To North Sydney and a Ferry

The ride from Baddeck to North Sydney was lots of fun for Bryan. The long climbs reinforced the fact for him that he is in the best shape of his life. He could not have made those uphills so easily even 3 weeks ago. Then, on the downhills, he had fun passing semis who were carefully negotiating the hairpin turn. The view was spectacular as well.

By 11:30am, Bryan easily covered the 61km to North Sydney. The sun was shining and it was very calm, the first time since LaChute, Quebec. A great ride topping off the total 6423 km on mainland Canada.

We spent the afternoon in the Louisburg area. We really didn't have enough time to tour the national park at Fort Louisburg but we can see that this would be a great place to spend the whole day. However, we needed to return to catch the ferry to Port-aux-Basques from North Sydney. We were able to find a bike store in Sydney en route, talk to the owner about an upcoming Cape Breton race and buy a jersey advertising Jittery Joes Coffee Shop. Perfect, eh? Bryan would have liked to continue biking on such a beautiful day but we enjoyed the 5 hour sail and a full moon.

At midnight, we pulled into a very hospitable hotel near the water. Bryan heads for Corner Brook on Wednesday. He would like to cover 131km which is the distance that he would have covered into St John's if the original plan had been possible.