain coat. In front of the legislature is the old city of Quebec. It is surrounded by a wall which is part of the ancient fortifications. I walked through one of the gates in the wall and then up onto it and along for a bit. I saw possibilities for a few interesting photos, but it was raining ...
I wanted to get out of the rain AND to use the washroom. Suddenly, the thought occurred to me to take a tour of the legislative building. It could satisfy both needs. I somehow arrived at the door for tours of the legislative building just as a tour in English was starting at 12:30 pm. I took the tour. The tour guide tour told us about the great halls (or entrance ways where all the other halls converge). The ornamentation there represent how Quebec has origins in France, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Some ornamentation in the National Assembly has a crown for the British crown, a fleure de lis for French origins, and a big "C" for Canada.
There is a security check to tour the legislative building. It's just like the airport - one has to go through an electronic scanner. I had to surrender my pocket knife. I retrieved it afterwards as I left the building.
Cameras are allowed in the legislative building and one is allowed to take pictures there. I took a few.
After the guided tour, I found the washroom and looked a bit at the paintings of previous heroes, premiers, politicians, etc. The tour takes over half an hour - ours lasted 45 minutes.
The rain had turned to pouring rain after the tour ended. The time was then after 13:00 so I bicycled directly to this branch of the Library. This time I took some back streets that parallel Rue Rene Levesque. The first few blocks are government office buildings. The blocks after that contain 2 and 3 story walk-ups. Some streets are one way the wrong way to my direction of travel. I cycled them anyways.
I asked about Internet at the library - in English. Luckily, the person I spoke with understands some English. I gather that 99% of residents of Quebec City have first language of French. The rule here is that you get a card for 2 hours of internet use. I signed up for 90 minutes.
I just figured out to press both CTL and ALT keys to get the ~ sign on this key board. I'm now adding some things from my written diary on the days from Ottawa to Quebec City.
Just entered another province and lost another hour of time - now in Atlantic Time Zone. I just saw another salmon statue in the park across the street from Tourist Information on Campbellton's waterfront.
TourDuCanada has had problems with weather lately. Yesterday, there was fog when we were travelling along the St. Lawrence River and there were rain showers later. One was in progress when I arrived in camp at Amqui.
Today started out fine. One shower occurred as I approached Campbellton. It stopped. The sun came out. I thought I was lucky. I took a picture of Campbellton from up Miramichi valley. The rain started again when I reached Campbellton.
I went into a "Sobey's" grocery store. When I was finished it was pouring. As I was standing inside the store drinking some milk, I asked a young male clerk where "Canada Trust" branch is. He did not know. I said "TD Canada Trust". He said, "Oh, TD bank!" and drew me a map. I went there in the rain ...
I then decided to look for the statue of the Salmon in spite of the rain. I got there. There was light rain. It stopped a moment. I took a picture. I rode off down the street towards the Atlantic Ocean. I returned to the statue. I re-took the picture after the sun came out. You see, I need a good picture to compare it with the "Husky Musky" from Kenora, eh? Then I came in here to use the washroom and get a new map and tour guide. Ah, they have these Internet terminals. The guide just told me there is a 15 minute limit ... I guess I gotta go ... maybe to the Library?
Tried the Campbellton Library last evening, but it was closed when I was there. It is open later on Wednesdays, but somehow camp stuff took all my time.
Camped last night at Sugarloaf Mountain Provincial Park. Camping there is wonderful. There is a heated, enclosed shelter with washrooms, showers, small laundry, and seating for 50 people at tables. A wonderful size for a group such as ours. In the men's washroom were 2 urinals, 4 toilets, and 2 showers. It looks like there are more showers behind a closed door that are opened when needs arise.
The rain started again and continued through the first half of supper. Many TourDuCanada participants waited in the shelter for supper to be ready. There were people talking, working on their laptop computers, writing their diaries, reading the newspaper, and just relaxing. They felt great to be out of the pouring rain. Supper was prepared under the portable shelter that is carried in the TourDuCanada truck and served from it. It was still raining. I carried mine back to the heated shelter. By the time the extra food was available for "seconds" the rain had stopped. I ate mine near our portable shelter. We'll soon need a new shelter. The current one is quickly deteriorating. It will soon be useless. Hopefully it will serve our purposes all the way to St. John's.
The bad weather is clearing today. The last rain was at supper last night. The clouds are getting higher. Today, Sugarloaf Mountain is out of the clouds. Fulton and myself climbed up the Sugarloaf Mountain trail after riding along the Terry Fox trail to get to the base of the climb. Part of the climb is on an aluminium staircase. The view from the top is wonderful. You can see in 3 directions. There is a platform which enables you to see all the Restigouche-Matapedia valley, Restigouche, Campbellton, and almost to Chaleur Bay. The distant hills up the Bay are a bit fogged in today.
There is relative calm today at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. On my last trip here there was a very strong wind and my camera shook continuously. My view from today will undoubtedly look much better.
The trip from the base of Sugarloaf trail, up the Mountain, and back down again took Fulton and myself about an hour to complete. This included standing around awed by the view at the top. We must 'a been there at least 15 minutes. The view is definitely awesome.
Awe, time to go again... I've used up my 15 minutes and more. Today's trek is only 100 km along the Acadian shore. This is historically the French part of New Brunswick. They came there after being kicked out of St John River valley by the British in historic times when feelings between them were negative... more on that later, eh?
I'm here since I decided to go around Miramichi Bay rather than across the bridge. As I was about to go onto Highway 11 and fight trucks and logging trucks again, I saw two other participants in TourDuCanada going the other way ... into Chatham ... I decided to check my map and figure out what was going on. I figured, yes, you could go all the way on that Street and then turn south? But, Shawn and Tess told me they were looking for a Library to get free internet access. I sort of remembered seeing a library here before ... when I was here on "Tour Atlantic" with "Cycle Canada." We turned east to find one. All did not look quite right to me so Sean asked at a gas station. The attendant told us to continue on the same street until we saw a stop sign -- also, the block after a town park. The library just happens to be open 10 am to 1 pm and 2 to 5 pm today.
Here we all sit using terminals that are idle since those who reserved them did not show up. Speaking of IDOL, I just read in the Telegraph Journal - New Brunswick's Newspaper, est. 1862 that the local hero, Casey LeBlanc from Nackawic was just eliminated from the television show "Canadian Idol."
Today's ride started on the coast north of Bathurst. It was wonderful. Today's weather is warm, almost hot. I took side trips to get a few good views of the beaches. On one I saw an Acadian flag. These are popular in this part of Canada. And, then the road got to Bathurst. There's an 1884 building that is a former post office and custom's house. It is now used as a store. There are strikers - at a local human services agency and at a hotel.
You see, I had to get enough of the beach and interesting stuff before meeting one of these roads between interesting things. The road between Bathurst and Miramichi is one such road. It is basically a bush road. The view to the rider is: bush, ditch, road, ditch, bush, and that's all! Luckily there is a tail wind today. I reached speeds of 40 kilometres an hour on the flats and much faster going downhill. All the road has a paved shoulder. Most of the time the paved shoulder is just a quarter lane. Sometimes it is a full lane. The paved shoulders are all good pavement so I could speed along without worrying about bumps. Oh, yah, there were a few bumpy sections, but these were definitely few and far between and in the minority. I stopped once on this road at a picnic area to each one peanut butter sandwich and a banana. As I was munching, 4 other riders on TourDuCanada went past. Three went into the coffee shop across from the picnic area. I was soon on my way... and back to the grind of getting to another interesting place.
Miramichi Bay is an interesting place. I stopped at the Sobey's grocery and got milk, juice, and a pear. I went into Canadian Tire and got plugs for my sleeping bag. Hopefully they are a bit larger and will stop it from slowly leaking... by the end of the night there is still enough air, but it is definitely less than when I started.
Back to Miramichi Bay... there is a high bridge at one end that ocean going ships can go under. There is currently such a ship at the Ultramar gas terminal. There is an old low bridge and a new bridge further inland on the bay. I eventually used the old low bridge. Before that I stopped in a park called "The Old French Fort"? There are hiking trails going inland and viewpoints along the water. I continued along and eventually got into the downtown of Miramichi. There is a park along the waterfront. In the park are post and rope like those on a tall ship. It is quite impressive. There is also a monument to injured workers.
The town park is a square that was originally landscaped by Lord Beaverbrook and then donated to the town. There is a statue of Beaverbrook in the park. There were at least 20 people in the park on this Friday afternoon. Some were meditating on the beauty of the place, others were watching.
I guess it's time to go once again. The rumor is that we're having Lobster for supper this evening in our campground near Kouchibouguac National Park and I need to get there to eat it ... at least another 40 km ...
I was a bit mis-informed, the Lobster was on Saturday night. On Friday evening we had an Acadian feast provided by Stephane's relatives and organized by his mother who lives in Dieppe, near Moncton.
Last night, we camped in Murray Beach Provincial Park in New Brunswick. The Park is located just a few kilometres from the Confederation Bridge that links PEI to New Brunswick. TourDuCanada 205 is now in it's eighth province. This morning we were shuttled across Confederation Bridge. There are no bicycles or pedestrians allowed on the Bridge. Instead there is a shuttle that takes up to 10 bicycles and riders at a time. I was fortunate to be in the first trip of the van as I was the 4th person to get to the Bridge this morning.
There are many options when entering PEI. The official TourDuCanada map takes us to Cornwall, near Charlottetown this evening. The recommended (or main) route goes by Fort Amherst national Historic Site. Another way is to take Highway 1 all the way. A proposed side route on the TourDuCanada map is a side trip to see Ann of Green Gables in North Rustico. I chose to instead visit Summerside on this trip as we have a nice pleasant, warm summer day. So far, I've ridden the board walk along the waterfront and beach. I found the town Library, but it was closed. Next I came here and asked for free internet access and the woman said I could use this computer.
Summerside has a population of between 14,00 and 15,000 according to the sign coming into town. However, there appears to be a fast food outlet of every known brand name and many other brand name stores in the city. There are murals on some of the walls. It's just amazing for a small place. The highest building so far is 4 stories.
On the way to Summerside, I stopped in Bedeque PEI. There is a plaque commemorating the 200th anniversary of landing of loyalist settlers in 1784. Quite historic, eh?
Too much more to see today... so that's all for now. Maybe I'll make it to Charlottetown.
I arrived at our campsite last evening at Holiday Haven in Cornwall, PEI, after seeing many potato fields, hay fields, and cows, and bicycling 120 km - 110 km in PEI. Cornwall is across the North (Yorke) River west of Charlottetown. The ride along highway 2 from Summerside was a bit hilly at times as is most of PEI once you get off the coastal highways. I followed one of these into Summerside -- the Blue Heron Coastal Drive..
The ride along Highway 2 also had 2 stops due to construction. They're re-doing the paving. I must say, most of the road has wonderful paved shoulders and most of the pavement is up to date on the road... I guess they do a bit every year?
Along highway 2 are two big factories of "Cavendish Farms" who we all recognize from the grocery store. There are also related buildings for their other agricultural services.
Yesterday's ride was beautiful. There were many hills, some seashore, some valleys, multi-coloured fields and forests. One barn has written on it Justanother FARM.
Last night's campground was also quite grand. The tents were arranged along the water amidst grass and trees. The washrooms were adequate as was the supply of hot water for showers. There is a large shelter in case of adverse weather. The view of tidal flats and tidal grass was beautiful. You could also see the other shore about a kilometre away. There were other tent campers besides TourDuCanada at the campground. Truly a great camping experience, in contrast to many of our Brand-X experiences of this trip. It's amazing how just a few things change camping from Brand-X to wonderful.
My tent for this trip is some relic that I had in the cupboard at home. It is many years old. Before the trip it received a coat of water proofing. During the trip, the seams on the fly were leaking so they got another coat of seam sealer applied to them... ah, seems like it will last, eh? It does survive heavy rain storms.
Right now the issue is the zipper on the door. It sometimes comes apart part way through zipping it up. I think I've figured out how to get it to zip up OK. This does take some time. Luckily there are very few bugs like mosquitoes around so the door can be zipped up slowly ... Hopefully, it will survive 3 more nights of camping? And, possibly, a night or 2 more of camping in St Johns Newfoundland.
Now, as for Tristan's tent? He says that it originally cost $30. Right now there is a broken pole and holes in the tent ... perhaps he plans to set it up inside one of the larger tents it there's lots of rain or other adverse weather? At least that's what I've heard. It looks like this may occur as there is heavy rain forecast for the next couple of days.
Mart gathered some money and Stephane presented some gifts. The first presentation was to Mark, our driver on TourDuCanada 2005. He is very deserving. As it is most riders contributed $10 or $20 towards a gift for Mark. According to Stephane this gift is to help him on a bicycle tour of Europe next winter or fall? We wish him well.
The second gift was to Marg who is riding TourDuCanada for some charity fund raising. Riders of TourDuCanada 2005 contributed various amounts towards this charity.
In my opinion, the gift towards Mark, the driver, was way too small. It is in lieu of a tip, I'm told. I'm also told that tradition is a gift of $10 or $20 from each person for the driver. The driver does much more than drive the truck. At least Mark has ... I believe he is unappreciated. A gift of $100 per person would be only 2 and a half percent of trip fees ... On one CycleCanada trip, the agreed upon tip was 20%. That's $740 for TourDuCanada. I believe a gift of $20 per person is being cheap at least from those who are working and can afford much more.
When I went to sleep last night, my friend Fulton had not yet arrived at the camp. No one seemed too concerned. I was too tired to do anything about it. The rumour was that his plans were to visit Ann-of-Green-Gables in Cavendish.
When I awoke this morning, there was Fulton putting away his tent. He arrived at about 9 pm after taking in one of PEI's famous Lobster Suppers.
Summerside has grown since I was last there 25 years ago. It has grown in the number of stores more than population. It now has 2 or 3 malls and brand-name stores of all kinds. There are huge malls on Granville Street which I rode by on my way out of town.
I visited Charlottetown this morning. I've been here before a number of times before this trip. My visit started by going by Victoria Park and Government House where the Lieutenant Governor lives. Across the street from government house is a mansion initially owned by one of the original timber barons, until he went broke 6 years later – Beaconsfield House.
Victoria Park is on Queen Elizabeth which extends as a roadway around the park on the sea shore. There is a median containing flower boxes. There are huge trees along the roadway. There is a boardwalk for bikers and walkers. You can see out across the Charlottetown Harbour.
My visit then progressed to Province House. I went inside and saw the room where the Fathers of Confederation met in 1864 at Charlottetown conference and decided to form what is now the country of Canada where many of riders on TourDuCanada 2005 live. The legislative assembly in government house had less than 30 seats -- 28? Outside is a memorial to the contribution of the Royal Canadian Regiment to Canada. Truly a historic site!
Next, I progressed to the waterfront and walked around Confederation Landing Park. Part of the Park has benches and marble like those in Confederation Park in Ottawa. Remarkable! The Park links Ottawa to Charlottetown. It also links Charlottetown to the water and boating. The Park is on the East (Hillsborough) River. There are many pleasure boats in the marina next to the Park.
I guess it's time now to try and catch the ferry at Woods Islands, PEI at 2:30 this afternoon. This evening TourDuCanada 2005 will be in it's ninth province!
Here I stand at the express terminal in the Public Library in North Sydney, Nova Scotia. Or, should I say, I need to slouch a bit to see the screen head on. What am I doing here anyway? Well, TourDuCanada 2005 is about to set sail to see it's tenth province, Newfoundland. We sail at 3:30 this afternoon. I'm supposed to be at the ferry dock 2 hours before, but will be a bit late... the dock is about 200 metres from here. The BIG BOAT is just out back across a park.
The weather today is wonderful. The temperature is warm and there are sunny skies. You can see for miles and miles and miles - or should we say kilometres? This weather is in contrast to that of the last 3 days and 4 nights. Atlantic Canada has just had the after effects of a hurricane, lots of rain. There was rain most of the time for the last 3 days.
Some participants in TourDuCanada put up with the weather, and still camp. Others find accommodation in local tourist establishments - motels, hotels, etc. Yet others, just sort-of camp. The latter put up their tents, or sleep in the open under covered shelters in the campgrounds where we are staying.
Myself? I put up my tent in the rain for 3 nights in a row. It even keeps train out when it is soaking wet. A bit earlier on the trip, I put seam sealer on the seams of the fly. Before that, it leaked over the door and in the middle of the tent. It no longer leaks. At home, before this trip, I painted more liquid water proofing on the fly and exposed parts of the tent.
Luckily, there were wooden shelters in our campgrounds on the first 2 of the last three nights. We did our cooking under these shelters and some people slept under then. Last evening's campground was shelter-less. However, the precipitation was only occasional showers and not too heavy. At breakfast yesterday, there was a torrential downpour!
Today, I visited Sydney, Nova Scotia on a side trip of 62 kilometres. I really wanted to visit Sydney yesterday, but the inclement weather was not encouraging. My visit today was a big success. I wondered around the bay along the road closest to the shore. There is construction on this road in Sydney. I think it is called King Street there?
In Sydney my first stop was in front of City Hall. It is a pleasant spot on the waterfront. I noticed a walkway going around the back of the building. At the back, I stumbled down 2 flights of stairs with my bicycle to a waterfront walkway. On the walkway is a commemorative plaque to war veterans.
My next stop in Sydney was at Tourist Information. There is a BIG fiddle in front of Tourist Information on a quay just down from City Hall.
Tourist information pointed me in the direction of Sydney's most infamous sight, the Tar Ponds. They also pointed out a street which starts with "Brook..." I think my grandparents lived on such a street. They are now dead as so many other relatives.
I found the tar ponds after on a property of Sydney Steel. I found a house that looks like my grandparents old house. I must check the address when I get home. I looks in great shape, but does have the 3 stories I remember and is across the street from a small park. I think the number and street are correct?
Yesterday's ride was somewhat uneventful. I could see very little as it was foggy. At the top of Kelly's Mountain at 240 metres elevation, I was in the clouds or fog.
The big event in yesterday's ride was this big, over sized truck. It's load took nearly a lane and a half. First it passed me. Luckily there were 2 lanes going my direction at the time. You see, the over sized load is preceded by an escort vehicle, but everything happens so quickly... I see escort vehicle and almost immediately find truck upon me. I might not be here to recount this story if there was only 1 lane in my direction at that time. This over sized truck was mega-over sized
Next, I met the over sized truck stopped at a lookout going down Kelly's Mountain. They were all stopped, escort vehicle and truck. I noticed a narrow 2 lane bridge at the bottom of Kelly's Mountain. I stopped to eat some lunch, contemplate the lovely scenery, and ponder the possibility of taking a picture in spite of the fog. Suddenly, the escort vehicle sped by and across the narrow bridge. It looked like they stopped all traffic coming the other way so that the huge over sized truck could pass over the bridge. I've seen over sized vehicles on this trip, but this one was HUGE.
I arrived in Little Bras D'Or to early to go to camp yesterday. Instead, I rode along Georges River on a road with very smooth pavement. It is beautiful. There are occasional streams where you can see tidal flats. There are many small docks on each side of the river. These have active fishing boats tied up to them. Each has its own radar equipment as you can see from the white, dome sticking up. At one point, you can see brown cliffs on the other side of the river. These may be sandy bluffs?
Eventually, as often in the country, the pavement stops. At this point there just happens to be a road pointed away from Georges River that is paved. I take this road. Soon I see a coal mine that is not currently active - Prince Colliery. There is another huge building in the background. Further exploration indicates that this is a coal fired electricity plant. There are these huge dumper trucks going into it delivering coal. These passed us cyclists on the highway and tried to scare us...
About to be kicked off this terminal automatically ... so I save and log out.
Arrived here last evening after having my picture taken on top of Signal Hill, the final destination of TourDuCanada 2005. The preferred route up Signal Hill is the road, of course, eh? My route was along some walking and hiking trails. I arrived in St John's on Portugal Cove Road. Portugal cove is the location of ferries to Bell Island. Along the road you pass the lake which is the water supply of St Johns. There are signs posted prohibiting almost everything except looking at the lake.
My route in St Johns was downhill after the Airport until I was almost downtown where I saw a little hill ahead of me and a trail going down a stream to the left. The trail looked interesting. It goes by Quidi Vidi Lake. There was a big soccer game going on - part of Molson cup I here on radio.
Part way down the trail is a map that indicates trails leading to Signal Hill, my destination of the day. I took these trails. I rode the bicycle at first. Soon, I was walking and climbing stairs and over large rocks. It was quite the climb. My first stop on signal Hill was Ladies Lookout. From there I spotted the main peak where other members of TourDuCanada were assembled. I walked towards them and around the parking lot. Somehow, they did not notice me for quite some time as they were looking down the hill in the other direction... I took a picture of the bicycle by the Cabot Tower. A couple of TourDuCanada riders dropped by. Both Fulton and James took my picture by the Cabot Tower ...
There is only 1 terminal here and others want to use it ... more later ...
Catching up on diary – travelled 156 km on Saturday and 56 km yesterday
After the ferry, I first do a side trip to Freshwater in the fog. Freshwater is a small fishing village built on the side of hills. It was there before the ferry terminal!
Our route along Highway 100 is the only way! There are no other roads! It is mostly trees and bog with smaller trees than in Northern Ontario. There are some houses around some small small lakes. The highway is in good condition and has paved shoulders, but little traffic. The route is hilly. The weather today: fog at first, fog clears by mid-morning, becomes warm with some clouds.
Highway 100 dumps into Highway 1 where there is more traffic, paved shoulders, and more hills. I see some members of TourDuCanada stopped at the first restaurant on Highway 1 and others continuing on Highway 1 to St John's at the cut-off to Highway 90.
I turn left at Highway 90 and go north to the ocean shore. There are no paved shoulders and a rough road in places. I see lots of politicians' signs out for the upcoming municipal elections. I come across one politician at the side of the highway. He is hailing constituents to stop and talk to him.
Highway 90 goes to Highway 60 where I turn right. There is more dramatic scenery as the road is along the water. The road has no shoulders and us is mosly in good condition, but has some poor sections. Highway 60 goes through Holyrood, Conception Bay South, Seal Cove, Upper Gulies, Kelligrews, Foxtrap, Manuels, Chamberlain, and Topsail. I like this coast so much that I continue along to St. Thomas, St Phillips, and Portugal Cove on Highways 50 and 41 and then take Highway 40 (Portugal Cove Road) to St John's. I know this is an extension of the Tour Du Canada route but the weather is wonderful and this IS my first trip to Newfoundland.
My extension of TourDuCanada route inclues 2 or 3 more long hills on visits to St Phillips and Portugal Cove. I see the ferry to Bell Island at Portugal Cove. Next, I take Portugal Cove Road which goes by Windosr Lake, one of the sources of fresh water for St John's. There are signs restricting activities on the lake, but no fences. One can only look at this Lake, I guess?
My ride continues on Portugal Cove Road all the way to St John's where it follows some side streets and trails to try and avoid climbing as many hills as possible: turn onto Winter Avenue and then take trail along Quidi Vidi Lake which is set up for competitive rowing and conoeing. I see an important soccer game in progress in a park beside Quidi Vidi Lake. There is a large crowd and the game ends. I continue along the trail to avoid traffic, read the trail map on a sign post and see trails going to signal hill from my current location at east end of Quidi Vidi Lake. I decide to take the trails. The trail is gravel and too steep for the bike at first so I walk. I can ride the next bit and see Signal Hill not too far ahead and awfully high up! The trail starts to climb again and has rocky sections and stairs. Some stairs are steps carved in the rocks. Many are wooden with railings.
I finally get to the summit of Widow's Peak. I see stairs going down to the left and wonder if I will need to use these as it is harder to go down stairs carrying the bike than it was to climb up! At the summit of Widow's Peak, I see a trail down towards the main peak of Signal Hill. I stumble down this steep trail with bike sideways to trail. It's a bit awkward. I need to first lower the bike and then step down.
When I get to the roadway up to Signal Hill, I see Barry coming down and greet him. He stops and points to other riders of TourDuCanada up the hill. They are waiting for others to complete the tour. I ignore them and walk to Cabot Tower and take a picture of my bicycle leaning against the Tower. A few riders from TourDuCanada 2005 come by; Fulton and James take my picture. I go into Cabot Tower and look at artifacts of Marconi's trans-Atlantic communication and walk to top of the Tower on a very narrow stairs.
When I come out of the Marconi Tower, I walk over to other riders from TourDuCanada 2005 who are still waiting for Debbie and Nicole. I'm getting colder, put on my rain jacket and still feel chilly so go to The Battery hotel part way down Signal Hill where we are staying and get warmer.
At the Hotel, I get my room key, go to basement to pick up my stuff. I take my gear to my room before return downstairs for pizza. The pizza runs out quickly since only 10 pizzas arrived from the local outlet, not the 15 that were ordered. I think more are eventually ordered, but don't know as I'm tired and go to bed and sleep. I'm shaging a room with Earl. He snores. I think he's getting a cold, too! I'm tired and sleep through most of the NOISE.
Some members of TourDuCanada 2005 go to the George Street clubs in St John's to celebrate the completion of TourDuCanada 2005. Unfortunately, I'm too tired for any revelry this evening.
I get up about 7 am and pack my gear into my bicycle bags so I can transport it to Pippy's Park and the airport. I stay at Pippy's Park for 2 nights in the campground. There is some wasted time after I am packed. I pass the time by using the internet on the ONE personal computer in the Hotel for this purpose, and walking around the hotel and taking a picture of the harbour.
The final TourDuCanada 2005 brunch starts at 10 am and runs until almost noon which is checkout time. There is lots of food: muffins, eggs, bacon, sausages, ham, and Newfoundland food of beans, fish and bread.
There are some speaches including a long talk that Fulton has prepared. Certificates are given to all finishers. Next is the time for spontaneous speeches. I comment on the good food prepared throughout the trip. I'm told it is the best yet of all the TourDuCanada trips!
After the brunch, Fulton and I decide to ride to Cape Spear in the afternoon so I put my gear in his room. The weather is wonderful, warm and sunny. There are many long and steep hills on the ride to Cape Spear so the 18 km ride takes an hour and a quarter. There is a particularly steep hill coming out of St John's. We stop and take pictures along the road and take many more at Cape Spear.
Cape Spear is the most easterly piece of land in Canada. There are many tourists at Cape Spear. They are all courteous drivers when they encounter us on the road to Cape Spear.
After Cape Spear, we ride back to St John's, tour the waterfront, and ask the guard at City Hall about the Terry Fox monument. He tells us about spot where Terry dipped his foot into the Ocean. We go there and do find the monument. We are in a rush by this time as Fulton needs to return to the Hotel to move his gear to a new room. We get back to the Hotel and find that the staff has moved his bags for him (great service, eh?). His new room has a better view of St John's Harbour. I pick up my gear and leave.
After the Battery Hotel, I ride the bicycle 5 km to Pippy Park. I try to avoid hills as much as possible as the bike is loaded with all my gear. Avoiding hills IS hard to do in St John's! As it is, I do avoid most hills by following roads along a stream. In Pippy Park, I'm camping in a tenting field, not a particular camping spot. There are a couple of other tents in the tenting field, but no other campers walking around right now!
My first objective today is to find a route to the airport. I follow a route to airport which is fairly simple. The route is about 5 km long and does have some up hill riding. I set my alarm (on my watch) for 3 am to allow for ample time to get my bags packed and get to airport for my early flight tomorrow morning.
After checking out the route to the airport, I find BIG BOX stores in north-east part of St John's. None are open today, Labour Day. Very few stores are open today! I ride south through the east end of town and do find the St John's garbage dump. My route continues through downtown towards the west. There are many people out today walking, running, and cycling. It looks like many are local residents. The weather is wonderful: warm and sunny with very few clouds! This is better than usual for St John's at this time of year. Wow!
About 5 km west of downtown, I go into Bowring Park. The Park was initially a donation to the city by the Bowring family. It is a large park that is over 1 km long. There are lots of people walking around the park today and a few other cyclists. I ride one way through the Park on paved roads and a stone chip road past a soccer field and return on a trail by a small river. The path on my return trip is not all bikeable since there are some stairs. The trail does have a stone chip top coat so is easy to ride in its flat sections. Bowring Park is wonderful. I stop and take a picture of a statue of a moose. The Park is currently being renovated. There are trees, ponds with ducks, trails, roads closed to cars, sports fields, and an outdoor swiming pool. Bowring Park is an amazing find that is not too well marked on tourist literature.
After Bowring park, I keep looking for a fast-food store that serves hamburgers - that's my preferred food today! I do not find one! There's a Tim Horton's (donut) store on almost every corner! I eventually find a general store near Pippy Park where I get lots of real food.
I cycled around St John's for most of today. At one point I went by the arboretum up the hill from the campground in Pippy Park. It was about to close so I just looked through the gate a bit. The arboretum looked really beautiful and well kept. Something to do next time, eh? Somehow, I got talking to one of the keepers of the arboretum. He thought he'd seen me there before and wondered why I had ridden up that steep hill three times today. Am I training for the olympics? The hill to the arboretum was rather steep like so many other hills in St John's.
At another point today, I found the old legislature near downtown near the current lieutenant governor's mansion. The old legislature just holds the offices of one government department today. I looked at the map and found the current legislature in modern office buildings near Pippy Park. What a great idea! Build a new home for government rather than renovating the old buildings, whatever the expense.
A couple of local men watched me pack up at 3 am this morning in Pippy Park. They just sat on a picnic table about a 100 metres from me in the tenting field. I never know whether to chat with people like this or what they're up to. They were chatting to each other and playing catch with a ball. The tenting field is well lit so it was easy to pack my gear. I went out of Pippy Park on roads; somehow the 2 friends went on some trails and almost caught up to me on the road to the airport even though they were walking. They were no problem and no unwanted encounters happened. It's just rather strange that 2 men, aged about 30, would be wandering around Pippy Park at 3 am on Tuesday morning and then continue to wander around St John's. What are these guys up to? I don't know. I just rode on to the St John's airport in plenty of time to catch my flight to Montreal.
The trip home was longer than expected. After the passengers on my flight to Ottawa loaded up a Dash-8 at Montreal airport for the second part of journey, we were informed that there were minor problems that would take about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, the plane was started and we were all optimistic. A group who were catching a connecting flight to Iqualiut in Ottawa were particularly thrilled. Our satisfaction was short lived. After 10 more minutes all passengers were told to get off the plane. We were told that the plan was to get a different Dash-8 plane from the hangar. That's what they did. In the end, we were 50 minutes late on a short-haul 40 minute flight! They did delay the connecting plane going to Iqualuit so everyone was happy, more-or-less?
In Ottawa, I put my bike bags on my bike and rode home from the airport on the Airport Parkway. Today I rode 15 km, loaded: 5 to the airport in St John's and 10 from airport to my home in Ottawa.
Today, I'm cleaning clothes and some bags from the trip. The tent is currently in the bathtub. I need to clean it and replace the main zipper. The last couple of days, the zipper on the door was very difficult to use. It's a good thing there were few bugs and mosquitos in Pippy Park as the zipper only closed slowly, sometimes.
Unfortunately I was quite ill for the week after I got home from TourDuCanada 2005. It started last Saturday with an ear ache in my right ear. When I got home, the illness developed a fever and very sore throat over next few days. I stayed home from work all week. I guess I got more than I paid for in Nova Scotia and Laborador? What a bargain?
The bicycle was also somewhat sick by the time it got home. I immediately ordered a complete new chain set and drive train for $300. Only the granny ring worked when I was riding around St John's Newfoundland. I rode granny all the way to Cape Spear and back! Amazing! Some time when ill these last few days, I read that Shimano 105 cranks do tend to wear out quickly, and, yes, I had a new set last spring. It's now in the recycling bucket.
Overall TourDuCanada 2005 was a blast. I would do it again.
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© Pat Buckley, 2005, 2006.