Nova Scotia Eastern Shore

The ferry ride is a pleasant one. I did not book a cabin. There are few passengers and there is lots of room to stretch out on the furniture. 

The ferry arrives on schedule at 3pm in North Sydney on July 18. After a quick bite to eat at the waterfront we book a room at the same motel we stayed at a few weeks ago. The owner complains about a slow tourist season, they should be fully booked every night but they are not. 
On the road early again on July 19 and we cover the same distance as on the way up and spend another night at the Battery Provincial Park in St. Peters. This time we have enough energy left to visit the tidal lock in the canal that connects the Bras d'Or Lake with the Atlantic Ocean. 

For the next day we decide to travel highway 104 instead of highway 4, which we followed on the way up. Found the surface in better condition and there is a 2 feet wide paved shoulder most of the way. Once we reach the Port Hawkesbury and Port Hastings area, a fierce wind is blowing from the west. This area is a real crapshoot to get through on a bicycle and this headwind does not make it any easier. Once we are on the Canso Causeway we are blown repeatedly onto the roadway by the sidewinds. We don't want to end up as roadkill, safer to walk the rest of the causeway. We are in luck! There is a boat going through the locks and they open the bridge, stopping all traffic.  Now we have lots of room to sway and jump on the bike again.

 Right after crossing the causeway we leave highway 104 and start our trip along the Eastern Shore. This is much nicer! Instead of busy traffic we now see one car every half hour. That night we make camp near Sand Point across from a small lake. Shortly after the tent is up we are approached by a man on an ATV. It is the land owner. He has no problem with us camping on his land but warns us about a black bear that is a frequent visitor to the area. I will keep my air horn close by during the night.
We really like this part of Nova Scotia. The scenery is great and no traffic to speak off. With no major highways nearby it is dead quiet at night.

Next day we make camp at the edge of a graveyard at East New Harbour. That was a first for us and nobody challenged us!
For a few days now I have discomfort in the front of my lower left leg. Must be the muscle or tendon that pulls the foot up. Once we reach Sherbrooke I decide to schedule a rest day for July 23 to give that leg a break. Walking is more painful than biking for some reason. This will also give me time to visit the historic village for which Sherbrooke is well known. Because walking is painful, they allow me to use my bike to go through the village.

All the buildings in this village are on their original foundations and that makes this village a bit unique. There is a blacksmith shop, boatshop, furniture shop, tailor, drugstore, post office and more. The drug store also has a photo studio upstairs. How about lugging this 1860 AGFA camera around?

Judging from the number of billboards I have seen, there is a lot of opposition to proposed open pen fish farming on the Eastern Shore.

With rain in the forecast for the night of July 24 we check into a motel in Sheet Harbour. So glad we did, it poured most of the afternoon and during the night. It was not until 8am next morning that the rain finally stopped.
The last night of our trip we camp wild just off the Musqudoboit trail.

On July 26 we leave highway 7 for highway 207 at Porter's Lake and get onto the Salt Marsh Trail just past Seaforth.

Called Lucy and she started biking from the other direction to meet me.

After a trip that lasted 51 days we meet on the Salt Marsh Trail, have lunch sitting on a bench with a great view of Cole Harbour. Together we bike the last few kilometers to  our home in Colby Village. When we get there, my odometer reading is 3235km.

Central & Eastern Newfoundland

Nothing better to warm you up than a good hill. Over a distance of about 5km we climb from sea level to 275m after leaving Woody Point on July 8. In the early days this highway was even steeper and was known as "the struggle". Cars could only take this hill in the low gear and you'd better not have to stop! We run into some showers once back on highway 430 but in Deer Lake the sun is out again and it is quite windy. This time the wind is right at our tail and we are moving down the TCH at 25 - 30 km/h. Our target is the junction of the TCH and highway 422 and once we reach it there is a gas station with a restaurant. We don't have to cook tonight! Once again I order pan fried cod. The people at the next table are interested in me and my trip and are quite impressed that I was all the way up the North Western Peninsula. After they paid at the front desk they came back to my table and told me that my meal had been paid for!
The next 2 nights we stayed in motels in South Brook and Badger.

On July 11 I met up with Eileen and Ted again who had to be in Grand Falls that day. We met at Tim Hortons and while waiting there a fellow made me aware of the salmon interpretation center in Grand Falls. There is a restaurant attached to it as well and when Eileen and Ted arrived I suggested that we go there and they were game. After our meal we paid a visit to the center. It is basically a long fish ladder around the power dam in the Exploits River. You can actually see the wild salmon working their way up the ladder and there is one section where there is a large viewing window.  

Fantastic to think that these are wild salmon on their way to their spawning grounds. Looks like Newfoundland still has quite a number of healthy salmon rivers. 

After we said our goodbye's we biked to the Falls View Municipal camp ground in Bishop's Falls. It is an open field and there is no protection against the strong west winds. We had to wait until the wind died down a bit before we could erect our tent. 

On July 12 we camped wild beside the TCH about 20km past Gander at Soulis Brook. Here you can see all our gear in action. Blue fold-up bucket kept upright by a rope from the handlebars, water filter and the tent without the fly. Bob is used as a cooking platform so we won't put the grass on fire. The fly is put on when the sun goes down, otherwise it is too warm.
Not a good sleep, the wind stayed up all night, rattling the fly and lots of trucks rushing by during the night.


When we reach Joey's lookout at Gambo on July 13 it starts to shower. Gambo is Joey Smallwood's birth place, his father David moved here from PEI and started a sawmill.

Here is a view of Gambo and the Fresh Water Bay. 

We bike in light rain for the next hour and by the time we reach the Terra Nova National Park the sun is out again. Ted warned me to expect some steep hills here and he was right. We select the Norman Sound campground and book for 2 nights. Presently it is the morning of July 14 and we are at the store/cafetaria of the campground. Had a great night's sleep. Almost 12 hours in the tent and most of it asleep. We should be well rested for tomorrow!

 East from the Terra Nova National Park the TCH gets busy. The highway is in good shape and has mostly a wide paved shoulder. Exception is a new stretch past Arnold's Cove on a steep incline. Most of the paved shoulder is taken up by a rumble strip leaving a few inches wide path to bike on. I have to stand on the pedals to make it up here and with the traffic rushing by I need all my concentration to keep things straight. This makes biking very stressful and if the whole highway was like this I would have quit a long time ago.


I am behind om my schedule and I won't have time to make it to St. John's. I don't mind, travelling the TCH is not longer any fun. Glad when I reach the junction with the 202 and can leave all the traffic noise behind. Soon we find a good spot for camping near a small lake. There are quite a few travel trailers here from folks who found a nice spot and parked their rig there for the summer. Apparently that is allowed in Newfoundland. I put up my tent right across from a trailer on a grassy field. After a while the owner walks over and informs me that the field floods during a heavy rain. Since there only a few showers in the forecast for tomorrow I will take my chances. Only 50km to Argentia from here where we will board the ferry for Nova Scotia tomorrow.

It is now July 17. I expected the 202 to be a very quiet highway but while packing my stuff cars keeps passing by like a city rush hour! Later we find the reason, there is large processing plant in Long Harbour with a huge parking lot and it is full of cars. Once we are past that things become quiet.

From the 202 we connect to the 100 via the 101. I am surprised how mountainous the Avalon Peninsula is here. The 100 is a breeze, it has a wide paved shoulder and is mostly downhill.
Soon we bike besides the Norh East Arm of Placentia Bay with some great views.

At 1pm we reach the ferry terminal. We first bike around Argentia for a while but it is just an industrial complex and there is nothing to do. So far we have been able to avoid the showers but it looks like they are now on their way. Shortly after we enter the ferry terminal the ferry "Atlantic Vision" arrives from North Sidney. We will be on board when it leaves again just before midnight. It is going to be a long sail, scheduled arrival in NS is 3pm tomorrow!
We did not make it to St. John's but after having done 1925km on the island we can keep our heads high and say that we biked Newfounland!

North Western Peninsula

Today is July 7, day # 32 of our trip. Since our last blog update, we went all the way up the North Western Peninsula and almost back. Presently we are in Woody Point at Bonne Bay and are just 20km shy of 2000km. At one time after leaving St. Anthony we tried for about one hour to hitch a ride but no luck. With all the gear we need a pick-up truck to take it all and in that hour 3 trucks passed by without stopping. Looking back we are glad not to have gotten a ride, the weather improved and the biking has been great. Driving the same route from the opposite direction makes it look different and you see things you missed the first time.


We camped one night at the community River of Ponds. Lucy and I were there exactly 40 years ago and highway 430 was a gravel road at that time. The campground was a provincial park at that time but has been in private hands since 1997. I had to find the spot where I caught my one and only Atlantic salmon and I am pretty sure I did.

 We took a little side trip to St. Barbe and the terminal of the ferry that goes to Blanc Sablon. We were at the other side 6 years ago during our Labrador bike trip. This kinds of completes the big loop for Bob and me.









After River of Ponds the Long Range Mountains go out of sight and the road hugs the coast most of the time. There are lots of small communities on the way and past Eddies Cove the road turns east to cut across the peninsula direction St. Anthony and the east coast. One night we camped wild about 20km past the Eddies Cove alongside a salmon river. I was laying down in my tent after a hard day's work and heard a vehicle stop and back up. A lot of hollering started and I had to assume that it was directed towards me. Reluctantly I opened my tent and saw two fishermen and their truck full of fishing gear and they had just seen a coyote at the other side of the road and told me that it may be heading for my tent. I thanked them for the warning and would keep an eye on him. After that I went to sleep and never noticed a thing. Yes, what was I supposed to do? Pack up my stuff and move a ways down the road?

We paid a visit to the L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site. It is right at the end of highway 436 and is as far north as one can go in Newfoundland.  I quote: "Discovered in 1960, this is the first authenticated Norse site found in North America and could be Leif Ericsson's short lived Vinland camp. Some time about AD 1000 Norse seafarers established a base here from where they explored southwards. The traces of bog iron found - the first known example of iron smelting in the new world - in conjunction with evidence of carpentry suggest that boat repair was an important activity".
Above is one of the buildings that was recreated by Parks Canada from evidence found at the site.

Here is an example of what was left of the camp when it was discovered in 1960.















This is the actual community of L'Anse aux Meadows at the end of highway 436.

 I was wondering about all the wood piles I saw at the side of the road. One of the guides at L'Anse aux Meadows gave me the answer. Local residents can buy a licence for $25 and get assigned a lot where they can cut fire wood for their own use. They cut this in the winter and bring it to the road side using a sleigh pulled by snow mobile.

 There are quite a few gardens at the side of the highway. During construction of the highway the top soil was moved to the side and is now made to good use by the locals.

 We visited St. Anthony and biked right to the end of highway 430 where I took this picture using the selftimer. The spot where I am standing is called Iceberg Alley but unfortunately it was totally fogged in the morning I was there.

 We visited the house of Dr. Wilfred Thomason Grenfell who during his lifetime greatly improved healthcare and with that living conditions for the people living on the Labrador coast and Northern Newfoundland. This got my interest because during the 4 years we lived in Churchill Falls, Labrador, health services were provided by the Grenfell Association.

  When camping at the Three Falls RV Site and campground, about 10km outside St. Anthony, we were at the tent part of the park all by our little selves. While preparing a simple meal I heard some movement behind me. When turning I was looking straight at a young bull moose. I am sure that he knew that I was there but totally ignored me and just grazed away. 

Later he moved to the road and walked right in front of our tent site, totally ignoring me. This was the closest encounter with a bull moose I ever had. Glad that this is not rutting season.

 The weather was much better going back. Salmon season was in full swing. This shot is from the Torrent River. Look at all those fly fishermen trying to hook a salmon. I would have loved to be standing there myself.

 On July 6 I met fellow bikers Rob, Sarah and daughter Cedar from Portland, Maine. They have been on the road since early May and on their travels also were in Cole Harbour and on the Salt Marsh Trail. They are on their way to St. Barbe to take the ferry to Labrador and from there take the Nordic Express (well known to me) to Rimouski and then on the Quebec City where they will meet up with family. They maintain a website at: WWW.CRAZYGUYONABIKE.COM/DOC/BIKETRIP2012

On July 6 we arrived back in Rocky Harbour and decided to change our route a little. Instead of following the  430 all the way, we biked from Rocky Harbour to Norris Point, having to climb a hill of 150m starting at sea level. It was worth it, the view of Bonne Bay and the communities was breath taking. From there we took a water taxi to Woody Point, had to unhook Bob and take all the gear off my bike to get it on the boat. Once at the other side I was getting pretty tired and promised myself that if I would run into a motel at the other side, I would go for it. And about 1km from the terminal I found the Woody Point Motel, complete with a restaurant were they specialize in fresh seafood. Had a great meal of pan fried cod  last night.
When I woke up this morning it was raining and decided to make this a rest day. No WIFI at the motel. I am  now in the Granite Coffee House downtown Woody Point updating the blog. It has a laundromat attached to it and now we have all kinds of clean gear again.
Tomorrow we continue on highway 431 until it meets up with the 430 and then on to Deer Lake and the TCH. Life is good!