cabot trail nova scotia

zeniceguy

zeniceguy

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buddy of mine wants to go there in july, any one done it before?
We may trailer out there then ride, or ride out and back.


looks like there will be 3 of of going so far.
 
I'm planning on going myself July 5th to 13th with a group of friends from work. Hoping it will be a blast. Just trying to figure out the cost for accomadations and such at the moment. We planned on 9 days I would prefer to do it in 7. We did Blue Ridge Parkway last year, I heard its comparable to that, although I personally think Blue Ridge is going to be hard to beat.
 
we are thinking a week trip, would like to plan on 7 and if it takes longer we have room.
also trying to plan costs and acom.
 
Damn good ride! We went through the states and there are some roads I highly recommend on the way.. Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are amazing. My buddy and I did it in 8 days and felt a bit rushed.
 
it is crazy boring riding through canada. if i did it again i would ride through the US.

the cabot trail isnt very long. you can ride it twice in a day if you wanted. great scenery and decent roads.

if you are looking for high speed twisties there are far better roads alot closer to home.
 
I drove in a car and camped around a couple years ago. Took 8 days but was very rushed. Need almost 2 weeks. Stayed at provincial parks at bay of Fundy, n.b. and in p.e.I. and other places. Wish I drove through USA though instead of quebec
 
I'm thinking of using my truck and drive straight there.
Then maybe camp for the 5 days. This is on my buddys bucket list.
He was also thinking he wanted to run around newfy land. Maybe we need more time?
 
I went last year in the last 12 days of July. I spent a lot of time in New Brunswick and PEI, and only had 2.5 days on the Cabot Trail, which isn't enough in my opinion. If I were to do it again, I'd budget more time in Nova Scotia, and minimize the time in NB, which I found pretty boring.

I strongly, strongly agree with mac_135 and twostroke - go through New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. You won't regret it a bit. The Adirondacks, Appalachians and White Mountain all have some fantastic riding.

In particular, make sure you hit the Kancamagus Hwy (112) through the White Mountain in NH. There's a road called Bear Notch Rd running off it that's a hell of a lot of fun.

Not sure about your endurance/range, but I'd say getting from Toronto to the Cabot Trail is a solid 3 days' ride. If you're an iron-butt, feel free to do it in less =)

Here's a Google Map of the route I took, round-trip: http://goo.gl/maps/DB9L4

Ping me if you want to know more - I've got some photos and videos I could share too.
 
Probably want to include travelling up to Meat Cove in your plans, as long as you're there. I rushed Cabot Trail a bit and regret it. Also, it's a good idea to start it with roughly a full tank of gas.
 
Yeah two days each way is a slug and we had two drivers. Would be brutal on a bike to go the Canadian route unless you were to include a good section up to Ottawa and across Quebec north of Montreal which has loads of interesting roads and then come back the US route.
Good advice on New Brunswick.
The east coast of NB around Shediac is pretty and the only swimming area that is warm enough to go in the ocean.

I've driven to Cape Breton solo in 24 hours but that was brutal and dangerous - with three drivers tho you could leave on an evening and be through the Montreal mess well before dawn and then the long stretch down from Three Rivers do in the daytime. ( moose all over )
Getting caught anywhere near Montreal in traffic adds stress and time.
The South Shore run past Quebec City is scenic if you take the little roads to stay along the river. Might be a nice second day break if you do a marathon first day to get there. ( that's what we did in the car....blitz the first day, short second day along the south shore, blitz the third day.

I'm sad we did not loop Gaspé but it would have added almost two days.
There is another thread over in touring.
There is a lot to see in Cape Breton and the tendency is to do the loop too fast. It really depends on your goals.
It's a good riding road and if that's the goal then one day is lots tho doing it in two directions would be fun.
If sightseeing - then it rarely gets completely covered there is so much history and terrain. It's actually a broken off chunk of Africa so wild geology and spans a climate range from tundra to Carolinian forest in a very small area.
Meat Cove as mentioned is worth it for the whales and the scenic road.

Don't overlook the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia and Wolfeville in particular....great food and always warmer than elsewhere....400 years of history ...some of it pretty bloody. Bear Creek is worth the run and stop at the gallery there. Brilliant stuff and a character as an owner.

I'd stay off going further south as with the end of the Yarmouth Ferry that end of Nova Scotia is a bit bleak.
Crossing over from the Annapolis Valley to Peggy's Cove is only an hour and the road is pretty along the coast - touristy that time of year and if not camping you may find it hard to get space anywhere without booking well ahead. After the July long weekend it gets seriously jammed in Cape Breton as it's a short season and not many places.


Watch the weather in Cape Breton --extremely changeable.
Enjoy.
 
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I've been twice. While the states is the nicer way to get there and a much better ride, you'll end up taking 3-4 days to get out there as you just can't help planning a route that looks like a bunch of letter Z's so you can hit all the twisties. My Wife and I compromised and went out via the states and hit up-state NY, the Green Mountains in Vermont and the White Mountains in NH. On the way back, we strapped on our comfiest pair of undies and did a butt burner home. We had a late start leaving Sydney NS (2pm) so we only rode as far as Amherst NS on the NB boarder. We then rode from Amherst NS to Cornwall ON (1200km) in 14hrs! We would have pushed on to Peterborough but did not want to finish a long ride like that in the dark. The third day only took a couple of hours. If we had left early enough on the first day, we could have easily made it home in just 2 days.
 
I did it last year. Trailered out and did the tourist thing on the bikes. Only had a week off so it was a wise decision to trailer. I rented a 2 bedroom cottage on the Cabot for 550 for the week. Had laundry and a nice deck over looking the trail and hills. Did day trips from there except for we spent one night in a hotel. For the convenience of not having to worry about carting out the camping gear and haveimg a good solid roof over my head I would recommend the renting a place. Lots of cheap places out there. I dont need to see everything in one trip. I'm ok doing a week a year and spending my time where ever doing some good exploring
 
Thanks guys, looks like we got some planning to do. He only has 1 week off so this may be better to wait for two weeks. If we go that far I want to see everything out there.
 
I think that makes sense....Blue Ridge would be accessible in your time frame as the start is a long day away 4 days on the parkway and two longish days back.

If you only have a week - 2 days each way ( and that's not easy ) sort of kills it.
2 weeks??? that'll do.

Another loop that might be cool is do PA - 1/2 day down - couple days riding 44/144 - then across to Washington DC if you want some touristy stuff ( Smithsonian is great ) - or stay along the PA/New York border in the pretty parts and swing up to Lake Placid and home via Wolfe Island - you'll just have to be careful with weekend accommodations in July ....popular play area.
 
gtamike said:
I went last year in the last 12 days of July. I spent a lot of time in New Brunswick and PEI, and only had 2.5 days on the Cabot Trail, which isn't enough in my opinion. If I were to do it again, I'd budget more time in Nova Scotia, and minimize the time in NB, which I found pretty boring.

I strongly, strongly agree with mac_135 and twostroke - go through New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. You won't regret it a bit. The Adirondacks, Appalachians and White Mountain all have some fantastic riding.

In particular, make sure you hit the Kancamagus Hwy (112) through the White Mountain in NH. There's a road called Bear Notch Rd running off it that's a hell of a lot of fun.

Not sure about your endurance/range, but I'd say getting from Toronto to the Cabot Trail is a solid 3 days' ride. If you're an iron-butt, feel free to do it in less =)

Here's a Google Map of the route I took, round-trip: http://goo.gl/maps/DB9L4

Ping me if you want to know more - I've got some photos and videos I could share too.
Click to expand...

If you found N.B. boring then you went to the wrong places cause its got some great sights and some of the best places to party, not to mention the Appalachian Mountains in northern N.B. are some of the best roads ive ever ridden.
 
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The Cabot Trail is one of the best rides anywhere. *Great* scenery, in a great area with many nice roads close by. A trick to riding the Trail is to ride with the ocean side on your right. It's better for avoiding cagers crossing the line as they tighten up their left turns and for avoiding gravel on the inside line, (rock side) caused by cagers who can't stay on the road. IIRC, Marine Drive in that area had so many twisties I could hardley wait to get off it, but that was at the end of a long day. But the Cabot Trail itself is breathtaking.
 
I'm also planning a trip toward end of June. My buddy and I are just trying to get our friends interested.
 
Ugh. I remember the drive through NB. Brutal... were trying to get to our destination so didnt want to spend much time in NB. Id go again but driving there is just daunting
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