Solo Ride to Atlantic Canada

©2003 Glenn Springer

July 10, 2003

Right. Only 349 km today. It was a fun day, though. I got under way around 9, and headed west. I've been to PEI before, so I rolled right through Cavendish (very touristy) and past the "Anne of Green Gables" site. Well, not quite. See, there was a Tim Horton's there, so I HAD to stop for a coffee!

My target was to get to North Cape, the extreme northwestern tip of the island. I got there, and it’s a very cool place. I had no idea that it is a test site for wind energy power generation, and there are HUGE windmills there. It’s a constantly windy spot, and the windmills turn at a constant rate. Contrary to rumour, they’re completely silent. I got some pictures, and some others of the rugged shoreline.

I got to use the folding chair I’ve been carrying with me. I had stopped in Tignish and bought a sandwich, then I took the chair, sandwich and a drink to a sheltered spot on the beach and had a pleasant lunch. There was what seemed to have been a coast guard plane, buzzing the fishing fleet several times.

Speaking of pictures: on the way up I spotted a place I wanted to photograph. It was a long driveway, of the ubiquitous red earth, ending at the sea. I wanted to park the bike on the driveway and shoot a picture, but there was road construction so I couldn’t. I still wanted the picture, so I drove the bike into a another pathway I came across, KNOWING it was going to be a bitch to get it out again. That was putting it mildly. I had to stop a car (turned out it was a towtruck!) and asked the driver for help. It took 10 minutes of careful manoeuvering between us to turn the bike around. Never again!

In the morning, I had ridden past the harbour at North Rustico, where there were several charter boats advertising “Deep Sea Fishing”. It was a 3-hour trip (I said to the captain if he started singing the theme song from Gilligan’s Island, I was out of there) in a 45’ boat with a dozen and a half people, for $25. I made it back and went out at 6pm. I caught a 6 or 8 pound cod (had to throw it back, cod fishing is prohibited), about a dozen herring and about six mackerel. Mackerel are small (1-2 pounds) but they fight pretty hard!

Tomorrow: Cape Breton. Over the bridge, I think