Articles from August 2025

In which I get a taste of the Anapolis Valley and the Bay of Fundy

Breakfast of smoked salmon bennies then a walk on the boardwalk of the Halifax waterfront – always pleasant.

Looking up to Citadel Hill from the waterfront with town clock in background

Petunia baskets are very common and very effective!

Back to transport my monstrous luggage pile to the front of the hotel, having arranged a large taxi to take me to the airport hotel. Lovely cabbie, who helped me shift the pile and we had a nice chat enroute to the airport. I was able to check in to my hotel room within 1/2 hour of arriving, even though it was only 10:30, which was a bonus as I’d expected to be orphaned until I returned from my visit with Julie. Julie and I had worked together 29 years ago on the “Study in Africa” trip where we spent three months in Kenya with a group of university students taking upper level courses; she was the archeology professor and I was the medical person looking after everyone. We last saw each other in Vancouver about 8 or 9 years ago when she was enroute to Quadra Island to visit relatives, and it turned out she had another cousin living a block from my mother. When she retired 6 years ago Julie started to plan a move to Nova Scotia and now lives in Cambridge, a small town near Wolfville in the Anapolis Valley. She picked me up at the airport hotel about noon, and we had an interesting day catching up, and visiting her new surroundings (not so new perhaps, as she drove from Calgary to Nova Scotia nearly a year ago). It was about an hour’s drive away, with a stop at a friend’s garden (fantastic, she could have been on the garden club tour anytime!!) and a coffee shop started by new immigrants (It was called “Just us”, a spoof on “Justice”). We visited a Unesco World Heritage site, Grand Pre, still apparently retaining it’s status! on the shores of the Minas Basin, part of the Bay of Fundy with its’ world famous 40′ tides. Indeed the difference between high and low tides was astonishing.

All this sand is covered at high tide

Lots of iron in the soil in Nova Scotia as well as PEI

the beach itself was surprisingly quiet – long weekend in Nova Scotia as well as BC. The bluff on the far side is the north boundary of the Anapolis Valley.

Minas Basin from South Hill

Grand Pre Beach. The area of Grand Pre was where the Acadians were forcibly evicted by the British and retains a strong Acadian culture today.

Grand Pre beach – tide starting to come in

Minas Basin and the start of the Anapolis Valley from North Hill

We had lunch at a gastro pub on the waterfront and managed to get in just before a group of 18, thankfully out on the deck so that we were a bit protected from their noise. I know from the past two weeks that 14 can make a lot of noise at a table! A last chance at fish cakes, but not nearly as good as those at the Bluenose on my first day.

It was interesting to see Julie’s house, with a pool in the backyard and garden renovations ongoing. She’s had a lot done to the house to make it more useful for her, and seems very happy there which was nice to see. After a good tour around we sat and yakked for a bit more then headed back to the airport hotel for tomorrow’s departure. I promised to come back enroute to my next Maritime destination, Newfoundland 😊. I missed visiting another friend near Bridgetown who is there for the summer at a cottage on a south shore lake, about 1.5 hours out of Halifax – some day I’ll make it there!

And so the trip comes to a close, with the business of travel (getting from A to B) looming large. Not looking forward to shlepping all the luggage back tomorrow! But we will get ‘er done.

Learnings from this trip:

My favourite Nova Scotia expression: “Get it in ya” (translation hurry up and eat, we need to go).

Rolling wet laundry in towels and standing on them before hanging up greatly speeds up the drying time.

Always pack extra bike tools even if you don’t think you need them.

AC units in hotels make great white noise machines.

The end.

In which we complete the route at the “Cluckin’ Hen”, and transfer back to Halifax.

A last group breakfast on another picture perfect day, and we loaded the vans saying a reluctant goodbye to the Markland Resort, which is in a stunning location. We started just past where we left off, at Ingonish Beach yesterday, at the golf club parking lot.

The road was uphill almost immediately, clocking one of four climbs for the day, but of course the undulations are never counted. It was fairly broken road, and no shoulder, so we had been instructed to spread apart to facilitate cars passing us. I got an early start being ready quickly so headed out and up.

The road hugged us along the coast winding around a few inlets, then headed upwards. The big hill of the day was Cape Smokey, advertised as an easy climb of 280 m over 5+ km so none of us were stressed about it – the intro section at 10% took some effort but after that it was never more than 6% and a really pleasant ride up without an amazing amount of traffic at any one time. The wisdom of spreading us out was appreciated, though – it’s hard to pass more than a couple of cyclists on a narrow winding road like that, again fairly broken up and without shoulders. I eventually was passed by a couple of our group, but made it to the top in reasonably good time and did the usual summit shots.

north view from Cape Smokey

a glimpse of the road ahead

Audrey, our trip co-leader, from the top

The road down was very steep, with tight winding corners so I took it very slowly – the brakes got a good workout on this hill. Not many pictures as it was difficult to stop, but at least there were shoulders. Cars were having some difficulty getting up the tight turns at points. We all agreed at the bottom that we went the right direction up the hill! Proceeding on we saw a couple of pairs of fully loaded cyclists heading up – I suspect they’ll be walking most of it unless they’re super human, and alas the broken pavement on the other side will make for a bumpy ride down.

From the bottom of Smokey it was a series of undulations over 18 kms or so to the end at the “Cluckin’ Hen”. We had an interesting stop at a Milner store in Wreck Cove, where there was an amazingly decorated car;

the dashboard had been imaginatively done up, but the car hadn’t been driven for a long time.

someone had definitely had fun!

The milner used mostly recycled material, and it turns out her daughter now lives in Maple Ridge. Another one for the “small world” column. Loved the name of the shop.

We gathered at the “Cluckin’ Hen”, a painfully slow cafe, where at least when it eventually was produced the capucchino was good, and had crackers and cheese at the picnic tables while the van drivers, Coady and Dale, took pedals and seats off the bikes and loaded them for the transfer back to Halifax. It’s a long weekend here too, so the traffic outflow from Halifax was significant, and crossing the causeway at Canso it was bumper to bumper in the direction towards Cape Breton. The drive took about 4 hours with a couple of short stops for leg stretching, but we were all pretty stiff when we decanted in Halifax at our hotel.

My bike fenders were coated in mud, so obviously did their job! I wasn’t sure what the hotel would say wheeling a bike in, but there was nothing said (the lobby was a zoo so probably not noticed!) and I was finally able to purloin a luggage cart to load everything up – the bike bags had arrived a few hours ago for Jill, Henry and I to pack up our bikes. Check in at the Marriott was PAINFULLY slow and there was a mixup in the payment so several of us got charged for our rooms – I suspect it was hotel staff and not Pedal and Sea, but we are assured there will be a refund. A lovely group dinner at the “Little Fish” restaurant ended the CCCTS part of the tour, and we are all dispersing with most flying out early tomorrow morning. I spent some time after dinner taking the bike apart and fitting it back into the bag, and repacking the other cases. Finally got a shower and tumbled into bed about midnight; I think I will sleep tonight!

final ride: 41.9 km, 638 m elev gain

Trip total: PEI 291.87 1793.63 m elev gain

Cabot Trail 300.52 km, 3343.42 m elev gain

In which our tired legs demand rest and we grind our way around the coast- not a rest day!

After a meh breakfast of rubber eggs, inedible oatcakes, sandpaper cheese scones and undrinkable coffee (the yoghurt, eggs and grapefruit were good) we took a group photo where some even managed to hoist their bikes overhead (after decanting water bottles and bags).

We then set off southward, with the first destination White Point. The first 20 km or so were easy ups and downs with lovely views of glassy-still sea in Dingwall Harbour, then onto the main highway (no shoulder) before turning onto White Point Road.

This was relatively quiet which was fortunate as some of the hills we ground up there were only passable by sidewinding up. We have no idea how Henry made it up in his “gear of the day”. At the literal end of the road we followed a path out to the point, initially accompanied by the foghorn but it was clearing so it soon ceased. Beautiful spot.

there was a small cemetery near the end dedicated to the “unknown sailor”.

wild roses with a beautiful rose scent

Our fearless leader Danielle, below

Onward ho, with half of us electing to ride the van up with our bikes back to the main road rather than tackling the 19% grades we had screamed down on the way in, and half grinding up them. We followed the coast on the main road for many km, passing through several tiny fishing villages and lots of scenic viewpoints.

this caught our eye

We had a short stint in a construction zone, with a one way zone on gravel controlled by a traffic light, but unfortunately it was uphill, in the full sun, and a real grind with traffic impatient to pass behind us.

there were shoulders at times, but other points none

We took our time with multiple stops for pictures

the road goes ever on and on

naturally there were undulations! Not exactly a recovery day.

lunch was at the periwinkle inn, expensive and meh coffee, but at least caffeine.

A short ride later we arrived at Ingonish Beach after the last hill of the day – a man made beach which appeared very popular.

This inn is under renovations but has a spectacular perch!

Back at the resort about 3 p.m., we split to do different things. I elected to go for a swim at the private beach nearby which was very refreshing and perfect for the heat of the day.

After happy hour we repaired to the hotel for dinner – it was very slow so we didn’t get out until 9 pm. Good seafood chowder though.

Highlight of the day: White Point total cycling: 54 km, 697 m elev gain