Scout Vélotour 2007

Juana Moreland at the Heritage Home B&B in
North Sydney graciously provided all the fixings for a 5:30 am breakfast so that I could catch the 7:30 am ferry.  I met
Alton and Debbie on their motorcycle while waiting in line.The ferry crossing was very smooth so we arrived on schedule at Argentia at 10 pm.  However, I had not thought it would be DARK when we arrived, and that it would be so far to
Placentia, where I was to stay for the night at Rosedale Manor B&B.  After a difficult ride for a few km’s, I turned onto what I thought was the right road to
Placentia.  Well, my wee light was not a match for the pitch-black night and the potholes in the road.  I was getting really concerned and I needed help.  I started trying to wave down cars.  A car went past, then turned around and backed up. At the same time,
Alton and Debbie rolled up as well from behind.  The car driver, Maureen O’Reilly, asked us where we were going, and offered to guide us to our respective B&B’s.  
Alton offered to ride behind me so that I could ride off his headlight.  This was most welcome.  I really needed this help to stay safe.  Many thanks to Maureen, her brother Wayne Smith, John Tobias and her nephew Christopher for this help so freely given.
Alton as well.At the B&B, Linda and Philip were waiting up for me with tea and cookies.  This was a calming way to finish off the day.

I was up at 4:30 am, and ready to ride at 5:30 am.  There were thunderstorms predicted till 1 pm all over

Cape
Breton, but no signs thereof in Port Hastings.  Well, that changed by sunrise at 5:45 am!  The heavens opened and there was a tremendous show of light and sound!Since it was still thundering at 8:30 am, and the forecast hadn’t changed, I made the decision that I would not ride up to
North Sydney.  The weather, coupled with the less-than-desirable road conditions and the volume of traffic because of the long weekend, I felt it too risky to ride those 150 km, especially if I had to wait to noon to start.  I had seen enough evidence of drivers rushing over the last few days and making sometimes stupid decisions, and had no desire to wind up a traffic death statistic.  I had to be in
North Sydney that evening to catch the ferry at 7:30 am on Monday.  The decision was easy to make analytically, but the emotional effect on me was hard: this was the first time that I was not riding a stretch of the route.

I decided to rent a minivan – many thanks to Cheryl at National Car Rental in Port Hawkesbury — and enjoy the drive up, via sideroads where possible.  This gave me a chance to see some of the TransCanada Trail in

Cape
Breton.  The quality of trail looked pretty good (mountain bikes recommended) with reasonable signage.  Another trail to ride at another time!

While en route, I happened to pick up a CBC radio concert featuring Pierre Schreyer and band playing the song A Pittance of Time by Terry Kelly.  I pulled off to listen to it, and reflected especially on the war memorials of small towns like Binscarth, MB and Cape Tourmentine, NB.

It was interesting driving on a highway again.  After being on a bike for so long, my respect for travelling at highway speeds has greatly increased, which will hopefully translate into increased patience when driving.

I got an early start so I would be in Antigonish before 9 am.  I had a radio interview with Radio-Canada in Montréal at that time.  There was a clear sky and the sun coming up over the hills was really pretty, and helped distract me from the confused wind that seemed to blow in all directions for a while just after starting.Once in Antigonish, I stopped at Sobey’s and stocked up on food.  I felt a bit like a rubbie pushing my shopping cart around the shopping centre while I was looking for a payphone in a quiet area.  The clerk at the Claymore Inn was most helpful, and the interview went well.Riding the

in NS is not as good as in NB: the shoulders are mostly good but get very narrow during passing lanes (as in ON), so I found I had to stake my ground, and encourage people to move over when passing.  Drivers were generally pretty good but drivers of RV’s and those hauling big trailers needed some encouragement to move over early enough to allow me to see who was behind them.Crossing the Canso Causeway was an experience I don’t care to repeat: There are *no* shoulders so a cyclist must use real caution.  A number of drivers who didn’t appreciate having to wait to pass me decided they would impress me by flooring it when they had a chance to pass.  I kept myself calm by thinking that the amount of energy they were consuming for that 50 m stretch was probably equal to all the energy I consumed to pedal the last 10 km.Hoping for a bit of rain to cool things off.At the Visitor Centre in Port Hastings, It was fun to meet Ken and Corinne from
Calgary.  Ken was an avid cyclist till a heart attack a few years ago, so an RV is now the mode of transport.

A smooth return to PEI from
Ottawa, and picked up Trusty from the shed at City Gardens B&B.  Thanks again to a great host, Carol Boyle, and a quick trip to Charlotte’s Rose
Inn, my B&B for the night.  John and Maureen are most gracious hosts and have a lovely Victorian/Edwardian style house.  John treated me to a quick walking tour of
Charlottetown and supper — many thanks John!  The city is becoming a ‘destination’, including cruise ships, because of all it has to offer.  It was a warm night because of all the hot air generated by all the federal politicians in town for a few days, but luckily there was an onshore breeze to clear the air!  Maureen provided a wonderful breakfast in the morning – my first crêpes of the trip.  From reading my blog, Maureen was concerned that I might want breakfast at 5:30 am, but no, not today.  I knew that road conditions were good to

Wood
Islands and Pictou, so a 9 am start was just fine.I decided to stick on Route 23 to
Wood
Islands instead of the new section of the Confederation Trail because I was unsure what time the ferries left for
Nova Scotia.  This means more hills, but the road is pretty good so I made good time.There was a paved shoulder on the road from Pictou to the

, but not too wide in some spots.  I was a bit concerned with the amount of traffic at times, so I was glad to get off the road early enough at Stellarton.  Starting to get major road fatigue.

Une superbe journée à Ottawa.  Je suis parti à 5h30 avec mon voisin Jean-Marc pour se rendre au pont Champlain à 6h30.  La rivière des Outaouais était toute calme et le soleil venait de se lever.  On a rencontré deux collègues de travail au pont pour faire le parcours à la colline parlementaire.  Sur la colline, j’ai rencontré plusieurs scouts que j’avais rencontré en chemin, qui me laissé avec une drôle de sensation.  C’était bien plaisant de rencontrer une jeune fille louveteau de Victoria qui a célébré sa fête le 12 mai à Stanley Park.  J’ai lancé plusieurs défis aux jeunes à qui j’ai signé les foulards ou les chapeaux : de rouler une bonne distance en vélo cet été!

Après la cérémonie de renouvellement de a promesse scoute, j’ai passé du temps à la statue de Terry Fox en face de la colline.  J’aime de regarder comment les gens réagissent : les jeunes parents qui expliquent à leurs enfants qui était Terry Fox, les autres qui veulent juste prendre une photo vite, …  Parmi ces gens, j’ai rencontré Richard, un amputé qui a traversé les E-U avec une tricyclette couchée qui était arrangée spécialement pour lui.  Il était bien peppé et bien intéressant, et il est un bon exemple pour les jeunes de la débrouillardise.

J’ai parlé avec beaucoup de monde scout d’un relais scout de vélo en 2008 pour souligner le 400 e anniversaire de la ville de Québec.  Il faut que ça soit un relais et non un trajet par une personne.  Aussi, pour célébrer la Route Verte.  J’encourage le vélo parce que c’est un activité très visible dans la communauté.

Judy, la conductrice de la navette du pont de la Confédération, était bien gentille.  Elle vient de la région Évangeline de IPE, et elle planifie d’assister à une grande réunion familiale, comme plusieurs des acadiens.  Sur le pont, j’avais vraiment la sensation d’achever mon rêve de traverser le Canada.  À noter: On ne peut pas circuler sur le pont en bicyclette.

J’ai bien aimé le sentier Confédération sur l’île.  Il était un peu mou pour 5 km après Borden-Carleton, mais très bien pour la reste jusqu’à Charlottetown.  Je restais surpris que j’étais presque le seul cycliste sur le sentier.  Il y avait les belles vues campagnards, et beaucoup de villages avec services.  Très plaisant, et pas de côtes parce que le sentier suit un ancien chemin de fer.

J’étais bien logé à City Garden B&B, grâce à Carol Boyles.  Merci pour votre appui Carol!

When at the Jouriman Centre at

Cape
Tourmentine, Ian Chiasson pulled in with his bike and trailer.  On two occasions, I had heard about the Memories in Motion tour that had left Vancouver the day after me – two people riding across
Canada to raise awareness of the horrid impact of drunk driving in our lives.  Ian was one of the riders, and it was great to meet him.  We compared notes on the good and bad sections of roads in Canada – we both vehemently agreed about
Ontario’s place on the list.  Ian is from
Cape
Breton, and will be starting a teaching position in
Ottawa this fall.

After a good night’s sleep at Denise and Phil’s, I planned to start at 6 am to get to

Cape
Tourmentine before the heat.  Well, there was quite a thunderstorm at that time.  So, I had a good breakfast with Phil, and did an interview with Denise.  We needed to record the fact that she was so happy to receive “Un BEAU TENOR” as her first visitor from “Les Chansonniers d’Ottawa” and not a member of the Bass section.  The latter are known to be rather uncultured.  (Ha, Ha).I stopped for another breakfast at my restaurant (Fred’s) at Cap Pelé.  I must say that there really is generally better quality and warmth of service in restaurants operated by French-Canadians.  I’ve seen this in
Ontario, Québec and Acadie.  Fred’s kept up this trend as well.Route 15 (

Cape
Tourmentine.  It was packed gravel, so not too bad.  There was too much traffic on the road – there was a “shift change” occurring on
PEI, so there were hundreds of RV’s, trailers, etc, rushing on and off the island.I took a quick spin through Port Elgin, which was a bustling centre of commerce early in the 20^th century, thanks to FRED Magee.  However, like many NB towns, it is quickly becoming a ghost town.  The TransCanada Trail passes through the town, but the bridge over the river is broken with no evidence of plans to fix it.It was a real thrill to see the
Confederation
Bridge rise in the distance, and to stop at the Jouriman Centre to see the

Attantic
Ocean.  Woohoo!!  It was a beautiful afternoon and there are several places to just sit and enjoy the views.

Sondra made a great breakfast at 5:30 am for me so that I could hit the road before the heat – thanks Sondra! 

Patrick advised me to ensure I had lots of liquid with me for the 155 km trip to Moncton from Oromocto – there is nuthin’ on the TransCanada Highway between the village of Gagetown and Salisbury, which is a stretch of about 100 km. 

Overall it was a great ride – it was cool enough till about 10 am, and then a nice tailwind came up to help me along.  When I sat down for a break at one point, I was a very happy bear – there were blueberries all around me! 

The

is a great road in this area, but I got a surprise just before the bridges that cross the
St. John River – a “No Bikes” sign!  What?? There was no sign before that point to advise cyclists to take another route, and the provincial map didn’t show another bridge in the area, so I just continued over the bridges.  There was little traffic and there were no problems. The full lane paved shoulder continues over the bridges so I felt quite secure. 

I was glad to get off the

asap at
Moncton: the road is great but lots and lots of traffic, which gets very wearing – it was Friday afternoon.  I took my room at the “Glory Inn” – nuthin’ fancy but I was really hot and tired. 

I had a great supper with cousins Rob, Melody and Erin at La Ca??? (can’t remember the name, it’s beside the railroad crossing on

).  It’s a vegetarian restaurant that makes virtually all its food on the premises.  Really good food, and good portions for a hungry cyclist.  Rob and I had very BIG desserts. 

I took a stroll along the pathway beside the
Petitcodiac
River in
Moncton.  Seeing the red-brown muddy banks and the tide rolling out reminded me that I was quite close to the Atlantic Ocean and
PEI!

After spending a bit of time with Jan and Mike, Sondra and Patrick, I got a wee taste of life in Canadian military families.  It was interesting how major crises or events of the last 15 years just happened to come up in conversation: Bosnia, where Mike had 4 deployments while his son was very young; Haiti; the Red River floods in Manitoba; and certainly
Afghanistan – several hundred personnel from Oromocto are there now and returning during August. 

These are the men and women who answer the call and to the difficult jobs that make
Canada the player it is on the world stage.  They have lived through the ups and downs of funding changes, along with the major surprise demands placed on the military. 

Sondra and Patrick’s son James has recently joined the army as well – it was interesting to meet some of the next generation that is joining up. 

I’m privileged to have had the time with these folks.