I rode down to Halifax, Nova Scotia last week to visit family and had fantastic weather and great riding. On the way down from Toronto I stopped in Quebec City with my daughter's in-laws and then did the ride to Halifax the next day. When I am on the road I like to start by 6am and it was a brisk 7 degrees Celsius (that's 44 F for you old fashioned folks) Sunday morning when I set out. In fact despite being July I had more use of my heated gear on this trip than I did of my shorts. Glorious sunny weather for the maritimes other than the one day I was not riding or working outdoors down there. And I can tell you where Can-Am is selling all those Spyders. Quebec! I estimate a full third of all the non-car open-riding traffic I passed in Quebec were Spyders, many with trailers.
Wednesday I went up to Prince Edward Island to visit Kiltman. I had a breakfast of wild blueberries I picked myself at the side of Highway 103, exit 5 outside Halifax. Seriously, I just pulled off the exit got off and started picking and eating. Along the way to the island I stopped at Lismore Sheep Farm to pick up a sheepskin for the saddle on the Vision. It's in River John, Nova Scotia on the way to the ferry for PEI. The wife of the couple that own it was a childhood friend of mine ( full disclosure) but I recommend the sheepskin thing if you are doing long rides.
I went up Highway 311 from Truro and that was a really nice road, lots of curves and in good shape. The last 2 km to the farm coming in that way were rough but if you go in from Highway 6 (going along from Tatamagouche) it's not bad. The road from the farm to the ferry was also a great ride and I pulled up at the docks as they were starting to load. Perfect timing. There was one other bike on the ferry, a couple on a Wing with a nice trailer heading for Newfoundland. We tied down our rides and went upstairs to make the crossing. Travel time shore-to-shore was about 75 minutes. The ocean was flat as a plate of you-know-what, which I appreciated, having had some considerations about going on the ferry in the first place. The ferry is free to get onto the island ( as is the bridge ) but you have to pay to get off. The bridge was $18.50 Canadian dollars to leave the island. I did some riding along the coast and visited a lighthouse or two. Beautiful place.
So I met up with Kiltman on Wednesday afternoon and we went to his campsite and had an impromptu PEI-STOC with a dutch-oven cooked roast and dutch-oven cinnamon rolls for dessert. The mosquitos chased us inside early but I needed to get to bed as I did a straight shot home to Toronto from Prince Edward Island on Thursday, collecting my documentation to certify for a Saddlesore 1600k (SS1000) in the process. Kiltman generously got up at 4am and led me to the bridge by the quickest route to get me off to a good start. Thank you, sir! Despite some rain in New Brunswick and between Montreal and Cornwall, it was fantastic riding weather, the temps in the low 20's C. Fortunately, the construction guys had decided to close down the East-bound lanes of the 401 and not the West-bound ones so I rode past a 30km long traffic jam going the other way at midnight as I was approaching Toronto. 21 hours later I parked the Vision and had a long hot shower and a cold beer to celebrate.
The Victory performed flawlessly throughout and I am now confident I can easily complete my cross-continental tour next summer. In 4 days of riding time I did approximately the same distance as Toronto to LA. I was a little constrained for time so I had to stay on the slab for the most-part, but it was still very enjoyable riding with fantastic weather whenever I was on two wheels. If you haven't been down that way I highly recommend it. Very friendly folk and some nice riding and great scenery.
Cheers!
PS I will see if I can figure out putting up an album of some pictures for this.
Wednesday I went up to Prince Edward Island to visit Kiltman. I had a breakfast of wild blueberries I picked myself at the side of Highway 103, exit 5 outside Halifax. Seriously, I just pulled off the exit got off and started picking and eating. Along the way to the island I stopped at Lismore Sheep Farm to pick up a sheepskin for the saddle on the Vision. It's in River John, Nova Scotia on the way to the ferry for PEI. The wife of the couple that own it was a childhood friend of mine ( full disclosure) but I recommend the sheepskin thing if you are doing long rides.
I went up Highway 311 from Truro and that was a really nice road, lots of curves and in good shape. The last 2 km to the farm coming in that way were rough but if you go in from Highway 6 (going along from Tatamagouche) it's not bad. The road from the farm to the ferry was also a great ride and I pulled up at the docks as they were starting to load. Perfect timing. There was one other bike on the ferry, a couple on a Wing with a nice trailer heading for Newfoundland. We tied down our rides and went upstairs to make the crossing. Travel time shore-to-shore was about 75 minutes. The ocean was flat as a plate of you-know-what, which I appreciated, having had some considerations about going on the ferry in the first place. The ferry is free to get onto the island ( as is the bridge ) but you have to pay to get off. The bridge was $18.50 Canadian dollars to leave the island. I did some riding along the coast and visited a lighthouse or two. Beautiful place.
So I met up with Kiltman on Wednesday afternoon and we went to his campsite and had an impromptu PEI-STOC with a dutch-oven cooked roast and dutch-oven cinnamon rolls for dessert. The mosquitos chased us inside early but I needed to get to bed as I did a straight shot home to Toronto from Prince Edward Island on Thursday, collecting my documentation to certify for a Saddlesore 1600k (SS1000) in the process. Kiltman generously got up at 4am and led me to the bridge by the quickest route to get me off to a good start. Thank you, sir! Despite some rain in New Brunswick and between Montreal and Cornwall, it was fantastic riding weather, the temps in the low 20's C. Fortunately, the construction guys had decided to close down the East-bound lanes of the 401 and not the West-bound ones so I rode past a 30km long traffic jam going the other way at midnight as I was approaching Toronto. 21 hours later I parked the Vision and had a long hot shower and a cold beer to celebrate.
The Victory performed flawlessly throughout and I am now confident I can easily complete my cross-continental tour next summer. In 4 days of riding time I did approximately the same distance as Toronto to LA. I was a little constrained for time so I had to stay on the slab for the most-part, but it was still very enjoyable riding with fantastic weather whenever I was on two wheels. If you haven't been down that way I highly recommend it. Very friendly folk and some nice riding and great scenery.
Cheers!
PS I will see if I can figure out putting up an album of some pictures for this.
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