I had grown up in the Maritime Provinces but hadn't been back, even for a visit, in twenty years. I knew it was a beautiful place to cycle and I wanted to see some of the places I had grown up in, but there was a certain ambivalence about the whole idea too. The idea of doing a trip by bicycle seemed to be a good way to revisit the past while keeping my mind and body firmly in the present.
I had three weeks, so I spent some time devising a route that would take me to the places I wanted to visit, as well as providing a good overall tour.
The route I settled on started in Halifax NS, and headed northeast through central Nova Scotia to Caribou on the Northumberland Strait for the short ferry to Prince Edward Island.
After a few days in PEI, stopping in Charlottetown and Cavendish, I would take the new Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick and head southwest to Saint John stopping in Rothesay, a small town just outside the city, where we lived till I was ten.
From Saint John I would cross the Bay of Fundy to Digby, Nova Scotia, and cycle south across the width of the province to Lunenburg, where I went to high school. From Lunenburg it would be only a short ride back to Halifax, where I spent my (extended) university career.
The total distance was about 1400 km, about right for a three week tour, allowing plenty of time for stops.
I made the plane reservations for Monday, 26 July, 1999, and arranged for a friend to look after the house while I was away.
Vancouver, BC to Elmsdale, NS
My friend Lubo arrived from Nelson on Sunday night to look after the house & cats. He had some work in Vancouver for a few weeks, and the timing worked out perfectly for both of us. On Monday morning at 10 am I took a taxi to the airport for the noon flight to Halifax. At the airport I had to pay a C$65 surcharge for the bike - one way. On international flights bikes are free, but on domestic flights they charge. I'm sure there's a logical explanation...maybe something to do with competition.
The extra money certainly didn't go into food. The flight went via Toronto with a 60 minute stopover, and I arrived in Halifax just before midnight, not having eaten since lunch. Since the flight from Vancouver arrived in Toronto just before 6 pm and the flight to Halifax left at 7 pm, no food was served on either flight! The flight attendant took pity on me and gave me two bags of peanuts.
I had reserved a room at a B&B (Forevergreen House / C$50 incl tax) in Elmsdale, not far from the airport, by phone a few days earlier, and the owner had offered to pick me up when she found out I was traveling by bike. She arrived right on time, and I was in bed by 1 am (9 pm Vancouver time).
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