Trail Jitters

Day 92. Pictou to Pugwash. 56 mi. 5,558 Mi TTD. 2,232 FT elevation. Weather good but with some mild headwind.

I left Pictou this morning with the chocolate milk in one of my feed bags and the Subway egg-and-bacon sandwich in the other. It was a reasonably healthy way to start the day. For all I know, I had egg on my face the rest of the day, literally. That’s one of the problems of riding alone. I found my fly down multiple times after being out in public, and even had people tell me about things on my face, like squished bugs. Maybe I should learn to use a mirror.

The road out of the town of Pictou was typical Nova Scotia, with not even a painted line for a shoulder. Thankfully, either nobody lives in Nova Scotia, or nobody drives a Nova Scotia, because I often go miles without seeing a car.

The riding was along the coast, which parallels Prince Edward Island. The waterway between is called the Northumberland Strait. It’s the water of the Atlantic in which I was wading yesterday. The route was generally flat, with mildly rolling hills, making for pleasant riding. My GPS kept me on roads even though I was parallel to the Canadian Great Trail and some rail trails. I assumed it was because they were all closed.

One of the things I find most fascinating and pleasant about Canada are their parks. And not just their parks, but their ability to have nice things for the public. This is a small boat ramp in one of the towns I passed through. Note the beautiful bench and picnic table. There’s also a canoe that I don’t think was locked up at all. It would sure be nice if we could have things like this in the US. Of course, in my hometown, those three items – bench, picnic table, and canoe – would last about 10 minutes before they were taken home.

As I rounded a corner on the road after about 30 miles, I noticed a trail extending into the woods. It was a beautiful trail. There was a gate, but it was open. There were no cones or barriers. It was a rail trail. I decided to risk the $25,000 fine, seeing how there were absolutely no indications that the trail was closed. I rode for a few miles, and it was lovely. Then I came onto a road, and my GPS told me to take the trail, so I was feeling relatively confident, although I still hadn’t seen another person.

Eventually, I was in the little town of Tatamagouche. It has a motel that is made out of railway cars. The area is beautiful as it’s by the ocean. Inlet. There were lovely parks and greenways, but I was enjoying the trail so much, and I was slightly afraid I might get stopped, so I continued on my way.

After several miles, I found a bench and took a little rest. I was still nervous that I might get arrested and deported, but I felt like I had a fairly sound argument since I had passed through several open gates at this point and not seen a single sign or barrier. As I pedaled along, I wondered about the feasibility of dashing into the woods if I saw someone coming, but the woods were pretty thick. Not surprisingly, there were even puddles on the trail, so once again, I’m trying to figure out why any of this would be closed, but not much has made sense to me in Nova Scotia.

My route eventually took me off the trail, and I was back on the road with a bridge across the inlet. Thankfully, I was only in a traffic area for a mile or so and then back on quiet back roads. I did have one more small stretch of slightly busy road leading to my motel.

Next to the motel was a restaurant, which the motel housekeeper recommended. I ordered a Caesar salmon salad. The salmon was cooked perfectly. I’m not sure if it was fresh from the Atlantic, but it tasted really good. So, all in all, after deciding to shorten my ride through Nova Scotia, the ride today was, of course, quite beautiful. I still have some more of Nova Scotia to navigate tomorrow, but by Saturday, I’ll be on Prince Edward Island.