Day 1 – Brudenell to Pictou

I love traveling by bike. I hate transporting a bike by plane though. Like really hate it. As I cursed the cruel universe while I unpacked my bike for inspection at the airport, the random guy behind me in line reminded me the the ride will be worth it. He’s probably right, but I continued to whine anyway.

I had a really nice few days in PEI. Karen had already been there for several days and we had 3 together before she went home and I got on my bike. We visited 5 beaches, all of which were amazing and a few of which were oddly warm. Like almost Caribbean. And we ate a lot of fish and seafood. Notably a very nice meal with tuna steaks and blueberry pie (caught / picked earlier in the day) made by Marie last night.

And then the biking began. Today was a pretty short ride at 70 km. I took the long way from the cabin we rented to woods island ferry to Nova Scotia so I could ride parts of the Confederation trail. Then a 75 minute ferry ride where I saw a few different sets of dolphins(?). Then 15 km to birchwood campground where I am right now.

The campground is not so exciting but has really good Korean food! Like the best kimchi I’ve eaten. Weird, huh?!

I just spent 5 hours chatting with Roger from Oshawa. He’s a dope smoking recent retiree who has just bought a place near here but is living in a tent until it closes. He’d never had Korean food before but is now a convert. The 3 joints he smoked before dinner may have played a part in that conversion.

I had initially toyed with the idea of not planning this ride out and winging it. But then I went to reserve a spot at caribou’s provincial park (near where I am now) for this first night and it was booked solid. So I proceeded to reserve a place to sleep for all nights but the last.

That’s the story I am sticking with. The reality is I am simply more comfortable with structure. Maybe I’ll get over that some day.

Anyway, the plan looks like this google map. I’ll be averaging just under 100 km a day which is a super relaxed pace compared to what I usually do. Maybe too relaxed, but perhaps I’ll like it that way? I do have some concerns about 3 days in a row next week where the longest is 75 km. Hopefully there will be punishing hills or the water will be swimmable (neither likely). Maybe I’ll just have to relax 😱. And for the last day I’ll likely do something more robust like 140 km to make up for all the slacking.

Weather looks like it will play along despite me potentially catching the edge of a tropical storm. A little rain would be acceptable. 80 km winds not so much.

I have no idea what the next day or two of riding will be like. I’ll stick as close as I can to the shore so hopefully it’ll be nice seaside riding. It appears to be very remote. Then I’ll get a day or two on the Celtic shores rail trail which I’m very excited about. I LOVE trails. Then it’ll be into the Cape Breton highlands which I hear very good things about but have avoided too much research into so it’s a nice surprise.

I hope the country / folk music my neighbors are playing doesn’t keep me up or worse get stuck in my head for the next 9 days!!! I recall this same genre from the last time I camped in Nova Scotia. Yikes.