Man of the century

The great navigator

Cap Pele, August 11

Today 168 km (including beer-run) Total 1568 km
OK here is where I toot my own trumpet. 100 miles in a day. Last time I did that was when I was 17, 46 years ago! That would have been when Norman Perrin and I rode from Ilford to Walton-on-the-Naze and back. And we weren't hauling camping gear then. There's life in the old dog yet.

Woke at 7am. Pete was sound asleep with his head under a pillow, so I guess I won. Come to think of it, I didn't hear a snore out of him all night, so I probably kept him awake.

I wandered down to the coffee shop for breakfast. It was full of politicians and business men there for a conference. Wearing suits and ties at 7:30. Made me feel all the more comfortable in my gym top and river pants. I tucked into my raft-man special with a side of porridge while they nibbled on their weight-watcher specials.

Back in the room, Pete had already nipped across the road for a footlong sub and coffee, so in a few minutes we were ready to roll.

We had discussed my plans for a century, and today Pete let me take the lead all day so that I wouldn't compromize my effort by drafting him. For the first 30km, we took the inland route 11, basically a series of long false flats through forested moose-pasture. Pretty boring, but we made good time doing 30-35 km/hr with a nice cross tailwind. When we reached the turn-off for Kouchibouguac National park we took it to get a change of scenery: more moose-pasture. There are probably some nice beaches there, but that was not on our radar.
However, we finally found our way down to the scenic coastal route trough Ricibuctou and Bouctouche, and this was truly spectacular, miles of desrted seashore road, good wind at our back, what biking is all about.
Coming into Boctouche, we both got the jones for some chocolate eclairs. Talking about it didn't help so we asked a local. No bakeshop in town. But there is a Timmy's so we ordered a dozen donuts and a coke apiece and polished off the lot.
Ended up in Cap Pele, which was exactly at the 100 mile mark. Just to be on the safe side, I pedalled another 8 km to get beer4 and snacks while Pete got us a camp site.

Turns out that when I unroll the tops of my rear panniers, there's rom for a six-pack in each one, and you can stuff in a few bags of chips for good measure. Ortlieb think of everything.

From the campground, you can just make out the terrain of Prince Edward Island, 20 km waway across Northumberland Straight. Tomorrow we will cross the enormous Confederation bridge to the third province of my trip.

I'm typing in my tent using the campground wifi. a miracle of technology, but excrutiatingly uncomfortable,

so goodnight all,

Barney (centurion)

PS: Pete's blog at http://www.transcanada09.blogspot.com