Day 21
This morning, after and excellent breakfast and a nice visit with the proprietor of the Bears Den B+B, I rode a mile or so to Ron's Cycle Shop. Ron's is a motorcycle, Radio Shack, and bicycle shop. I was not too hopeful about finding a good seat, but I hoped to find something that would get me to Halifax. Ron didn't have any seats on display, but he got one down from a back shelf. It wouldn't work - it designed to be mounted on a post which didn't have a clamp. I explained that I needed a seat that was like a racing seat. Ron produced a Nishki Flite clone! It was the right shape, about the right amount of padding, and it even had a depression for the perineal area. This was beyond my best hope!
I paid Ron $20 CD for the seat and a roll of duct tape - I keep some wrapped around my seat post and I had exhausted my supply yesterday. I mounted the seat in the same position as my flite seat, wrapped about 1/3 of the roll of duct tape around my seat post, gave Ron the rest of the duct tape, and tossed my old seat (sniff!) and the rock that had been supporting it into the trash can. Then I rode off hoping that the new seat would work well. It was about 10:10 when I left Shelburn. I figured that I could reach Lunenberg if I rode for about 8 hours. That meant about a 8 PM arrival, allowing two hours for eating and resting along the way. My new seat might have been a problem, but it wasn't. I can comfortably ride on it all day. I am incredibly lucky to have found such a good seat.
The Beach at Vogler's Cove
I didn't make it to Lunenberg, I'm about 30 miles from there tonight, because Lunenberg was farther than I thought (my book seems a bit misleading...), because I missed a turn and ended up doing 10 miles or so extra, and because I found a nice place to stay when I was beginning to worry about being able to reach Lunenberg before dark. I'm at the Shorebirds B+B on Volgler's Cove across from Port Medwey. It is just past the Cove takeout place where I ate my supper. A nice place run by good people and the rate is once again $35. Such a deal, I almost feel guilty. By an interesting coincidence, there were guests here last night who live about ten miles from my home in North Carolina!
The ride was not too much fun before Summerville, mostly because a good bit of it was on 103, the main highway. Now riding 103 is like riding a low traffic density, low speed limit, US highway with a good shoulders in a farming area, i.e. it is really pretty good bicycling, but compared to the routes I rode yesterday it wasn't any fun. After Summerville the roads are quite nice, mostly running near the ocean. Today the temperatures were also much cooler (like 20 F cooler!) near the ocean! The wind, 10 - 15 mph and a head/cross wind, was from the land and it was quite warm unless you got really close to the ocean. I stopped at a McDonalds in Liverpool - had a McLobster meal! - and my thermometer read 92 F in the shade. About 1 mile later, on Shore Road, it read 78 F in the sun which meant near 70 in the shade. It was almost chilly.
Port Medwey Lighthouse
There were many pretty views along the ocean and bays, but the best view of the day was from Port Medwey lighthouse. I missed a turn (clearly marked!) and, after riding over a couple of hills, ended up in Port Medwey. It was obvious that I was off route, but I wasn't sure about how to get back on, so I asked some men at a store. They explained what I done wrong, turned right instead of left at a T, and what I needed to do to fix it, go back over those hills and keep going. Then they both said 'Since you here already, why don't you head down this other road to the Medwey lighthouse? About 3 miles to one of the prettiest spots in NS.' So I did and so it was. The last mile or so is gravel/dirt, but the view is great and the extra 10 miles total was well worth it.
Tomorrow, Halifax.
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