North Sydney to Sydney, NS
Traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq
30 km
Drizzle, clouds and then clear skies, warming up to 20 ºC
The most difficult lesson for me to relearn these days is being present. Being now and here. I used to be very good at this but then felt that I was SO adept that it jeopardized my future a little. The beauty of an oddysey like the one we’re on is to be here now, and it feels nice to be getting into the groove of that again.
We went to sleep (Jon on the floor, me in a comfy chair) in Newfoundland and woke up in Nova Scotia. They gave us a warning 60 minutes before we docked, then again 30 minutes, and then when we arrived. The wheel I’d patched the night before to hobble along to a bike shop hadn’t held up so we walked over to a nearby Timmies where I switched the tube (first flat on the road so far!), and we were on the road again. My internal hub, which controls the gear ratios, was acting up a little and I was firmly planted in a low gear which let me cruise at a top speed of about 10 km/h for the 24-km stretch between the ferry terminal and the sole bike shop in Sydney.
We’d called ahead so they were expecting us, and many thanks to them and our bicycle sponsor Vanhawks for making sure we were on the road as soon as possible. We’re discovering how much larger our home team is over and over again.
Sydney is a neat town and reminds me of other towns of a similar size.
We recorded an interview with the CBC Sydney afternoon news show which was a blast and we wished we could’ve lingered there longer. Some neat peeps. Thanks for being our favourite station so far!
The day turned for the better by the time we dropped our bikes off in the wet and semi-rainy weather into a picture perfect day.
We stopped in for a quick food supply run for the next few days, only to have someone ask if we were the cyclists who’d just arrived from Newfoundland. We then proceeded to talk about the bears in her neighbourhood. We’re headed there tomorrow and if it weren’t for those bears we’d have a place to camp.
When we finally left the parking lot, it was almost sunset time, naturally Jonathon was distracted this time by a bunch of skater and scooter boys and girls while I pretended to be responsible and scouted out a picturesque campsite for us.
We celebrated the end of our first province and this glorious first day in Nova Scotia with a giant slice of watermelon, cajoled a centipede who’d snuck into our tent out of it and are drifting asleep to a choir of spring peepers. Not the most productive day on paper but still pretty close to perfect in my books.