Into the wild

Maureen, Al, Michael, Janice, Des and Dave arrive in North Sydney.

North Sydney was the end of our riding trip, as Karen had suggested that riding in Newfoundland along busy highways is less than fun. Turned out she was right.

After our very comfy overnight ferry from North Sydney to Argentia, we piled into a bus and the vehicle and arrived in St Johns in double quick time, missing those rolling hills, the pot holes and the moose, about which roadsigns stated there had been 660 moose collisions in the previous calendar year between moose and vehicles.

Maggie and Janice get their first look at Newfoundland

Our ears were pricked and our eyes were out, as in 'keep an eye out', but alas, we remained moose-less.  Except for this...

Arriving at our hotel, very luxurious after most of our accommodations to date, we picked up bike boxes and began bike packing our newly-washed bikes in the downstairs car park. Fortunately not as airless as our experience in Barcelona several years ago.

Washing bikes in North Sydney

Packing bikes in St Johns

Dinner in North Sydney.

Our farewell dinner, coinciding with Maureen's birthday, was taken at a fancy-pants up-market cafe in St Johns, similar in insouciance to many similar establishments found in Melbourne. Awards were awarded:

• Maureen the Bedding Award for services to accommodations; 
• Des the Stacker, Packer and Cracker Award for his relentless vehicle packing and disgorging and the endless supply of jokes; 
• Dave the Gentleman Moose Award for his chores, chivalry and chicanery when necessary; 
• Kendy the Madeleine Albright Award for consistent diplomacy n the face of heavy odds; 
• Maggie the Peter, Paul and Mary Award for achieving 500 miles on a bike; 
• Angelica the Pearls Before Swine Award due to her flawless wardrobe choices and immaculate presentation both on and off the bike; 
• Michael the I Didn't Like It But I Did Award for his persistent optimism even when things got tough; 
• Al the Battery Award for being ever ready and ever charged;
• Janice the Labrador Duck Award in the hope that one day she will learn to fly.

All in all a good night with stories and laughs.

After hugs and tears and promises to meet again, we scattered to the four winds.

Which is how come Des, Maureen and I got up at 6am to go moose spotting and we saw TWO MOOSE! Later in the day we saw another, albeit at a nature park, then the day after a golden eagle. Wow!

This has been an excellent bike trip full of hills and challenges galore. Pleased to report that not one single injury occurred! Amazing with up to 12 people riding along for 6 weeks.

We all got along so well and enjoyed each other's company immensely with our book and philosophy, nature and politics, sociology and linguistics conversations. It was so good to see Bill and Paul and Karen and Katherine again, even though they couldn't quite ride along with us for the whole 6 weeks. And Walli, hope you're back on your bike again.

Saturday 18 August: Pleasant Bay to Ingonish. We didn’t ride today and instead did a ride/shuttle the day before due to predicted heavy rain. Not so heavy, but it rained constantly all day. Included a mountain just out of Pleasant Bay.

Sunday 19 August: Ingonish to Indian Brook. Another mountain, this time Old Smoky, which was pretty easy to climb but not so easy to descend.

Monday 20 August: Indian Brook to North Sydney. And another mountain, Kelly’s Mountain, which meant climbing for 7 kms. Not steep however. Then an unpleasant ride into North Sydney along the Trans Canada.

Des, Janice and Maureen climbing the last part of the Cabot Trail

Janice contemplating the last downhill of Kelly's Mountain.

Yes, there were views to be had.