Day 72- Lands End

Woke up at 5 AM after a night of bizzare dreams, and packed my life up once more so that Clive could bring me back to the causeway to resume where I left off yesterday. We passed back through the picturesque fishing town in the early morning light, but sadly I couldnt line up any good pictures from the moving vehicle.

I resumed from the tourist info booth where I was picked up yesterday, and headed down the highway 105 toward North Sydney. The wind once again chose to make my life difficult, as I slowly climbed up and down the hilly road through the forest. In time, the road began to run along the coast of the huge Bras d'Or Lake, which occupys the entire centre of Cape Breton Island. The views were fantastic, and I cruised along the cliffs, making good time despite the wind. During this time I passed a well known lawn which has wooden cut outs of many Simpsons and Family Guy characters all across it, in an extreme display of fandom. Alyssa had told me about it, but I forgot until I saw it.

I stopped for a brief lunch in Baddeck, and then launched into the final 55 KM of the 140 KM day. It had becone stifflingly hot out; the pesky winds my only reprieve. The scenery continued to become more and more beautiful as I traversed through the hills overlooking the water, even climbing a small mountain before barreling down the opposite side. Parts of the Cabot Trail were visable across the water to my left; an amazing destination I will have to cover in a future trip.

On the other side of Kelly's mountain, there was a rather large and high bridge crossing the water to the next island. The lanes were small, the railings short, and the crosswinds high, so I was pretty nervous going across it. I practically held my breath as I wobbled across, swaying in the wind. Needless to say, I survived, but it was still a tad worrying. The views from the bridge were simply steller, but sadly there was no way I could get puctures.

I forged onward through the wind, drawing ever closer to North Sydney. Just before arriving, I came across a very well known Cape Breton fast food diner called 'Lick a Chick', and though it was only 3 PM, I decided to give one of their self proclaimed "world's best burgers" a try. The portions were huge, and it was pretty decent, but sadly no where near worthy of their bold claim.

I continued on down the road, and could soon see the large ferry I would be taking to NFLD docked ahead of me. I rolled into town, but saw no evidence of the campground my guide said was there. Upon consulting my GPS, I found out it was actually back down the highway, near Lick a Chick. This was very frustrating, especially in this heat. I made my way back down the highway and pulled into the camp for the night. It is overpriced, and has very few services available, but it is the only one around. It will have to do.

I have now biked as far east on land as I can, and tomorrow I board the ferry bound for Argentia, Newfoundland. It leaves tomorrow at 6PM, and will be a whopping 16 hrs in transit. I will have to find a place to sleep on board. Once I arrive, I have planned to spend two days biking around the coast, finishing at Cape Spear and St. Johns. So close now!