East Coast Tour - Day 7

Saturday, September 17, 2011 - Bedford to Atlantic Ocean Loop - 78 km

The end of the coast to coast ride! I rode solo on an unloaded bike out to Chebucto Head. I started late morning and rode the Beford Highway to Halifax and then got on a rail trail for a little while. As I was consulting the map a dog walker stopped and gave me advice on how to get to Purcell's cove road. This road was excellent. Lots of hills and curves made it a lot of fun to ride. There also was many other cyclists out today so I spend a lot of time waving. As I was riding I decided that I wanted to find a secluded piece of coastline to finish my journey. Near Portugeuse Cove I spied a trail into the woods towards the coastline so I pushed my bike through a patch of poisin ivy and then about a kilometer down a rough trail until I scrambled to the top of a small peak. I could see then that I was a long way to the ocean, but I spied a lonely lighthouse with a small road leading to it. So I backtracked to the main road and found the lighthouse road. It was blocked by a gate, but this was easily ducked under. I rode the rest of the way down the broken and overgrown roadway until I reached the lighthouse at Chebucto Head where I considered this to be the end of the cross Canada ride. Took some photos, one with the timer which was tricky as the wind kept blowing the camera over. Had lunch here and explored a bit including an old gun bunker. I could not get down to the water because the rocks were treacherous. Rode off and took a different route back which was not as pleasant. The whole ride took about 4.5 hours.

This is what the Bedford Highway looks like after dropping your camera at 60 km/h... still works, though something is now rattling inside.