A rolling motorcycle gathers no spider webs: Annapolis Royal to Halifax and North Sydney

I had a really wonderful time with Peter and Jane in Annapolis Royal.  Jane made us a wonderful duck breast dinner on Saturday and Peter and I and his son-in-law Shaun spent the evening talking about what has happened to the United States. For most Canadians, and others from countries around the world, the extent to which we are confounded about the USA is increasing; and we ask ourselves how a country with such glaring inequalities across a broad range of economic and social indicators can hold together.

In Annapolis I visited the beautiful Royal Historic Gardens,

the wharf and the market. I also walked by the Annapolis Royal train station that Jane Nicholson has restored and out of which she runs her investment business.

Before I left for Halifax yesterday,  Peter made me an amazing BLT with fresh bread, lettuce, tomatoes purchased at the market, and thick-sliced bacon from a local farm. Well sated I thanked my host for their kindness and rode across the province on Route 8 to Milton where I turned north on a combination of routes 3 and 103 to Lunenburg where I stopped for fish and chips

 at a shop with an outside patio right across from the Bluenose.

After lunch I continued on Route 3 to Halifax with a couple of stops at the Memorial for Swiss Air Flight 111

 and Peggy's Cove,

both of which I had last visited in 2011.

My shared bathroom single-bed room in Loyola residence at St. Mary's University was clean but tiny and very hot. I don't imagine many university residences have air conditioning. I took a bus downtown and spent a couple of hours, along with thousands of people who were there for a weekend long festival, walking along the waterfront, and at 10:00 there was a pretty spectacular fireworks display from a barge in the harbour. Dinner consisted of a delicious lobster role and a Virgin Caesar.

The ride today from Halifax to North Sydney, via the East Shore and Antigonish through some beautiful scenery, particularly along the coast, was uneventful.

Tomorrow I embark the ferry here in North Sydney for the 5 to 6 hour crossing to Newfoundland;  I can use the time to do some reading.






  

Quick update from Annapolis Royal

I'm now with our dear friends and most gracious hosts Jane and Peter Nicholson in their beautiful house in Annapolis Royal.

Yesterday I rode the ferry from Saint John to Digby, a pleasant crossing of the Bay of Fundy. After a short ride through the town I headed to Grand Pré the place from which the ancestors of the first Bujold (Bugeaud) who arrived in Port Royal around 1693, along with a large number of Acadiens, were deported in 1755. And what a coincidence; my third ever visit to this historical site was on July 28th, the date that was proclaimed by Elizabeth II in December of 2003 as the day when the 'Grand Dérangement' is to be commemorated. The ride from Digby to Grand Pré along Route 1 is very interesting as it goes through a number of pretty small towns.

I returned to Annapolis Royal by the much faster Highway 101 and arrived in time to help Jane close her vintage home decor store - Mrs. Nicholson Home - on St. George Street.  We then drove the short distance to their lovely home and sipped white wine while waiting for Peter to return from Halifax where he is doing some interesting work to help the province take advantage of opportunities and innovate.  Jane is a force of nature in this community whose views are sought by all it seems.  The three of us had dinner at a lovely bistro where, to accompany my glass of Pinot Noir, I had a delicious appetizer of seared scallops and a main of beautifully cooked haddock with lovely vegetables and herbed potato wedges.

Afterwards we watched the proceedings of the DNC on CNN till well passed midnight.

And this morning we got the fantastic news that our good friend Iain Stewart is being appointed as the next President of the National Research Council of Canada: it`s hard to think of a more capable and deserving individual to lead this important national institution  in their 100th anniversary year.  Bravo Iain!

Here is a selection of pictures from today.

The ferry Fundy Rose in Saint John

The port of Digby

The church in Grand Pr/ with the statue of Évangeline:

A mirrored plaque with the family names of those who were deported by the British in 1755; note the spelling of the Bujold (Bugeaud) ancestor.

Dégelis Québec to Saint John New Brunswick by the backroads

Left the hotel in Dégelis at 7:35 while the fog was still burning off. In St Leonard New Brunswick I filled up on gas and had a quick coffee at Tim Hortons while programming my GPS for the day's ride.  I instructed my GPS guide to avoid highways and she really took it seriously.  While all the roads had pavement on them, some weren't much more than well weathered and seriously beaten up asphalt.  For those of you who would like to trace my progress today you have to follow Hwy 2 from Dégelis to St Leonard then, in the following order, follow 105, 107, 570, 104, 616, Rocky Rock Road, 105, 102, 7, 100, and finally Manawagonish Road. There is very little traffic on these back roads that meander through some beautiful countryside, often along rivers and streams, and pass fields of potatoes, corn and other crops.

Here's a small potato field  and some impressive looking clouds.

And here's a view from a high point on Route 104 between Coldstream and Cloverdale.

This is what a back road looks like.  If you wait a while, maybe another vehicle will come by; meanwhile you can admire the wild flowers on the shoulders and in the ditches.

Dinner this evening was at a very good sushi restaurant on King Street in Saint John.  I walked around for a while and then took a taxi back to the motel. Tomorrow it's early to rise to get to the ferry that will take me across the Bay of Fundy to Digby Nova Scotia.

From Montmagny to Dégelis Québec

This morning after picking up a coffee at Timy's and before leaving Montmagny under cloudy skies I went back to the parc by the river to see what difference the tide makes. As you can see from the two pictures the change is quite dramatic.

Yesterday afternoon:

This morning:

I decided to continue to ride along the scenic route 132 through many small towns along the St Laurence. On a short parallel street I came upon an artists garden with some beautiful stone carvings and lovely flowers. The day lillies are in full bloom and they line the ditches and form low hedges in front of many houses.

This well maintained property is one example of the period houses along the highway that have the mighty river in their back yard.

Owing to infrastructure programs intended to help preserve provincial heritage sites, nearly each village has a refurbished and well maintained church. The 1768 Église Notre Dame de Bonsecours is in the village of Islet-sur-mer.

At first I just drove by a wacky art installation but since it reminded me of one I had seen along Route 66 I doubled back and stopped to take a few pictures. The Gallerie d'Art contemporain, as it is called, has a number of installations in the yard and on the pink house that also serves as the artists home, shop and studio.

I particularly like the beds suspended on wood posts.

While the larger bed had no name that I could find, the baby crib is called:

The well raised children.


And now for the day`s small misadventure.  Not having eaten yet, I decided around 11:00 or so to stop and pick up a coffee to have with my leftover cheese, baguette and crudités. The plan was to stand the coffee with its lid securely fastened in the topcase of the bike and stop at the next inviting roadside picnic table. Sound reasonable? Duh! All except the paper coffee cup in the topcase part.  After 15 minutes with wipes and other assorted absorbent materials cleaning up the spilled coffee in the bottom of the case, I was able to enjoy me 2/3 cup of coffee and my snack at a rest stop at the Parc des Grèves at Notre Dame du Portage.  Until I wash it out my rain gear it will have the distinctive 'Eau de Mac Coffee' smell; not bad really.

I followed 132 to Rivière du Loup and then took highway 85 and 185 (the remaining two-lane sections) to Dégelis at the eastern tip of Lac Témiscouata. Since it was too early to check into my hotel for the night I dropped into the tourist information office to ask if there were any interesting motorcycle routes nearby.  After a brief discussion with the lady at the desk I decided that I should do a roughly 100 kilometre circuit around Témiscouata lake and the like-named Parc national. It was a beautiful ride through dense forest along routes 295 and 232. The 'Watch for deers' signs were plentiful but thankfully the deer were not.

Dinner at the hotel restaurant, a half bbq (actually roasted) chicken with coleslaw (in a plastic container) and frozen fries was, well, not impressive.  You gotta be leary of an establishment that has a sealed plastic-wrapped dinner roll with little plastic butter tubs on the bread plates next to each of the place settings in the restaurant.  But, the service, while slow (I had time to read more than a chapter of my book while sipping my glass of white wine) was friendly.

All in all a great day.

Tomorrow to Saint John.

Light ' ' ' Rain; sometimes '''::!!!:::'''' HEAVY

When I left home this morning at around 7:30 mother nature was putting on a show with steady rain lightning and thunder. Since Jane had checked the weather for me it seemed to make some sense to leave and try to catch up to the leading edge of the storm and then to, hopefully stay in front of the east-moving front. It sounded like a good plan, and it was except for the catching up part of it.  It rained all the way on Highway 17. Mercifully the traffic was light; smarter sorts having decided, I guess, to forego a soggy Monday morning outing.

By the time I reached Highway 417 east of Hawkesbury the sky was still a steely gray, the rain had stopped, and the traffic on Highway 30, that takes you well south of Montreal, though flowing smoothly had increased significantly. I stopped for my first coffee at a Tim Hortons just off the 20 in Saint Hyacinthe just long enough for the light rain to catch up to me. Having checked the map I decided to take route 265 to the «old highway 132 which follows the south shore of the St Laurence River.

Just east of Deschaillons-sur Saint Laurent I got my first view of the river at a cross next to the road.

There has been a cross in this location continuously since 1838 when one was erected by sailors on the river.

The on and off rain continued until I arrived at my motel in Montmagny. This place is great, in addition to a restaurant it has a well stocked charcuterie. So dinner this evening is crudités, a chunk of baguette, 3 different local cheeses, and slices of two home made goose and duck terrine. Oh, and a beer!  Here's looking at you kids.

Ride 2016 - Preview

Another summer, another opportunity for a motorcycle trip, My motorcycle has been serviced, new brake pads and disks, and new Metzeler tires installed by Goodtimes in Ottawa.  I've decided that with the Canadian dollar at around 75 cents US it's time for a trip in Canada.  So I will be traveling east, first along the south shore of the St-Laurence, across New Brunswick to Saint John, where I`ll take the ferry to Digby.  After a couple of days visiting with our good friends Jane and Peter it's off to Halifax and then North Sydney.  A ferry will then deliver me to Port-aux-Basques Newfoundland from where I plan to ride  up the west coast of The Rock to St Barbe. The third ferry of this trip will take me to Blanc Sablon on Québec's North Shore.

And then, probably the coolest part of this trip will be a two day ride south along the coast on a ferry/supply vessel where my motorcycle will be loaded into a container. My cruise will end at Havre St-Pierre. The plan for now is to ride south along the North Shore through Québec City and back home

While there are parts of this trip that I've already visited, I'm sure I will discover many new sites and I will try to share my adventures with you on a regular basis.  I hope you will be able to join me for the ride.