DAY 79: KENTVILLE TO HALIFAX, 123 KM

19 August 2007

We've done it--we've finished cycling across Canada!

I quite enjoyed today's ride, knowing it was the last of the trip. The day was sunny, and the terrain was awesome--scattered with short, steep climbs and descents. I had loads of energy, and the ride seemed to go by quite quickly, despite having made a few wrong turns thanks to some poorly-marked highway junctions.

As we approached Halifax, we stopped at a visitor's centre to find out where the hostels were. Apparently, Halifax is very busy in the summer, and all of the hostels were booked solid. The lady at the info centre recommended we stay in the residence at Mount St. Vincent University, just outside of town. We rode the final 20 km of our trip, facing an extremely steep climb into the residence building, which was literally on top of a "mount".

So, now we're finished. And it feels... well, anticlimactic. I mean, we arrived at Mount St. Vincent, and it felt just like we'd finished another day of cycling; the only difference was that there are to be no more days of cycling after this. Perhaps if we'd gone down to the water to dip our tires (this didn't happen because the beach was out of our way, and it was getting late--we did it the next day), or had a crowd of people welcome us to the city (this didn't happen because... well, we're just not famous enough) it would have been different. But we were too tired to experience the emotions that I'd imagine many cross-Canada cyclists feel upon completion of their journey. We were too tired to feel excitement or a sense of accomplishmet, to party, to have a crazy night out. We went downtown and had an amazing meal at the Economy Shoe Box, a trendy little bar owned by the father of the drummer of the Trews. When we told our waiter what we had just fnished doing, he gave us two free pitchers of some excellent Nova Scotia beer. All in all, we had a good night and felt quite satisfied with ourselves.

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you to everyone who has been kind to us along the way. You have been so generous--opening your doors to us for a night or two, feeding us (no small feat!), offering anything of use. You have expressed such a keen interest in our trip, offered words of advice, shared your knowledge. You have made this trip worthwhile, and shown us that Canada is a beautiful country inhabited by amazing people.

Finally, thanks to all who have been following my blog. Your reading this makes my writing worthwhile and fun! Perhaps there will be more blogging to come!