McArras Brook to Middle Musquodoboit (131 km)

For a European, Canada has some mysteries to offer. One of them is the way advertising is done here! Each business has an incredible claim, for example:

·         The biggest slice in town (right, a pizza place)

·         The fastest service, you´ll never wait more than 12 minutes for your steak

·         Our used cars are better than most new cars

·         Guaranteed weight loss without any effort

·         The most fuel efficient SUV ever made (looks still like a car that has a disastrously bad milage)

·         We solve any legal problem to your satisfaction

·         Die in peace, talk to us while you have time (an undertaker)

But that´s still quite moderate, even if it´s hard to believe. More amazing is the obsessive use of the word: SAVE! Where ever you shop here, you can save! Buy a x-large package and you save! Buy a new house now and you save! Buy a new car and save 1000 dollars with our fuel give away! (that way you don’t realize that the new car has an extremely bad mileage) Call today and apply for your new savings card. And so on. But nothing matches Tim Horten, a coffee shop. I was standing there in a line to get a  coffee, while a TV screen on the wall showed a commercial, in which they show that because of a fast track, Tim Horten customers have saved more than 2 million minutes in waiting. I look around me, where is the fast track? Where can I save minutes? But then I ask myself, who counted all the saved minutes? And when after 6.34 minutes of waiting the girl asks me: "extralarge sir", I just say yes to get it over with. After 7.56 minutes I take the first sip  only to ask myself, why did I waist 7.56 minutes of my life for such a bad coffee. I should have saved not taking any coffee here. 

These companies must either think their customers are completely stupid and therefore believe that crap, or the advertising departments know that nobody believes what they say, but they haven’t got a better idea. We have one! The business has forgotten the words SERVICE and QUALITY. Both are in short supplies here. (Does not apply to the B&B´s we visited)

Apart from that, well we rolled again in sunny weather, more of that story and Katrins BionX bike tomorrow.

Restday in McArras Brook

The wind woke us up, shaking the house and whistling loud. A glimpse out of the window was all we needed to decide that we will stay one more day here. (it was not the wine from yesterday evening)

The rest of Irene really made it impossible to go on. Blue sky but merciless headwind.
And while we had breakfast, Jim run into the house and shouted that the greenhouse has flying away. And it was, the wind had just torn the plastic to bits and pieces. We felt so sorry for Josie and Jim. But, looking at the temperature here, 26 degrees and humid, we felt as if we all were in a greenhouse. Apparently, it was the hottest summerday this year!

We used the day to get Katrin´s bike fixed, which should be the case tomorrow, as we had to bring it to a mechanic. The rest was quiet and relaxed, we washed all our clothes, checked our finances, we need about 120 Can. Dollars a day and person, all included. A good part of it on food, cars would need fuel, we need lots of food. And as we dont eat fast food and enjoy a good glass of wine in the evening, our food bill is rather high.

Antigonish to McArras Brook (38km)

Another incredible encounter here. Yesterday evening we went out dinning in the best restauran east of Toronto, we didnt know that, but soon were told and found out ourselves. Next to us sat a distinguished lady, just preparing to leave. It seemed a bit difficult for here to get up, so we offered help. "Thanks", she said, "but old people just need time to get moving." Then we started talking and all of a sudden she asks, what kind of music we listen to. A bit surprised, we answered that we love most kinds. Then she opened her purse and pulled out a CD called "I wish you love". The lady was Diane Alcorn, a jazz singer, about 80 years old.

She signed it for us and wished us all the best for our trip! Wonderful, isnt it?

Today we were stopped by storm Irene! The forecast was mixed, predicting rain for the evening. But while on the road we soon had some light rain and saw thick black clouds ahead and felt the wind gusting up. So we decided to seek shelter in a wonderful B&B which just happened to be on the way: Red Roof,have a look at the picture gallery. http://www.roudendaachbedandbreakfast.com/index.html

It was the first B&B with solar energy, organic gardening and soon we were sitting on the terrasse and watched the wind an rain coming in. It wasnt as bad as feared, but still we were glad to be off the road. Because the B&B is very far from any place to eat, Josie and Jim invited us to dinner with them and their 4 dogs. And it ended very late, Jim on the guitare, the rest of us, including the dogs, singing!

Josie is a special woman, she is now 57 and from Luxenburg. Two years ago she decided to move here on the Atlantic coast, build a B&B, then she met Jim and now the two live here from the B&B and seem very happy.

Not to mention, Katrin´s bike broke down again, this time it´s the batterie charger!

St. Peter to Antigonish (107 km)

The morning started with nearly cloudless skies, warm like in the tropics and silence over the lake.

Just when we left, we found ourselves in deep automn fog, which did not last long. Leaving very early brought us tailwind, and we sailed the first 55 km in less the 2 hours without any effort. We were really trying to get forward, because the severe weather warning due to the tropical storm Irene.We wanted to be on a safe place by the evening. The temperature was 26 degrees or more, really hot and nice to bike.

And we saw, whta Canadien men do on a Saturday, the cut their lawns. On every second house someone was sitting on a little lawnmower tractor and seemed to enjoy it. Houses seem to have lawn in excess of 1 hectare (3 acres), all cut properly loking like a carpet. We reckoned, it a way to mark the the pivate ground, mowing it! But these large lawns are a big concern, all the noise from the mowers, the fuel they burn, leaving surfaces looking neat but being ecological desserts, even worse, they get regularly sprayed with pesticides.

During the day we crossed over from Cape Breton to main Nova Scotia, again leaving a wonderful region behind, though curious what the next brings. On our way we found a little German coffee shop with a cultural center and a real estate dealer, everything was written in German too. We had each a piece of delicious torte (cake) and even more important, had the best coffee ever in Canada.

That is something we really miss, good bread and a coffee, that deserves its name. What you get here is black bitter water, called coffee, only drinkable with a lot of sweetener! On our way, we started to think, that there might be a very good business opportunity, as we see so opps many here!

We arrived late and exhaused in our next B&B, still the storm did not hit us here.

Sydney to St. Peters (74 km)

The bike repair went ok we took of, anticipating a smooth ride. Wrong, after 10 km I wanted to pump the tire a bit, but misjudged it and the bloddy tire blew! Happy enough, we had everything with us and a short while later the tire was fixed but then the electronics would not start. So a second visit in the bikeshop was necessary before we finally were on our way. The good thing was, we learnt a lot about the bike and we had a very helpful bikedealer who really understood what he was doing. (we can only resommend him: http://frameworkfitness.com/)

Again we rode along the Bras d´Ór Lake, with breathtaking beauty. And again, the wind was really extremly strong, it was a fight almost all the way. Sometimes we started to envy the people passing us with their huge mobile homes, in which they have absolutely everything, including satelite TV. Some have even their car attached like a trailer, so they move quite a load. When you sit on your bike and fight the wind for hours, seeing them sitting in this mobile castles, a coffee mug in their hand, waving at us.... well then it happens. But seeing their overfilled camping site, we were glad to press on and find a little cabin on a lake shore.

Our evening usually looks the same, we arrive between 5 and 7 pm, shower and then go find something to eat. Lately we had good luck and ate excellent dishes, including fine wine from Nova Scotia and the whole is finished off wth a shared dessert.  (Even eating so late, I already lost 2-3 kilos, 6 hours on the bike requires more calories than I can eat during the day) At 10 pm we mostly are in bed, as we are both very tired.  

Back in Sydney - Bike repair

Early moring the neíghbour stood on the road, read to bring us to Sydney. What a guy! Coming from Alberta, he found his love in Cape Breton and moved here. He loves it here, all quiet and save. On the way he told us a story. During the financial crisis 3 years ago, his sister living in Greece wrote him a mail asking why he was not worried by the state of the world. He said, here, when he drives to work, he listend to the local radio, learns who´s dog has died or who makes a little blueberrry pie party and that´s all he needs to know. Noboby has money here, nobody spends money here, just like him so he feels good here in the land where time is 30 years behind. When he comes home he either goes fishing or sits on his little tractor and cuts the lawn. That´s what he wrote back to his sister, and that´s the reason why he loves it here and why he doesnt worry about the world. Whether this is good or not, we didnt know, but the people are so relaxed and friendly here, there must be something about their way of live.
The bike didnt get fixed, so we stayed one night here, a bit frustrated! But trying to take it the Canadien way, with a beer in the evening.

Nova Scotia Sydney to Little Narrows (66km)

The day started early, the ferry had to be boarded at 3 am, although we did not find out why, as it was only leaving at 5am.  The jouney was wonderful, a beautiful sunrise woke us finally up, we saw whales, a whole family ort group, blowing up water and after 7 hours landed in Sydney (Nova Scotia).

What a change, after the rather grey and weatherbeaten Newfoundland we arrived in a colourful sunny little town, with a nice park on the harbour where we had lunch and studied all the material given to us by the Tourist information. Then, we took of, along a 40 km long lake we rolled through a landscape like a picture, just beautiful, only the wind kept being a real pain.

The night we spent in  a B&B so hidden and remote, that we thought we never find it. A lady called Jane living there by herself, very funny and extremly friendly runs it, although she must be allready over 70! Winter she spends in Florida, as many people here do. Again, we were very hungry and she drove us to a hotel arround the corner (arround the corner means 7 km here). When we were finished she came back to get us! Unfortunately Kathrin´s bike started to make very bad noises during the day which really scared us. So Jane organized in the middle of the night a neighbour who would drive to work to Sydney in the morning and very importand, who has a pickup.
ONe thing remarkable here, it ist very Scotish still and people still us Gäelish as a local language.

Maidstone to Port aux Basques (107 km)

Sometimes its good not to know what the future brings. This was especially true today! Had we known what kind of a day awaits us, we would have stayed in bed.
Because the wind had always freshend up during the day, we wanted to be clever and leave early, expecting fairly moderate wind early morning. But, while having breakfast, our hosts were already sitting in front of the TV weather canal and the outlook was grimm! Stormwarning and rain were awaiting us. But outside it was still very nice, some wind, headwind though, but we decided to risk it.
What followed was a living nightmare. The wind was so strong that gravel on the ground moved, the rain was hurting and our speed downhill was down to 12 km/h and working for it. We have never ever experienced something like it. Katrin was almost blown of a bridge, after that she walked for a while  instead of driving. The whole distance offered no place to rest. So we did it in 8 hours, proud at the end, but it was a day we will not forget.

Now we are save in Port aux Basques, from here we will take the ferry tomorrow morning at 5 am to Sydney in Nova Scotia. We will leave this friendly province, which we really liked every day more, providing we dont count today.  

Black Duck to Maidstone (75 km)

Not much to report, we took of early after a breakfast outside with our new friend, Tucker! Soon we were back on the TCH (Trans Canada ´Highway) again very sunny, extremly hot and before I forget, yes with relentless headwind.

All was forgotten when we reached the Maisstone Inn, a lovely B&B on the Atlantic coast. Wonderful nice hosts, Bob even borrowed us his car to get some dinner.

With bread and cheese we sat on the cliffs and enjoyed the peaceful sunset. We asked each other what we think while driving. Both do not seem to think alot, we look at the scenery, enjoy the movement. We concluded, that is is a cleaning of our minds, as for the last 1 and a half years, we had been mainly foccused on our hotel. So it feels wonderful to slow down, to enjoy the moment.

One thing though goes often through my mind. It is so though and slow to cross this island, we get a got impression of its size and I admire those who came here arround 1600, who traveled through this place without roads! An nowadays, to go shopping people (us too) take the car, 100 km like nothing, a distance which on the bike means one day traveling. 

Deer Lake to Black Duck (115 km)

What a difference. One day ago we took a tour on very rough sea to watch the icebergs from close. It was one of the most impressive things we have ever seen. They look so clean and peaceful from far, but when you are close they are massive, break of and are very, very hard. The sea was full of them, even a big cruiseship could not go into St. Anthony because of the enormous number of icebergs just here. The Titanic went down not far from Newfoundland, after seeing these icebergs, I can very well imagine, that a ship can hardly survive a hit. See the little film.

And then, Sunday we went on with our tour on bicyles. Cloudless skies, a hot buring sun (26 degrees)and a headwind that blew us from dream to nightmare. It took 6 and a half hours to get to the next hotel. It was a leg with almost no places to rest in between, we drove through forest and forest and forest. In Newfounland live just 500´000 people, but th island is 9 times bigger that Switzerland where now more than 7 million live. It´s incredible how empty the place is and we have to be very carefully to always reach the next place to stay.
Just before Katrin´s battery was flat we passed a little roadrestaurant, thanks God! The evening we spent in a little lodge on a salmon river, had supper with a golddigger and slept wonderful.
PS: The most difficult part of the trip until now are our bottoms..... sitting becomes something to consider carefuly.

 

Iceberg finding in St. Anthony

So many travelers we meet told us, you must see the big icebergs in the very north. But, this meanT a big detour by bike which we both did not feel like doing. But none of us had ever see icebergs, so we decided to rent a car and make the detour by car. And, it was worth it! We saw huge icebergs, with wonderful colours, drank iceberg beer and even bottled iceberg water, cooled with real iceberg cubes.
But it made us also thinking, that this is the global warming we see, this icebergs floating here are huge pieces that break of from icefields further north! It is sad to see it happen, we could do so much and do so little to prevent the warming of our only earth.

Charlottetown to Gander (100 km)

Again rain, or as they call it here, liquid sunshine!
The rain caused Katrin´s bike to give up, what a nightmare in the middle of a thunderstorm standing in no mans land and the bike down. The electrics had gib´ven up, the system played crazy. So she had to do it all on here force, until we found the next town, Gambo, where we could stay under a roof and have first a warm cup of tea. The place was an old coffee and teashop, like a hundred years ago. The owner was incredibly friendly,he gave us his dry clothes to warm up, dried our clothes, offered to drive us to Gander. When we left, he even gave us a homemade bread. That ist the wonder of this jouney, the people here, they really make up for their weather!
Then we managed to reapir the bike, the electrical contacts hab become wet! What a bad construction detail.
Then, just as the sun made it throug the clouds, we were back on our way to Gander. Gander got famous lately because of 9/11. Here many planes that were not allowed to land anymore in the US had to land. The town had thousands of passengers stranded here and was runing out of everything like food and thootbrushes! This september it i 10 years since and there will be a huge ceremony here. Last week, a large piece of the twin tower was brought here, it will stand as a memorial to those days.

We stayed again in a wonderful bed and breakfast.

Clarensville to Charlottetown (55 km)

Rain, nothing but rain. We drove through the wonderful Terra Nova National Park, hoping to see goose or other wildlife. But even the animals stayed away in that kind of rain.
We capitulated too, had luck to get a room in the only hotel there and enjoyed an afternoon inside, reading playing, sleeping.

The hotel was also a truckstop, huge roadtrains with aspaltcowboys as one imagines them. They are a bit rough but seem very friendly. after Nwefoundland closed its train in 1972, all goods go on the road, we see many trucks loaded with wood.

Dildo to Clarensville on the highway (120 km)

 Who has ever pedaled 120 km on a highwayshoulder? Well, we did and it was not much fun. But, there is non other way to get through Newfoundland, at least in some parts. But, we had good luck, a really strong tailwind pushed us half of the way.

On our way we found this little cemetery,

a lovely place to rest

Later the hunger came, we stoped at a very remote restaurant,
where Katrin could load up here electric battery, and both of us our stomachs. The people were nice, the food, at least it had calories!

Holyroot to Dildo with music (71 km)

Rolling along the coast to the Blueberry Festival in Brigus. The festival was fun, especially the music the.Live bands playing local music, it sounds like a mixture between Irish folkmusic an Country music. Very nice to sit in the sun and listen to this wonderful music while watching all the people. To us very amazing is the size of the people, most are rather heavy, even young ones and the foot sold on the festival lacked any salad or fruit, it was all grease and potatoes or pies.
But, on the other hand, we never meet people as friendly as here. Everyone talks to us, the are so easy going, that makes the trip really an experience. Yesterday in our B&B we had a wonderful evening and morning chat with our hosts and one of the guests, John and his wife. He invited us to his home in Iowa, in case we pass there. Then in the evening, when we arrived at our current B&B in Dildo, we were invited by guests to share a beer and even to visit them at their house in Ottowa.
This is more than I expected and we are both very happy.

The rest is easily told: The bikes run well, especially Katrins electrical bike (bionX) performs really outstanding. We estimate to get around 100 kilometer with one battery load, which is more than we expect to do in a day.

St. John´s to Holyrood (50km)

Der erste Tag unterwegs auf den Schwer beladenen Velos! Wir sind etwas aufgeregt, wird alles klappen, halten die Velos, unsere Kräfte und vor allem das Wetter. Es ist ein traumhafter Tag hier, Sommer, 24 Grad warm und schon sind alle Menschen draussen mit Shorts und Harleys um die wenigen Sommertage hier noch zu geniessen.
Wir radeln aus St. John´s Rictung Conception Bay. Nicht besonders schön am anfang, später dann das Meer, die Küste, Wälder beginnen und die Weite des Landes erscheint unfassbar.
Die Autofahrer sind sehr anständig, die Töfffahrer dagegen seh laut und mühsam. Es scheint als bekommt hier jeder Mann der sich tätowieren lässt gleich auch eine Harley dazu, einfach ohne Schalldämpfer. Man kann Sie kilometerweit hören, beim überholen dröhnen sie wie ein gröllendes Inferno. Unglaublich!

Abends finden wir ein herrliches B&B in Holyroot, hier war auch schon Queen Elisabeth, der wir immer wieder begegnen. Überall wo sie oder ihr Vater mal war sind kleine Memorials. 

Today my bike and our luggage arrived. Katrin got hers too, she did buy one here in St. John at the Canary bikes shop. She has an electric bike, a Canadian BionX electrical bike support. So both of us took of  to Cape Spers, the most eastern point of North America. We were really eager to try out the bikes, and no surprise, Katrin´s new bike needs some reajustment. So tomorrow we will be back in the shop!

Appart from that, the weather improved and the folks here are incredibly friendy!

Arrival in foggy St. John´s

On August 10th our dream started, we flew to St. John´s in Newfoundland. Landing there we found very cold and foggy weather but very friendy people. What we did not find, our luggage, especially a  bike that we had loaded on the flight!

Well, at least we got a lot of promíses, and yes, the assurance our luggage was traced back and found in Frankfurt.

We were told taht it would be delivered one day later to our B&B, and imagine, this turned out to be true!

So, this is our first blog entry, we will do a lot more as we travel, stay tuned!

Fran and Katrin