DAY 25 - NEW GLASGOW, N.S. TO SAINT JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK
July 16, 2011
16.07.2011 - 16.07.2011
20 °C
I continued my long trip home at 8 a.m. After loading the bike I headed up to the town of Pictou. Pictou is probably the most picturesque town I've ever visited. I was there a number of years ago when we travelled the Maritimes with Al and Linda Thiel and I couldn't go by without looking in. Absolutely nothing has changed except one of the seafood restaurants is now a Thai restaurant.
I headed then, up #6 along the coast to the town of Oxford. Rita's sister Sylvia lives in Oxford with her husband Jimmy and their family. Sylvia was in Kelowna the day after I left on this trip, so I was making up for a lost opportunity to meet her. Oxford is one of many small rural farming communities spread all over Nova Scotia. We had a nice visit for about 45 minutes then I was on my way.
After fuelling-up at the local Irvine station, I headed back to the Transcanada towards Moncton. I rode some of the rural roads south and east of Moncton but found the road surfaces to be brutal. They seem to spend more time patching roads here than paving them. After a couple hours of that, on a bike, you begin to feel pretty beat-up. I got back to the TCH and rode through Moncton where I picked-up #114 and rode along the Fundy Drive for most of the afternoon.
Fundy National Park is along #114 and there were lots and lots of tourists. There are B&B's all along the route and many of them had "no vacancy" signs out front. Again, the road surfaces were not very good at all. The weather was so-so. It was overcast for most of the day with just the odd teaser of blue sky once and a while. If the sun had been shining it would have been spectacular.
I ended-up back on the TCH and headed into Saint John. I had a bit of difficulty finding a hotel room. I tried the Econolodge. I think they had a room but there were two ladies registering in front of me who couldn't get their Interact card to work. I finally gave up and looked elsewhere. The Comfort Inn was full. I finally got a decent room at the Travelodge. I checked out a few "mom and pop" motels but they looked pretty grungy.
The hotel room budget on this trip is way over estimates. I'm hoping that when I cross the border on Sunday, I'll find cheaper rooms in the States. I know I've gotta find cheaper gas.
Distance today = 513 kms
Distance to date = 10,431 kms
Posted by wpcross625 17.07.2011 04:47 Archived in Canada
