A2 & Heidi Adventures: 2015

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Wednesday, Hiking Day

Wednesday August 19th.

We had planned to hike today in our original itinerary, so we did. Heidi had picked out a hike called the Skyline Trail. I had picked out a hike called Salmon Ponds. We started the morning as usual, coffee and some quick bite. (as a note, our camping gear was working great). Packed up and headed out to beat the crowds. Found the parking area for the Skyline hike already half full, and took off on our hike. The hike was about 6 miles round trip, but the views were amazing. The last 1/2 mile ran along a ridge that had wonderful views of the coast along a boardwalk that stepped down the ride towards the sea. At one point I convinced a nice couple to take a picture of Heidi and I, the one and only for the trip...

After the hike we went over to the next trailhead, but by this time the heat and humidity was really bad, nearly 90 degrees and 90 plus humidity. Everyone was acting like it was literally Hell. We started the trail to Salmon Pools, it was very beautiful, but wore out after about a mile in, took a dip in the Cheticamp River, and headed back to our car. However I want to say that I never put on the AC in the car the whole trip, because it was not that bad, and I needed fresh sea air. Bet we were the only ones on the whole Island who did not.

We made camp on the Island Campground in Cheticamp. It was a big commercial campground, very nice and had a great spot. They put all the cyclist together, which was nice. Before going out for dinner, we rode our bikes out to the Cheticamp Lighthouse, about a 6 mile trip mostly on a dirt road. I was really starting to enjoy the lighthouses, and this one was nice, but unfortunately fenced off as it is still used.

We drove into town and ate at a nice restaurant near the island. The Seafood Stop? Slept well and resed.

Tuesday August 18th - First Ride

We drove like Crazy on Monday to reach our campground way up north. This would have been our third night, so we have missed nearly half of our ride. On the way up the Eastern Coast we stopped at a "Highlight" restaurant for dinner. The Chowder House was located in Neil's Harbor, and also the only game around. It is the only restaurant highlighted on the Cabot Trail official map. Lets just make this short it was without a doubt the worst food we had on the entire trip. If you make the trip do not stop here.

We camped at the Hideaway, a nice private camp at the north most point of the trail. Only letdown was the mosquitoes. The campground is in a nice wooded area just a few minutes from a lovely river. We made a hike down to the river but by the time we got back Heidi had lost half of her blood to the thirsty mosquitoes.

The next morning after our coffee and light breakfast we took our bikes out on a ride along the Spur road back to Neil's Harbor. This was absolutely beautiful, however we soon found that the hills were nonstop. We did this as an out and back of about 25 miles or more. On the way back I took the very steep side trip down to White Point, which was a very nice fishing village.

After our ride we drove back to the Cabot's Landing Park to have another picnic lunch, it was really nice and very warm and humid. We then continues along the Cabot Trail to the location of the pre planned campground, and found a nice cool running creek, so we jumped in to cool off. We checked out the next campground along the trail but were worried about the mosquitoes there also, so I convinced Heidi we should head over to the campground on the beach several miles futher. Before we did, we took a nice quick hike up to a waterfall, very relaxing.

The beach campground was nearly full, we grabbed a spot, and then took off to find dinner in the nearest town Cheticamp. We found a restaurant called the Harbor House and had an amazing dinner by far the best so far. It should be noted that Cheticamp was and still is mostly French. Back at our camp we found the place to be full, and had a very nice night after watching the sunset from the beach.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Day 6, Package is in, 3pm, off and running to get the Trip Started.

August 17th:

Waiting and waiting, the package came at 3pm after all. Just got it, so I am going to sign off and post more later. We need to shoot up the coast and try to get a campsite.

Day 5, Baddeck and the Cabot Trail (via auto)

August 16th: Today we decided to drive the Cabot Trail, against my normal thinking, but Heidi and I agreed that even if we get the trailer on Monday, as a minimum we would have to cut a few parts of our planned bike ride out. The first part we would cut out was our first day from Baddeck to St. Anne’s, which seemed to be uninteresting anyhow, but the second part would be the very north portion of our trip (a part I had added, which was a big reason we did not do a commercial tour, as no tours would go up to this north most town on the island). We did it, drove all the way, Spoiler Alert for sure, we now know exactly what all the big climbs are like, what the road conditions are, I feel like I cheated. However, it was worth it, as we got to ride the north section, about 20 miles total, out and back, and boy did it have a big climb on it, probably why no tours do it. Glad I did not have my trailer for the climb, but it was an awesome ride. The highlights were the beach we found just before the climb called Cabot’s Landing, so amazing, had a beer with some bread and cheese which fueled me for the rest of the ride. Then at the end of the road, it really was just that. Another foot and into the cold deep blue sea. Had another beer and back we went to the car. Dinner this night was in Baddeck at an Italian place, very nice and low key--chicken pesto linguini was amazing.

What does tomorrow hold for us, trailer, no trailer is the key to the remainder of our trip.

Lunch stop along the road to Bay of St. Lawerence. This beach is the best so far, and the views were breathtaking.

The beach, it goes a long ways.

Lunch

View from along the road.

End of the road in Bay of St. Lawerence. Really special spot, but no beer on a Sunday afternoon...

Leaving the small town of St. Lawerence.

Here is where we started the ride, an old church and local museum.

This is the Studio that has been our home for the last two days. Very cozy and nice.

Day 4, Baddeck and making the most of it.

August 15th: The family that runs the inn were gracious and were able to move us into another room for the weekend, one in fact with a kitchen. After a very nice breakfast at the inn, we decided that we should use the bikes (we got our bikes on Friday morning at 10 am promptly, as arranged over 6 months prior - Pedal and Sea is a first rate group for sure). We took a “shake out” ride that we had originally planned for Friday, up to the Uisge Ban waterfalls just out of town. This was a perfect way to check out the bikes and make all the adjustments, which we did, from seat heights to fixing squeaky brakes. The hike at the waterfalls was awesome and all in all we did about 20 to 25 miles on the bikes. We checked out the local food store and got some nice meal fixings, and enjoyed a great evening with home cooking. Beer is very expensive here--about $3.00 a can and they only sell single cans or 12 in a box, no six-packs. Not much craft beer either, much to Aaron’s disappointment. He does like Hops and Robbers IPA though.

Heidi at the trail head for the Uisge Ban Falls

The falls, very nice and really flowing. Great spot for sure.

As far as I can recall this is the first time I have stood in the Atlantic Ocean, the water was actually not too cold, helped that it was a warm day.

A nice view of our inn, all the joined buildings are part of it. After our first and only planned night the owners moved us to a small studio at the top of the very far right building (you can see the lone window). This was a nice room and had a nice little kitchen.

Day 3, To Baddeck, and stuck

August 14: We had a nice breakfast back at the farmers market across from our hotel, and then we took off for Baddeck, with high hopes of finding our shipment awaiting. The drive to Baddeck was going to be several hours regardless, so we decided to take the slow road up the coast. It was an awesome drive, and my smart phone continued to show our package arriving in Baddeck that night. The east coast of Nova Scotia is riddled with bays and inlets and so beautiful that every turn is another photo op. The homes are quaint clapboard and sometimes painted a bright color. The churches are usually very old white clapboard buildings and mostly Anglican or Presbyterian. So scenic on long rolling green hills down to the coast.

Arriving in Baddeck we found our little hotel right on the waterfront (aptly named the water's Edge), but alas, the package was still not there. herein lies the rub, our bike ride was to start the next morning, from the inn. If the package does not make it today (Friday) then we have to wait until Monday, that takes two to three full days of our bike ride out.... UGH!! Heidi and I took a short walk and got dinner, then sat at the porch of thin inn until after 9 pm drinking a bottle of Canadian wine (not bad), hoping for a late arrival, no luck.

Here is our lunch spot, awesome view of the bay and a beer to boot. This was the best beer yest, I bought them at the Liquor Store and it was called Hops and Robbers. Yummy.

Here is the beach right out the front door from the inn. Eric runs the kayak trips three times a day over to the island in the background. Really a wonderful spot and being stuck waiting on UPS here is not the end of the world.

Out on the dock, beautiful day.

The Harbor, Heidi and I had a competition to see who took the best photos. All the photos here are from Heidi as I have not been able to upload mine. Once I do I will add them and we can see who got the best photos.

Another great photo of the bay.

Another

Day 2: Halifax - August 13, 2015

August 13th: The next morning, no card, no car and I called to see when our card would be in, Wells Fargo said it had not shipped out and would be at least another two days. Now we were starting to stress out. To relax, we took a nice long walk out to the big park at the end of the peninsula. The park was awesome, once a fort with remnants of battlements and ammunition storage. Great old cannons. Halifax was quite the seaport in its day.

On a side note, we had shipped a package containing some camping gear along with the very important bike trailer via UPS nearly two weeks prior with an arrival date of the 11th. We had been tracking the package, and it was held up in Customs. We called UPS several times and they assured us that the package would be in Baddeck by no later than Friday the 14th. On The 13th we called again, and after signing some paperwork we had previously been told they did not need, they again assured us the package would be in Baddeck by the 14th, however now instead of a 15 dollar tax fee we owed them 130 dollars-go figure.

After our walk through an amazing park with lots of history, we went back to the hotel. Back at the hotel on a whim I stopped by the Dollar Car Rental (in our hotel lobby which Heidi and I both missed and walked for about an hour looking for previously. The ladies were very nice and understood our problem, however they had no cars and did not accept debit. The manager mentioned that she had a friend at Hertz down the street and offered to see if she could help me out, she made a call, and I had little hope. Friends are a good thing, the ladies conspired and eventually she explained to me that a couple of cars would be available only online in a few minutes and only for late in the afternoon. I ran up to the room, and booked the car through Hertz online. Then we cancelled the original car in hopes someone could use it.

Once we picked up the car we took off and drove straight to Lunenburg, a quaint seaside town just south of Halifax, with the famous colorful homes and churches. The town was awesome, we had a nice seafood dinner on the waterfront, and then explored nearby areas like Blue Rocks to try and get some nice photos. We returned to our hotel later that evening. Driving around Nova Scotia is not as bad as many places I have been, but Halifax is congested and the traffic was a bit irksome. I expected Halifax to be a much smaller town, but it is a thriving port city, and I have been schooled.

One of many old cannons around the Peninsula Park that protected the shipping into and out of Halifax. This park was wonderful, and they even allow dogs off leash. Cool.

This is the old fortress, sans roof and guns. The old style tower was built in 1757 and protected the area for a couple of hundred years, even serving as an ammunition depo during the wars.

Here is the old (and I believe no longer used) grain storage facility in the Industrial port for Halifax. I wonder how long until some engineer and architect convert this to some very strange waterfront and nearly bomb proof condos?

Halifax water front on a sunny day.

Lunenburg, wonderful old town (and world Heritage Site) with way more churches than liquor stores.

Dinner in Lunenburg with a first course of local brews. Some were good, some were better. All were enjoyed.

Blue Rocks, the waitress at our dinner suggested to go here for photos, here is a good one, but we agree, it was a worthy spot to make photos.

Heidi hiked out on the rocks to get this photo while I searched in vain for my glasses, sure I lost them in a panic. Heidi later picked them up from the center counsel, duh, maybe the beer is better then I thought.

Nova Scotia - Days 1: Halifax - August 11 and 12, 2015

August 11, 2015, August 12, 2015: Travel day, we left on Air Canada late in the evening flying the red eye to Montreal. Everything was smooth with the flight, and it seemed to go by quickly thanks to a sleeping pill and a glass of wine. Once in Montreal customs proceeded as planned until the guy saw our next flight time and freaked out, grabbing our bags and telling us to run to security. We took the priority line and then all hell broke loose as the security guy denied us entry because the date on our ticket was the 11th and now it was the 12th. We ran back to the ticket counter, got new tickets (quick as a rabbit, Air Canada was speedy) and went back this time without much hassle through security. At the gate, they were still boarding, so no worries even though it was depart time as the plane plane didn’t have enough fuel and waited at the gate till full. Then we were off.

Arriving in Halifax, we found our bags quickly, as apparently last on is first off. We got to the car rental counter and then it all started to fall apart. The lady nicely informed us that we could not rent with them because we did not have a major Credit Card, as Debit cards are no good for car rentals in Canada. No Questions, no flexibility. We started asking around, not only did no other places take Debit Cards, but all were Sold Out. We asked again, the lady said that we should try Hertz, as an American Company, they may accept debit, and they did accept debit, thank god, except that they had no cars, and would not. The lady was actually very rude and told me that there were no cars to be had, and that was that.

We decided to take a cab to our hotel and try to regroup as we were not very useful exhausted and irritable. The cab cost us nearly $70 dollars, Halifax Airport is not close to downtown. The hotel was nice, and we got to the room and cooled off from the frustration by taking a walk through downtown and exchanging some money--good rate for US dollars. We decided first to try and see if Wells Fargo could help us out. We had asked the lady at the original car place to extend our reservation for 24 hours, as we did not want to lose that car as it appeared there were few to be found. Wells Fargo said they could expedite us our Credit Card (We don't use Credit Cards, but have an open one just in case). It was promised to arrive the next day. We took a nice walk around the waterfront, and had a beer at the microbrewery by the hotel, and another by our dinner restaurant. Dinner was at Salty’s on the waterfront. We shared lobster chowder, beet salad, and seafood plate of lobster, shrimp, salmon and scallops. The salmon was amazing and lobster is plentiful in these parts.

Heidi enjoying first lunch in Halifax at the Farmers Market. Very nice spot just across the street from our hotel.

Halifax has lots of history, and wonderful buildings. My suggestion to the city planners is to try and underground all the electrical and communications lines, so the buildings can be more original.

Garrison Brewing is right across from the hotel also, adjacent to the Farmers Market. The beer was good and refreshing, but no West Coast IPA here.

Here is a view of the Port in Halifax, it was rainy and cool, foggy also. We went to dinner at Salty's just on the water, and then tried another brewery after, same result. I never knew how much variation in hops there is. Another thing is the cost, a beer in the restaurant here is nearly $7 each (say $6 US). In the government Liqueur Stores, they are a bit less expensive at $2 to $3 each, but we have it much better at home.