A jaunt in the South Shore

It sure has been a while. Over the last few years I spent my time on the bike rack in the guest room. When guests would visit, I was moved to the garage as I’m now considered unsightly. What a fall from grace.

After 3 years living on the Sonoma Coast, Ryan and Cait grew tired of the perfect temperature, dry asphalt, consistent surf, and giant redwoods. They longed to be uncomfortable again. This is a sentiment I shared. So, they uprooted once more, filled me and everything they own into a Uhaul, and drove across the continent to Eastern Canada. I’m now chained awkwardly in the stairwell of an apartment building and get to do battle with potholes and city bus drivers on a daily basis. It’s good to be back in action.

On a recent late-summer weekend, we took a tour of the Nova Scotia South Shore. A 2-day trip turned into a 5-day excursion due to some knee pain, but also because we were having too much damn fun. From Halifax there is a bike path that follows an old rail line south along the coast. It starts out paved, and gets progressively worse the farther from the city you get. Funny how the bike path is a microcosm for all transportation infrastructure. Anyway, we swerved our way south and made it to Broad Cove just in time for mosquito hour. I spent the night in the sand while Ryan ate sardines and other smelly food in his tent. I guess we’re no longer in bear country?

From Broad Cove the itinerary turned cruisy. We checked out every back road, dead end, and buildable lot for the next 100km south. The meandering coastal road was nearly devoid of cars, and the few drivers that came along insisted on giving a full lane of clearance when passing. Got to love Canadians. The rural character of the place really set in, with the city buildings replaced with quaint, modest, coastal homes. Many of them had a boat house and dock in front for easy unloading of the day’s catch.

I hasten to add that I trailered a surfboard the entire time. How were the waves? Marginal. Ryan surfed a couple of times, but mostly out of obligation for lugging his gear all the way south. Secretly I was happy about this arrangement as it translated to more miles (ahem, kilometers) logged, and less time chained up in beach parking lots. I’m not sure when we’ll get another chance to tour around, but it’s good to see Ryan so smitten with bike touring again. It’s a good look for him.