Scenic Route idea went out the window when I got off to a slower start for the first 3ish hours with the heavy rain, coupled with the realization that with losing daylight/an hour on the clock earlier meant that I needed to hoof it instead to make this a 1 day transit. Which to make this fit into the time I had available for this trip, I kept planning this like it was July or August, not October - shorter days foiled the scenic route idea.
Anyhow, I'm home.
Day 1, rain in the AM of course, cold as hell in the evening, but only about 30 minutes after dark thankfully by making up some time with a (*ahem*) good clip through NB. Used my typical approach to riding after dark by following large truck traffic at a comfortable distance - if something big comes across the road they're gonna eat it first, and I can stop. I do the same riding in deer country in the summer. Got to my friends house just south of Moncton all well, met with a bowl of hot soup and a nice warm fireplace which was heavenly - the last hour of the ride had been pretty damn chilly. My liner had got damp in the AM rain and I never did get that out obviously, but at my last fuel stop I layered up and cranked my heated gear to 11 and was then pretty toasty.
Day 2 was my buddy and I out to NS, headed to Baddeck for the night. Cool start to the day but sunny, but as we got closer to Cape Breton Island it was cool and *very* wind - got me and the bike covered in salt spray going across the causeway as the waves and wind were causing it to pretty much soak the road. Stayed at a nice little motel just outside downtown. Went to a pizza place in town and had crazy expensive pizza that was...OK, but a whole lot of money for what it was. Wasn't many options aside from Tim Hortons at that time of night though.
Day 3 was the Cabot, it was picture perfect all day with few exceptions. Got an early start, out on the road by 8AM or so.
Got the drone up and got some pretty awesome photos at some of the scenic pull offs.
We went at a reasonable pace and stopped and smelled the roses a little, but to stop at every single scenic outlook or little beachfront area etc etc etc....could take days to make the loop. I knew going in that wasn't the reality, as did my buddy who came along - it wasn't the first time around for him anyways. There were sections that were totally amazing of course (IE, above pics), and areas which kinda felt like any old road a few hours outside the GTA somewhere. But it was cool, no question, but in other ways, very reminiscent of the Gaspe Peninsula loop in many ways.
At around 4PM we were finishing up and we hightailed it off the island and a few hours closer to Moncton before getting a hotel again...otherwise we'd have been into 2 hours of after dark riding. And it was freakin cold again.
Yesterday I dropped my buddy off on the way back through Moncton, nice sunny and warm start but foggy as hell (with the accompanying moisture/dampness/wet pant legs lol) on the east end of the Bay of Fundy. We rode into it like a light switch, and rode out of it back out to sunny blue skies almost as quick. It was warm so the dampness dried up quickly after that. I did just under 1100km and ended up in Levis Quebec, just across the river from Quebec City. Got a room there and went out for a meh dinner. Slept like a log.
Easy day today, ~700km. Had a late start but still home for dinner.
Another checkbox on the bucket list, and some good zen time with the wind in my face.
