Mission Accomplished!!!

August 20: Baddeck to Baddeck (0km)
As planned, I stayed an extra day in Baddeck and was quite busy. First, let's start with last night. I went to the Ceilidh (the Celtic ho-down that I mentioned in my last post - yes my Gaelic spelling needs work as I massacred the spelling in my last post. It was fun. There was a fiddler with piano accompaniment that played traditional tunes. In order to liven up the evening, they incorporated stories and taught some dance moves - even some "sitting tap-dancing":). At one point a 94 old lady got up and danced - if only we can be half as fit and sharp as her at that age. An all around good time.

This morning I went for a guided kayak tour of the lake. The wind was quite blustery. So I was the only person that signed up for the tour and, as a result, got personalized service. My lower body is clearly in better shape than my upper body. Even though the tour went really well and I had a good time, I could feel my muscles working more than I do when I'm on my bike.

As I was walking out of the restaurant where I went for lunch, I see a touring cyclist wiz by. I take a closer look and I'm pretty sure it's Serge - a cyclist I met while going up Paulson Pass in BC about two and half months ago. As he was on wheels and I was on foot, I never did meet up with him today, but it was funny seeing him. I'm guessing he's going to the ferry as well. So who knows, I may see him then.

Not much more to report. I simply ran some errands the rest of the day like doing laundry and buying a new book - Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues (oh yeah, my literary education continues:).

August 21: Baddeck to North Sydney (67.41km)
As I was eating breakfast this morning, I see someone outside the window loading up his bike. It was Serge. It turned out that he stayed in the same motel I was staying at and that he was going to take the same ferry to NFLD as I was. So we caught up on our trip experiences and agreed to hook up this evening as we were again planning to stay at the same motel - North Sydney doesn't have many to offer.

Today's ride was wonderful. It was short and the wind was in my back. So I took my time and checked out the sights which were really nice especially while climbing Kelly's Mountain – a fairly steep hill near the end of my ride. I really had a sense that my trip was coming to the end and I wanted to savour every moment – the scenery, the act of biking, etc. I didn't have that same sense when I rode toward Halifax even though it was the final few days if I had left from there. I think that the notion that I should go to St-John's prevented me from appreciating it.

Even with my slow pace I arrived at the motel fairly early so I biked into town to see what it had to offer since my ferry won't leave until 3:30 tomorrow after noon. Well apparently the town doesn't offer much. I think I might be hanging out at the terminal for a good part of the day:) Oh well, at least I'll have Serge's company.

August 22: North Sydney to North Sydney (9.73km)
All I had to do today was go from my motel to the ferry terminal by 3:30PM and since there didn't seem to be a lot of things to do “downtown” I took my time getting ready.

When Serge and I finally did make it into town, we met up with Philip and Ludwig - two cyclist who began their trip from Victoria a full month after I started mine. Needless to say they are in wicked good shape and have made incredible time. In fact, we kept on meeting more and more cyclist as the afternoon went on and there must have been about 15 cyclist on the ferry to Argentia most of whom started from Victoria or Vancouver.

The ferry ride was good in that it was uneventful. We were about two hours late getting started, but otherwise the trip was quite pleasant. I even had a chance to watch a movie – The Bucket List which was better than I expected.

August 23: Argentia to Holyrood(93.39km)
Considering I was sleeping in a dormitory on the boat with about 15 other people, I slept really well. The water was calm so the rocking of the boat was at a minimum.

We arrived in Argentia at about 9:00 and we were off. Initially, the skies were gray and threatening, but they cleared up a few hours later and it ended up being a beautiful day with a strong south westerly wind which pushed me along for the first part of the day, but after I turned a corner, I had it on my side for the rest of the day.

St-John's is about 120km from the ferry, but I decided to split the journey over two days. I wanted to do this in order that my last day be short so that I could take my time and soak in the last moments. I wanted in fact to read my whole blog tonight so that all my experiences be fresh in my mind for the final day, but alas, the internet service of the B&B where I'm staying is down. So as a second best option, I went through all my photos thus far and the only concrete thought that I had while looking at the photos was how lucky I was to be doing such a trip. For those who have read me whine for the past three months, you know that there have been many ups and downs, but the fact remains that I have wanted to do this trip for the past 15 or 16 years and I am very glad that I am doing it. I'm curious to see in the coming months if there have been any lasting changes in me because of this trip, but regardless, it was a trip of a lifetime and worthwhile if for no other reason.

August 24: Holyrood to St-John's/Cape Spear (91.83km)
The ride into St-John's today was relatively easy in that I had a really strong wind in my back pushing me along. However, my final destination wasn't St-John's, but rather Cape Spear which the eastern most point of North America. I therefore set off to the Cape and the journey there starts out with a monster steep hill. In fact most of the 15km to Cape Spear is marked with huge uphills and downhills. The whole time that I'm riding to my destination, I'm dreading the ride back, because not only would I have to ride those hills again, but I'd have to do it against the wind and as I mentioned earlier, it was a formidable wind.

In the previous weeks, I had always imagined my final moments at Cape Spear as having a sense of victory and of elation. Well this wasn't the case for two primary reasons: 1) any elation was dampened by the realization that my ride back would be hell and 2) I don't think I fully realize that my trip is over. I've been riding for so long that the end doesn't seem real. It will likely hit me in a couple of weeks when I'm back at work and getting into a different routine.

As promised, my ride back was sheer torture. The hills were significant and the wind was nasty. I arrived at my motel and was drained.

In the evening, I went to George street (party central in St-John's) to celebrate the end of my trip with a few of the cyclists that I had met on the ferry.

A couple of final statistics:

Distance: 6969.02km
Flat tires: 4
Bear sightings: 0
Moose sightings: 0
Wolf sightings: 2
Deer sightings: countless
Roadkill: Way too many

Well, that's about it. I may put another posting in a couple of months if I have any final thoughts that I would like to share. A big thank you to everyone for reading my ramblings and for posting. I very much appreciated it and it made my trip that much more enjoyable and prevented me from being lonely. Again thanks and here are a few other pictures.