Days 51 to 57: Southwest Nova Scotia

Day 51
Kilometer 4450
Goodwood, NS

Most of the day in Halifax today, and most of the time in Halifax typing up several weeks of blog entries. City was nice though, what little I saw.

Day 52
Kilometer 4600
Lunenburg, NS

The most notable village I passed through today was Peggy's Cove, which must be listed as a "must-see" spot in all the guidebooks. Certainly a pretty little village (triple-digit population might be a high estimate) set on the moor above the rocky coastline (disclaimer: I don't actually know what a moor is; I'm just going to call it one because that sounds cool), but absolutely swarming with tourists. I pushed and shoved my way into the bathroom in one of many gift shops, took a picture of the lighthouse, and left. I suppose it's lucky for me, actually, that all the visitors to the coast of Nova Scotia have decided to squeeze into one little village; they've left the rest for me!

I stopped for the night just outside what I know is another guidebook-recommended spot, Lunenburg. Hope it doesn't disappoint.

Day 53
Kilometer 4695
Port Mouton, NS

Lunenburg didn't disappoint. Adorable town on the bay. It's the kind of white-steeple, sleepy-wharf, coffeshops-and-bookstores kind of town that an actual travel writer (as opposed to Some Guy With A Blog) would write flowing paeans to. I'm not the flowing-paeans type, though.

Port Mouton's town slogan is "Sheep Overboard." I thought that was just good enough to include here.

Day 54
Kilometer 4761
Shelburne, NS

Sadly, I used all my good what-the-heck-is-this-name jokes on Kouchibouguac National Park, during the Lost Days of New Brunswick, and now I can't remember them now that I've reached Kejimkujik National Park. I leave you to come up with your own.

I made what I thought was a lucky find today: the Queens County Rail Trail runs to the end of the county, where it connects with the Shelburne County Rail Trail, followed by the Yarmouth Country Rail Trail and the Digby County Rail Trail. I'm set for days! But alas, it would not be so easy. The rails may have been removed, but I made about as much progress through the mud and sand as a train would have. I eventually escaped the trail, after an hour of slower-than-walking-speed biking.

I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to be done with the trip. I would be perfectly happy to arrive back at Cape Cod tomorrow. And my bike, I can assure you, agrees. In fact, it's made this desire pretty clear. On one particularly rough patch of road, the metal U-lock holder that's attached to the front of the bike frame abruptly cam loose and started swinging around, hitting the spokes on the front wheel. I taped it, but it wasn't until about a mile later that I noticed my odometer wasn't working. In fact, the magnet that sits on one of the spokes of the wheel to count rotations was missing. It took me nearly an hour of backtracking, but, by some great miracle, I happened to see it: the tiny black magnet, now missing the piece that attaches it to the spoke. The fixes for my two problems, respectively: duct tape and duct tape. Some walk on water. Some feed nations with bread and fish. I find small magnets in the gravel.

Day 55
Kilometer 4878
Yarmouth, NS

Rounded the southwest corner of Nova Scotia today, which puts me on the western end, headed north to the Bay of Fundy. I'm getting a second visitor this trip: my mom. Guess she got jealous. I'm skipping the Bay of Fundy and taking the ferry straight to New Brunswick and meeting her, then we'll drive the Bay together. Bike problem of the day: my chain has just fallen off the gears twice today and I don't know what the problem is. I don't know if I can fix this one with duct tape.

Day 56
Kilometer 4987
Digby, NS

Okay, so the problem with the bike chain is that the back wheel is out of place, which makes the chain too loose. The problem with that: the back wheel refuses to stay in place, no matter how often I fix it. Side effect of the back wheel being constantly out of place: the back brakes have gone from barely functional to actively impeding forward motion. Yet another problem on the bike where nothing works: the luggage rack holding the panniers is now missing two screws, making "wobbly" a bit of an understatement.

Sigh. After a long day of things breaking, it's finally time to pitch a tent, get in, and—rrrrrip. The pin in one of the corners that holds up the poles rips off the tent fabric.

I may end up walking home, carrying a box of nothing but broken things.

Day 57
Kilometer 5004
Saint John, NB

Somehow I survived Nova Scotia. I made it to the ferry that took me to Saint John, New Brunswick, and I made it to the hotel where Mom and I are staying tonight. Bike problem of the day (in addition to all of the other ones that still haven't been fixed, that it): odometer not working again. I didn't even try to figure out what was wrong with it.