Lifes2short....Ride the World

Re: Rain, rain and even more rain

In the morning we got treated to a fantastic multi course breakfast from Claude, the owner. Blueberries with maple syrup, then a scrambled up egg served inside the egg shell and finally french toast topped with yogurt and strawberry drizzle and a side of fruit. Oh and of course we can't forget the freshly baked croissant that just melted in our mouths.


It really was that good.

We booked into the B&B for a second night and decided to enjoy the perfectly sunny day sightseeing in Quebec city. On the way we stopped at Montmorency Falls. It's hard not to pull into this place as the waterfall can easily be seen from the highway as you drive by. I was surprised to find out that at a height of 275 feet, it's actually 98 feet taller than Niagara Falls.

















View from the top was fantastic.


Moving the bike to a more secure location. We parked on a busy street in front of a restaurant but some dude said something about no moto-parking. Not that we believed him, but we had no where to put the parking tag and I also wasn't sure he wouldn't have a few more drinks and kick the bike over. So I decided to move it to an underground parking lot around the corner.


With the bike safely tucked away, we got down to being all touristy.






Looks like a nice rooftop patio to chill and have a morning coffee.




Fantastic little streets (we call them alleyways back home).


And I was worried about taking the bike down some of these narrow pathways...These guys have some serious driving skills as they barely slow down here.


I think my jeans need a trim...cool restaurant actually.


We stopped into Les Trois Garcons for some lunch. Equally as creative on the inside, and the food was also very good.


Lori sees a red door and she wants it painted black? We saw hundreds of cool looking doors like these.

 
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Re: Rain, rain and even more rain




Very cool mural.


We popped into a random coffee shop for a little break, that cheesecake was phenomenal by the way.


The seagull really makes this shot I think...


To say Chateau Frontenac is massive would be an understatement.


Yes Lori loves old doors.


Beautifully carved out of the wall.


Really? Out of all the restaurants and you need to have a Tims? We called it a day after this. We could have easily spent a week touring around downtown, there is just so much to see. I think that may end up a theme for us on this trip however. There is always something more to see.
 
Re: Rain, rain and even more rain

l84toff said:

Moving the bike to a more secure location. We parked on a busy street in front of a restaurant but some dude said something about no moto-parking. Not that we believed him, but we had no where to put the parking tag and I also wasn't sure he wouldn't have a few more drinks and kick the bike over. So I decided to move it to an underground parking lot around the corner.
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Had the same problem last time I was in Quebec city, the cop that asked me to move the bike hinted it was because of the biker wars from a few years back. Don't know if that's true or not.
 
Lori is going to love the doors and windows in Europe. :)
 



After another phenomenal brekky, we headed a few kilometres west to the Sainte-Anne-De-Beaupré Basilica. I'm not sure there is anything I can say to describe it that will do it justice. It's quite a phenomenal place to see first hand.









Opening these doors was like trying to move a small truck.



Looking down one of the hallways as you walk in.



One of the original builders was said to be walking with the aid of crutches when building the church. Once the work was finished, it's reported he no longer needed the crutches for mobility. Since then, the Catholic Church has credited the basilica with many miracles of curing the sick and disabled.















The attention to detail everywhere was amazing.






Across the road is a beautiful old wooden memorial chapel.



And behind the chapel were life sized Stations of the Cross






View of the basilica from the back.
 
From there we headed further west to Les Sept Chutes (the Seven Waterfalls). Coming down the gravel hill we hit a patch of sand, the bike did a little dance, I thought for sure it was going down. Next thing I know we're still going down the hill on two wheels, I guess our first drop is going to have to wait for a bit. Once at the bottom we learned that all the waterfalls are back up the hill we just came from. Doh! It was a beautiful day so we left the bike there and hiked the 1-2km back up the hill along the trails.



Hey look over there...where? Snow!



Five of the seven waterfalls.








We lost track of time and by the time we got out of there it was late afternoon, just in time for rush hour through Quebec. Ooops! We didn't exactly have a destination in mind, just wanted to get out of Quebec City and start heading east. We ended up in Montmagny QC for the night. Total for the day - 165km that took us the entire day to ride. We were happy about the state of the weather so we really didn't care about the mileage.


The next morning we awoke to some dark clouds and another wet departure. In fact it started to pour just as we were ready to leave - oh well. Our destination for the day...somewhere where it wasn't raining. The weather channel pointed us to Fredericton, 520km away.





In and out of rain most of the day, we managed to miss most of this nasty looking cell. It was a good day to put some tunes on and just ride. Lost in our own little world.


Once into New Brunswick we saw a fully grown black bear at the side of the highway, on the wrong side of the animal fencing :(. Hopefully he found his way back. We managed to finally ride out of the crappy weather later in the afternoon and also lost an hour crossing into the Atlantic time zone.


Hello New Brunswick!
 
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Subscribed, I wish I don't have to go home and continue riding.
 
I wish I don't have to go home and continue riding.
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Funny I was thinking the other day that there is indeed a withdrawal....at least we have some vicarious tales from the OP and Life

and I have an Alaska jaunt soon even if it is in the van.
 
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l84toff said:
That's how it starts, next thing you know, you're planning your own trip ;)
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It started long ago, just need to get the wife onboard :)
 
Yeah - I have to switch to the cage for travel with GF but she's very good to travel with and Australians are not whiny about distance.

So the big distances so far have been cage based. The trade off is better photo ops.
 
djez said:
It started long ago, just need to get the wife onboard :)
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That's a tough one. I wouldn't say Lori was exactly on board with the idea when I first mentioned it, but she definitely is now.


MacDoc said:
Yeah - I have to switch to the cage for travel with GF but she's very good to travel with and Australians are not whiny about distance.

So the big distances so far have been cage based. The trade off is better photo ops.
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The ops are the same, maybe the willingness to pull over and take out the camera are a bit different...
 
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We were in and out of New Brunswick in a day. No real reason, in fact we had no real plan that morning, but after a coffee stop, Lori said "let's just ride east". So we did.





We found a campground just into Nova Scotia in Amherst, Loch Lomond RV park. We booked in for a night and ended up staying three. The park itself was very nice, we had a great spot overlooking the lake and the bathrooms were the nicest we've seen in any campground. Nicer than the previous nights motel we agreed. We found a nice little breakfast spot in town called Breakfast at Brittany's. Formerly a police station, friendly staff, freshly pressed coffee and a massive breakfast even my hungry belly could not finish.


We've now been on the road for two weeks. It feels like we just left and at the same time it feels like we've been travelling for much longer. We have days where we don't see much and others where we pack so much in, that at the end of the day we both think that morning happened on a different day.





With most our gear at the campground, we took a much lighter Tiger out for a run along the Bay of FUNdy. The bottom section west of Parrsboro was a blast to ride, lots of twisty sections, lots of scenic views, elevation changes. A very re-energizing day on two wheels. I had been feeling out of sorts since leaving, in fact we both have and this was exactly what I needed. We made a pit stop at Joggins Fossil Cliffs, cool but not spectacular. Have I mentioned how beautiful, sunny and warm it's been?






Enjoying a nice fire back at the campground before checking out for the night.


In the morning Lori talked me into staying for a third night, so we could just relax, enjoy the sun, do some laundry and generally just not rush. "Ok I'm in" I said.


We eventually hit the road again but as usual, we didn't really have a destination in mind. What we've been doing lately is just aiming the bike in a direction in the morning and going. Stopping at interesting places along the way and eventually stopping for a break at a coffee shop where we figure out what the plan is for the night. After a few minutes of searching and researching, Lori will usually find us a good spot to sleep. So far it's been working out well.



Our route this day.


We pulled in to Five Islands for a look, dirt road for about half a click to get there but it felt more like someone dumped a truckload of ball bearings on the dirt. The bike danced all over the place. I feel like I need a lot more practice in the dirt if we're going to ride up the Dempster, especially if it's anything like this.



Tide was out, you could almost walk to the islands.


The Bay of Fundy is just an amazing wonder, it empties and fills about a billion tonnes of water with every tide cycle, which occurs every 6 hours and 13 minutes. The tide changes over 50 feet in some places. That's the height of a five story apartment building. Wow! One of the best places to see this is at the Hopewell Rocks, which we've visited in the past and well worth the stop if you're in the area.





During a stop later in the day, we were treated to a tidal bore. Pretty cool to see. Sorry no pics as we were a bit too far away. It wasn't as big as I had heard, although it apparently gets larger further up the channel where it narrows. We might have to double back towards Truro to check it out.


Almost ran out of gas...again. I will admit that I thought for sure we'd run dry this time. I stopped at a NSLC seemingly in the middle of nowhere to double check where the closest gas station was. I didn't like what the GPS was trying to tell me. Lady at the counter says maybe 20 miles, I joked that I may have to buy a bottle of the vodka cause I didn't think I'd make it that far. In fact the GPS was indicating 43km to the gas station, while the bike computer read 23km till empty. Hmmmm! We decided to keep going and see how close we could get. I had resigned myself to the fact I'd have to walk. Playing it out in my head that I'd put on my shorts, hiking shoes, Lori would stay with the bike, maybe I could hitch a ride? The bike was now reading ZERO km left. Here we go, any moment now. 10km, still going, 15...About 18km later we came around a bend and I see an Irving gas station. Lori later said it was like loaves and fishes from the bible. Perhaps even something conjured up just for us. She was afraid to look back as we pulled away in case it wasn't really there.


Strange but that was not the Irving the GPS was leading us to, which we passed about 5 minutes later. Also strange but I thought for sure we'd get in a full 20L or pretty close, but only 19.3L went in. The previous time we had a close call with gas, the bike indicated we had another 20km to go and I ended up pumping in 19.5L. Lesson here is that the bike computer is definitely not to be trusted. And also that we definitely need to fuel up earlier. That's one thing I really do miss about the ST1300, the 7.7 gallon tank and the range.


The TEX so far seems to get very inconsistent mileage at anything from 34-41 MPG, and this really depends on the speed and wind is a huge factor. I've rad about some TEX riders getting well over 50MPG, no idea how they manage to do that.


We camped again, this time at the Plantation Campground. Average looking place, we were the only tenters so it was nice and quiet. Another beautiful day weather wise.









Took advantage of the sunset to snap a nice pic of the bike.





The next morning we doubled back a bit to see low tide at Halls harbour. Totally worth it! There is something cool about seeing a bunch of boats sitting on the floor of a harbour when the tide is out.









A recent erosion.



Cool view across the bay.






Lori found a friend to play with.



Lots of cool things to photograph around the dock.


From there we headed towards Port Williams where on the recommendation from Macdoc, we stopped at the Port Pub for some lunch. Great place with fantastic views (good call, thanks Macdoc). With full bellies we meandered west along the Evangeline Trail to Whale Cove campground in Digby Neck. Very beautiful area but as we arrived so did the fog. Socked in for the night, we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the fog horn going off every few moments in the distance.
 
Glad you hit Wolfeville and the Evangeline Trail. We came awfully close to buying a house there.
The gastropub has wonderful food. We were seriously disappointed when we came the second time and full up....:(
Best beef stew I think I've ever had.

Also glad the weather gods are smiling. It's a great area to explore at leisure.
 
Subscribed. Need to find a partner in crime and start planning my own trip :)
 
Great pics. Are you also doing a ride report on ADVrider? You really should, tons of people do ride-the-world trips there and would probably have some good advice at times.
 
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