Dingwall to Englishtown, 108km: Moose!

Today we cycled the last bit of the Cabot Trail all the way to Englishtown. There were a lot of ups and downs but it was not as challenging as yesterday.

The ups and downs began right when we got out of camp. However, the scenery made up for the challenge. The Cabot Trail is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot stress enough how enjoyable it was to cycle. Along the way we noticed a male moose on the side of the road. It was the first time Louise saw a moose. They are such grand, massive creatures, and their head is huge.

When Mary, Louise, Clarke, Becky and I reached Ingonish we stopped at a general store for some chocolate milk and there we saw a young moose, it was awesome.

Can you see the youngin'?

The climb to Cape Smokey was a nice, steady, long climb. I could tell we were finally reaching the top when the tree line was levelling off. At the top Mary, Louise and I stopped for a lunch break. 

The decent from Cape Smokey was likely the best descent of the Cabot Trail. I am so thankful we went clockwise rather than counter clockwise because climbing Cape Smokey would have been significantly more difficult than climbing North Mountain.  There was one section that required us to take the turn at 20km/hr; it was definitely a tight turn. One of the riders in the group took the turn too quickly. He went off onto the gravel section which was created to enable trucks to take the turn.  

Before we reached Englishtown we stopped at the Clucking Hen Cafe and Bakery for a snack break. Mary, Louise and I did not stay long because we were on galley duty that evening.

That evening all the riders had to take all their belonging out of the Bristol truck and pack it up to go into the van and trailer which we would take on the ferry to get to Newfoundland. Thank goodness we had spaghetti that evening because it was an easy meal to prepare and so I had time to pack my gear. It was strange to pack my things because it meant the end was very very close.  Tomorrow we would take the ferry to Newfoundland where we would cycle to St. John’s, our final destination.