Quiet rolling roads
Green fields shorn short, wildflowers
Color for gray day
Good food, delightful breakfast conversations, gray skies, dry pavement, a cool but reasonable temperature - all contributed to the start of a good day. That start was accompanied by some hurricane weather worries, but I think I finally got my (silly) nervousness out of the way by the time I got on the road.
Twyla had a very reasonable suggestion this morning. I was swaying between heading home before the storm, or trying to figure out when it is going to hit and making sure that I am in a town that I can happily hole up in for a day or two. Twyla's suggestion was to rent a car for the stormy days so I wouldn't be pinned down somewhere. Driving during a bad storm doesn't really appeal to me, but I'll keep that in mind as an option. She checked for me, and found that Hertz rents cars in Digby, and Avis in New Minas. (There are rental cars available in both Yarmouth and Halifax, but I'm not likely to be near either of those cities at the appropriate time.) My thought about heading home early is wacky in a couple of different ways. First, I think it probably a pretty dumb idea (yes, it was my idea, but I can certainly call it a dumb idea!) since the ocean swells probably will precede the storm. Really - can you see someone (like me) who fights motion sickness taking a trip on a boat in crazy seas? And apparently if the seas are too rough - there is also a possibility that the ferry will be cancelled. Plus, I really need this vacation; heading home early doesn't give me the relaxation that I hoped to get out of my wandering on my bike. As of right now, I'm staying.
Hey - it's Rover here. Denise is still a bit nervous about the coming storm. I'm trying to keep her calm but sometimes my doggy smile doesn't do its job. I plan to just keep telling her that it's fine to hang out somewhere for a day (or even two days) when (if?) the storm hits. Oh, and just in case you don't believe Denise's description of today, it was a really nice riding day. Rolling hills all day, what fun!
OK, I'll let Denise get back to her writing now.
--- Rover
Back to today though... It was time to tuck my worries away and just enjoy riding. My bike followed Route 1 all day, with an occasional side trip towards the water. Instead of being surprised when I couldn't see the water for most of the day, I was very pleasantly surprised that I could actually see the water during sections of my ride. The sky was quite gray, but the clouds seemed to be pretty high at the start of the day. For a while I thought that the weather was moving in the wrong direction as fog started moving in from the water, but it lifted again. And at about two o'clock I actually got a glimpse of the sun. That was a pleasant surprise. It's a good thing (for my mood) that I didn't really believe the forecast which stated that it was going to be sunny today. Apparently there is another chance for sunshine tomorrow; maybe the forecast will be correct this time.
Rolling roads were definitely the order of the day. Uphill, downhill, a little (sort of) flat, uphill, downhill, repeat. Even though it's September and on the verge of transforming into fall, I was surrounded by green today. Green fields, closely cropped, with small evergreen trees scattered over the hills. Late summer wildflowers continue to bloom along the sides of the road. And glimpses of the water continued to tease me along the left side of the road. Then I started seeing land across the water. Is that Digby Neck? I thought it was, but I stopped at the municipal office in the town I was passing through to ask. Yes, it absolutely is Digby Neck that I was seeing. The water I could see as I wandered out to Cape Forchu Light near Yarmouth was the Gulf of Maine. That's beyond my view at this point, and the water next to me now is St. Mary's Bay. That will follow me as I continue to roll toward Digby.
Belliveau Cove attracted me with one of those very short 4-sided (as opposed to cylindrical) little lighthouses; time for a short walking break. I was surprised by these in PEI last year, and the lighthouse I saw yesterday was of the taller and more stately variety. I wonder it these shorter lights are limited to more protected or less open waterways.
I left Yarmouth with the thought of riding all the way to Digby. Riding, riding... The road swooped down to the Sissiboo River in Weymouth. It headed back uphill after crossing the river, and the Goodwin Hotel was in just the right place to grab my eye. It has more the feel of an inn than a hotel, and it sports the looks of a rambling old house. It's an old building, and it's been operated as a hotel since 1890. A restaurant that claims to specialize in "home cooked" meals is in the hotel - which is a good thing since this is a very small town with few services. It's funny; when I walked in to ask about a room, the owners assumed that I had a reservation. They had one reservation for tonight, made by a pair of cyclist when they passed through here yesterday. Now they have two rooms rented for tonight, both to cyclists. As a contrast, the owner told me that this place was totally booked for the holiday weekend (last week). It was just about 3 o'clock when I hit Weymouth, my wheels had traversed 49 miles, and there were 22 miles more to go before I hit Digby. It was the right time to stop for the day, and the Goodwin Hotel provided a comfortable room. My bike is happily resting in the protection of the garage. Time to rest...
I shared a table with my fellow cyclists at dinner tonight. I had headed to dinner a little earlier than they did, but after initially settling at the table next to mine they suggested that we sit together. Great idea. Good conversations - about touring of course - made for an interesting evening. The restaurant here was actually pretty busy; it seems to be a gathering spot for the folks who live in the area. Good food too. I had Digby scallops, and I dug into a brownie topped with ice cream and fudge sauce for desert .Right now I feel like I won't have room for breakfast, but I know that as a side effect of touring that I'll be ready for more food come morning.
My plans for tomorrow are changing. While I'd still like to get there, I think I am probably not going to head down Digby Neck. Twyla told me this morning that it is very hilly, edging toward mountainous. And when I looked again at the description of the ride (yes, I really did make copies of several pages of the Bike Nova Scotia guide), the Digby Neck - Brier Island ride is rated as moderately hilly. The description should have given me the correct clue, but I think I chose to ignore this passage:
"...taking you down a long basalt ridge, an extension of the Annapolis Valley's North Mountain, stretching out into the Bay of Fundy"How did I miss that? In contrast, today's route as rated as rolling with occasional hills. Rolling was nice, occasional hills were fine. But moderately hilly on an out-and-back ride that would take me two days to ride, with the second day currently predicted to be a wet one? Uh, I think I'm heading to Annapolis Royal tomorrow. It's funny given that I'm on a bike trip and that my bicycle is my preferred mode of transportation - but I think I am going to have to return to Nova Scotia some day with a motorized vehicle. Digby Neck and the Cabot Trail are both on my list for that trip. And I know there are other sections of this province that I'm not going to get to on this trip that my bike is going to insist on seeing someday. Do you think that I am ever going to visit someplace and be happy with a single trip?
