Day 13, July 31st

I started the day out by going back to the lighthouse on Cape Forchu and took some pics. it's a funky looking lighthouse and not the same as all the others I had seen so far on the trip. I looked on the GPS and Brier Island looked interesting to go to. I didn't know much about it except that I knew I'd have to take 2 ferries to get there. It sounded a bit adventurous so I went.

The trail on this shore was the Evangeline Trail which has some nice roads cutting through some nice towns on the way up. I stopped along the way because a sign caught my eye... Smugglers Cove. I checked it out and it the cove was used by rum runners during prohibition in the United States. Pretty neat little cove, and there was a beach access there. I think it would have been pretty neat to swim into the cove, but knowing myself, I'd probably drown and get smashed up on the rocks going in there. Also that i'm a big chicken. kluck-kluck.

Up to Digby for some timmies and KFC (I know, why??) and rode down the peninsula towards Brier Island. I was a really nice ride down there and enjoyed it quite a bit. This route was the Digby neck and island scenic drive. I took a ferry to Long Island, rode south on that and took a final ferry to Brier Island. It's a tiny Island, but it was really cool to go to such an out of the way place. On the Island there isn't too much except for a few lighthouses, a fishing community and a nature preserve. It was relaxing though even though most of the roads are gravel/dirt.

Took some pics, relaxed some more at the lighthouse locations and checked out the monument of Captain Joshua Slocum. He was the first man to sail around the world, alone. This was done between 1895 to 1898. This guy had some balls. It was inspirational to read someone doing a solo trip while I was on one myself. cheesy/corny, I know. There was a little crate with 'Gifts from the Sea'. It was cute and there were all sorts of things like painted shells and painted driftwood. There was also a jar to pay for the items (10 cents to a buck). I bought a small painted piece of driftwood that I found cute. It's better than a t-shirt or hat I think. I got the one in the bottom right corner in the picture.

Well, getting late in the day at this point and I wanted to meet up with a friend near Saint John, NB the following day. I figured I'd ride up to Digby and just ferry across to Saint John and save me a trip going the long way around. When I got to the ferry port (around 6pm) the next ferry was at 8:45 and it's 2.5 hours to cross. I would be in Saint John and getting a room somewhere close to midnight. I decided to take the ferry until he told me the price. $90 one way! I thought about it for a few minutes and figured that for $90 of fuel I could ride for about 1200km's. I decided to ride the 'long way round' since slabbing would be about 600KM. Half the price of a ferry.

I rode on and the sun set, and kept riding. I alternated between slabbing short bits and going through the towns. The towns I went through were all interesting, but I didn't stay in them for any length of time. I stopped off in Cornwallis as there was a tank and a jet with a monument. nothing else was there...a bit odd. I stopped over for another break at a monument of Bloody Creek. The monument was to commemorate the conflict for the possesion of Acadia in 1757. neato.

Instead of slabbing it down to Halifax and then back north to Truro, I opted to take route 14 which cuts across from southeast to northwest. It was a great route to take at night and I had all my lights on, so I avoided more animals there without a problem. About 10km away from the major highway, the 102, I needed to pee real bad and couldn't hold it any longer. I left the bike running and did my business, figuring it would be a short stop. I got back on the bike and put it in gear, forgetting the kickstand was down. Stupid security feature on the bike kills the engine, but the worst of it was that all my lights flickered and my bike wouldn't restart. It was about 11pm at night in pitch blackness with no traffic to speak of. I had to think.

I figured that since I had all my lights blaring, i must have drained the battery and that's why it wouldn't restart. (I learned later it wasn't the cause) I pushed it down a small hill, hoping to push-start it. didn't work. I pushed it up a bigger hill unloaded the bike and pushed it down as fast as I could. It caught and I was on my merry way once more.

It was really dark and i was stressed so I didn't think of taking any more pictures. I rode on through the night, heading for Truro.