July 19, Halifax to Lunenburg



Enroute near Chester



Gold River Bridge using trail



Although Tamara had the day off and Jordyn was at home, we had to adjust our schedule to enable us to meet up with my sister at her cottage in Louis Head this weekend, so we had to leave.  It was a fun few days with Trev, Tam and Jordyn, too quick, but we have made arrangements to try to get together the long weekend in September.  Trev had a bit of excitement at 6 this morning when 4 young racoons were terrorizing his back yard.  One was on the roof of the house, two inside the pool fence and on the deck where one eventually fell into the pool through the cover, but managed to get out!!  He took some videos on his phone, which was neat.  These little critters must have lost their mom and were busy scurrying all over.  Bob and I packed up the bikes and headed out around 9:40.  Tam met us about 5 minutes away with a pair of sandals I had forgotton, so we got to say good bye to Jordyn one more time.  We used the trail system all the way to Hubbards, about 40 km  where we stopped at the Trellis for lunch.  It was a lovely spot and we had crab quiche and a lovely mandarain salad.   A female RCMP officer stopped to talk to us...she does some biking, patrolling the trail system although today she was in her vehicle.  Ironically she had been born in Saint John.  I asked her what the traffic was like as I wanted to ride the road for a bit rather than the dusty trail and she said that she had been educating the motoring public about "the metre" rule for when passing cyclists.  She must be doing a  good job because we found the cars that passed us were not as aggressive as those back home and we were given a wide berth....Kudos to her!!! We cycled the road into Chester where we stopped for some fruit at a supermarket.   We got back on the trail the other side of Chester and hit some rugged and rough places that the ATV's have ruined.  It was horrible riding, as the centre hump was high and the ruts left by the tires made you feel that you were riding inside a bowl.  Not pleasant.  We did get to go over the Gold River/Western Shore bridge which was neat.  At another spot outside of Western Shore I hit some loose gravel and over I went....my first fall of the trip.  I was going slow enough that no damage to myself or bike.  We got back on the road for a lovely drive into Mahone Bay and then along the ocean for a bit into Lunenburg arriving just before 4.  My mom happened to be looking out of her kitchen window when she saw us heading up from the intersection....great to see her.  We parked our bikes up on her floor in the multi purpose room, which isn't being used tonight.  During the ride today Bob suggested that perhaps we could leave our bikes at my sister's tomorrow and DRIVE  with her to her cottage, if she had room.  That way we could come back with them on Sunday night, stay over with her.  Resume our ride on Monday heading to Ponhook Lake for a few days with his dad and then on Wednesday head back down through Lockeporte, Shelburne, Yarmouth and to Digby.  It made perfect sense and that way we wouldn't be "back tracking" as would have been the case with my original plan to meet up with my sister.  I emailed her from the restaurant when we were having lunch in Hubbards and heard back from her immediately, so that is now the plan.  It will give me some more time with my mom as well, so that is good.  We will leave here after lunch tomorrow and head to Dayspring to meet up with my sister and head to Louis Head for the weekend.  Looking forward to some time on the beach!!   I will have access to her computer on Monday, but once we leave for Ponhook we have no cell service, or computer access, so it will be hard to keep in touch.