The end

28 August 2010

DAY 15: Gander to Clarenville, 85 km

DAY 16: Clarenville to Conception Bay, 118 km

DAY 17: Petty Harbour and Cape Spear, 75 km

DAY 18: Boxing bikes and Signal Hill

DAY 19: St. John's

Because we'd had relatively long cycling days in Newfoundland, we had the luxury of taking it pretty easy on our last two days of cycling. And it was a good thing that we did, since the weather took a turn for the worse: it got cold and headwindy. What's more, the hills got steeper and longer as we approached Terra Nova National Park, and stayed that way pretty much up to our arrival in St. John's. So while we covered less ground, we still spent a good deal of time on our bikes.

On our third-last day of cycling (Day 15), we stopped for a bit of a break about 75 km into the day's ride. We ended up having fish and chips at a diner and before we knew it, it was getting too late to cycle much further. Fortunately, though, a friendly Newfoundlander working there told us about a great spot to camp only about 10K down the road. Just off the highway there was a clearing in the forest around a nice little lake. The locals take their trailers down there and set up a de facto campground—the perfect spot for us! We arrived there at sunset and put up our tents. Michael and I decided to go swimming, despite the fact that it was only about 15 degrees out and windy, making it extremely cold. Nicole and Frederique (Michael's girlfriend, who joined us for NL) thought we were crazy, but it was our last night camping out, so we had to do it!

Our last campsite

The next day was our (unofficial) last cycling day, and we were eager to arrive at our destination, Sunset View Bed and Breakfast in Conception Bay, just outside of St. John's. I was put in contact with our hosts Elaine and Fraser Inkpen through a friend, and was both eager to meet them and to sleep in a bed for the first time in many days*. We braved another day of less than ideal weather, arriving at the Inkpens' before 7. We received a very warm welcome, complete with snacks, beer, wine, traditional Jiggs dinner and blueberry cake for dessert. We couldn't have asked for a better end to our cycle touring days.

The following morning, after a lovely breakfast of fruit, oatmeal**, blueberry pancakes, turkey bacon, toast and all sorts of jams (blueberry, dogberry and partridgeberry), we set off for the day's cycle, what was meant to be an easy pedal through Petty Harbour, a small fishing village, and on to Cape Spear, the easternmost point of Canada and the official ending point of Michael and Nicole's cross-country ride. At first, the weather was unpleasantly cold, wet and windy. But we were fortunate to have it clear up for our ascent up to Cape Spear. And what an ascent it was! Probably the steepest climb of our trip, followed by a steep downhill, followed by another climb. It was tough, but we managed, and it was worth it! The view was spectacular, as was the feeling of being finished! We had a picnic of apples and celebratory wine before cycling back to the Inkpens'.

Petty Harbour

View from Cape Spear

That night, the four of us had a delicious meal at Oliver's in downtown St. John's, compliments of Frederique's parents. I had a seafood platter with mussels, shrimp, scallops, salmon and cod. SO tasty! After dinner, we headed to George Street, the street with the most bars per unit area in all of North America. Step one: get screeched in. We did this at Trapper John's, and it was hilarious! A shot of Newfoundland Screech rum, kissing a stuffed puffin's ass, followed by some ridiculous NL saying and Bam! you're an honourary Newfoundlander. We then proceeded down the street from bar to bar. Despite the fact that it was a Monday night, some of the bars were pretty happening and stayed open till well past 2am. Everyone was super friendly to us, and we managed to stay out till closing time even though we were used to a bedtime of 10pm or earlier. 'Twas an excellent celebratory night!

The next day was Michael, Nicole and Frederique's last day. After packing up our bikes, Fraser took us to see Signal Hill before dropping my cycling buds off at the airport. That evening, Fraser and Elaine took me out for some of the best fish and chips I've ever had at a restaurant overlooking a peaceful little bay. I spent the following day wandering around St. John's on my own before finally flying back to Toronto.

On top of Signal Hill

St. John's harbour

Many thanks to Elaine and Fraser, who treated us like family during our stay in their home. And thanks to all of you who have been following my blog! Hopefully there will be more cycling and blogging to come :)

*Despite our best efforts, we were unable to stay in a motel since Cornerbrook. Every time we tried, they were booked up. But we're not complaining: it worked out, and we saved lots of money! :)

**But not just any oatmeal: this was probably some of the best oatmeal I've ever had, made with milk and bananas. The best part? A scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt on top! Yum!

Newfoundland!

19 August 2010

DAY 9: Port aux Basques to Wishing Well Campground, 86 km

DAY 10: Wishing Well Campground to Corner Brook, 134 km

DAY 11: Car trip to Gros Morne!

DAY 12: Corner Brook to Sandy Lake, 95 km

DAY 13: Sandy Lake to Grand Falls-Windsor, 159 km

DAY 14: Grand Falls-Windsor to Gander, 102 km

It's been a while since my last post—internet access and time have been scarce! We've taken the ferry from North Sydney, NS to Port aux Basques, NL and have been cycling through Newfoundland ever since. I must say, it's been excellent! Newfoundland is both stunningly beautiful and spectacular for cycling. It's mountainous, but fortunately the roads have been built mainly between the mountains, so both uphills and downhills are long and gradual. This makes for great riding, especially when paired with perfect weather and friendly people. Newfoundlanders are awesome! I think this is the province where we've gotten the most honks of encouragement, and where people have been the most willing to bend over backwards to help us out when we've needed it. Just this morning, for instance, one man spent 15 minutes drawing us a detailed map locating the bike shops in Grand Falls-Windsor and then paid for our breakfast!

The Ross twins have seriously adapted to the Dan-Agnes way of doing things. I must say, I'm quite impressed! Breaks have become longer and more chilled, cycling days have been (on average) shorter and we've had some super-fun nights drinking wine and trying to create the perfect s'more (you know how hard it is to actually get the chocolate to melt? Well, we've figured out a way!). A definite highlight of Newfoundland has been Gros Morne National Park. Because we were having bike problems and didn't want to take a hilly, 80-km detour off the Trans Canada, we decided to leave the bikes with a mechanic in Corner Brook, rent a car and spend the night in Gros Morne. We didn't have a whole lot of time, but made the most of it. We did a short hike up to the fjord-like Western Brook Pond and then set up camp at Lomond campground. We had the best swim of our trip there: the water was cold, but somehow extremely pleasant. And we saw a moose! We'd seen two others before, but they were on the road and would quickly retreat to the forest as soon as we could get close to them. Also, they didn't have antlers. This one, on the other hand, was hanging out between camp sites, nonchalantly chomping on the grass while us curious humans looked on curiously. I couldn't believe how close it came! At one point, it was literally on our site! Michael got some good pictures and a video, soon to come.

Today we arrived in Gander, and have only about 350 km of cycling to do over the next three days! I can't believe how quickly this trip has gone by. We're already talking about where we should cycle next. Suggestions?

(More photos to come!)

(Mis)adventures on the Cabot Trail

13 August 2010

DAY 7: Pleasant Bay to just past the summit of North Mountain, 15 km

DAY 8: Neils Harbour to North Sydney, 122 km

My stay in the hostel was seriously refreshing. When Michael and Nicole came to pick me up yesterday afternoon, I was totally pumped to ride again. My body hadn't yet fully recovered, but my spirit had, and I was now ready to take on this Cabot Trail I'd heard so much about. We began riding, and for about 8 km we were flying. This part of the trail was amazingly beautiful, we had a slight tailwind, and it felt like we were going down more than up. That's when we started ascending North Mountain. This climb was INSANE, with a grade of 13% over 3 km. In case this means nothing to you, it's steep. And long. I was in my lowest gear, standing on my pedals, and still only managing to go 5-7 km/h. The only thing propelling me was the amazingly spectacular view and the honks, waves and thumbs-up of encouragement from motorists. What an awesome feeling it was to reach that summit!

After taking some pictures, we began the long and equally steep descent down the other side of the mountain. Not long into it, Michael was stopped at the side of the road. I pulled over to see what was up, but because Nicole had already gone ahead, we decided to relay her messages via cars that we'd pull over. I think these messages tell the story best.

Message 1: "Hi, there is a cyclist waiting a ways down the mountain. Could you please tell her that Michael broke three spokes and got a flat tire, so we'll meet her as soon as we're done fixing it?"

Message 2: "Hi, there is a cyclist.... Could you please tell her that Michael has fixed the spokes, and is currently fixing the flat, and we'll be down to meet her shortly?"

Message 3: "Hi... Could you please tell her that after fixing the first flat, Michael immediately got a second. We're going to try to hitch a ride in a truck to meet her and try and fix it again there."

That's right: after fixing three broken spokes and a flat, which took just under an hour, Michael got yet another flat in the same tire just as he began to move. He was frustrated. I thought it was kinda funny. So we waited at the side of the road for a pickup that could give us a ride to Nicole, where we would continue the repairs. Just as we were getting frustrated by the fact that all the trucks that were passing us were going the wrong direction, one of them pulled up beside us with a message from Nicole! It turns out she'd misunderstood the last message, thinking that we were having a hard time hitching a ride, so she arranged a truck to come to us! It also turns out that Nicole was literally just around the bend, waiting for us at the first lookout. We sat down and Michael proceeded with his repairs, while Nicole and I prepared a sumptuous feast of instant pudding, made with water and powdered milk. What a marvellous idea: you mix two kinds of powder (pudding and milk), add water and stir. Voila! You have pudding (or at least a brown, pudding-like, liquidy, lumpy substance).

After many attempts to figure out what was happening with his tire, Michael gave up. Nothing seemed to work; his inner tube kept popping. By this time, sunset was approaching, so we called the park warden, who came to pick us up. He drove us to Niels Harbour, a small town further down the trail, and dropped us off outside a medical centre there. This was the furthest he could take us, since it was out of the park bounds. Here, we got lucky: two paramedics who were on duty right where we were dropped off, Mike and Lyell, offered us a place to spend the night and treated us like kings. They have a little paramedic apartment where they spend 24-hour shifts. The place was newly renovated, had a couch, cot, TV, and a nice kitchen. Lyell brought us food from the medical centre and towels so we could have showers. The next morning, Joe, who was taking the next shift, made us eggs and toast and sausage for breakfast. It was so awesome to have a great place to spend the night, with such good company! These guys really made us feel at home there.

Mike the paramedic drove our Michael to Sydney this morning, where he got his tire repaired (it turned out he only needed some new rim tape). Nicole and I had a lovely cycle to North Sydney: gorgeous weather, a nice bit of trail, lunch and baked goods halfway, and a greasy dinner at the end made for a fantastic day. Tomorrow we catch the ferry to NL! We have to board at 4 am... ugh.