Glendale to Cape Breton Highlands National Park
153 km, sunny.
Winds – on/off, and in all directions, nothing major
Interesting day, pleasant again.
I decided to take a little detour to Glenville. To get there, I would ride a secondary highway parallel to the Cabot Trail. That part of the trail isn't too spectacular (except for when the leaves are turning), so I didn't miss out. The route I took was along a big lake, so there was some nice scenery. All the roads today were pretty decent, but no shoulders. No biggie, the traffic was quite light at times, and the cars do give you plenty of space. Interesting fact for today – the only province I didn't see plates of was Saskatchewan and PEI. Tons of Ontario plates. Yukon was also seen. So was Massachusetts, Maine, New York, and a few more States.
I would have to break what I call the “Hanham rule” (no back-tracking), as I took a detour of 5 km (each way) to visit the Glenora Distillery. It's the only single-malt whiskey in North America. Essentially, it's scotch, but they can't call it that because it doesn't come from Scotland. So, I went, got the tour, and sampled their award-winning product. The end of the tour, they gave us a sample of their 10 year old batch.
Lunch was also there. Beer (Garrison's Red), 5 dollars. Cream of spinach soup, 7.50. Atlantic smoked salmon (smoked using the casket wood from the whiskey), 13.00 dollars. An ounce of their 18 year old single-malt whiskey, 25.00 dollars. An ounce, tabarnac. So, I tried it. The 10 year old stuff is tasty, but a bit fiery in the throat. The 18 year old stuff, which the distillery is only 18 years old, completely smooth. No burning. Good stuff. Everyday stuff for me? Nope. I think an ounce was good enough for me for a long time.
Off I went again by bike. I eventually made it to Cheticamp. The plan was to stay at St-Pierre's campground, just outside (before) Cheticamp and walk into town. But, it would be an 8 km walk into town, so I decided to change plans. It was still a good 90 minutes of daylight, so I decided to eat at a restaurant, do my breakfast shopping, drug store stop, and then head to the inside edge of the park in order to find myself the campground. They dont make you pay when you arrve at the park, but only when you leave. They are there at 9 am, so guess who will try to get up early to GTFO before they get here. Side note – the moon is full(ish) tonight, and I can't get a good view of it. Too bad. Maybe tomorrow.
Supper tonight. Since it was the last Acadian town I will see for the rest of this trip, I decided to try this little Acadian restaurant for some local food. Their meat pie (not tourtiere, but similar) was the first thing I had. What followed was a chiard, which is basically a beef ragu with vegetables. For beer, they had Moosehead Dry – something I've never seen or tasted, so that was the chosen brew of the night. Good, pretty decent. Desert – it's been a long time that I wanted strawberry-rhubarb pie, so I ordered it (a la mode). The butterscotch meringue pie also caught my eye, so I ordered it too.
I am starting to count the dodo's left. Feels good. Tomorrow, the hills are calling me. I'm expecting to work a bit tomorrow, and the granny will definitely be woken up. It's time to work.
Get high on beauty.
p2
Introduction
Allo, hello, tere,
Some old lines/puns: Pierre qui roule, rock and roll, the rolling stone (gathers no dust).
Who: Pierre, Ottawa (ON)
What: Cross Canada travel.
When: After a few days rest in Tofino, British Columbia at the beginning of May, 2008, hit the road around the 4th. The 1st time-based goal is to arrive in Ottawa in mid June, race in a 24-hour mountain bike competition, and head back on the road a few days later. Finish the trip in St. John's, Newfoundland, at the end of July, 2008, before returning home to Ottawa to start being an adult again.
Where: Canada, West to East, via Toronto, Ontario. Detours: Val Gagné and Manitoulin Island (ON), Gaspé region (QC), and Cape Breton (NS).
Why: Visit this beautiful (and fairly big) nation of ours. See family and friends. Taste the cuisine of different parts of the country and enjoy the various beers and wine along the way. Experience anything the villages and cities along the way have to showcase. Lose 50 pounds and be buff.
How: By bicycle (her nickname: Dzie, pronounced D-Zie).
Extras: According to mapquest, a drive from tip to tip (via Toronto) would be 7710 km (85 hours of driving, 2 ferries). A flight would only be 5400 km (9 hours flight time, with switching planes 2 times).
* I do occasionally feel I am following the footsteps of a few great ones (whom I've also had the honour of riding with), who have done this trip in the past - Al, and especially Tanya. I do hope that I can bring in some new pics, new stories, and not rehash stuff that those amazing folks have done before me.
** I imagine I'll be a bit lonely at times throughout the trip, where I highly request and encourage comments from you guys. It'll be my way of having some conversations with you. I'll try to update the blog every few days.
Disclaimer: Most of you guys know me. In my posts, there will probably be a mixture of bizarre stories, silly jokes (like the weight-losing bit a few instances before), some references to music lyrics and movie lines. I will do my best to entertain, but sometimes, I might miss the mark on being funny or entertaining (hopefully not though).
Posting messages: Readers with a gmail/blogger account - you know what to do. Readers who do not: post a comment as anonymous (but put your name at the bottom of the comment please). The occasional personal messages can be sent to pierre.l.perron@gmail.com
Ciao,
p2
Some old lines/puns: Pierre qui roule, rock and roll, the rolling stone (gathers no dust).
Who: Pierre, Ottawa (ON)
What: Cross Canada travel.
When: After a few days rest in Tofino, British Columbia at the beginning of May, 2008, hit the road around the 4th. The 1st time-based goal is to arrive in Ottawa in mid June, race in a 24-hour mountain bike competition, and head back on the road a few days later. Finish the trip in St. John's, Newfoundland, at the end of July, 2008, before returning home to Ottawa to start being an adult again.
Where: Canada, West to East, via Toronto, Ontario. Detours: Val Gagné and Manitoulin Island (ON), Gaspé region (QC), and Cape Breton (NS).
Why: Visit this beautiful (and fairly big) nation of ours. See family and friends. Taste the cuisine of different parts of the country and enjoy the various beers and wine along the way. Experience anything the villages and cities along the way have to showcase. Lose 50 pounds and be buff.
How: By bicycle (her nickname: Dzie, pronounced D-Zie).
Extras: According to mapquest, a drive from tip to tip (via Toronto) would be 7710 km (85 hours of driving, 2 ferries). A flight would only be 5400 km (9 hours flight time, with switching planes 2 times).
* I do occasionally feel I am following the footsteps of a few great ones (whom I've also had the honour of riding with), who have done this trip in the past - Al, and especially Tanya. I do hope that I can bring in some new pics, new stories, and not rehash stuff that those amazing folks have done before me.
** I imagine I'll be a bit lonely at times throughout the trip, where I highly request and encourage comments from you guys. It'll be my way of having some conversations with you. I'll try to update the blog every few days.
Disclaimer: Most of you guys know me. In my posts, there will probably be a mixture of bizarre stories, silly jokes (like the weight-losing bit a few instances before), some references to music lyrics and movie lines. I will do my best to entertain, but sometimes, I might miss the mark on being funny or entertaining (hopefully not though).
Posting messages: Readers with a gmail/blogger account - you know what to do. Readers who do not: post a comment as anonymous (but put your name at the bottom of the comment please). The occasional personal messages can be sent to pierre.l.perron@gmail.com
Ciao,
p2
Friday, July 18, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I'm happy you made it to the distillery. I was going to suggest it but forgot. My bad. Oops but you went anyway.
I can't wait to hear what you thought of Cheticamp. It is really my favourite town on the island. That and Margaree Valley. I find the scenery (ocean/hills) so breath taking.
Off to check out some pictures!
Post a Comment