2nd September: Baddeck to North Sydney
Odometer: 69 km, Start: 10.30am, Finish: 3.30pm, Avg: 21.0 km/h,
Weather: Sunny, humid, Temp: 21-32°C (Humidex: 36°C)
Road Conditions: #105 (TCH), 2-3m shoulder, excellent condition, light to moderate traffic. Restaurant at South Haven (25km), small gas station (50km). Climb 7km @ 4% Kelly's Mountain (30km). Ascent: 560m/560m.
It was perhaps the hottest day of my entire tour today. Luckily I only had a relatively short ride to North Sydney where I will catch the ferry to Newfoundland. I rode it all on the #105 TCH which wasn’t too bad as it had a wide and well surfaced shoulder and the traffic was reasonably light.
The lakeland area around Baddeck was pretty with good views out into St. Patricks Channel. It was hazy viewing, though, in the humid heat of the morning.
I had a good lunch at South Haven with a glorious vista across St. Anns Harbour. It was maybe one of the best lake views of my entire trip.
After my lunch had settled, I started the one big climb of the day, up and over Kelly’s Mountain. It climbed 240m in 7km, so not particularly arduous (the Duffy Lake climb in BC was 1150m in 13km!), but it was extremely hot and humid. There was no wind on the climb, the air was still. I was glad of the excuse to stop and enjoy the (very hazy) view from St. Anns Lookout, three-quarters of the way up.
The downhill was a fast descent. Not quite steep enough for any records, but good fun until near the bottom where the wind was quite gusty. I took a picture of the bridge from the Bras d’Or lookout half-way down. I crossed the bridge five minutes later after finishing the descent.
I rolled into North Sydney, just about done in by the heat. I have a day off tomorrow and a wait for the ferry. We’ll have to see if Hurricane Earl has anything to say about the ferry’s expected sailing time of 1.30am Saturday…
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