Day48- 8 provinces down, 2 to go

I woke up at 06:30 to the sound of rainfall.  Looking out the window confirmed it, and I flopped back into bed.  Up at a little after 08:00, I wandered downstairs for breakfast and the rain had pretty much stopped. Score!  I had a bagel, packed up my stuff, and was rolling by shortly after 10:00. 

It was pretty warm, and very humid.  It was also quite windy.  I was happy for the wind today as it helped to mitigate the humidity.  Rolling along at a halfway decent clip, I stopped at an ice cream stand at ~2hrs.  I wanted to hit the Rossignol winery that's sort of near the ferry and didn't want to end up there with an empty stomach - so I had some food as well.  That pushed the break longer than I typically like, and my food intake more than I typically like for a break as well - but there was purpose behind this stop so I dealt with the heaviness as I rolled on.

I was making okay time, and today was a short ride day anyway.  I have friends in Westville, which is not too far from the far side of the ferry terminal - so I'll be spending the night there. 

The Rossignol winery turned out to be very good, and the big lunch I had earlier served me well as I ended up sampling a lot of their offerings (they do a LOT of different stuff there!). 

Back rolling toward the ferry and I made it with over an hour to spare for the 16:30 - so I headed to Crabby Joe's (a famous seafood shack).  I was still too full from lunch to order the lobster that Phil and Andy had told me to get (3lb minimum), so I just had some clam chowder - which was kind of disappointing, really. 

Onto the ferry, where I took a nap on the top deck and then was back on the bike after ~1:30 of chilling out.  The wind was STRONG from the South, directly in my face.  I came across another touring cyclist who had his bike upside down, and appeared to be truing his wheel.  I stopped to check up on him and he showed me a small crack in his rim.  He was wondering what to do, whether it was safe to ride, etc.  After chatting a bit about his plans, load and riding style, I told him to press on for Halifax but to call a shop there at ~10:00 tomorrow morning so that they could get started on a new wheel for him.  He's got a tight timeline, and can't afford to wait for a rebuild using his current hub. 

Soon I was at Angela & Bernie's, and they fed me a fantastic meal while their 3yr old entertained me her ballet dancing, her stuffed dog, and other various things.


Off to bed soon - tomorrow's going to be a long, and likely hard day.  >250k to North Sydney, with time pressure as the ferry leaves at 01:30 on Saturday morning.  This ferry only sails every 3 days, and I can't imagine why it leaves at 01:30 in the morning - but that's the schedule, so I guess I'll stick to it.  I figure ~15hrs total elapsed time (~12hrs riding) ought to do it.



Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 9:20 (incl ferry time, waiting for ferry time, etc)
Actual Ride Time: 4:58
Total Distance:  107.03 km
Avg Speed:  21.5 kph
Max Speed:  41.9 kph



The most excellent staff at the Charlottetown Backpacker's Inn

It's hard to see in the picture, but those boxes were swarming with bees!  Apparently someone's honey operation is right by the side of the road.  I guess you'd have to have the proper gear or be a damned fool to go in there...

The view from the ferry