Reuniting With Friends

 One of the things I wanted to do on this trip was see some friends again that I haven’t seen in a while. Going to school in Waterloo I met people from a lot of different places but quite a few are from or have stayed in Ontario. Plus Ontario is becoming more of a popular place for people back home in Nova Scotia to move to now as well. Most people I knew from university, I haven’t seen in a couple years as that’s when I left Waterloo. While I enjoyed my time in Quebec, part of what had been driving me forward lately was knowing that I was very soon going to get to see and spend time with people I know again.

Right away Ontario provided me with the chance to reconnect, as my friend Jasper had gotten me at the end of my time in Quebec after my front tire blew up. We drove back to his place in Ottawa where I would spend the next couple days and reconnected after not seeing each other for a couple years. When we got to his place I got to do my laundry for the first time since I left my sisters in Moncton, which was over 3 weeks ago now. I also got to meet Jaspers girlfriend, Alex, for the first time.

Jasper had won free tickets to a comedy show the night I made it to Ottawa (another reason I gave in to getting a drive for the last stretch to Ottawa). The show was even east coast themed with the comedians all coming from the Atlantics, so it was almost like it was supposed to be made for me. I got to meet some of Jasper and Alex’s friends there as well who were all quite nice. I’d never been to a comedy show before, so this was a new experience for me and trying to say yes and experience new things is something I’m also trying to get better at on this trip. The show was really good and definitely something I would do again in the future.

The next day Jasper and Alex worked so I went and found a bike shop and got a few things including a new tire and a way to hopefully deal with tire problems in the future (at least temporarily I hope). I replaced my front tire and tube and got my bike back in good shape for the next stretch. After Jasper got done working we walked through part of Ottawa and later met up with Alex not too far from where she worked. We went to a Mexican restaurant that they liked to frequent and they said they liked to take other people to regularly. I got a burrito there which was really good and probably the best I’ve had (I haven’t had many burritos before though admittedly).

The next day I planned on going to see my cousin and his wife (Jacob and Alicia). I said goodbye to Alex before she left for work and talked with Jasper for a bit before leaving late in the morning. It was nice getting to see a friend again in Jasper as he was the first friend and non-family member I’d seen on the trip so far. While I had been so looking forward to stopping and seeing people I knew, I found myself this morning having an urge to get back on the road and start exploring again, but I had full intention of seeing my cousin for the first time in a lo my time. Before going to Jacob’s though I wanted to see Parliament Hill and luckily they lived very close to it. I rode along the river by parliament and got to see the main government buildings which were under construction and had protests in front of them when I passed by. It’s cool I can say that I saw them but really Parliament Hill felt quite underwhelming.

Parliament Hill Main Building

After strolling past Parliament Hill I rode a few streets down to Jacob’s, where I got to see Jacob for the Pfirst time since his wedding which was probably a couple years before the pandamic, so it had been a long time since I had seen him. We went up to his apartment where we had a lot of catching up to do and I got to meet his 5 cats. After a while we went for a little walk to meet Alicia and on the way we strolled through Ottawa’s walking street where they sometimes hold festivals, like how ribfest was going on now. I had never gotten to properly talk with Alicia before, so getting to spend time around her and properly meeting her was something I was happy to be able to do now. When we got back to their apartment I found out Jacob was making chili for supper. The only problem was that it had mushrooms in it… and I’m kinda allergic to mushrooms. Jacob didn’t know so we changed plans and ended up taking advantage of the fact that ribfest was going on. At ribfest they gave out pretty big portions so we got a single big meal and shared it. While I’m sure Jacob’s chili would’ve been good, I can’t say I’m sad we got food from ribfest instead, boy was it ever good.

That feeling I had to wanna get back on the road didn’t leave me, so I ended up leaving the next morning but I was happy to get to spend some time with Jacob and Alicia after it had been so long since I last saw them. It started raining basically as soon as I left and I got quite wet early on but luckily it had mostly stopped by noon and by the end of the day I was dry. The best way to dry off, or even drying stuff in general, really is just to ride and either where the wet stuff or just strap it to the outside of my bags. Leaving Ottawa I grabbed the Trans-Canada Trail on a route that was an attempt at about the straightest line I could do from Ottawa to Toronto, although there really aren’t any roads that do that. The trail was pretty good and was about the same as the rail trail I was used to riding at home. I didn’t go overly far for the day and got off the trail at Carleton Place where I stopped for the night. I’m not really sure why, but I’m finding when I leave cities and/or after taking a break day, I tend to not ride quite as far as usual. While in Carleton Place, I met Brian, the head of the cycling club there. I’m fairly certain Brian has been the most excited person to meet me so far, as he wanted to tell everyone in the club about me and quite frankly I think probably would’ve told anyone he saw in the moment all about me. When I stopped for the night and unloaded my bike, I noticed that my one front rack was bent. Earlier in the day when I was trying to get my bike off a bike parking rack, it didn’t wanna come and when I yanked it away there was quite a sound that came when I did (I couldn’t find that anything happened in the moment). Luckily it wasn’t really damaged and I was able to straighten it without any other problems.

I continued on the trail the next day. While it mostly stayed like it was the day before, it was starting to get rougher and less enjoyable to ride at times. Along the way I took a nice break in Perth which was a nice little town if you went into it away from the highway, especially in the little library garden along the brook that runs through the town. Not too much happened throughout the day as I was primarily by myself riding the quiet trail. I did get to stop for the night in the scenic little village of Sharbot Lake and got to camp nearby to the lake.

After I left Ottawa I had started to get sick, which when you consider how I’ve been mostly outside all the time, getting wet quite frequently and that the weather still didn’t want to warm up, is almost a miracle it took this long to get sick (I do like to brag up my immune system for a reason). While the cold I was getting wasn’t bothering me much yet, it did make it so I didn’t get much sleep for my night in Sharbot Lake. Being tired, not feeling overly good and combining that with the fact that it was raining again in the morning, lead me to just hide in my tent all morning until it stopped and wasn’t quite as cold out. The day didn’t get much better from there as the trail stopped becoming enjoyable due to it becoming so bumpy and full of big loose rocks plus big puddles covering the trail at points from swamps/marshes spilling over the trail. It continued like this for about the first 40km to Kaladar where I stopped and tried working on my Achilles which was really starting to hurt again. I considered stopping for the day and just conceding that today wasn’t my day but I decided to continue on. From there things did get better. The trail reverted back to the nice rail trail similar to when I left Ottawa and while my Achilles did hurt the rest of the day it did calm down some. While not too much exciting was happening the past few days riding along the trail which I had all to myself outside of the occasional ATV that would come roaring through, I was getting to see lots of wildlife. I had gotten see turtles, snakes (including one slithering through water which I hadn’t seen before), rabbits, beavers, some big birds that people hunt and I don’t know the name of and even some llamas on a sheep farm that the trail passed by. The improved trail let me make some good progress to end the day and I ended the day in another nice little town being Tweed this time.

Before I could load up my bike the next morning, I noticed that front tire was pretty deflated. I didn’t see any problems with it so I pumped it back up and took off for the day. Only about 30 minutes after leaving I noticed that it was pretty deflated again. I gave it a better inspection and the new tube I had just got in Ottawa was leaking from the valve. I would later ask a bike shop about this and they told me that unfortunately it seemed like I had just gotten a dud of a tube which sucks. I swapped the tube out for another and didn’t encounter any problems for the rest of the day.

I only had a little bit of trail left to do leaving Tweed until I would go back to travelling roads until Toronto, but before I finished with the trail, I encountered Ralph. Ralph was a man in a wheelchair with only one leg, so I was quite surprised when he stopped me and told me that he had cycled across Canada only 10 years prior (with 2 legs at that point however). He was a nice man who told me about his trip and how he had gotten stuff out of the trip that was pretty similar to what I’m hoping to get from mine. I finished up with the trail which went back to sucking again so I was quite happy to switch back to riding paved roads, even if they were hilly it was still much better to ride.

When I made it to Campbellford, I encountered a group of 5 cyclists who were doing a week long tour along the waterways of the area. I stopped to eat in the park there that has the world’s biggest toonie. Also while in the park I had what I consider to be the funniest moment of the trip so far. At this point I was in the runny/stuffy nose part of my cold. Being outside all the time I’ve gotten in the habit of doing stuff like blowing my nose or other potentially ‘unseemly stuff’ whenever I feel like it. So while in the park I blew my nose and with it being stuffy, it really didn’t come out very cleanly. When I did this there was a girl, probably around my age, who was walking in my direction but still not all that close to me. As she approached the picnic table I was at, she ran by me and the area I was at as fast she she could and then continued walking like normal after getting by me. She thought I was so revolting that she had to get past me as fast as she could and I found that absolutely hilarious that I started laughing out loud quite loudly to the point that I’m fairly certain she had to hear me laughing at her. Now while I’m sure some of you find no humour in this, I think it’s hilarious that someone found me that revolting.

Large Toonie of Campbellton

After Campbellford I continued taking very steep hilly side roads until Hastings where I stopped for the night. I wasn’t a fan of how the side roads were very steep hill after very steep hill while on gravel, so I decided the next day to go back along the main road where while hilly, wasn’t full of the steep hills. I was in the runny eyes phase of the cold now and faced headwinds all day (which really I’ve been facing everyday since leaving Montreal as I’m going purely west now) and the day was pretty boring but I was still able to find that I was able to bring myself to enjoy and appreciate the day being able to go along by bike like this. At least the riding was on really good roads, which I have to give Ontario credit for. Ontarios rural roads that are paved are almost all in amazing condition. It’s only really when you get into a town or city where there’s more traffic, that the roads aren’t as good and full of cracks and bumps. I made it to Tyrone to end the day and the roads were starting to get a square/gridlock shape as I was getting to the edge of Toronto now. I did hear a pack of coyotes in the middle of the night that didn’t sound too far away and kept me antsy for the rest of the night but nothing came of that other than some unwarranted anxiety.

When I awoke in the morning, I found the Sun was an orange/red colour. Being on the road I don’t really see the news (which generally is quite nice), so i didn’t know for sure, but was guessing that it must mean there were wildfires somewhere probably causing it. As I entered the GTA, I asked about the Sun and if there were wildfires causing it, to which I found out that unfortunately I was right, as the prairies were on fire and the smoke was being carried all the way to the Toronto area. While the sky was hazy for the day, it wasn’t to the point that it was hampering me from biking, so I continued on.

Riding through the GTA wasn’t particularly fun. There isn’t much designed for bikers there and it’s clear the drivers aren’t used to and/or don’t care about bikers much. Things did improve as I approached the lakeshore and downtown, as there started to be designated bike lanes, which were full of people who were delivering food on their e-bikes. When I did make it to Lake Ontario, this was another milestone moment. While I had made it far enough west to be in line with the Great Lakes at this point, this was the first of what I expected to be a lot of time I’d spend travelling along them. While I was happy making it to a beach along Lake Ontario, it was somewhat disappointing though as the view was nothing but hardtop the smoke and the shore was full of dead fish, I’m assuming from all the pollution in the lake.

My First Encounter of Lake Ontario

Now the reason I’m riding to Toronto instead of just staying north of it is because this is another place where I have some friends. When I made it downtown, I went to Brendan and Mikayla’s, longtime friends from back home, where I would spend the next few days. I spent most of the evening getting caught up with them as I hadn’t seen them in nearly a year, since their wedding. I had arrived at their place in the middle of the week, so they both had to work still. While they worked the day after I arrived, I spent a lot of my day walking around the parts of downtown Toronto I hadn’t seen before, including the lakeshore where I still couldn’t look out over as the sky was still full of smoke. In the evening after Mikayla finished work, we went out to play spike ball with some of her coworkers. I’d only played spike ball a couple times before in gym class over 10 years ago now, so I wasn’t very good but I had a lot of fun playing and Mikayla carried us to a couple wins. I spent most of the next day alone in their apartment working on the blog and getting to bake banana muffins and krinkle cookies, which I was happy to do. Brendan got the barbecue going when he got back from work and I enjoyed the last full day I was going to spend with the both of them. I really enjoyed my time getting to be with Brendan and Mikayla and said my goodbyes in the morning before moving on.

Like Ottawa, I didn’t just have one place I was stopping to see people I knew. Next was Amour who I knew from university/co-op. He also lives downtown so I didn’t have far to go. At Amour’s place at met his fiance, Sabine, for the first time. They were also both working when I got to their place, so I tried not to bother them too much until they got done. Afterwards we got to properly catch up and I got to properly meet Sabine. Not only did I meet Sabine though, for supper we went to Amour’s family, who conveniently live right down the hall. His family was very nice and welcoming to me and quite interested in my trip, especially since Amour was going to join along for a couple days.

CN Tower over the Rogers Centre

The next morning I went out to meet up with the last of my friends that I knew was in Toronto at the time in Yoni, who I also knew from university. We went out for brunch before he showed me around the restaurant that he was the head chef at now. While he wasn’t going to join along Amour when we left Toronto, he decided he’d tag along when we started to leave Toronto in a couple days. After seeing Yoni, me and Amour went for a walk and got some stuff along the way. I decided to get a new tire and replace my back one as it was becoming quite worn out. If I would’ve had to guess which tire was going to blow up first, I would’ve guessed it would’ve been my back one instead of the front as it was far more worn. And quite frankly I don’t think it was too far from the point of having something similar happen like the front did. We also got a chain for Amour as he was planning on using his sister’s bike which hadn’t been touched in quite a while and wasn’t in the best shape. While out we got Chinese food in Chinatown which was really good. In the evening I swapped my back tire for the new and put on Amour’s new chain so we could test it the next day.

Me and Amour went out to play tennis in the morning like we had down many times before when living in the same area. After we also got him a back rack so he could carry some stuff while going with me and also just in general as he wanted to use the bike after this too. Amour was having a lot of trouble shifting and couldn’t get into some of his gears, so I’d take a look at working at that later. Before that though I got to meet a couple of Amour and Sabine’s friends in Harlan and Amanda who they had over for supper. Luckily it turns out that Harlan used to be a bike mechanic as I found that I couldn’t get Amour’s bike shifting like he would need (I’m still very amateurish at bike work). Well turns out I was never gonna get that to shift right as Harlan found that Amour's cables were shot. As we were planning on leaving in the morning and there was no way to get cables before then, Harlan made it so Amour could shift his back derailleur, but had his front one stuck in the middle gear, which would be good enough for the couple days we were planning. And with that, we were ready to take off from Toronto the next day and I’d get to share the experience of travelling by bike with someone for the first time.

I got to see so many friends that I hadn’t for quite a while and I’ll see more yet both in Ontario and along the way. I’ve spent most of my time alone both on the trip and in general the last couple years so getting to spend so much time with others was something I’m really happy to be able to do. I also have to thank everyone for everything they did for me, whether it be letting me stay at their place, making/buying a meal for me or anything else they did, I’m greatly appreciative of everything anyone did. Maybe more than anything for me, it was nice more than anything to not feel as lonely here for at least a little while.

Distance Biked: 493.7km

Total Distance Biked: 2572.7km

Finding My Way

 Since I had left Moncton the weather had been pretty good. It still wasn’t overly warm yet outside of a day or two but it was better than when I left home in Nova Scotia and potentially more importantly, I was avoiding rain. Leaving New Brunswick there was a system coming through that had the potential to bring upwards of 30mm of rain but I was lucky to get just west enough to entirely avoid it. Well I guess I had used up all my luck by the time I made it to Quebec City/Levis.

Streets of Old Quebec City

After checking out Old Quebec I got back across to Levis and setup my tent in a baseball dugout behind a school just before dark. While this wasn’t the sort of area I was looking to camp, it ended up being perfect. There was a bunch of rain coming over the next few days, including the chance for thunderstorms and I didn’t want to ride in it, so I was looking for somewhere to camp for a couple days. Being behind the school (it was on the weekend I was there) and having trees behind the field, it was unlikely I’d be spotted unless someone walked behind the school and even then with a shed and caging around me, I still wouldn’t be easy to spot. Even better, the dugout had a little roof on it that would help give a little cover from the rain too.

It rained the night I got there but I awoke to calm weather in the morning. I took advantage and grabbed some groceries and went to the library before heading back. Not long after getting back, a thunderstorm rolled through and I was quite happy to have the extra cover of the dugout roof. The second day was rain most of the day but only a mix of light rain and drizzle. Even though the next day was still calling for rain, it was only light rain for part of the day. I also wanted to get back on the road so I decided on taking off.

It ended up raining both more and longer than I anticipated (probably more than the previous day that I had just avoided). Not only was it rainier, but also colder and windier than I thought it was going to be as well. The combo of the 3 made it quite cold for me when I took my breaks and was no longer generating heat anymore. By noon time while taking a break, I got cold enough that the thoughts of a hotel were popping up in my head for the first time since before I entered Quebec. There were none nearby unless I wanted to head back towards Levis and I didn't want to be giving in to moments of weakness anymore, especially when I was fairly certain I could make it through it and things would improve as the day went along. While the rain wouldn't stop until the evening, the wind did shift more in my direction as the day passed and I ended up warming up some as I went along. To help keep warm, I mostly tried to keep riding, so the rest of the day was rather mundane, except I did see a wild turkey running around on a field at one point, which was something new I hadn't seen before. I made it to Gentilly for the night and by the time I had made it there, I was actually feeling pretty good. With baseball fields starting to become my best friends, I found one in the town to camp beside with tree cover to blend in.

The wind shift from the previous day continued providing me a good tailwind in my push towards Montreal. If I was to pick a day to try to describe my typical day in Quebec, I'd probably pick this day. The route was good most of the time taking me back and forth between the St. Lawrence and farmland. Along the way I would see plenty of bikers and I had a few encounters with people throughout the day wondering about my journey after seeing my bike and wishing my kind words as we departed. Every 15-20km I'd cross a village or town and probably take a break there wherever the local park could be found.

During the day my sister remembered that she had a friend (Jared, who I was somewhat familiar with from back home) in Montreal and he was willing to let me stay at his place when I made it to Montreal, which I was hoping to do tomorrow. Finding this out gave me more reason to push on with my goal to make it to Montreal from Quebec City in 3 days of riding now that I had a place to stay. I made it to Sorel-Tracy and for the first time in my life, I had ridden 100+ km in back-to-back days. As much as I liked pushing for the longer days, my achilles wasn't liking it too much as it was starting to hurt and swell some. I tried working on it some at night but knew rest would be the way for it to really heal. As I was coming up to a few places with friends I intended to stop and see, I figured it would be able to get the proper rest then and if I pushed it in the meantime, it would be fine.

In the morning I swapped my chain for a new one (I plan on replacing my chain roughly every 1000km) and cleaned the gunk out of my derailleurs before heading off. While I looked forward to making it to Montreal, it was almost bittersweet in a way as it would mean that my time travelling along the St. Lawrence River would be ending. I very much enjoyed my time riding along the St. Lawrence with the routes and scenery it provided me. Not only that but during my time riding along it, I could see how I was growing to get more comfortable with and be enjoying the trip more. As if to reward me for riding along it for so long it provided me with a great final day. I had noticed as I had been going further south along the river, things were quickly becoming greener but today it finally looked, felt and smelled like spring for the first time in the year. The farmland mostly disappeared and in its place were lots of very nice looking properties full of green trees and bushes, fruit trees with flowers on them and lilacs in full bloom. As a final last reward, when I reached Varennes I encountered a bike path in great condition and full of other cyclists that would bring me to Montreal.

Approaching Montreal with Olympic Stadium in the distance

I rode the path into Longueuil across the river from Montreal. The combination of construction, routes not open for the season yet and no signs indicating how to cross into Montreal made me waste hours trying to figure out how to cross but eventually I figured out how to get onto the largest bridge that crosses into Montreal. While I'd been in downtown Montreal before, riding the streets was a whole other experience. I'd say there was probably as many bikes as cars on the road and all streets, no matter the direction, are designed that bikes are allowed to ride them. Some streets look like the cars and bikes are wildly intermingling amongst each other but because drivers are so used to bikes, the low speed limits and the streets being rather crowded it actually felt quite safe to ride there (being a pedestrian is a whole other story as it's somehow more dangerous than Toronto).

While it takes me a while to navigate cities as my map likes to generate routes with lots of turning (I think it does this to keep me on safer roads for a bike), it didn't take long to make it to Jared's as he wasn't far from where I crossed the bridge. Jared happily welcomed me to his apartment and let me, for the first time in over 2 weeks, take a shower. Let me say, getting to shower after 2 weeks of sweating heavily in the cold most days was definitely one of the most enjoyable showers I've ever had. After I was done, my hair had gotten so tangled up during this time that it took 10 minutes just to get it untangled.

When I came out of the shower, Jared had supper made, which was greatly appreciated being able to have a warm meal after a day of cycling while not going through the effort of making it myself. As happy and excited as I was to shower, get a meal and have a warm place to stay, I think Jared was as equally excited to have me there. It turns out that Jared is planning to bike across Canada by himself next year, so getting to encounter someone doing it (that he also kinda knows), was quite exciting in itself for him. The rest of the night, Jared peppered me with questions about my trip and experiences up to that point, wanting to hear and learn as much as he could and I happily indulged.

In the morning we went out for bagels as Jared told me Montreal bagels were on a whole other level (I love bagels) and he was absolutely right. I think these were probably the best bagels I've ever had. Jared had work to do and offered me to stay and rest in his apartment, but the main thing I had wanted to do in Montreal was see the West Island part again, as I had lived there for 8 months in the past on a coop term in university. I set out hoping not to do much cycling with my achilles still bothering me and it potentially raining later. Well it turns out the island of Montreal is much bigger than I realized and I ended up cycling most of the day. Getting to see old spots again, knowing I got there under my own power, was one of those moments where I felt a sense of accomplishment in coming as far as I have. Beyond that, the trip out to the West Island was mostly disappointment. I just didn't like the general area much, part of that is definitely that me and how I view things have changed in a way that I don't care for that type of area much. The other part was just how bike unfriendly the area was (I used public transit there in the past), especially when you compare it to downtown Montreal and most of the rest of Quebec. The chance of some rain I saw, ended up being heavy rain that lasted the whole way back to Jared's and left me drenched. Add in the fact I somehow ended up doing over 70km and my achilles was getting very unhappy the more I rode, it ended up being a nostalgia trip of mostly suck. At least I did have Montreal poutine for the first time to end off the day and that was quite good.

I had only intended to stay at Jared's for 1 day, but considering I rode all day, my stuff was soaked and my achilles hurt quite a bit and both sounded and felt like a creaky door, I decided to stay another day as Jared was willing to let me stay longer. I took a proper break and didn't cycle, plus I also avoided a day of rain in doing so. While I spent part of the day out for groceries (at a place where healthy food was cheaper and junk food more expensive!) and at a library working on writing my blog, I spent a lot of the day talking with Jared. While I hardly knew Jared before getting to his place, I'd like to think that we became pretty good friends during my time at his place. We both have similar views on a lot of things, have somewhat similar experiences that have led us to the current state of life where we both are/intend on doing long bike trips and also have both of our trips that we were easily able to bond over.

The day off let my achilles calm down quite a bit and the rain had passed now too. So after a couple of days at Jared's, I started back off again, heading towards Ottawa now. I even got to leave with some bagels as he let me have what was left of what we hadn't yet eaten. I really enjoyed my time at Jared's and greatly appreciate everything he did for me while I was there, especially considering he hardly knew me beforehand. I navigated my way through the busy streets of Montreal to Laval, where the roads were calmer. Laval took about another hour to get off the island of and I was free from the city type atmosphere for a while again. In leaving Laval I was able to say one last goodbye to the St. Lawrence River.

My final goodbye to the St. Lawrence

Instead of taking a more direct route towards Ottawa, I skewed to staying along the Ottawa River to stay on a bike path and being closer to water. It was another typical Quebec bike path that was well maintained and brought me through nice looking areas. Along the route while I was taking a break around Pointe-Calumet, a local named Frank came over and talked with me about the area. Further on it passed through Oka National Park and with everything being green now, was a beautiful sight to see. Finally, the last of the Quebec bike paths I would get to experience ended in the town of Oka, where I would stop for the day.

 I found a park in Oka where I was about to start making supper when a couple with their baby and dog approached me. They had taken notice of my bike and bags and were curious if I was travelling. When I responded yes, they asked if I had anywhere to stay for the night (I've learned the best thing in these situations is always to say no. The reason being they may suggest/offer something or if they don't want you camping nearby then they probably won't hassle you). So I said I hadn't found a spot yet and they immediately offered me to sleep in their backyard, which I gladly accepted their invitation. They were Anne and Adrian (with baby Louise and dog Amy) and had done some bike touring before, with their main trip being a months long trip of the Alps. They had often liked trying to stay in backyards during their travels, they had told me, so it only felt natural to them to offer the same to me.

We walked back to their place and I dumped my stuff in their backyard. They offered me to come into their house to cook my meal and also to shower if I wanted to, both of which I happily accepted the offers of. I mostly stayed quiet while they ate with Louise, as I didn't want to disturb their time together, but after Louise was put to bed early we got talking. They were both quite curious about my trip, what I had done so far and was still planning to do. I also found out some about their previous trips and some of the more notable experiences they had had during them. Not only that, but they still wanted to do some more trips in the future when Louise was old enough to be brought along. Getting to meet someone doing what they wanted to do again in the future, they told me, got them quite excited to think and plan about being able to do it again. During my time there, Louise couldn't figure out what to make of me, but Amy was more than happy to indulge in getting some extra chest rubs. Before it got dark, I went to the backyard to setup for the night and soon fell asleep in peace afterwards.

Dam/canal along the Ottawa River

I was up plenty early as Anne and Adrian were also offering to let me in in the morning as well, but they had to be off early in the day. I got to make breakfast in their house as well and we talked some more before we both split off early in the morning. While the Ottawa River wasn't quite up to the St. Lawrence, it did still provide its own sites. On the other side of it, I was able to see Ontario and think about soon being back in the English-speaking world, which I was looking forward to. It also had its own nice parks, including one with a big dam that also included a canal next to a ferry crossing. Later in the day I noticed a continuous bumping while I was riding. After a bit I figured out that it was my front tire causing the problem. It was starting to develop a bump/warp from a couple of treads starting to separate from the tire. I didn't see any bike shops on my map between Montreal and Ottawa and I was around half-way between the two of them at this point, so decided my best option was to carry on. I had something similar happen in the past with a tire, but had replaced that one before any issues came of it, so was unsure how long the tire could last like this. I was cautious riding the rest of the day and the tire was alright for the rest of the day, letting me reach Papineauville for the night.

Treads starting to separate from the tire

The next day started off quite nice, with the weather being warm enough for me to ride in shorts and a t-shirt, which I'd hardly been able to do up to this point. The tire still seemed about the same as yesterday and I made it around 20km on it to Thurso where I decided to take a break. I was stopped in Thurso eating while taking a break when all of a sudden, I heard this huge popping sound. It startled me and I wasn't sure what it was at first, but then I looked and saw my front tire was flat. I unloaded my bike and got a better look at it. The tire had completely ripped apart where the treads were separating and blew up my inner tube in the process. Unfortunately, this was not the type of problem I was prepared to deal with and didn't have any immediate solutions to.

A woman who had heard the tire blow up came over and wanted to help. She tried seeing if she could find anything in the area that might help me fix the tire for long enough to get to Gatineau but couldn't come up with any solutions. Shortly after, a couple of bikers who were out for a long distance ride pulled up in front of the Metro I was stopped at. I waved them down and explained the situation to see if they knew any solutions. They suggested we could try to make what's called a tire boot and offered to use one of their spare inner tubes to do it. I didn't feel right sacrificing one of their inner tubes to try to fix the tire when the rip was so large that there was a pretty good chance it might not hold for the 50km I still needed to cycle to reach Gatineau. We also tried asking the local auto shops to see if they would do work on a bike tire to no avail.

My front tire ripped apart

Since I had been anticipating that I was going to make it to Ottawa that day, I had been in touch with my friend in Ottawa (Jasper) beforehand the past few days and also earlier in the day. By chance during the commotion of my tire blowing up and trying to find a fix, Jasper had messaged me asking how my progress was going and when I thought I might make it to Ottawa. When I let him know about the situation, he offered to come get me if I needed it. I didn't accept right away as I wanted to see if I could find a solution and want to avoid relying on vehicles as little as I have to on the trip, but after it appeared I was out of luck and chose not to attempt the tire boot, I asked Jasper if he could get me. He said yes and a couple hours later he was able to leave and get me, for which I was greatly appreciative.

Unfortunately this was how my time in Quebec was ending. After the great time I'd had in Quebec, getting to ride and see it, not cycling the final stretch felt wrong, but getting to see a friend did help ease the feeling. While I did feel some disappointment, I was able to take notice of the growth I'd made mentally. When my sister got me in Moncton, I felt a sense of failure relying on someone to help transport for a stretch of the journey. This time I didn't feel like a failure at all. Sure I was disappointed, but I knew I had given my best to get this far and I had just run out of luck and I was able to take solace in this.

For my time in Quebec, I am thankful. Before Quebec the trip had been a struggle and overwhelming, but during my time here, I was able to grow comfortable with it and even start to enjoy it. Not only that, but clearly in my last moments here, I was able to realize that I had definitely grown mentally in exactly the type of ways that I was hoping for on the trip. 

Distance Biked: 552.6km

Total Distance Biked: 2079km

 

Land of the French

 After spending a bit of time in Campbellton and having a celebratory meal for reaching the end of the Atlantic provinces, I crossed the bridge over the Restogouche River and officially entered Quebec. I spent the rest of the day cycling south to Matapédia, from where I’d start crossing Gaspésie. When I reached Matapédia, I asked if I could stay at a campground for the night with my amazing French skills “Camping? Oui ou non?”, with a thumbs up and down. They knew a little English and told me the campground wasn’t open yet but I’d be fine to camp there for the night.

Officially made it to Quebec

During my time in Quebec so far I’ve been surprised with how many people know some English. Most of the people I’ve interacted with aren’t fluent but know enough to be able to communicate with me and my poor attempt of French back. One person told me the older generation doesn’t know English as much but the younger generations are being taught English and I can say this does seem to be the scenario based on the interactions I’ve had. Even if someone doesn’t know any English I can still convey what I’m doing as people do like to ask when they see my bike loaded full of stuff, and they do like to ask more here than they did in the Atlantic provinces.

The Appalachian mountains extend up to Gaspésie and from my time previously driving through and now biking through Quebec, when you look around the landscape is usually dominated by hills and/or mountains. Matapédia is no different as it and its river are part of a valley I believe in the Chic-Choc mountains. So when I left the next morning I spent the day in the valley going along up the river. Looking back now it was quite the nice place but at the time it was boring after a while as the scenery was essentially the same the whole day. Steep cliff face on the edge of the road on my right, steep drop to into the river on my left with another steep hill/mountain on the other side. Combined with biking uphill all day, a headwind making it harder and about half the traffic going by on the highway being 18-wheelers, I found it difficult to appreciate my surroundings at the time.

Nice water source I found in Matapedia Valley

Later in the day I made it out of my mountainous surroundings where it had calmed to only hills and there were villages again. I ended up stopping in Amqui on the side of a bike path there.

The next day I crossed the other half of Gaspésie to a very different landscape. In this area there would be a small village roughly every 15 kilometers with mostly farmland or abandoned fields in between on the hilly land. I found myself finally starting to take proper breaks and stopping in each village during the day. By the end of the day I reached Mont-Joli, where as I topped the crest of the hill entering the town, I could see the St. Lawrence river in the not so far distance now.

The next morning I grabbed some groceries and then quickly descended downhill to the St. Lawrence. This was another moment that felt like a real triumph as I had been looking forward to travelling along the river. The good vibes would continue as this has easily become my favourite day on the bike so far. Quebec is known for having the best bike routes/paths (Route Verte) in North America and while I had technically been going along the route so far in Quebec, I had reached the point where the route truly becomes friendly to bikers. Crossing Gaspésie where I did the route was nearly all highway due to it not being very populated, but now I would get to ride quieter roads and bike paths/trails with only a few exceptions.

Reaching the foggy St. Lawrence

The new route I was own that took me along the St. Lawrence kept me next to the river the whole way to Rimouski. The places there reminded me of what you would see along the coast of Nova Scotia, specifically the sorts of places nearer to beaches, but here it felt a little different than that. Shortly after making the turn along the St. Lawrence, I even saw bison for the first time as I passed a bison ranch, something I never even thought about being able to see, especially around this area. A bit later while I was taking a break along a beach, I got talking with a local there who had even bike toured the southern part of Nova Scotia, including around where I’m from. The route continued to impress as a little before I made it to Rimouski, I came across a museum at an old lighthouse. What made this interesting however was that it had a submarine perched up out of the water that I assume was used for military purposes in the past as it was quite large. With the day going so well and having the wind at my back, I really felt like continuing to cycle on but I had wanted to check out Rimouski so I decided on cycling around the city for a bit once I got there.

Best photo I could get of the bison

I ended up being happy with my decision to explore Rimouski a bit. Rimouski was the first city I had reached that really was quite cycle friendly. It has a cycle path that goes right along the river that was full of cyclists. The rest of the city also had some paths that went through parts of it and in general the streets felt welcoming to cyclists. This was easily the most cycle friendly place I had visited before, but I would end up finding that in general, this is what larger settlements in Quebec are like. Plenty of cycle paths that are usually pretty maintained and streets with drivers who are used to dealing with cyclists, so they wouldn’t have quite the same ‘fuck you, get out of the road, you don’t belong here’ mentality that I was mostly used to.

After exploring the city I relaxed at the library for a couple hours before setting out to find somewhere to camp. Unfortunately this didn’t go quite as well, as the more forested places I wanted to try were either on hills, wet or just not a place where I’d be able to setup a tent. It got late enough that I said screw it and checked out the main park in the city which was primarily open area. I did end up finding a spot that while technically was out in the open, did have some cover in each direction thanks to hills and some strips of trees, unless of course you walked in the pathway which was quite near to where I setup. Luckily it was fine though and no one had a problem with me being there.

Finding camping spots though is something that is starting to become a bit of a problem for multiple reasons. I find myself feeling more comfortable sleeping near areas with other people than being in the middle of nowhere. This is probably because quite frankly, it’s something I’ve never done as I never camped growing up. Plus I find I like being nearer to places where I can easily get water or have washroom access, especially with the weather still not being particularly warm and dealing with those things in the middle of nowhere when it’s colder just isn’t as fun. Another reason though, especially along the St. Lawrence, is because there really aren’t great options to be found along the route. Most of the land out here is farmland and if it’s not, then it’s housing. If you want to go more inland or if it’s not actually farms/houses, then you’re greeted with hills or mountains that can’t be camped on instead. Technically campgrounds could be an option as there are plenty, however at this point they would be better off labelled as RV parks instead and you have to pay to stay at them, which is not what I’m trying to do on this trip. This all leads to me usually camping in spots where I can be and do get seen some, however I’ve never had anybody care. I’m not sure if this is because they generally don’t care if somewhere is just camping there for a night, if they see the bike and bags and figure I’m probably just travelling along (some definitely do as these people have talked with me some) or the other highly possible option, people think I’m homeless and want nothing to do with me.

Leaving Rimouski, the highway and route I was on merged together and went a bit more inland away from the river. The busy road with speeding traffic combined with seeing pretty much only farmland along the way and a wind that went back forth on deciding if it wanted to try to blow me backwards or into the speeding traffic, lead to a pretty boring day after my amazing introduction to the St. Lawrence. Towards the end of the day I managed to get off on some smaller roads along the river again which was a nice change. They did however come with some very steep hills including the steepest hill I’ve ever encountered (and I was going the direction I had to climb it). I don’t know the gradient on it but I’ve never seen something that just went so straight upwards. I would make it to Trois-Pistoles, grabbed some sandwiches as the day wiped me of my energy to want to make anything and found an area not too far from the highway to pitch my tent.

 I started the next day by continuing to follow the bike route, which did keep me off of the highway. It did however keep me climbing steep hills, to shoot me down the other side right back to another steep climb. After a while of getting worn out by the climbing, I was about ready to say screw it and just go back to the highway, but the route rewarded me for staying on it. It was taking me up a river on a quiet road when it was starting to get noisy ahead. I thought it was probably just some sort of construction building or quarry as it looked like there was something like that ahead. Before I got to the buildings where I thought the noise was coming from, the route got me off the road and onto a trail to cross the river. It kept getting louder though as I went on the trail which surprised me until I got onto the bridge crossing the river. What I ended up finding was a pretty large and very violent waterfall that was making all the noise. The water spewing from it was getting launched in a way that looked like it was flying towards me instead of straight down. On the other side of the bridge, the river again had another waterfall that was smaller and from my view, I could not see very well. For the complaining I’d been doing about where the route was taking me, I completely forgave it for the amazing site it was giving me now.

Surprise waterfall on the trail

I stayed on the route after this. It remained the same for a little while before bringing me to flatter roads full of farmland again. The one benefit of where it had taken me up to this point in the day was that the trails it had primarily been on were sheltered with trees on each side. Now that I was in the open I had no protection from the wind, which was a strong headwind that would blast me for the rest of the day. Soon enough the highway and main road along the St. Lawrence divided again and I was brought back over nearer to the river. After fighting the wind all day I decided to stop in Rivière-du-Loup, where as I was entering I saw a couple of bikers who interested me. I couldn’t tell if they were bike tourers or not as they had more bags than I would expect any regular person to have, but they also didn’t have near enough stuff to travel like I was. I stopped to talk and found out they were indeed bike tourers, the second ones I’ve met and first since early New Brunswick. Unfortunately they were travelling the other direction than me, so I’d still be travelling alone (at this point I quite liked the idea of getting to travel with someone else, at least for a little). They were going from Montreal to Halifax and stopping at campsites along the way, which explained their lighter setup. We went our separate ways as they were heading to the next camping site and I ventured into the town. This was another place where I struggled to find somewhere to camp but did eventually.

The next morning the wind had shifted from a strong headwind to a slight tailwind that was perfect for making quick progress along the road. Although I was able to go along quickly without too much effort, I found myself tiring quite easily throughout the day. Considering I had just done 8 straight days of long distance cycling when I’ve never done anything like that before, I guess it might make sense that at some point I might tire out. Overall it was a nice day however. I saw thousands of geese during the day migrating north in the largest flocks I’ve ever seen. I also saw another bike tourer going the other way, but didn’t get chance to talk with them. I would make it to La Pocatiere where I found a nice spot not far from the bike trail. I also decided during the day I would spend another day here as my body was telling me I needed a break (plus I didn’t wanna cycle in the big headwinds the next day that made a couple days ago seem like a joke).

Typical supper for me, a nice stir fry

The day off was what I needed. My body very much appreciated it and I was able to take some time to reflect on things. I was able to realize that I had gotten to a point now where the trip was no longer overwhelming in the ways it was early on leaving both home and Moncton. I had reached the point where I was getting close to how I envisioned the trip now as I was much more settled and taking things day by day.

Sunset over the St. Lawrence in La Pocatiere

I had much more energy leaving La Pocatiere and felt somewhat revitalized. I had no problem fighting the headwinds the day was presenting to me (and I guess it’s good I get used to them as once I turn west from my southward trajectory, I’ll almost always be facing them). I may have also felt more energetic as this was the first hot day that I was cycling on and the warmth may have perked me up. It also made my breaks more enjoyable, as my sweat drying wasn’t having quite as large of an effect on making me feel as cold as usual when I would stop. Although in shedding my layers and enjoying the warmth of the day, I did let my arms and legs get sunburnt. After the nice warm day of cycling I made it to Montmagny for the night where I was now getting quite near Quebec City. I wasn’t planning on visiting Quebec City but the enjoyment of the day got me in the mood to want to ride around Old Quebec to explore it some.

The next day greeted me with tailwinds that let me quickly make it to Levis not long after noon. While I really liked the bike paths of Rimouski, the paths coming into Levis and Quebec City blew them away. They were in amazing condition, away from the roads and would go through parks, tree covered sections and also along the river. Compared with anywhere I’ve ridden before this really felt like it would be a bike riders paradise. And to be fair, the Quebec/Levis area was full of bikers wherever I went.

Bike path in Levis

The bike path would lead me to the ferry where I crossed the river. I wanted to give myself the most time to explore in the day, so taking the ferry going right to Old Quebec was my best option. On the ferry I met a pair of older women who were also crossing and out for a longer ride for the day. The one of them was very talkative and we talked the whole 15 minutes or so it took to cross and dock. She even told me how she couldn’t do my trip like how I was doing it because she would get bored not having someone to talk to all day. After getting off the ferry we were going the same direction to start which was good as they ended up having to tell me how to get into Old Quebec. All of Old Quebec was up a big hill and being down by the shore was kind’ve like going in circles around it, which I wasn’t able to figure out myself. So I climbed the big hill and they continued on going out separate ways.

Quebec City from the ferry

I had only been in Quebec City once before in the past on the Quebec trip that everyone at my school did when they got to grade 9. Just being taken around and not really knowing where I was then had left me with a bunch of memories but having no idea where I was. Well after climbing the hill it was like being hit with a blast of nostalgia. I recognized quite a few places and had a number of times where an area would look somewhat familiar to spots where I had memories of me and my friends doing something from our trip. While seeing the area was very nice and is an experience in its self just being there, I think I was most satisfied with being able to connect and bring back some memories from my past. I will say I did feel a bit out of place though. Old Quebec is very much a tourist spot and touristy type stuff is not what I’m trying to do and see on this trip. I wanna see places and people for what they really are and quite frankly, tourist destinations are not that. In saying that though, I was quite happy with my decision to cross the river and visit the city.

The large building in Old Quebec up close

A few hours of strolling around was enough for me and I went back down the hill to the cycle paths along the shore. I made my way along the busy cycle path towards the bridge where I had a hard time figuring out how to get on it as my map route lead me to under the bridge instead of on the bridge. I had to backtrack some and climb back up the hill to get on the bridge but did end up finding how to get on it. Right before I made it to the bridge and was pulled of still figuring out where to go, a biker pulled up next to me with a loaded bike like mine. This was Simon (said with a French accent), who’s from France but just finished university in Montreal. He was going from Montreal to Halifax so unfortunately again the opposite way of me. We talked for a little and he warned me crossing with the overstuffed bike wasn’t gonna be fun as he had just done this himself. Well not fun was an understatement. There was only a tiny walkway where 2 normal bikes would have a tough time squeezing by each other. Plus the walkway was full of bikers going both ways and a few pedestrians. I gave up pretty quickly on trying to ride as I couldn’t keep straight with the wind and regular bumps from some sort of bars regularly on the walkway. Most of the riders though clearly must cross regularly as many of them chose to ride it. This meant I had to constantly stop and squeeze me and my bike against the railing for bikers both ways trying to get by me when there was next to no room for them to get by, especially with my bags sticking out. Combined with not liking heights (the bridge is quite high above the river) and the wind being quite strong that day on the bridge, crossing the bridge sucked.

Now across the bridge, I was back in Levis and it was getting later. The next few days were projecting a good amount of rain and I wanted to avoid riding in it as the temperatures weren’t overly high again. So I wanted a good spot to setup where I could stay a few days without hopefully being bothered. I tried checking out the wooded areas I saw on my map but none of them worked as they were too thick to get though or already had water on the ground which probably wouldn’t go well for me considering there was quite a bit more rain coming. With it getting closer to dark I stumbled into a baseball field behind a school and settled on it. It was Friday so I figured it was unlikely that hardly anyone should be around the next couple days, especially with it raining. Plus to make it better, I setup in the dugout which had a roof for a little cover.

With all of this I was off to a good start in Quebec and had a place to hide before heading off south again to finish my time along the St. Lawrence. It most importantly, this trip, whatever it ends up being, was starting to feel manageable to me.

Distance biked: 674.1km

Total distance biked: 1526.4km

Back on the Road

 After 3 weeks spent at Heidi and Dave’s, I’m back on the road again. For 3 weeks I got pretty spoiled there with all the good food and the comfort of their home. I also got to spend time with my niece and nephew, Molly and Alfie (Bernese mountain dogs), although Alfie really doesn’t like me. My knee got a lot better but still wasn’t 100% when I left, but it was time I got going again.

Me, Heidi, Dave and Johanne (Dave’s mom)

Molly

Leaving Heidi and Dave’s was very similar to how starting the journey from home felt. It didn’t really feel like it was happening although I knew I was leaving that day. Leaving family and the comfort of the place I had been for the last while was also just as difficult as when I had left home.

After saying a difficult goodbye to Heidi and Dave though, I was off and my trip had resumed. I decided during my time there that my route for the rest of New Brunswick would be along the north shore (Acadia). As I wanted to ease into the days on the bike again with shorter days than I had started with, I only planned on getting to the shore at Shediac and going along the shore to Bouctouche for the day. My mind was full of nothing but thoughts about not being able to the trip, feeling lonely and missing/knowing how I was going to be away from living comfortably again.

Luckily a little after I passed Shediac, I saw a bike coming the other way loaded full of stuff just like mine. The rider pulled over to meet me and introduced himself as Simon. Simon is from Australia and had been on the road for 2 weeks already as he’s bikepacking the Atlantic provinces. He’d also done other trips like this in other parts of Canada plus in Australia. Unfortunately we were headed opposite ways so after 5 minutes or so of chatting we went split off. This was exactly what I needed though. Seeing someone else doing what I was for the first time greatly lifted my mood and made it feel far less lonely knowing that I wasn’t alone in travelling by themself by bike. (Simon has a YouTube channel if anyone is interested: https://youtube.com/@ylandfilms?si=0yZWmeXL_BRsbtj9)

Simon

I continued along in my much better mood and made it to Bouctouche by the afternoon. The road there (and the rest of the north route I’ve been taking) have been very nice for biking as the roads are all paved with good shoulders on them. After spending some time in the library, I found a park to setup camp for the night. By this time all the bad feelings and thoughts from earlier in the day had fully returned. I talked with my family which helped calm the feelings and made the rest of the night easier.

I woke up the next day much calmer and able to focus in the moment. I left mid morning and made it to St. Louis by the early afternoon. It was supposed to rain starting late afternoon/evening so I found a small park under a bridge and setup camp. One lesson I learned from the chaos of my first week is riding/camping when it’s wet out and your cold isn’t overly fun, so I was happy to avoid the rain now. I explored the little village and finally cooked my first supper on the trip (thanks Julie) when it wasn’t raining. With the extra time I had in the day I was able to calm myself more about the trip by just thinking about doing Canada instead of the world. While I still want to do the whole world, I think I would be at peace with just doing Canada if that’s all this trip ends up being. And I’m not saying I’m only doing Canada, I’m just being more open minded about what I’m doing and want to do.

My setup in St.Louis

The next day was carrying on pretty uneventfully until later in the morning while riding along the highway I spotted a moose ahead in the distance crossing the road. Unfortunately I wasn’t overly close when I spotted it and it had disappeared by the time I got up to where it would have been. Seeing both a moose and bear in the wild were 2 things I was really hoping to be able to see on this trip and now I could one of these off the list. I reached Miramichi by the early afternoon and spent my time there in the library before setting up camp before it started to rain.

The bridge in Miramichi

I left the next morning with the goal to make it to Bathurst. After about 50km into the ride, I was getting quite tired. My mind was focused on Bathurst though so after a break I pushed on with my primary thought being to get to Bathurst. This is how I’d been riding up to this point where I’ve been more focused on getting to a destination than just being in the moment and listening to what I want or need.

I would soon reach Bathurst and looked for somewhere to sent my tent up, but all the places I tried at first were no good. During the search I noticed my front tire was getting flat so I pumped it back up and continued looking. My mind had been getting worse again as I had been mostly unhappily trudging along for a while and by this point (especially with the bad vibe Bathurst had been giving off) my mind was full of mostly bad thoughts as my worn out will really didn’t have it to fight back anymore. Both my mind and body really wanted a break at this point and I gave in and got a hotel for the night.

Once I got a room and loaded my bike and my stuff in I noticed my tire had deflated again. Even though I’ve done a lot of work with my bike, somehow I’d yet to ever get a flat tire that needed patching until now. After examining it I found a wire/staple had punctured it and got it fixed up after that.

My first puncture

When I woke the next morning I noticed my knee was hurting some again. I felt pretty crushed by this and lost my desire to want to do anything for the day. After doing some thinking I decided on staying another day to rest it and also I clearly needs to make changes. The way I had been going about the trip to now just wasn’t sustainable. My body wasn’t handling it and my mind had regularly been screaming at me to just stop and go home.

After spending a good chunk of the day thinking and reflecting, I believe I came up with a plan on how to go about the journey so that I could enjoy and want to keep doing it. I realized I had really been taking much in and was too focused on the destination and that needed to change. I needed to go slower, not push so hard and when I feel fatigue setting in to take a proper break to be able to recharge. Another thing I realize now that I’ve started, is that putting the expectation of doing all of the world in this single trip is a lot to demand and dump on myself. Thinking about just doing Canada (even that feels like quite a bit but far more doable) is far easier to swallow. If I make the changes and enjoy the trip how I think I was going to and keep going and do the whole world, great. If I don’t feel like I wanna keep going after hitting Vancouver, great, riding across Canada is no easy feat and I’ll still have seen and been able to learn quite a bit. Quite frankly all these changes really were was how I envisioned myself going about the trip before I began and now I’ve realized I haven’t been going about it like I wanted to at all.

The next day my knee felt good again and I left with no goal of where I wanted to get to for the day. Shortly after I started I noticed a boardwalk and beach and Beresford and decided to check it out. It was a very nice long beach with a nice view of Quebec that I was very happy I decided to stop at and explore instead of just continuing along the road. Later in the day a car pulled off ahead of me and a man (Lloyd) got out and asked if I wanted a beer. I don’t drink so I declined but he instead offered water, so I accepted and followed him to his place just up a hill. Lloyd and his friend Mark were very nice and talkative people and even ended up giving me a couple apples too. They had some work to do though so after talking for a while, they started back up and I headed back off on the road again.

Travelling at a much easier pace throughout the day plus taking a couple longer breaks I found myself not tiring like I had been, so I was able to make it to Dalhousie in the evening without hurting or any knee problems. I found a spot to put up my tent uphill (Dalhousie is basically one big hill) with a great view where one way I could see a lot of what I had just cycled in the day and the other way was Quebec, which was much closer now.

The next morning I was off pretty early and quickly reached Campbellton, the end of New Brunswick for me. This I believe will be the end of me being able to properly communicate in English for a while so Quebec will provide a whole new kind of challenge. While my time in New Brunswick has been mixed I can say I believe I’ll remember it for the good and the positive changes I hope to have made here.

The Quebec border

Distance Traversed: 354.3km

Total Distance Traversed: 852.3km

The Journey Begins!

    It's almost hard to believe but the time has finally come for the trip. For the past couple years with all the building up to, planning, preparing and imagining this trip, to now that it has actually started and seeing how things are so much different (but also similar at the same time) to how I thought it would go has definitely been an experience. I envisioned relatively mundane days, riding most the day through nice quiet scenery with the occasional short chat with someone interested with my overly packed bike and at the end of the day I wouldn't have much I'd think would be worth sharing. Well so far it's been somewhat like that except every riding day has been eventful and had it's own story worth sharing. I do expect in the future it will become more like this but for now while I'm learning and getting used to living on the bike, things are more erratic and hard to predict than that.

Day 1 leaving home

    For all the imagining I did well before the trip where I could easily envision myself travelling on my bike and visiting all these different places, it all stopped probably about 1 week before starting the trip. I knew the trip was about to start, I was ready for it and I definitely wanted it to start, but the envisioning just stopped and it became more a lack of feeling or almost numbness thinking about it. The final week went quickly like this as I saw any friends/family for the last time before leaving and doing any last things I wanted to do before as well. And then boom, it was April 2nd, my start date and time to leave.

    The morning of April 2nd really did feel like it came out of nowhere. It was time to go and I was missing that feeling of excitement to start I thought I would have, instead it was an attitude of "the time has come and now lets just get ready and go". I spent the morning fully packing my bags for the first time, spending time with the cats for potentially the last time and getting in 1 more meal at home before leaving. A little after noon I was ready to go. I said goodbye to my parents trying to hold back my tears and I was off. As soon as I turned and went though the tears came out and I couldn't make myself look back as I went out the driveway. I continued crying the whole way out of our back road as the realization that I was leaving most everything I knew and had comfort in I was leaving behind. Leaving for university nearly 10 years prior had similar feelings but not nearly to the level I felt this time. When I made it to the end of the road I settled down and was able to get in the mindset I'd been lacking for that past week. It was time and I was finally doing this.

    The heavy bike with weight on the front wheels (I hadn't ridden with weight on the front yet) felt quite weird but as I went along I got more used to it. I quickly made it through Bridgewater and onto the trail I'd take the rest of the day. I made it to Chester before taking a break. Everything beyond this point would be new as the furthest I had ridden was to Chester. At this point my thighs were starting to become tight. I really hadn't done much training before leaving and combining that with how much extra effort I had to put in to power the bike forward with all the extra weight was wearing on me. I had the goal of reaching a lake near Tantallon though so I pushed on. My pace slowed though as my thighs became tighter and as it kept getting closer to it soon getting dark, I decided I needed to stop and make camp somewhere before it got dark.

    I stopped in Hubbards and found a nice little public park for the night. I got my sweaty shirt off, filled up my water and got all my food out to start cooking when a car pulled up next to the area in the park that I was. A man came out and started to head in my direction and all I could think was that this man was coming to kick me out of the park because it was in public and near the road. When the man got to me he asked if I was bike touring as he had seen all of my panniers. I said yes and then he introduced himself as Greg and said that he himself had done some bike touring when he was younger. Then instead of kicking me out of the park like I thought he was coming to do, Greg invited me to spend the night at his place. Part of me wanted to say no as I had envisioned spending most nights outside on the trip and starting night 1 like this felt proper, but as I was getting cold by this point and he insisted I took up his offer. I became even more happy that I did when I went to grab my sweaty shirt off my bike and found that it had already frozen solid in the short time I'd been in the park.

    I followed Greg to his place only a couple kilometers away and he left me to his place by myself as he was actually on his way to visit his grandkids when he spotted me. I expected as I went along I would meet this kind of generosity from time to time but not on day 1 of the trip. I really couldn't have asked for a better way to start the trip. I cooked some food and Greg made it back shortly before I called it a day. The next morning I got to properly talk with Greg. I found out he had toured across Canada before as well as down the east coast to Florida. Not only this but how he had hosted over 100 bike tourists before at his place. He also gave me some advice along with sharing some of his experiences from his bike tours back in the 80's. He offered me to stay with him an extra night where the weather didn't look good for the day, but I had just started the trip and wanted to make progress in getting to Moncton so I left in the late morning. Boy did I come to regret that decision.

    The day was projected to have snow transitioning to rain with potential freezing rain mixed in. The start of the day was great as I found a beach and touched the Atlantic Ocean declaring crossing Canada will be complete once I've done the same with the Pacific Ocean. It was only windy when I left but by the time I made it to Tantallon there was already freezing rain. When I made it far enough to the plaza I went to subway to get out of it as I didn't really enjoy getting pelted in the face. Now this is where I differ from Greg some as he had no advice for me on dealing with freezing rain and snow as he only had toured during the summer (if someone reading this ever decides to bike tour themselves, listen to Greg, don't start a tour during bad weather, seriously). As I hid the weather transitioned to snow, the big flake kind and it was coming fast. I left when it calmed some but by this point my bike and bags were covered in at least a couple cm of snow. In fact enough snow got in my drivetrain that when I tried shifting into my higher gears, the chain skipped and I couldn't use them. So now I was on a very busy road with impatient drivers, with a shoulder I couldn't use due to the slippery slush on it, driving in my slower gears and it had switched back to freezing rain and I was getting pelted in the face again. Now do recall, I had the option to stay at Greg's another night...

     I continued on like this and at some point it transitioned to rain. I made it beyond Sackville and left the worst of the city like traffic behind me. As I made it further up the road I realized I needed somewhere dry and warm to spend the night as it was not much above 0 at this point, I was drenched and quite frankly I didn't feel great and wasn't having fun anymore. I checked my map and saw a church ahead right before I'd get to off-road trails and I wouldn't be able to find anywhere. Now I had heard that churches didn't lock and kept their doors open so I figured I'd be fine once I reached there. When I reached it I had finally started to become cold as the heat I generated riding had kept me warm until this point. Well turns out my map was wrong and it was a nursing home and not a church and they weren't letting me stay. So my only option was to backtrack. Well after around 3 hours of backtracking while cold and soaked and trying numerous churches and a firehall, I found that all of them were locked and I was back in Sackville where I did find a Tim Horton's to warm up and figure out what to do. By this point it was after 8 and dark out, so I really had to get something figured out. After talking with my family I was persuaded to get a cab to a motel in Bedford as there was still nowhere nearby for me to go and by this point I didn't have it in me to bike that far anymore. By the time the taxi got there, Tim's was about to close so one of the workers there offered me donuts as I'm guessing they were trying to clear out what they had for the night, so I said sure I'd take some. Well she came back with 2 full boxes of donuts and cookies which I was not expecting. It was so much I almost didn't know what to do with all of them. I gave some away at the motel and had enough to condense it down to 1 box so I could strap the rest of them onto my bags for when I started riding again. For as bad as the day was, this was a great way to put an end to the day as the kindness of someone else again gave me a lift.

    The night at the motel got me back in the right mood to keep going as the previous day made me question whether I was really gonna keep doing this or not. I left in the morning and made it back to the point where I had turned around the day before, regaining the joy I had for wanting to travel this way as I went along. I started taking the off-road trail which started out decent enough but eventually the trail became to soft and mucky for me to ride and I had to start pushing my bike. It kept getting more wet than that as I went along though as soon there were also big puddles that took up the whole width of the trail. Then there were parts with big rocks, some just sticking out and some loose that make you lose your balance as you try riding over them. Every time I kept thinking it couldn't get worse, it somehow just kept getting worse. Soon the trail was entirely under water in what I call a 'mini lake'. As I kept going it just kept getting worse as it became a mix of the unrideable muck, wide puddles, big rocks, mini lakes and potholes. Before I got to the end there was even a full on stream with a pretty strong current I had to cross. I think it took me around 4 hours to get through about 20km of this, so I was going at less than even a walking pace to get through it. That trail was the type of thing I wasn't expecting to see until I got to either a third world country or somewhere really remote, not in NS. Well at least I learned a lesson that the quietest path isn't always the best option. This just like yesterday absolutely killed any desire I had for continuing the trip but I kept going on.

Part of the trail

    I got back onto quiet roads where I could make real progress again and my mood lifted back up again. My time on the bike really has been a roller coaster of emotions so far which is kinda strange considering I don't usually have much in the way of big emotions in any direction in my regular life. By 6:00 I found a quiet place near a lake and put up my tent for the night. Only problem was since it was about 0 out and my feet were soaked again, I had no desire to stay out and cook. Luckily I still had the donuts though.

    The next morning I woke up to below 0 temperatures and found that my soaked shoes were now frozen shoes. I again had no desire to cook anything in the cold with frozen feet so the donuts yet again saved me, providing me another meal. The reason I wanted I wanted to start now in the spring was because I knew the cold wouldn't be an issue for me sleeping, nor when I was on the bike generating heat. I really hadn't thought about the times in between those though as these were now becoming issues. I packed up and left after my donuts and luckily my shoes unfroze as I started generating warmth by riding, so now they were only soaked again.

    My plan for the day was just to get to Truro as I had a place to stay in the area with a friend of my moms (Tena). Luckily I only had around 50km to get there as about half way there my left knee started to really bother me. It had started to hurt a little the day before when I was making my way through the trail, but now it was enough to become more of a real issue. At this point I sent Tena a message letting her know I'd soon be there. The rest of the way there was nice as I crossed the Shubenacadie River and later took a trail along the Salmon River into Truro. As I neared Tena's I found out my message hadn't sent as apparently sometime between when I left in the morning and sending that message I had lost phone service. I had got a new debit card before leaving and hadn't thought about how I might need to update anything with the new one, so now my phone plan was cutoff. I kept going to Tena's though in hope she might be there but unfortunately she was not. So I had to go back into Truro and found a Tim's where I was able to get my phone back to being functional. I get the feeling Tim's is going to be a place that helps me out a lot during the Canada portion of this trip. I got in touch with Tena and soon was back off to her place with my knee becoming more of an issue.

    I spent the night at Tena's and she was kind enough to offer me to stay at her place another day. This time I learned from earlier and stayed as the day was a mix of snow, freezing rain and rain again and I really had no desire for a repeat of a couple days ago. The day after though I got back on the road. The morning trip leaving Truro was quite nice as a found a mountain like road that brought me to Tatamagouche. The road was nearly undriveable this time of year for vehicles but it was nothing but fun for me on a bike. It took longer than I wanted, but finally I was feeling the joy I was hoping to feel to while travelling about. I reached Tatamagouche by noon but now I had to figure out the plan for the rest of the day. The next day was forecast to have potentially up to 10cm of snow, so I was again going to have to try to find a place to stay. Checking my map I didn't see anywhere to stay in Oxford or Pugwash like I was assuming there would be and it didn't look like there would be anything along my route until Sackville which was over 100km away from me. So my options appeared to be stay or make the long trip to Sackville with my knee which was starting to hurt again. I decided to stay and killed time until 3:00 when the motel in Tatamagouche was supposed to open. Well when I got there the motel was closed and after hanging around for a while, a women came over and told me that the motel was closed for the season. Now that I had nowhere to stay my only option was to move forward as I didn't want to double back to Truro. Sackville was no longer an option given how late it was at this point. I decided on trying to head to Amherst over 80 km away and off my route, as it seemed to be the closest option, but even there I would not be able to get to before it was dark.

    I left in a rush trying to make it to Amherst as fast as I could. I've found travelling in the dark either on trails or in areas I'm unfamiliar with is not very fun as I have a much harder time trying to navigate my way, so I wanted to cover as much ground in the light that I could. I sprinted on my bike for 2 hours straight only taking short enough breaks to get enough of my breath back to keep going. Each time I started back up after stopping I felt my knee hurting worse and worse. After those 2 hours of sprinting I was absolutely drained and my pace drastically declined as I felt defeated. I kept drudging along though and soon came across a small cabin on the side of the trail for snowmobilers. I stopped to check it out and saw on the side of it was a map with notable locations for anyone on a snowmobile. To my surprise it displayed that Oxford had accommodations. So I checked my map again scanning every bit of Oxford and did indeed see there was a small motel there. The question now was whether it was legit or if I would just be let down again like I was in Tatamagouche. I hopped back on my bike and started the roughly hour I had to go yet to make it to Oxford. By this point my knee was hurting so bad it was becoming difficult to pedal and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it to Amherst if Oxford ended up being a let down.

    I managed to make it to Oxford and found the motel. It looked pretty dead and the restaurant next to it that shared the same name being closed even though it Monday gave me a bad feeling. I checked out the motel and I did find a little sign in a window saying to call a number for the motel. So I tried it and luckily got hold of the owner who said they'd be there shortly to get me a room. I was so relieved to hear this as I wasn't sure what I would have done if the motel wasn't an option. I spent the next day at the motel happily avoiding the snow. I plotted my route for the next day mostly on roads as I wanted to avoid poor trails with snow. I was close enough to Moncton now that my intent was to make it there the next day as I had a place to stay at my sister and brother-in-law's (Heidi and Dave).

    I left the next morning to clear paved roads and only saw a little snow on dirt roads before I made it to the border through Tidnish. The day off helped my knee calm some as the first part of route, getting to the trail in New Brunswick, featured only a little pain, but I expected it would keep getting worse as the day went on. The trail started clear but as I went along I soon reached parts covered in snow where it appeared none of it had melted yet. In total I'd say about half of the trail was bare and half was snow covered. Most of the snow was just shallow enough for me to very slowly ride through it although my front tire slipped a few times and I ended up walking parts of it. After this I was back riding on the road but it didn't last for long.

    The road kept getting worse until it turned into muck that I couldn't ride in. I saw I wouldn't be on this muck "road" for long until I turned on another, so I continued along pushing my bike. When I reached the next "road", it to was pretty mucky although just barely rideable so I continued on. Very quickly however it got worse and I could no longer ride but I hoped it would get better as I knew there was at least part that was technically rideable, so hopefully there would be more. Instead it kept getting worse and about halfway through this "road", it became torn apart by logging trucks to the point that I could hardly even push my heavy bike along it anymore. I was in deep enough now that I didn't think it was worth turning back and I knew after this road it looked like a more well travelled road was ahead. After hours of pushing my bike I made it out and was rewarded with a dirt road so riddled in potholes I couldn't even avoid them all on a bike. Apparently this is what New Brunswick considers to be a main road. After this I only had one more road before I reached what I knew were properly paved roads just outside Moncton. This final road started off fine but quickly became muddy and then transitioned to unrideable muck again. In Nova Scotia when something is called a road, it is something that is able to be driven on. In New Brunswick apparently any open stretch that is not blocked by trees is designated a road and given a name.

    It was now after 7 by this point and if I was going to have to push my bike the whole way, it would be well after 9 by the time I made it through with still over another 20km to go to get to Heidi's. They weren't staying up overly late for me to limp my way there so we decided that when I reached the other end of the road where it became sand sealed they would pick me up. I felt like such a failure at this point. I wanted to do as much of this trip as possible avoiding vehicles and here a week in I'd already be relying on one, not to mention the cab from day 2 but at least that didn't cover part of my route and actually added more riding. The routes up to this point were put together poorly, I'd been doing a lot of stress riding trying to make it to places in certain times, my body wasn't handling the trip well and I'd soon be pushing my bike in muck in the dark not able to fully see how to get through it. To say I felt defeated thinking about all this at that moment would be an understatement. I continued though and pushed my bike through the muck and puddles that covered the whole road getting my feet soaked along the way. Sometime after 9 I had made beyond the muck and found the sand sealed road where I could ride again even though my knee desperately begged me not to. Within 1 minute later I saw a light coming in my direction and I knew what it was. Heidi and Dave had made it as they left a bit earlier. I was so happy and relieved to see them, as it really did feel like I was being rescued in that moment. We loaded my bags and bike onto the pickup truck and headed to their place. In total I believe I ended up pushing my loaded bike over 30km through muck it just wanted to sink into that day.

    I've been in Moncton for a few days now and I'll be here a while longer. My knee needs to heal before I start up again. It's still swelled up and hurts a lot so I'm guessing it may be weeks before I start up again. I also want the nights to become a bit warmer but that should naturally happen as I wait for my knee. In general, my approach to how I've been going so far also has to change. If things continue on as they did for the first week, quite frankly the tour wouldn't be worth it as so much of it just hasn't been enjoyable. The weather will get better as I go so that's one thing that will improve. I need to listen to my body more, stop earlier some days if it doesn't feel good and probably start with days closer to 50km than 100km so I'm not overworking my parts as much like what's happened with my knee, then as I get used to it work my way up to longer days. I also want to stop planning to have to get to or past someplace within the day and instead be more free to having the open schedule I wanted when I started. I also want to get better at accepting stuff when people offer me something or help. Technically I'm getting better at this last one as I learned from the mistake I made on day 2 but I still feel the urge to say no to anything anyone offers me (like the donuts and staying at Tena's an extra day, my mind was telling me it's wrong and I should say no).

    As for the blog, I don't really want the posts to be this long as this took quite a while for me to write up. Maybe I post more often to avoid that but I don't know and we'll see what happens as I go. I also want to start taking more pictures as there are things while writing this I would have liked to be able to have shown, but I hardly took any. I don't plan to post anything until I've started back up again and will probably put up some sort of note when I know I will be starting again.

Distance Traversed: 498km