Day 26 - Arriving in Halifax by bike

Day 26 - distance 95 km (Truro to Halifax)

Riders: Sheila, Meg, Dan, Leslie

The last two days were polar opposites. The second last day was rainy, cold, and somewhat miserable. We had sunshine, blue skies, and a beautiful ride into Halifax on our last day of cycling.

Dan, Sheila, Meg and Leslie leave Truro

We biked through rolling hills, along sparkling lakes and it was smooth riding, until as luck would have it, only 65 km away from Halifax we had a major mechanical issue: a broken chain! Victor showed up with tools and he and Dan repaired the chain. Fortunately we covered that repair in our pre-trip bike clinic.

Broken chain

Chain repair

We arrived in Halifax via ferry from Dartmouth and were greeted by Victor and Leslie's sister, Christine. We found our way to the nearest bar and ordered a couple of celebratory pitchers.

Meg, Les, Sheila and Dan arrive in Halifax

Les and Sheila celebrate!

In some ways "the end" was like most other days--it wasn't like finishing an endurance event or race where you are utterly spent when you arrive. Instead, we arrived feeling like we have every other day, a bit tired and very hungry. But what made this day different was the feeling of culmination and accomplishment. Collectively all the days of cycling led us here to our final destination.

Says Sheila, "I spent the quiet biking hours on the last day reflecting on the trip, thinking about the highs and lows, the challenges and the rewards. I tried to remember each place we had stayed at throughout the trip and found I couldn't. Too many campsites tend to blur together. But I remember the spectacular views and the tough climbs that it took to get up to those views. I remember the cruising tailwinds along the St Lawrence and the cold rain of New Brunswick. I thought about how much of my country I was able to see, and how few people get to see it by bicycle. So different than travelling by car or train; by bicycle you smell the smells, taste the air, and meet the people. That was wonderful and I felt extremely lucky."

Distance from Ottawa to Halifax by bike

We covered a total distance of just over 2230 km from Ottawa to Halifax. The trip took us 26 days including 3 full rest days with no biking. We are so thrilled to have not only met, but surpassed our $5000 fundraising goal for Easter Seals Ontario. Thank you to everyone for your support.

Days 23-25 - Welcome to Nova Scotia

Day 23 - distance: 120 km (Miramichi to Shediac)

Riders: Sheila, Meg, Leslie, Dan, Danielle

Today is Danielle's last day of riding before heading home, sadly it started with intermittent rain. We started on busy highway 11 with intermittent shoulder. When we hit a section with no shoulder and heavy traffic, we felt much safer with Vic driving behind us with blinking lights. Thank you Vic! We turned onto highway 134, which was much quieter. The road took us through winding farms and rivers. We stopped for lunch in Bouctouche on the steps of Subway, as we couldn't find a café.

We arrived in Shediac on a very pretty road with lots of ivy and large fancy homes - it's the first fancy place we've seen in in NB. Downtown Shediac looked quite cute with lots of ice cream shops and tons of places offering lobster in its various forms. This seems to be the lobster capital of something, with it being advertised everywhere but also because of the giant lobster marking the centre of town.

We tried to go to Parlee Beach Provincial Park for the night, but found it closed for the season! We found another campsite back at the other end of town, and headed there instead.

Day 24 - distance: 116 km (Shediac to Pugwash)

Riders: Sheila, Meg, Dan, Leslie

We left Shediac and headed back to Parlee Beach for a half-hour walk around. Tested the waters, would have been nice for a swim if there had been some sun. We said goodbye to Danielle at the beach, as she was heading into Moncton to catch the train home.

Farewell Danielle!
Parlee Beach

Getting ready to cycle out from Shediac

As we left New Brunswick, we stopped in a small winery and bought some blueberrry wine and small liquor samples.

We biked 40 or 50 km on our way out of New Brunswick, mostly in the clouds and misty rain. Most of New Brunswick has been this kind of weather, so we were happy to have Nova Scotia greet us with beautiful sunshine.

The second half of the day's ride was lovely, with sunshine lighting up the green fields, blue water, and red soil. We cruised with a bit of a long-lost tailwind into Pugwash, where we enjoyed some ice cream cones in a park along the water.

Our campsite was 10 or 12 km outside of Pugwash, on a bluff above a beautiful red beach with the warmest water we've been in so far. We all had a quick swim in the shallow water and drank wine on the bluff watching the sunset. A great view.

Day 25 - distance: 83 km (Pugwash to Truro) 

Riders: Sheila, Meg, Leslie, Dan

We woke up to a bit of rain this morning on our second last day, and it just got worse. This was our wettest day, with cold temperatures of 12 degrees, and consistent light rain. We stopped after 30 km for a coffee in Tatamagouche to warm up, then pushed for another 55 km through this hills to Truro. It would have been a beautiful ride on a nice day, the hills rolled nicely, and the landscape was pretty. Unfortunately rain and fog kept us moving quickly to stay warm. We decided over hot chocolate in Truro to cut our ride 10 km short, and spend our last night in a hotel. We were all happy to warm up and curl up and watch some TV.

Tomorrow is our last day, we are hoping for a sunny ride into Halifax to find some beer to celebrate!

Days 19-22 - Welcome to New Brunswick

Day 19 - distance: 105-ish km (New Richmond to Campbellton) 

Riders: Sheila, Meg, Leslie, Kyle, Danielle

We had a medium-to-strong headwind most of the day, but are very happy to have the sun back. The Route Verte took us off the 132 through some rolling hills and farmers' fields. We were meant to ride through a provincial park, but we missed a turn and with the headwinds decided not to backtrack. We crossed the beautiful bridge into Campbellton and took a jumping photo for Rob at the NB sign. 

Bridge into Campbellton, NB

Sheila and Leslie arrive in New Brunswick - JUMP!

We slept in a yurt and it was nice to not have to set up the tents.

Day 20 - distance: 107 km (Campbellton to Beresford)

Riders: Sheila, Leslie, Meg and Dan 

Kyle and Danielle went for a hike in the morning, as it was Kyle's last day. Danielle, having accomplished her goal of continuous riding through Gaspésie, took the day off.

Danielle and Kyle

Dan joined us early in the morning. We left Campbellton on HWY 11, after hearing from the tourist info person at Sugarloaf that it's a good road with a nice shoulder, though it's our first riding on the TransCanada. There were some nice views at the beginning, but most of HWY 11 was not very exciting from a cycling point of view. Most of it had a nice 10-foot shoulder, but just not much to look at. With nothing really to stop for, we ended up biking 85 km before taking a break.

There was only another 20 km left to the campsite in Beresford, where we are all looking forward to tomorrow's rest day. Except maybe Dan, who just got here and is also a superhuman on the bike!

For dinner, we followed a 30-year-old recommendation from Danielle's parents to eat at a lovely French restaurant in Beresford. In someone's converted home, we had nice wine, very good seafood, and the BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE ever.

Day 21 - Rest day in Beresford 

Usual rest day routine of laundry, catching up on emails, and calls home. We did some future route planning, some napped, others went into Bathurst for groceries. We didn't skimp on the oreos, jujubes, and M&Ms.

Vic reflects by the water in Beresford

Day 22 - distance: 105 km (Beresford to south of Miramichi)

Riders: Sheila, Meg, Leslie, Dan 

Today we woke up to misty rain, cold temperatures and howling winds. Not an awesome outlook for the day, but we ended up getting pretty lucky. The weather held off until the last 15 km, when we rode through rain, puddles, and got splashed and sprayed by the traffic churning down HWY 11. The beginning of the ride was nice, on the 134, but when it joined with HWY 8, we found ourselves in heavy traffic with little shoulder. We didn't feel safe, and as soon as we could, we took a side road detour onto what turned out to be a sand road, which was new for us. We found you could generally stay upright if you kept up some speed, but occasionally you would sink in, skid out, and have to attempt to rapidly unclip from the pedals to avoid falling.

Sand road

We cruised into Miramichi on the nice HWY 11, complete with a wide shoulder and nice pavement, though we had to cross a very beautiful but very high bridge to get into town. The howling east winds felt like they were going to blow us right off the top!

Dan and Sheila try not to blow off the bridge
Miramichi

We biked in the pouring rain and 13 degrees for our final 15 km, but Vic and Danielle had secured us a couple of the most awesome tree houses with mattresses and our own bathroom. Best of all, a dry place to curl up out of the rain for the night.

Tree house

Inside the tree house