Last Post Retirement Rides 2025

 It’s always nice to be back home even after what turned out to be a great ride. Were it not for what is happening south of the border this year’s trip would likely have had me on Mahmotò going somewhere in the USA. Instead I decided to return to Newfoundland and visit some of the outports which I had not had the opportunity and time to do on previous journeys to ‘’The Rock’’. I am very glad I did. As I have done in years past I have compiled a list of things that you may find interesting; well being a bit of a nerd when it comes to this stuff here goes. Here is a picture taken when I arrived home from Lévis two days ago that provides some information. 

The temperature was 34.5 degrees when I arrived home at 1:30 on July 16 after a trip of 7,615 kilometres; that is the seventh longest trip of the 14 Retirement Rides so far. I was away for 23 days during which time I rode Mahmotò in 5 provinces (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland) My longest segment was 508 kilometres on Sunday June 29th from Port-aux-Basques to Burlington, about 25 kilometres from Baie Verte Newfoundland. 

I stayed in 16 different hotels, motels, or B&Bs and was generally pleased with my choice of accommodations; I would even be prepared to recommend some. 

The weather was generally good with temperatures ranging from a low of 12 degrees to a high of 34.5. In Newfoundland there were stretches where the fog, more like mist really, was so thick that it was difficult to make out anything beyond the ditches along the highway. This probably explains why I didn’t see more moose, only one small one, if you can describe any moose as small, in a ditch along the Trans Canada Highway.

Mahmotò, my trusty BMW R1200RT l, performed flawlessly and used up 386 litres of gas at a rate of 5.07 litres per 100 kilometres. I could not see myself doing any serious motorcycle touring on anything other than a BMW. My bike is made for and is meant to effortlessly and comfortably tour day after day. 

As you have followed these posts you have read about some highlights of  Retirement Rides 2025. As a reminder I will list a few here: 

Cabot Trail

Crossing from North Sydney to Port-aux-Basques with the 2025 Saint John’s Canada Games flame

Twilingate (where I dropped my motorcycle)

St John’s (excellent restaurants, Water Street, waterfront)

Fortress Louisbourg 

Lighthouses and CCG vessels

Miguasha National Park (fossils) where I met up with Jane for the remainder of the trip. 

Percé (views of Rocher Percé and two excellent dinners)

The whole route around the Gaspé Peninsula, especially sections between Gaspé and Matane and between Matane and Grand Métis that hug the shore of the Gulf and then the St Lawrence River. 

Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens 

My enjoyment of this year’s Retirement Rides on Mahmotò could not have happened without the contributions of hosts, housekeepers, waiters and waitresses, bartenders, gas station attendants, official and non official guides, and many others who helped me enjoy what I was so blessed and fortunate to experience. 

It has been a pleasure sharing this journey with you. Please let me know what you think of this trip and this blog. All comments are welcomed. 

Take care!

PS

Here are a few pictures taken along the route. There are many more!

The famous blue poppy at Reford Gardens

Rocher Percé from our room,

The shoreline of Baie des chaleurs at Miguasha National Park

Fortress Louisbourg,

Louisbourg lighthouse,

Fiddle in Sydney,

Percé again, cause you can’t get enough of it.     

South Head, Nova Scotia,

Mainland, Newfoundland

St John’s Water Street,

Best ever breakfast sandwich, St John’s

Tuna Tataki, St John’s, again!

Cape Spear Lighthouse,

Needs no explanation; you just have to stop here,

Lupins, lupins, lupins everywhere in Newfoundland,

Cabot Trail 

Seafood dinner in Antigonish,

Twilingate 

Percé to Matane, then to Lévis

It’s time to catch you up on where we’ve been for the last two days. On Monday we, Jane in her Mazda and me on Mahmotò, drove 362 kilometres from Percé to Matane. The highway which follows the shoreline, sometimes quite close to the water at the base of tall cliffs, is a beautiful road with stunning vistas around many curves. The traffic was quite light. In Matane we stayed at a Motel Hotel not far from the terminal from which we saw the ferry to Godbout on the north shore leave early this morning. 

This was the view from our bedroom.

We spent the better part of this morning at the amazing and famous Jardins de Métis/ The Reford Gardens in Grand-Métis. This was certainly one of the highlights of Retirement Rides 2025.

‘’Created from 1926 to 1958 by pioneering horticulturist Elsie Reford, the Reford Gardens are a National Historic Site of Canada. Some 3,000 species and varieties of plants, including the famous Himalayan blue poppy, are spread over fifteen gardens. 

In the summer of 1926, Elsie Reford embarked on a bold project: transforming a fishing camp into an extraordinary garden. With the help of local residents, Elsie succeeded in turning a spruce forest into a remarkable garden home to one of the most important plant collections of its time.’’

I would certainly recommend a stop at these remarkable gardens.  

Tonight we are in Lévis where we had a great oysters and steak dinner at a huge restaurant called Délice. Tomorrow should see us back home. 

Gaspésiie

 I crossed into Québec Saturday en route to Miguasha National Park which according to  UNESCO is the  word’s largest fossil site where I met up with Jane who will be coming in her car, and with whom I would be riding back home with stops along the way, including two nights in Percé. 

From the park we rode to Percé with graveside visits in Nouvelle, where mother was from and St Simeon where my father’s parents and many siblings are buried,. We stopped for lunch at a poissonnerie in Carleton-sur mer where we had excellent huge salads with shrimp and lobster.  The highway runs along the western shore of the Baie des chaleurs for long stretches where we often saw people on the beaches right next to the highway. 

We arrived at our accommodation for a couple of days in the small town of Percé and here was the view from our room.

We had excellent diners at two of the best establishments in Percé,, La Maison Mathilde and the restaurant at Hotel Normandie. The service and the food were excellent at both establishments. Here are a few pictures of some of the dishes we had.

Mains at Maisin Mathilde

and at La Normandie

Since my back was giving me grief I stayed behind while Jane went for a tour of Bonaventure Island, where there is a huge colony of gannets (Fous de brassants)  that she much enjoyed. 

This morning we are off to Matane. 

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

 So, let’s see, where was I? When, after a calm crossing from Newfoundland, I arrived at the Spanish Bay Inn right by the waterfront in Sydney I had thought that the next day,on  Wednesday, I would go around the Cabot Trail once again. Instead I decided to stay closer to Sydney and pay a return visit to the Fortress of Louisbourg, a National Historic Site that I had been to during one of my first Retirement Rides. 

But first I rode to Glace Bay to see the Marconi Historic Site at Table Head where, on December 15, 1902 Marconi sent the first west to east trans-Atlantic wireless message from the station he had built there to Poldu Cornwall. Here is a picture of a model of the huge antenna that was erected at this site  

and a vue east from the site

From there I rode the shore route to Louisbourg stopping briefly at Port Morien to watch some of the lobster catch being unloaded from the boats that had gone out to check their traps that morning. It takes them but minutes to move the big crates of lobsters from the boats to the scales where they are weighed and into truck trailers that are waiting to take the catch to whatever processing facility they supply. 

At Fort Louisbourg 

I attended a demonstration of the firing of guns.

and watched the public humiliation of a voleur and traitor that children and adults in period costumes, and visitors who had been asked to participate in this display of justice being applied, yelled at after the charges against him where repeatedly read many times by an official looking official. The convicted criminal was paraded down the Fortress’ streets to a prominent place where his hands were bound in chains and an iron collar was locked around his neck; there to serve his sentence. That is, until the crowd  having shifted its allegiance from prosecutor to prosecuted, called for the poor victims release. Mercifully for all, the official, understanding the mood of the crowd and not wanting to have to deal with the mutiny that might well have ensued had he not acted as wisely, granted the reprieve. But not before a stern warning that he should not offend again and three loud cheers of Vive le Roy!

After all that excitement I went to see the Louisbourg lighthouse. 

After dinner, and an ice cream cone Tuesday I went for a walk along the Sydney waterfront to the cruise ship terminal building and came upon the 17 mettre, 8 tonne steel Big Fiddle, a tribute to the role that fiddlers and their music have played in the cultural heritage of Cape Breton. 

The weather was perfect on Thursday for the long ride from Sydney to the Marshlands Inn in Sackville, New Brunswick. I only stopped briefly to get some gas after having crossed the Canso Strait that connects Cape Breton to the rest of zNova Scotia. There I met Kathy from New Brunswick with her remarkably well-maintained and much-loved 1974-75 BMW motorcycle. As the first motorcycle I owned was a 1972 75/5 there was much we could chat about. One thing we easily agreed to was that BMW motorcycles were the best and they were meant to, and could, be ridden for a long time. 

Marshlands Inn in Sackville:

Canso Strait:

Tomorrow’s ride is to Campbelton, my last stop before crossing into the Gaspé Peninsula, the homeland of my ancestors.