Abram Village to Wood Islands
Our schedule for today foresaw us riding via Wood Islands to New Glasgow in Nova Scotia but it turned out that it is 175km plus a couple of hours for the ferry which was overly optimistic for one day so we decided to only do the 150km or so to the ferry port. Even this proved too optimistic. We set off under sunny skies which unfortunately soon clouded over and shut out the sun altogether. After 65km we stopped at a bakery/cafe in Hunter River for lunch and when we came out of the restaurant TimB had a flat front tyre. This is the new tyre with an additional puncture proof belt put in between the tube and the tyre that we bought on Wednesday in St John. A small sharp stone had gone through the tyre at the side of the puncture proof belt. This guy has no luck. We fixed that problem and then set off with 24km to go to Charlottetown and within 200m it started raining. The light rain soon turned into something resembling a monsoon and we were having trouble seeing the road through our glasses. We made it to the Visitor Centre where we decided to toss in the towel for the day and stay in Charlottetown. It turned out that there is a festival on and the only room we could get was 8km back up the road we had just entered town on so off we go and, yes, it was still bucketing it down. New Glasgow and Nova Scotia will have to wait until tomorrow.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
August 15; 104km; 461M vertical
Cap Pele to Abram Village, PEI
We only drank a 12 pack so we were none the worse for our little reunion and were able to make
an early start to the day (early for us that is). We left Roy to continue his tour south aiming to be in New York in 10 days time to get his motorbike shipped back to Germany and then fly out the next day. We headed off east along the coast road for the Confederation Bridge and the shuttle bus to get over to PEI. It was a nice sunny day so we were able to enjoy the views and the time around the tourist centres at both ends of the bridge. After the lunch break on the PEI side we set off heading west via Summerside to Abram Village to meet and stay overnight with Aurella and Jean Arsenault. We had a very relaxed evening with them and were treated splendidly, being fed on lobsters and salads (we managed 3 lobsters each) and then driven around their corner of the island to take in the sunset over the Northumberland Strait, the lighthouse and houses where they had grown up. 
It was a shame that we would have to leave after only one night.
We only drank a 12 pack so we were none the worse for our little reunion and were able to make
an early start to the day (early for us that is). We left Roy to continue his tour south aiming to be in New York in 10 days time to get his motorbike shipped back to Germany and then fly out the next day. We headed off east along the coast road for the Confederation Bridge and the shuttle bus to get over to PEI. It was a nice sunny day so we were able to enjoy the views and the time around the tourist centres at both ends of the bridge. After the lunch break on the PEI side we set off heading west via Summerside to Abram Village to meet and stay overnight with Aurella and Jean Arsenault. We had a very relaxed evening with them and were treated splendidly, being fed on lobsters and salads (we managed 3 lobsters each) and then driven around their corner of the island to take in the sunset over the Northumberland Strait, the lighthouse and houses where they had grown up. 
It was a shame that we would have to leave after only one night.
Friday, August 15, 2008
August 14; 130km; 578M vertical
Sussex to Cap Pele
We had an early start from Sussex and headed to Moncton on the divided highway 1. With a wind assist and the draft from the cars and trucks beside us, we averaged 26kph to Moncton. By 12:30 we had done 75km and stopped off for lunch at Tim Horton‘s. We rode to Shediac and stopped at the information bureau and booked a motel room in Cap Pele. It was at Shediac that we got our first glimpse of the Atlantic and just seeing the ocean lifted my
spirits. We are finally on the east coast. With the room assured for the night we loafed
along highway 133. Our first stop was 600m down the road, where we bought a fresh lobster each, and sat down at a picnic bench to eat our first lobster of the season. We then moved on to Baracois and visited the church which was built in 1931. We then found our hotel room, but before we could get settled in we had a call from my wife who set up a rendezvous with Roy. Roy is a English ex-pat, living in Germany , who has been touring North America on his motorcycle (BMW K1200). He has been chasing us from Montreal and caught up with us in Cap Pele. He booked into the same Motel and we spent the evening celebrating our reunion.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
August 13; 75km; 585M Vertical
St. John to Sussex
We made a visit to the bike store in St. John this morning and bought at new tire for my bike. This is the third front tire I have used on this trip. We took off the emergency tire and put on my new one before leaving. We left St. John at 11:15 and headed for Moncton. I quickly noticed the difference in the new tire - it is wider than my previous tire, since that was
all we could find. However it quickly became apparent that we were both suffering from fatigue since every hill seemed to present a special challenge. The last 2 days were obviously taking their toll on us. Then we met our guardian angel from St. John for the second time. The same man who had stopped to check on us yesterday, stopped again today while we were taking a break on the divided highway 1. He suggested a different route that started 200m down the road. This man works for a tire service and is a keen bike rider so he knows his way around. We took his suggested route because it was shorter and had less traffic. As we were passing through Hampton, we met him again going the other way but again he gave us some good advice on the next road to take. Again we followed his suggestion. The next segment of road from Hampton to Sussex one of the best we have been on - gentle hills, very civilized traffic, lovely
scenery and lots of photo ops as we followed the Kennebecasis River into Sussex. We had decided over lunch (at Tim Horton’s) to cut the day short since we felt we needed a night of rest and relaxation. We arrived in Sussex at 5 PM and after consulting with the local information bureau we booked in at the Bluebird Motel with plenty of time to do bike maintenance before supper. 
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
August 12; 112km, 712m vertical
St Stephen to St John, NB, cool and wet
Some days are bad (like last Wednesday) and then other days start off as bad and just get worse. Today was such a day. It started spitting with rain as we set off and then turned to heavy rain a short time later and this time it was 5C cooler than last week. We were on a busy road so we got a good shower from the rear as trucks passed while we were pelted unmercifully from the front by rain pushed by a NE wind or our own speed down the hills. At 50km we were
pleased to see a restaurant so we had a break for lunch and had to leave a good tip to compensate for the pools of water dripping off the table and chairs creating an ever widening puddle on the floor. The
weather appeared to be clearing up as we left the restaurant but it soon started raining heavily again. At 65km we hit a 15km stretch of roadworks which made for rough riding on the hard shoulder and the grooves in the ground off road surface were waterlogged ensuring more intensive clouds of water from passing traffic. After the roadworks the hard shoulder was still in a poor state covered with large amounts of grit and loose gravel and I was getting concerned about the risk of puncturing which is always much higher in the wet. And guess what? At 87km there was a bang and a hiss and within a second TimB had a flat front tyre. Upon inspection we found a half inch long slash in the flank of the tyre and tube. In the pouring rain and colossal showers from passing traffic it proved impossible to get the self adhesive tyre patches to stick so we had to unpack the emergency race tyre. Using large handfuls of TimB’s emergency toilet roll we were able to get the tube dry enough to patch it and after about 40min we had his bike back together and ready to roll. That was when I picked my bike up to repack the tools etc and found my back tyre was flat. Out with the tools again (and the toilet roll) and another tube patched. Definitely not our best day. A man in a pickup truck did stop and offer to take us to town but we turned the offer down because it would have meant riding the 25km back west in the morning to turn round and carry on and we don’t have time for an extra 50km tomorrow.
Some days are bad (like last Wednesday) and then other days start off as bad and just get worse. Today was such a day. It started spitting with rain as we set off and then turned to heavy rain a short time later and this time it was 5C cooler than last week. We were on a busy road so we got a good shower from the rear as trucks passed while we were pelted unmercifully from the front by rain pushed by a NE wind or our own speed down the hills. At 50km we were
pleased to see a restaurant so we had a break for lunch and had to leave a good tip to compensate for the pools of water dripping off the table and chairs creating an ever widening puddle on the floor. The
weather appeared to be clearing up as we left the restaurant but it soon started raining heavily again. At 65km we hit a 15km stretch of roadworks which made for rough riding on the hard shoulder and the grooves in the ground off road surface were waterlogged ensuring more intensive clouds of water from passing traffic. After the roadworks the hard shoulder was still in a poor state covered with large amounts of grit and loose gravel and I was getting concerned about the risk of puncturing which is always much higher in the wet. And guess what? At 87km there was a bang and a hiss and within a second TimB had a flat front tyre. Upon inspection we found a half inch long slash in the flank of the tyre and tube. In the pouring rain and colossal showers from passing traffic it proved impossible to get the self adhesive tyre patches to stick so we had to unpack the emergency race tyre. Using large handfuls of TimB’s emergency toilet roll we were able to get the tube dry enough to patch it and after about 40min we had his bike back together and ready to roll. That was when I picked my bike up to repack the tools etc and found my back tyre was flat. Out with the tools again (and the toilet roll) and another tube patched. Definitely not our best day. A man in a pickup truck did stop and offer to take us to town but we turned the offer down because it would have meant riding the 25km back west in the morning to turn round and carry on and we don’t have time for an extra 50km tomorrow.
August 11; 161km; 1670M vertical
We left Bangor at 9:10 and headed along route 9 to Calais, Maine. We had 150km to travel so we decided to ride 20km segments, take a short break and repeat. The first 60km had several steep hills and after 3 hours we were feeling the strain. Another problem was the lack of restaurants along the route - there are no towns with over 200 people between Bangor and Calais. We counted 3 restaurants in the first 30km and then nothing until 110km where we found the Hilltop Cafe and finally had a lunch of fish chowder and tea. Back on the road we found the hills less steep but just as omnipresent. After 6 1/2 hours and 151km in the saddle we hit Calais and decided to cross into Canada and look for a motel in St. Stephen. Four motels and another 10km later we finally had a room.
