Day 19
I got up before 6 AM this morning in
order to be at the NS Ferry before 7:30. If I do it again I'll try sleeping
a little later! The sun came up not long after 4:30 AM and by 6 AM it was
pouring into my room. Since Bar Harbor is fairly far north, its day is quite
long in June. Since it is at the eastern end of its (Eastern) time zone,
that means sunrise before 5 AM. NS is one time zone (Atlantic) earlier and
only a little be further east, so the sun will come up here at about 5:30
tomorrow.
The bar which gives Bar Harbor its name
The
ferry departed Bar Harbor at 8 AM and arrived in Yarmouth at 3:15 PM, six
and a bit hours later. My bike was the only bike on the ferry, but there was
another bicycle tourist through yesterday on the ferry. There was one
motorcycle, lots of RVs and, of course lots of cars. The fare was about $50
for me and the bike and the day was absolutely perfect. The trip was a bit
boring (what do people DO on cruise ships? Eat, drink, and gamble.), but
breakfast, $6.95 for an all you can eat buffet, was good and I ate late
enough and big enough to last me till supper. I had to 'surrender' my pepper
spray at customs. Since I've carried it for 6,000 miles of touring and never
used it, it is no big loss.
Lighthouse at the entrance to Yarmoth
harbor
At the Yarmouth NS Infocenter (good place!) I got
'Nova Scotia by Bicycle' by Walton Watt. This wasn't the book I was looking
for, but it, other than its 8.5x11 format, looks like a good reference for
touring NS. It cost me $34 CD (with tax). I also got a free NS Travelways
Map. NS obviously puts out a big effort for tourists, the ferry had a
tourist center, Yarmouth has a really nice tourist center, there is an 800
number to call for info and reservations, etc. This is a very different
place than the States.
I checked in at the 'cheap' Midtown Motel
($51 CD) because of its location - but I do like the place quite a bit - and
went to explore Yarmouth. After riding down the main street shortly after
the ferry arrived, I expected a fairly busy place. I didn't find one. I
haven't been in such a quiet town since I bicycled through small towns in
western Minnesota last summer. Maine, which felt real down home a few days
ago, suddenly seems positively urban, and when I get to the small NS towns,
Yarmouth will seem urban.
I also stopped by the Library where I
purchased a rather good Canadian history book for $1 CD from their used book
sale. I've already read a 100 pages or so and have a much better concept of
the historical basis for the cultural conflict between English and French
speaking folks up here. The library offered net access, but only with Lynx
(a text based web browser) which doesn't do me any good. It is a pretty good
library for a town of less than 8,000 people.
I leave tomorrow,
heading for Shelburn (interesting history there) following the Atlantic
coast. The weather should be great and so should the bicycling.
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