Halifax-->St. John's (August 2004)

1400km, 8 full days of cycling. That's it for numbers 'cause my Cateye was acting up and it got launched into the great unknown while bombing down a pot-hole ridden shoulder in the rain.

I mostly camped on the side of road but stayed in a couple campgrounds when it was convenient and not too expensive.

NS roads suck and are badly marked. Even the TCH often lacks a paved shoulder! If you try to avoid the main drag, be prepared to get lost and make unnescessary detours. In NFLD the Trans-Canada Highway has a wide paved shoulder. The West Coast and the Ismuth of Avalon are the most beautiful parts of the TCH in NFLD. Hills are worst on the Ismuth of Avalon but are generally bearable, specially with a nice tail wind.

Highlights:

Hitting the open road after 6 months of office work
Christening a new tent with frequent rain and bug guts
Waking up to the glacier-scoured landscape near Port-aux-Basques, NFLD
Glacier fjords where I least expected to see them
Scoring a ride up a steep hill from a selfless park ranger
Being offered beer by random newfie campers
Not understanding half the Newfies I met
Having to politely explain to the locals that as beautiful as their "mountains" are, they are not that hard to cycle through
Hangin' out with a long-lost buddy and his awesome family
Finding piss-cheap pulpy sci-fi novels in St. John's
Kayaking into a sea cave on the Great Island off Newfoundland
Meeting a huge Cariboo stag on the summit of Gros Morne
Getting picked up by a cute sociology student
George Street's awesome pubs, bars, women and live music
Catching WCH games in random bars throughout Newfoundland