Lower Barney's River to Lake Ainslie

Some early morning scenery coming out of Lower Barney's River on our way o Antigonish.

Things can be so beautiful early in the am. We left camp at 6:30 as we had 167 km to bike and Holly had to be in camp for cooking supper that evening.


The Cabot Trail is beckoning us. We will actually get on it tomorrow.

Lots of farms do the landscape. Beautiful lush green landscapes.

Terri chowing down on a peanut butter and jam sandwich. He actually looks like he is enjoying it.

The beautiful water of Lake Ainslie.

Well, time is closing in on us. That being, this is day 67 and September 1st. with a distance of 167k. We left camp at Cranberry Campground in Lower Barney's River at 0630 as the day would be long and Holly's crew had to do supper. We had a quick breakfast with the plan to find a Tim Horton's at about the 50k mark of our ride this morning.
We had pretty good daylight for an early start and the road was in need of work but rideable until about 25k later, we came upon road work and for the next 15k, it seemed like we were riding on a washboard - so rough and slow until just before getting into the town of Antigonish. Our road today was #245, which took us to Antigonish and then on to # 104 to the Causo Causeway then #105 and finally #252 and #395 to the camp. We had a tailwind in the morning but after crossing the causeway, we had headwinds and crosswinds so the last 60 k were tough. We soon came across the Cabot Trail sign and so the long gradual climbs and long decends began but tomorrow will be the real challenge with three summit climbs. Our cue sheet said lots of ups and downs on today's ride. They wouldn't have been so bad had we not had the headwinds and cross winds. There was lots of traffic including numerous transport trucks but with the great wide shoulders on the #104 and #105, cycling was fine and great conditions of the paths as well. Scenery was quite picturesque on all the roads today. We had a Tim Horton's lunch break just before the Causso Causeway and then just a banana and orange break when we had about 30 k left before getting into camp. Holly got into camp around 4:15pm and I arrived shortly after. The last 15k was tough for me with the strong headwind on that road which was #395. Treated myself to a Mars bar at the camp office and the owner gave every rider a can of pop or bottle of water as they came into camp. He had a Welcome sign at the office for Tour du Canada riders. He also had placed 5,4,3,2,and 1k markers on the road leading into camp. Nice English fellow. Awefully windy at the camp as we're right on Lake Ainslie but beautiful spot and as I am typing the blog, the winds have died down to nothing and I'm just hearing the waves splashing gently on the shore. What a soothing sound. Once again, I have my waterfront property but just for a night. Can't have everything.!! night. Skies were cloudy with sunny periods this morning but pretty bright this after noon. Water in the lakes and rivers we came across ranged from bright blue to brownish depending on the wind direction in the different areas. Lots of rivers and lakes here in this beautiful part of Canada. Bedtime as tomorrow comes pretty early for us.