Day 24 - Whycocomagh to North Sydney Ferry

First night camping where at least one of us was too warm! The forecast was for a warm day again today so we were up early and making tea to the song of the early morning bird chorus. On the road to perfect riding by 7:30am and up a 100m climb to get the blood flowing. We took our time and traveled easy, arriving at the Tim Hortons in Baddeck before 9:30. The road had a good hard shoulder for the most part, but it got very narrow where they had widened the road to provide a passing lane on our side. No real issues though. There were lots of rolling hills and beautiful landscapes of Cape Breton and Bras d’Or lakes. We cleaned the 240m Kelly’s Mountain and ate cheese and onion sandwiches at St Anne’s lookout with the Englishtown ferry below us


We were privileged to view an aerial battle between four crows and two falcons. The crows were attacking from behind and high and flying very fast, the falcons were nonchalantly, it seemed, twisting and turning, then just at the last moment would barrel roll and present the oncoming crow with talons. No blood was spilled on this occasion and the falcons took the hint and left the area.

We chatted to a couple of guys from Wisconsin, then, started down the 4km downhill to the narrow bridge at the bottom. This would have been a good photo op, but frankly we were too interested in getting off the bridge. I stayed in the middle of the lane to avoid cars trying to overtake us, but no one did and we got to the other side unscathed. After that, it was just a case of completing the last 30 km to the ferry. We had nice rolling country and we had a generous breeze at our back.

We got to the ferry before 2pm, parked the bike and went for Chinese at the local shop on Main St. Very good it was too. The terminal has Wi-Fi so we sorted email, blog and stuff, chatted to a guy from Perth Australia on a European and Atlantic Province tour; these folks are definitely different from us, they are really comfortable with themselves and need no one.


Just after 7pm, a group of cyclists started to gather, we met up with the tandem pair from Quebec, a group of 4 guys from Winnipeg, and a guy from Calgary, who had delivered a car to a friend in Pictou, and had cycled the 293 km to the ferry in one day. His name is Garth. (Does anyone remember the Daily Mirror comic strip with the same name?) The night became very entertaining as stories and reminiscences were swapped until we boarded the ferry around midnight. We immediately went to our cabin and showered and were asleep in no time. This crossing has to be a record for there was hardly a ripple on the sea….


Sorry folks, I can’t think of anything funny that has happened today, except an email from Mike F, however, this day was another interesting and enjoyable experience.

Pictures

19.5kph average

Distance: 95km
Total Distance: 1932km
Alt change: 839m
Total Alt change: 10165m