a little Nova Scotia tour

[g®eg]

Day 1

MA to NB

After a lot of talk, but surprisingly little planning it was time to go see Nova Scotia. We had the tour book and a map, and of course the Garmin. The plan was to camp (because we’re cheap bastards) and not take the ferry (see above). Bikes all packed up and ready to go:



We left Metro-West around 9:00 or so in the morning, missing most of the morning rush. It was a pretty uneventful slab up through Mass, NH and into Maine. When we got as far as Brunswick we jumped onto route 1. Stopped in a nice place in Waldoboro and had lunch, and resumed our trip. Arrived at the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge:


Have I mentioned Mercury loves bridges?



Pretty cool bridge though, it has an observatory at the top of one of the towers. Also saw this plaque:


looks like the Brits had a few go their way for a while eh?

Anyway, back on the road, slogging towards the border. We got off route 1 around Bucksport and headed towards route 9. The border crossing was a breeze (the female Canadian border guard was stunning! Should have snapped her pic). We decide to press on a bit into New Brunswick, and follow signs for the Kiwannas Camp Ground at St. Andrews. The town of St. Andrews is pretty nice, sort of Victorian looking, grocery store, beer store…. What more do you need? We set up camp and break out the beers & cook up some burgers.



Merc had managed to bang up his leg stowing the XR away…so after a day on the bike it’s time to have a look:



dumb shit

end of day 1, about 370 miles in the book

Day Two
NB to NS

next morning with coffee made I get a “proper English breakfast treat” (according to Merc anyway….) a “bacon butty” or at least that sounds like what he’s saying.



assembled



so full of OJ, Starbucks coffee & bacon fat… it’s time to hit the road



We stop in St. John to see the Reversing Falls




(not much happening right now).
Do a couple of glamour shots:


and


and then hit the road

The Garmin has an interesting route planned for us, hugging the Fundy shore, versus going back towards the highway. We figure this’ll be hot shit, and we’re not in a big hurry so off we go.

Merc does his “no rain prayer” and it seems to be working



after St. Martin we see the tide is out


and loads of other cool sites



we get to a toll booth…. Hmm and I stop to talk to the girl. I explain we’re just “passing through” trying to avoid paying the toll and she says “oh, you’re following your GPS. You can’t go through.” I guess the road goes about 17km, then we’ll need to turn and come out (no bridge over the Salmon River is one possible reason). Mercury expresses his feeling towards Garmin & MapSource



and we hit the road again




stopping for gas in Moncton, we run into a nice guy on a KLR. He had a brand new TKC 80 strapped to the back, and was just back from Newfoundland. Said he reads ADV rider sometimes, so if you read this.. “nice meeting you”. We hit the trans-Canada for Nova Scotia and pull off onto route 6, the Sunrise Trail. Our plan was to try and make it as far as Pictou, but with the sun starting to set, it didn’t seem doable. We decided to look for the first camp sign we saw. We came into a small town called Pugwash, and stopped at the local grocery / NSLC. Nice guy gave us directions to the campsite about 7 miles out of town. We decided to head out there and get setup then figure out food and drinks afterwards.

The sign said “7 miles” and of course I didn’t check my odometer, so you know how it is, the sun is starting to set, you’re leading but not quite sure you didn’t miss a turn or a sign…. Doubt creeps in. So I stop and say “we must have gone more than 7 miles”. Merc says, well, we’ll go to that hill, then turn around”. We go to the hill, and there’s the campsite! Nicely done!

Ready to unpack


the setup


we head into town, get some dinner & grab beers & Scooby snacks and get back in time for a really nice sunset



so, after half a dozen beers or so, it starts to rain (they said it might) and we hit the tents.

end of day two, another 305 miles in the book.

[zombie]

Noice trip laddie

[g®eg]

Day three
Pugwash to Cape Breton Island

It pours all night….and into the morning. So, what do we think of riding in the rain?



We decide we’ll still ride the sunrise trail, we’re not in a hurry, it’s not raining all that hard, so off we go. Did I mention we had some beer left over from the previous night? No worries, we’ll stuff them between my tent and my sleeping bag… they should stay in there. About half way between Pictou and Cape St. George Merc pulls up and says “hey… you’ve dropped a beer”. I guess it rolled out like a 12 ounce depth charge and exploded in front of him… I thought it was funny

CapeSt. George in the rain? check the pruny finger



gotta just laugh



a long wet slog brings us across the Canso Causeway





and to Cape Breton Island



we opt for a hotel tonight (as it’s still raining) and settle in to the Mariner’s Inn… $120 / night! Ouch! But wait.. there’s more! They have a nice pub, but oh no…. Merc sees Chinese Buffet next door “best in town” the sign says. Awful! But that’s OK, I shamed him into paying, we hit the NSLC, pick up some local NS wines (Jost Vineyards) and settle in to watch some TV with all our clothes and gear spread out to dry in the room.

End of day three
Only 176 very soggy miles…. Seemed a lot longer

[Questor]

Hey this is great!

I tried to get out there last year but had to turn back due to mechanicals and heavy rain. (7" in three days - I gave up and barely made it home.)

I'm going to be going out there again this year for the week of Sept 18th.

Can you tell me where that awsome campsite near Pugwash is?
Do you have a GPS coirdinate for me?

Thanks in advance.
I'll be watching...
Q~

[g®eg]

Originally Posted by Questor

Can you tell me where that awsome campsite near Pugwash is?
Do you have a GPS coirdinate for me?

Gulf Shore Camping Park

but it says they close September 15th....
you might call them I guess

N45 52.562 W63 32.479

[klrobins]

this is fantastic... I just got back from a nearly identical trip... i can tell because all your pics are the same as mine!!

[g®eg]

Day four
Port Hawkesbury to Meat Cove

We had originally thought we would get out to Meat Cove by the end of day three. The rain had put paid to that idea, and in the end it was just as well. Originally we had just thought to do the Cabot Trail, but now we had more time to explore, so we chose the Fleur-de-Lis trail to Louisbourg.

First things first…. I introduce Merc to a proper Canadian breakfast



and butter tarts (no pics of the first one.. he scarfed it down so fast!)

the roads are pretty much empty, nice hills and sweepers.. NO CARS!



Merc still shock testing that camera



Stopped near Gabarus Bay, Fleur-de-Lis Trail.



We make it to the fortress at Louisbourg, but decide not to go in. Spotted this German tagged GS



I wonder if that’s “final drive gear oil” strapped to his right side pannier

He had this cool sticker too



We decide to not ride the Marconi Trail, and head instead for the Cabot Trail. To get there we cross the Seal Island Bridge.



Remember Merc & bridges?



We hammer up the Cabot Trail (didn’t take pictures as we were having way too much fun) and finally come to a stop on an over look after Cape Smokey (IIRC) and a guy from Quebec pulls up on a new FZ1. We go over and chat for a while, and just as we’re talking his helmet blows off his seat (never a good idea to leave a helmet there) and rolls towards the cliff. Merc dives for it, but misses (he’ll not be playing goal for England anytime soon) and it rolls under the guardrail Luckily the Quebecer was quick enough to retrieve it before it went all the way down! Couple scratches.. no drama. We say our good byes, and head off.

This is where we are headed





the “best” campsite was taken…..Quelle dommage





Bursting for a piss.. is that poison oak?



Food first at the little restaurant



what do you mean the beer store is closed???



all set up



bald eagle



chillin’



as we’re just sat around enjoying the scenery a group of rowdy Beemer types pulls in. Didn’t snap any pix of them, but they were a good bunch. Turns out they were from all over, and some of them post here on ADV. Quite a collecting of bikes too, couple of GS 1200’s, an old K bike with a trailer and a R 1100 S. WE went over an chatted with them for a while and the 1100 S guy had lost one of his bags… bummer! I told him if I found it, it’d be the one on eBay including clothes!

Anyway, the story has a happy ending, turns out he got the bag back!

Yeah I did get my bag back in Peggy's Cove. Someone had picked it up and happened to see I was missing a saddle bag. He asked me if I was missing one and what it looked like.

that guy has good karma!!

Of course after the sun goes down it starts to rain and a HUGE thunderstorm goes through. Tent was dancing all over, waves crashing below… pretty neat actually.

This is getting to be a pattern.
End of day four
260 miles more behind us.

[Chromer]

Originally Posted by g®eg

The Garmin has an interesting route planned for us, hugging the Fundy shore, versus going back towards the highway. We figure this’ll be hot shit, and we’re not in a big hurry so off we go.

we get to a toll booth…. Hmm and I stop to talk to the girl. I explain we’re just “passing through” trying to avoid paying the toll and she says “oh, you’re following your GPS. You can’t go through.”



We came into a small town called Pugwash, and stopped at the local grocery / NSLC. Nice guy gave us directions to the campsite about 7 miles out of town. We decided to head out there and get setup then figure out food and drinks afterwards.

Oh man, does THIS sound familiar. We did the exact same thing last week, except we were one road further from the water than you. After about 10 miles of steadily degrading gravel road, we dead-ended before the park at a bridge that was out, and the construction workers there told us that we wouldn't be able to ride through the park anyway.


And then that night we stayed at the exact same campground as you had.
Small world. You didn't happen to have the Donair Poutine for dinner at Pats in Pugwash?

[g®eg]

Originally Posted by Chromer

Oh man, does THIS sound familiar. We did the exact same thing last week, except we were one road further from the water than you. After about 10 miles of steadily degrading gravel road, we dead-ended before the park at a bridge that was out, and the construction workers there told us that we wouldn't be able to ride through the park anyway.


And then that night we stayed at the exact same campground as you had.
Small world. You didn't happen to have the Donair Poutine for dinner at Pats in Pugwash?

naw, we ended up having panini and seafood chowder at the Hidden Jewel Cafe. Pretty tasty!

what we tried to do .. the yellow line.
bummer really

LINK

maybe on the XR-L

[Mercury264]

Originally Posted by Chromer

Oh man, does THIS sound familiar. We did the exact same thing last week, except we were one road further from the water than you. After about 10 miles of steadily degrading gravel road, we dead-ended before the park at a bridge that was out, and the construction workers there told us that we wouldn't be able to ride through the park anyway.


And then that night we stayed at the exact same campground as you had.
Small world. You didn't happen to have the Donair Poutine for dinner at Pats in Pugwash?

That was a great campground - second only to Meat Cove on the trip. We had dinner in some little cafe that was just about to close and the food reflected this

I had the pleasure of some Poutine later on in the trip.

[Laughingdawg]

Originally Posted by g®eg

The Garmin has an interesting route planned for us, hugging the Fundy shore, versus going back towards the highway. We figure this’ll be hot shit, and we’re not in a big hurry so off we go.

after St. Martin we see the tide is out

we get to a toll booth…. Hmm and I stop to talk to the girl. I explain we’re just “passing through” trying to avoid paying the toll and she says “oh, you’re following your GPS. You can’t go through.” I guess the road goes about 17km, then we’ll need to turn and come out (no bridge over the Salmon River is one possible reason).

Where exactly were you when you had to detour? I'm looking at the road maps on Google Maps, and I'm having a hard time figuring out where you were trying to go. Since I plan to ride up through there next spring, I figured I'd try to avoid making the same mistake. Were you trying to use the really tiny roads on the map to stick near the Bay?

[g®eg]

Originally Posted by Laughingdawg

Where exactly were you when you had to detour? I'm looking at the road maps on Google Maps, and I'm having a hard time figuring out where you were trying to go. Since I plan to ride up through there next spring, I figured I'd try to avoid making the same mistake. Were you trying to use the really tiny roads on the map to stick near the Bay?

we tried to do this
the entrance to the Fundy Trail is about 10 km east of St Martin.




it looked like it would work.... Google earth, it just looks like farm land.
upon further review, it's the Salmon River that doesn't allow it.

[Laughingdawg]

Originally Posted by g®eg

we tried to do this
the entrance to the Fundy Trail is about 10 km east of St Martin.


http://www.advrider.com/forums/attac...1&d=1186076232

it looked like it would work.... Google earth, it just looks like farm land.
upon further review, it's the Salmon River that doesn't allow it.

If it's any consolation, don't hold this against Garmin/Mapquest. Google Maps and Yahoo Maps show an unbroken road path through there as well. It sounds like the Canadians in that particular nook haven't been very thorough with their map data. Garmin routing is only as good as the data provided to them.