Day 49 – Victoria, Prince Edward Island (Wednesday, June 24, 2015)

Today was another 200km plus day.
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Miramichi was the absolute worst place for mosquitoes on my trip.   I hear they like some people more than others. At Miramichi Campground swarms would follow me and drive me mad while kids were playing happily in their shorts and t-shirts.

It rained during the night but stopped a few hours before dawn. I got up at about 5:30am to take a washroom break and made the error of leaving the tent open.   When I got back I estimate there were 200 mosquitoes inside the tent. My attempts to kill them to get a bit more rest woke me up entirely. Thanks to the pests I packed up my tent, shook off the rain, and got on the road in great time.

Nature served up just about perfect weather. It started quite wet but by mid morning the sky was partly cloudy and I was comfortable enough to cycle in my shorts for the first time in days. The weather was within just the right threshold of comfort.

I started off following highway 11 from Miramichi Campground because it appeared by far the most direct route. Because there are no stops or restaurants on the main highway I was forced to take highway 134 which turned out a much better alternative.
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Traveling on 134 (and later 133) exposes the small business and homes of New Brunswick. Unlike Quebec, the  Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick doesn’t go out of it’s way for tourism. There are practically no restaurants, or rest areas. Scenic areas which would have been promoted in many other places are left undeveloped.

From then on I continued to take the secondary highways determined to find scenic gems or trails but nothing that I saw held a candle to the Route Verte in Quebec,  or the Waterfront Trail in Ontario. It is as if the people of New Brunswick are too busy surviving to enjoy life – or something more sinister.

Generally everyone I talked to in New Brunswick was friendly. Even when their first language was french they went out of their way to be helpful. I notice that when I nodded hello in New Brunswick I seemed to always get a friendly nod back. (I had forgotten to mention that this was not true in Quebec. When I nodded I would often get a cold response as if I should have nodded in French. I even tried to nod differently – more subtly, with a French accent – but nothing seemed to work. And on rare occasions when people responded as I expected I immediately assumed that they were visiting from some other province.)

A few interesting things that happened today:

1. A large fly flew into my mouth. I immediately caught it in my tongue and spit it back out minus the wings as the occupants of a passing car watched with interest.
2. Because of the lack of restaurants I bought real food and discovered it was pretty good. Six muffins, four blueberry scones, two oranges, two apples and five bananas.
3. At 1pm at a critical fork I thought it would be nice to visit Prince Edward Island. PEI wasn’t on my original itinerary and it suddenly occurred to me that there was no good reason, after coming all this way not to see it.  Since touring PEI meant at least an extra day I immediately called Ann for permission. She said it would be ok only if I rode twice as fast the next day so off I went to PEI.

I arrived at Confederation Bridge at about 5:30pm and had to wait almost an hour for the shuttle to take me to PEI. But now I find myself at Victoria Village Inn (a nice Bed and Breakfast) after eating a great supper at the Landmark Cafe in Victoria PEI.

Apparently the host at the B+B, Steve, teaches at the Culinary Institute of Canada in Charlottetown so I am looking forward to a great breakfast. I am told breakfast is at 8am so I can sleep in (don’t tell Ann.)

Day 47 – Miramichi, New Brunswick (Tuesday, June 23, 2015)

I had another good sleep and had a difficult time getting up. I had intended to get up a 5:30 but had slept in ’til 7.

There were no places that served breakfast close to the motel but I was told there were a few places to eat in Beresford. So I made my way to Beresford and stopped at Tim Horton’s where I repeated the order of two BLT bagel combos with a muffin and sorted out the route for the day.

New Brunswick does not cater to the bicyclist or the tourist.   The roads are generally in poor repair and the shoulders are often not maintained when the road is resurfaced. I believe the coast is beautiful but I had a long way to travel from Beresford to Miramachi and could not afford poor roads.

I settled on taking highway 134 out of Bathurst which seemed the most direct route but as I crossed an overpass I noticed that the highway 8 appeared to be well maintained with a better shoulder. I changed my course.

The trip from Bathurst to Miramachi along highway 8 was a burden. The wind was howling so I couldn’t hear my music, the geography was uninteresting, I missed the quaint towns and houses, and the smell of lilacs. It would be nice if I could sleep and put my bike on cruise control. My mind started thinking of things I’d rather do that did not involve biking.

There were a few positives:
It didn’t rain.
The road had an adequate but slightly narrow but good shoulder.
My bike didn’t breakdown.
And there was a roadside restaurant about 20km north of Miramachi which offered me a welcome break.

After lunch I ordered a pie partly to delay facing the remaining 70km.

I arrived at Miramichi Campgrounds around 4:30pm, had a shower, did my laundry, and cooked lentils with rice and vegetables. Yum!

While I was doing my laundry I met a friendly young couple who were moving back to Hamilton from St. Johns after a three year adventure. As it turns out he had cycled the trip from Victoria to St John’s.

Day 47 – Nigadoo, New Brunswick (Monday, June 22, 2015)

I had a very good sleep and woke groggy; not quite ready to get up. The time change to Atlantic time doesn’t help; it says it’s 6:30am but I still feel like it’s 5:30am. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be more in sync.

The Quality Inn in Campbellton had everything I needed for breakfast. This included scrambled eggs, bacon, typical cereal, yogurt, juice, bagels and best of all fresh fruit. I stock up on oranges and bananas which are a nice treat on the road. I had my fill and took to the road later than normal – around 9am.   I only had a little over 100 planned for today, the weather was cold and raining, and I had not plans in pushing it.

At about 10am I got my second flat tire of the trip. I discovered a piece of glass lodged in the tread.   It took longer than normal to fix because of my rain gear, and the important step of checking for a cause before putting the new tube and tire back on.  ‎

While I was working on my bike a few people asked if I need help. Pretty much everyone is bilingual in New Brunswick and it was nice to converse in English without any apology.  One of the would-be-helpers was a man in his 50s traveling with his wife on their full loaded bicycles from Montreal to Prince Edward Island. ‎

I had a strong head wind in the morning. That coupled with the cold, rain, and frequent hills made the going a bit tough.

There were no restaurants when I wanted to eat. Unfortunately I had passed two small restaurants earlier without realizing there were not going to be any further along.   Around 2pm the lack of energy started to affect my performance and was forced to stop and grab a few cookies, pop, V8, and a gatorade at a variety store.

The weather was unsettled with threatening rain so I stopped to get some supper about 9km from my destination at Parc Malybel.  When I noticed the forecast for tomorrow was once again rainy I decided to stay at the Motel H just north of Nigadoo. Again I am disappointed.‎

Day 46 – Campbellton, New Brunswick (Sunday, June 21, 2015)

Tough day.

Raining and cool. Cool enough to wear a sweater. You end up getting a clammy filling inside the gore-tex, feet are wet, legs are mostly wet. If you stop you get chilled.

At one point just after a rest stop my rear rack came apart. Ralph wanted to keep going but couldn’t because the rack was dragging on the ground behind him. To my surprise all the parts were accounted for and after reassembly and tightening things were as they were and we set off.

oh – and I saw a moose. I saw him standing on the road from a distance and managed to pull my BlackBerry out to take a picture. He was looking directly at me as I approached. At first he appeared curious and then defiant, perhaps taking a combative stance – or so I thought. Then he was spooked, turned and trotted off up the path into the forest.

I didn’t find a place to eat lunch. None of the local canteens beside road are open on Sunday. I was relieved at the end of the day and looking forward to a dry place to spread out and get some rest. I stayed at an unimaginative Quality Inn in Campbellton near the south side of the bridge to Quebec.

Day 45 – Berges, Quebec (Saturday, June 20, 2015)

Today was another day I managed to ride 200 kilometers.

The wind predictions were in my favor. I felt good physically and the temperature was in the twenties without any rain. I was determined from the outset to make the most of the conditions and aim for Rimouski, about 100km, by lunch time.

The day was as predicted and I arrived in Rimouski in good time. Rimouski was a highlight of the route on the south side of the St Lawrence.   There was a road which catered to bicyclists, and tourists.  The road wound for several miles along the shore through scenic inlets and stone beaches.

Because the wind was so good at Rimouski I made the decision to ride through to make up a day and aim to stay at Berges for the night.

At Mont Joli the road cuts inland away from the St Lawrence and through hilly country side.   I managed to make good time and arrived at Val Brillants Camping near Berges by about 5:30pm and had supper at a nearby roadside canteen.