Nova Scotia Tour 2008

Graham & Elaine

Last update 19^th July 2008

Pictures can be viewed here

During our 2007 tour of the U.S.A. our friends at Haus of Trikes made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. As a result we have purchased a second trike, also a 2007 Goldwing 1800, which will be stored in their showroom and available for our use whenever we need it. We will also be leaving some essential riding gear there for future use.

This has inevitably involved a significant cash outlay but we have calculated that we will re-coup our costs (by not having to pay shipping, insurance etc) if we visit just 3 or 4 times.

To ensure that we get value for money we have booked a trip starting on May 9^th 2008 during which we intend to take in a week at Myrtle Beach bike week with Jeff, Edith and some of their friends followed by a tour up to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and, roads permitting, Labrador before heading back via Quebec, Montreal and the northern side of the great Lakes with a return home in mid-July.

Having already booked our flights with British Airways there has been one fly in the ointment in the shape of the dreaded Terminal 5 !!! Being the trusting soles that we are we found a large cardboard box, filled it with crash helmets, riding trousers and various other essentials and posted it to Jeff. Amazingly it arrived within 2 days, thank you Parcelforce. It seems that we may now be leaving from Terminal 4 anyway but whatever happens we know we have most of what we need.

It’s possible that we may not be able to update our blog quite so frequently on this trip but, if you’re interested, keep watching and we’ll update whenever we can.

9^th May 2008 – London Heathrow (LHR) to Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI), Maryland USA.

Our flight from Heathrow was delayed by an hour after one of the ground crew servicing the aircraft fell and gashed his head open which meant that we had to wait for an ambulance to sort him out before we could board the aircraft. From then on it was an uneventful flight (just as I like them) and we caught up a little time on the way across. Jeff was there at BWI to collect us and we made our way down to our second home via a very good barbeque restaurant. Unfortunately we caught a lot of the evening rush hour traffic across the Bay Bridge and didn’t arrive until around 22:00 so it was straight to bed for all of us.

10^th May 2008 – Picking up the new Trike.

We were awake pretty early this morning (no surprise there really) so accompanied Jeff to the shop to take our first look at our new toy which, bearing in mind it’s second hand, is in great condition. The trike conversion is of the standard we’ve come to expect from Haus of Trikes (i.e. excellent) and we spent a happy hour or so adding the one or two extras we had to it. The one thing that has yet to be completed is the rear brake conversion so, for the time being, Graham is riding with just a front brake, not ideal but not the end of the world. Unfortunately it was very wet and none too warm this morning so it was lunchtime before we got to take it out. After a short run to make sure all was well we went out (in Edith’s truck) to shop for a few essentials before returning to meet Don & Brenda, friends of Jeff and Edith, who are to be spending the next week with us at Myrtle Beach.

11^th May 2008 – Ocean City, Maryland to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

We knew today would be a long day as we had around 500 miles to cover. With Jeff leading we took the more scenic route south rather than the Interstate and, having made lots of stops en-route (partly because Brenda’s Harley has a range of not much more than 100 miles to a tank of fuel) it took us just over 12 hours to make the journey. The weather was a little mixed; we had rain, wind, cold, warm and even a little sunshine. The Condo Jeff had organised for us turned out to be a very nice two-bedroom affair with everything we could need and even a sea view. The forecast for tomorrow is for sunshine but windy so, hopefully, we’ll get a good chance to explore.

12^th May 2008 – Myrtle Beach Bike Week.

We woke to warm sunshine this morning so made the most of it and went along to Colonial Mall to meet up with Stewart and check out the Haus of Trikes pitch. Much like previous events we’ve been to over here the rally differs considerably from anything we would see at home with vendor areas spread for miles around and, after exploring the rest of the Mall vendor area, we moved on and visited a number of others before returning to the Condo for a very social evening.

13^th May 2008 – Myrtle Beach Bike Week.

More warm sunny weather meant more riding and visiting more vendor areas, all very pleasant. There were fewer people/bikes around than we had anticipated which meant it was easy to take a leisurely look around. We had lunch out whilst making the rounds and followed that with a visit to the famous Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede that included some very clever horsemanship, racing piglets and a good meal.

14^th May 2008 – Myrtle Beach Bike Week.

Today was the day we decided to take a longer ride and head further south to visit Charleston the state capital of South Carolina. It took us around two hours to make the journey and once we arrived we parked up along the riverside and took a walk around one of the old Colonial neighbourhoods to see some of the fabulous old houses. After we’d moved back in to town and stopped for lunch at a riverside restaurant we walked in to the centre to pick up a carriage tour. Pulled by two mules and escorted by a very knowledgeable guide, we saw more of the town before returning to the bikes for the journey ’home’.

15^th May 2008 – Myrtle Beach Bike Week.

Graham & Jeff decided that their bikes really needed a wash so we went along to one of the many bike washes that had set up for the week (it had nothing to do with the fact that the young ladies working the washes were all good looking and bikini clad – or at least that’s what they said !!). After a brief trip back to see Stewart we took a trip along to Margaritaville for lunch (a restaurant owned by Jimmy Buffit – a famous singer) before heading back to ready ourselves for an evening at Horst Gasthaus, a very pleasant German restaurant.

16^th May 2008 – Myrtle Beach Bike Week.

The weather forecast for today was a little less promising but, as the day had started out fine we decided to go and see Stewart to make sure all was well and it turned out to be a good move on our part. When we took possession of the trike it had a driver’s seat back rest fitted and we weren’t really getting on with it too well (it made Graham’s back hot and got in my way) so we’d decided to remove it once we got back to the shop. Fortunately for us, we were approached by a guy who wanted one and we agreed to do a seat swap only, as his was a little older (but in perfect condition) we got a changed seat and $100 – not bad. Later in the day we decided to take a look at Murrels Inlet which is the farthest of the vendor areas and where one of the ‘Suck, Bang Blow’ biker bars is to be found. Unfortunately, the forecast turned out to be right and it started to rain just as we arrived. With no sign of it stopping any time soon, we rode back in the rain (guess where our waterproofs were – yes, you guessed it, back at the Condo) for an evening in.

17^th May 2008 – Myrtle Beach Bike Week.

Don and Brenda left us this morning to start their ride home and the rest of us took a ride a little way to the west to a small (sleepy) historic town called Conway where we had a very pleasant lunch with free dessert (they forced us by telling us that if we didn’t eat it they’d throw it away). It was then back to town for an evening at a local Irish bar where Jeff & Edith were introduced to Irish whiskey which, by the number ‘tested’ it seems they liked.

18^th May 2008 – Myrtle Beach to Washington, North Carolina.

We had to leave the Condo by 10:00 this morning so, once we were packed up, we went along to see Stewart. As there were very few people about and many of the other vendors had already packed up and left, Jeff decided that they might as well load up the trikes that were on show and let Stewart get on his way back with the motorhome and trailer. We were on the road by around 12:30 so were able to comfortably cover 200 miles before stopping for the night in a small town called Washington. We took the trikes out this evening to visit a local eatery and were just finishing our coffee when the skies turned really black so coffees were forgotten in favour of getting back before we got soaked (yes, I know we should have taken our waterproofs but we didn’t!!!!).

19^th May 2008 – Washington to Berlin, Maryland.

The sunshine was back this morning but it turned out to be really, really windy for most of the 300 miles back to Jeff and Edith’s. We took a couple of stops en-route but much of the day was spent in the saddle being blow to bits. As it had been such a tiring journey and no one wanted to go out again, we ordered in pizza and were joined by Edith’s daughter Patti and her son James for a nice lazy evening.

20^th May 2008 – Haus of Trikes.

The weather was awful this morning as we rode down to the shop to get one or two adjustments made to the trike and to see what, if anything, had been sorted out regarding the rear brake. As the guys had not heard anything more about the brake they made contact with a local metal fabricator (who specialises in boat propellers) who was happy to help and has promised to come along to take a look at exactly what is needed tomorrow morning. This evening, we went with Jeff, Edith, Ed, Patti & James to a very nice seafood restaurant on the Marina at West Ocean City.

21^st May 2008 – Haus of Trikes.

As promised Scott, the metal fabricator, came along this morning to see exactly what was required and to take some measurements. He now has our trike locked up in his workshop ready to start work on it first thing tomorrow so, hopefully, it will be done by the end of the day. This will be a useful exercise for Jeff as he is soon to attend a day at the local hospital for wounded US troops and he will be able to take along an example of the brake conversion to show what can be done. We’re now on our way out to go to the local Irish bar – should be interesting!

22^nd May 2008 – Haus of Trikes.

We’ve had a very lazy day today waiting on Scott’s handiwork. We know the job has been started but don’t yet know when it will be finished as he had to get some more materials. Here’s hoping for tomorrow. This evening Graham and I will be joining Edith at a local Italian restaurant as Jeff has started out on a fairly epic delivery job – he’s riding a newly converted trike across to Oregon to it’s new owner and will be flying back. Only 3000 miles each way !!

23^rd May 2008 – Haus of Trikes.

Still no joy with the brake conversion I’m afraid. Scott worked very hard and put together a system of levers which looked like they should do the job although they were rather bigger than they needed to be (but he is used to working on large boats) but, unfortunately, once put to the test we discovered that the lever hit the ground on braking (not a good idea). This may have been, in part, due to a brake fluid leak on the back end but we won’t know that until tomorrow when Ed is going to take a look at it. Once we know that we’ll have to decide what our next move will be.

24^th May 2008 – Haus of Trikes.

Hooray – we have a rear brake at last !! Ed spent the best part of the day making adjustments, repairing the fluid leak etc. and managed to get it working this afternoon, it’s not pretty, it’s not perfect but it will be okay for this trip and can be looked at again once we get back and it means we can get on our way tomorrow. This evening we went to a really good Japanese restaurant where they cook your food at the table and then Edith took us for a spin around the waterfront at Ocean City. I hadn’t realised it was quite so big; there is a sizable funfair and a nice boardwalk and beach. All in all a very pleasant evening.

25^th May 2008 – Ocean City to Bethlehem Pennsylvania.

We left Edith this morning (Jeff is still making good progress on his trip west) and set off, in the warm sunshine, north through Delaware and in to Pennsylvania skirting around the cities of Wilmington and Philadelphia before stopping alongside one of the Interstates. We stopped fairly early this afternoon so that we could get wi-fi access and get the blog uploaded etc. We’re not sure how often we’ll be able to get access but, if you’re interested, keep checking and we’ll update as often as we can.

26^th May 2008 – Bethlehem to Albany New York State.

The receptionist at last night’s motel recommended a local Scottish Restaurant (called Braveheart) and even arranged for the motel shuttle to take us there and pick us up once we’d done (can’t be bad). The food turned out to be really good and the Malt Whiskey (Oban) was, I’m told, also worth the $11 it cost!! We left in warm sunshine this morning (which turned to real hot sunshine) and headed northeast through part of New Jersey and in to New York State with Albany as our goal destination. Sounds easy but it seems that almost nowhere in NY State sells state maps and we made around 4/5 stops before getting hold of one. The traffic was also fairly heavy today as it’s the Memorial Day holiday so it took a long time to do not all that many miles but not to worry we made it.

27^th May 2008 – Albany to Gorham, New Hampshire White Mountains.

We had a much more pleasant ride today although what started out as a hot sunny morning turned into a decidedly cold, cloudy afternoon. Our route took us north and east through Vermont (a very pretty state) and the Green Mountains and along some nicely winding roads in to New Hampshire and the White Mountains. We’re spending this evening in a very pleasant little town called Gorham which is still in the mountains and, consequently, it’s getting even chillier as the evening progresses (the forecast is for a low of 34F – just above freezing). Our plan for tomorrow is to make for the border and stay just the US side so that we have a clear run at Canadian customs on Thursday morning.

28^th May 2008 – Gorham to Calais, Maine.

We woke to beautiful blue skies this morning but there was a keen cold wind that persisted all day; it did warm a little but at no time could you call it warm. Our route took us northeast through the remainder of New Hampshire and right across Maine where there’s an awful lot of not a lot except trees. We’ve now checked in to a motel (fairly basic but okay) which is just up the road from the border crossing so, with a little luck, we should make it in to Canada sometime tomorrow morning. I’d best go now as the restaurant attached to the motel apparently shuts at 20:00. I guess we’ll be spending the evening in front of the T.V.

29^th May 2008 – Calais to Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick, Canada.

We made an early start this morning in an effort to get through customs before the queues formed and it worked. We had expected to first arrive at U.S. customs to be ‘checked out’ and then to go on to Canadian customs but it didn’t quite work like that; the first ‘kiosk’ we came to belonged to the Canadians and was ‘manned’ by a very helpful young lady who asked a few questions regarding the ownership of the Trike etc. but didn’t want to see the paperwork we had, she also took the U.S. exit paperwork (as that’s what it said on the back should happen) and we were through within around five minutes (or an hour and five if you count that we lost an hour in crossing the border as it’s Atlantic Time). After a visit to the Information Office to collect a map etc. we headed out on to the Bay of Fundy scenic road which, although quite pretty in places, didn’t actually follow the coast as closely as we’d expected. By this time it had got really windy and what with the wind and the rubbish road surfaces, it turned out to be hard work. We are now staying in a small motel close to where the world’s highest tides occur (up to 48 feet). We’ve seen the low tide and we’ll be seeing the high tide tomorrow morning, it should be interesting to see the difference.

30^th May 2008 – Hopewell Cape to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Today’s weather was almost a repeat of yesterdays i.e. cold and windy despite the sunshine. As the weather forecast was for rain on Saturday and Sunday morning we decided there was little point in trying to see the coastal views but instead to find a town to base ourselves in for a day or two. After a discussion with a very helpful lady in the tourist centre we booked in to a B&B in Halifax, the provincial capitol where there is said to be plenty to see. We followed part of one of the scenic routes to get in to town so it took longer than it otherwise would have but we still arrived by late afternoon. The B&B turned out to be a bit further away from the waterfront than we were led to believe and having walked down (literally, the hills are pretty steep) we spent the evening in a very friendly bar/restaurant that just happened to have some very good live music on offer (it turns out there’s a music festival on) before getting a taxi back to our digs.

31^st May 2008 – Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Our first stop this morning was to the very big weekly farmers market which is held at the local brewery building. From there we took a walk along the waterfront boardwalk and in to the Maritime Museum which turned out to be very interesting. The promised rain arrived during the late afternoon so we made our way back to the bar we were in yesterday evening as we’d heard there was live Jazz music being played; there was and it was ably supplied by the NSCC (Nova Scotia Community College) jazz ensemble. The afternoon soon became the evening and as our nutty waitress had suggested that the evening’s entertainment was unlikely to be our taste, we decided to leave before we took root. We left to find that the rain had turned to a fairly dense mist/fog so we’ll have to see what the weather’s doing before we decide on a plan of action for tomorrow.

1^st June 2008 – Halifax to Lunenburg.

There was torrential rain overnight last night and, as a result, we spent the first hour or so of this morning emptying out the flooded trunk of the Trike where the binoculars, zoom lens for the camera etc. etc. had been stored !! We managed to dry out most things by using the hairdryer but the trunk carpet was still sodden so we scrounged some garbage bags to put all of our other bags into before we could pack. It was, as we’d feared, foggy and very cold when we left but we decided to head for the scenic South Shore coastal route anyway and, despite the weather it was very pretty. We made a couple of stops en-route one at the Peggy Cove lighthouse, before making our way in to Lunenburg, a World Heritage Site. By the time we’d arrived the sun had come out and it had started to warm up a bit. We haven’t managed to see the town yet (were just getting cleaned up before we go and explore) but have checked in to a very nice olde worlde B&B (the Maplebird Inn) run by two ex-pats who very kindly let us park in their enormous barn so that we could hang the trunk carpet out to dry and leave the trunk open. Now, off to explore….

2^nd June 2008 – Lunenburg to Shelburne.

Although there was a sea mist again when we woke this morning it started to burn off quite quickly and we were soon seeing some very pretty shoreline in nice warm sunshine. We followed the ‘Lighthouse’ scenic route all along the coast with one or two brief stops along the way. As the route winds in and out of small coves, villages etc. and the road are often very bumpy; it takes quite a time to get anywhere. We’ve stopped a little early today, as accommodation seems to be clustered around certain towns with very little in between, it was either stop here, early, or go on for another 2 to 3 hours. There is just one slight snag, the only restaurant our host recommended is closed because of a fault with their refrigerator and the only one open (it’s still out of season) is the one she specifically didn’t recommend – oh well it was food (but not as you’d know it)!!!!

3^rd June 2008 – Shelburne to Digby.

We left in really nice warm sunshine this morning and rejoined the ‘Lighthouse’ route following the coast first, further west, then north and finally east around to the Fundy coast (the opposite side to where we were in New Brunswick). The scenery was, again, pretty although not spectacular but we do have a great view from our accommodation. We’re now staying in yet another historic house/B&B as, strangely, they appear to be cheaper and have better facilities than the motels. This one is in the town of Digby which is world famous (so they say) for it’s scallops having the largest scallop fleet in the world; we may just have to go and try some this evening, it would be rude not to don’t you think?? Mileage to date 3413.

4^th June 2008 – Digby to Windsor.

The scallops were very good, the weather not quite so as it rained overnight but, thankfully, not enough to flood the trunk. There were still grey skies this morning but we were lucky and it stayed dry all day. Our route took us along the ‘Evangaline’ route, another scenic/tourist route which took us through the Annapolis valley with it’s farmland and orchards, generally still pretty but with some rather bumpy roads. We’re spending tonight in another B&B (the Fiddlehead Inn) that, again, puts those at home to shame; we have a bedroom which is much larger than ours at home, a nice en-suite bathroom and our own personal lounge. To top all that our very friendly hosts greeted us with cold drinks and cookies and a garage to park the bike in. Now I know people are always saying that it’s a small world but would you believe that Don, one of our hosts, spent part of his childhood in Rayleigh, Essex where I spent most of my childhood and where my Dad still lives – very strange!!

5^th June 2008 – Windsor to Sherbrooke.

It rained again overnight and was very overcast but warm as we left; unfortunately, it got colder (much) as the day went on and it was windy too. What with the weather and the very bumpy roads along the Eastern Shore coast road (quite pretty in places but nothing special), it hasn’t been a particularly enjoyable day. To top it off, the best accommodation we’ve been able to find is in a very bland motel with few facilities which is costing almost as much as last nights very good B&B. Oh well, some days are bound to be better than others I suppose!!

6^th June 2008 – Sherbrooke to Port Hawkesbury, Cape Breton Island.

We were back to sunshine this morning and it was a little warmer (64F whoopee!). We continued to follow the ‘Marine Drive’ but after 20 miles or so discovered that the ferry we needed to catch to take us across one of the many inlets wasn’t running so it was a case of going back 20 miles and taking a different route to get us back to where we needed to be. The roads have continued to be extremely bumpy, to the point where we’ve grounded a few times, so the ride is not that comfortable but the scenery has been quite good in places (a lot like parts of Scandinavia with lots of lakes and trees). We’ve now reached Cape Breton Island which is supposed to be great for motorcycling and the weather forecast for the next few days is good so, fingers crossed….

7^th June 2008 – Port Hawkesbury to Cheticamp (via the Cabot trail).

Unfortunately, the weather forecast was a little optimistic and we woke to very overcast skies and temperatures which failed to exceed 55F all day. We decided that we’d still make for the Cabot trail at the north of the island as it’s described as “a biker’s dream” and as “one of the best motorcycling roads you’re likely to find”; it undoubtedly has some of the best scenery we’ve seen in Nova Scotia but we both agree that the descriptions were rather generous. The road surface at the very north of the trail on the ‘mountain’ stretches is pretty good but in other areas it’s diabolical and really quite dangerous for bikes with cracks that are wide enough to take an entire front wheel, bumps/dips big enough to move us both out of our seats and, for one fellow biker, to break the catches on both his saddlebags (panniers) at the same time!! There are one or two other sights we still want to see on the island but we’ve decided we’ve had enough of bouncing around so, once we’ve seen those were going to catch a ferry across to Newfoundland where we hope to see whales and icebergs (yes – I know, it’s not going to get any warmer over there but….).

8^th June 2008 – Cheticamp to Baddeck.

Unfortunately, there’s been no improvement in the weather; in fact it’s got worse with rain accompanying the cold. Our first stop this morning was at the Glenmore distillery, the only Malt whiskey distillery in North America. We had hoped to take a tour and to arrange to ship some of the produce home but they’re not distilling at the moment so the tour would have been to see idle machinery (seemed a bit pointless) and they don’t ship overseas so this wasn’t our most successful outing!! As the weather was deteriorating we decided to head for one of the major towns in the area (its’ still not much bigger than a UK village) and check in somewhere early. We’re now staying in very nice Inn on the edge of town and we’ve booked our ferry across to Newfoundland for tomorrow morning; with a 5/6 hour crossing this will see us arrive late afternoon ready to start another new adventure on Tuesday. As the forecast for that area is even cooler with highs around 10C/50F we took a walk into town and bought ourselves another layer of clothing, some very snazzy Cape Breton sweatshirts – nice!!

9^th June 2008 – Baddeck to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland.

We left fairly early this morning as we had to pay for and collect our ferry tickets before boarding for an 11:30 sailing. As it was we needn’t have left so early but having spare time at the docks gave us the opportunity to speak to a very helpful lady at the Newfoundland tourist office as well as a fellow motorcyclist, Bill, whose been across before, also very useful. Once we were on board and settled, we started to take a look at the maps and information we’d been given and were approached by a local truck driver who gave us some very handy tips, including the suggestion that we take our proposed route and turn it back to front as this would leave the best ‘til last rather than leaving us with a fairly long, boring run back at the end of the tour. It also looks like we will be able to make a short visit to Labrador as there is only a short, inexpensive ferry crossing to get us there; it’s likely that it will only be an overnight stay as there is no more than 90km of paved road and it doesn’t seem sensible to tackle the 600km or so of dirt that follows it. Just a brief note on the weather – it’s been grey all the way across, it’s still grey now and, if we look just up the road from the hotel we can see the snow on the side of the hills, hmmm!!!

10^th June 2008 – Port aux Basques to Gander.

We like Newfoundland ! The scenery is more dramatic than Nova Scotia and the roads (or more specifically the road – there is only one that takes you across the island) are in much better condition than the roads in Nova Scotia. We’re currently making our way across to St John’s, the capital, where we intend to take a look at the city and possibly take a tour out to see some puffins, not sure yet if this is the best area to see them so we’ll wait and see on that one. We’ve covered around 350 miles today so, weather permitting, we should make the city early enough to take a look around in the afternoon. We actually saw some sunshine this afternoon although it was still pretty cold; the forecast for the next few days is a bit uncertain – it depends which TV station you watch but if the one forecasting rain on Thursday/Friday turns out to be right, we may stay in the city a little longer as some of the areas we intend going to afterwards are a bit exposed. Mileage to date 4576.

11^th June 2008 – Gander to St John’s.

It was very murky when we woke up this morning so we left slightly later than usual en-route to St John’s. The weather improved as we made our way along the highway and we saw some really pretty scenery, lots of lakes and ponds, some quite reminiscent of mountain top plateaus you would find in, say, the Alps and these extended really quite close to town (within 10 miles). We also saw our first moose feeding in a roadside field just on the outskirts of the city. We’ve apparently picked the wrong time to try to find accommodation here as there is some sort of convention on; we’ve ended up paying a bit more than we wanted to stay a bit further out of town than we wanted – oh well!! We’re going to take a walk in to ‘downtown’ to see what’s there and we’ll probably get a taxi back.

12^th June 2008 – Gander to Witless Bay via the Irish Loop.

It’s been a really good day despite the cold (46F at one point this morning), the rain and the fog; it genuinely has been a good day. Things started out a little strangely when the guy running our B&B overslept and one of the other guests who’s apparently a regular there, cooked breakfast for us; the kitchen is available for anyone to use and you just help yourselves to the contents of the cupboards, fridge etc. It was rather like posh student digs with various people in and out and cooking for themselves. Once we’d left St John’s we made for the Irish Loop, one of the many scenic routes and it was well worth the trip. Fairly early on the road took us through Witless Bay (where we’re now staying) past some of the Icebergs that can be seen from the road, by this time it had started to rain, not heavily but enough for me to have to cover the camera. We passed through areas of small fir trees, fjords and a large expanse of very barren, rocky ground covered in nothing but heather and moss. Once we’d completed the loop we called in at the local tourist office to find some accommodation and to book a boat tour. Once we’d thrown our bags into our room we made for the boat as it was due to leave at 16:30. The tour took us out to see some icebergs at close quarters and to see some bird colonies, including Puffins, we were also very lucky and saw a Humpback whale and a Minke whale. Not bad for one day!

13^th June 2008 – Witless Bay to Twillingate.

There’s not too much to report today as most of our journey retraced our wheel tracks along the Trans Canada Highway back to Gander; from there we travelled north out to the Island/town of Twillingate which is on the coast that forms ‘iceberg alley’. The weather has not been kind to us today, we started with cold and drizzle, then had cold and fog before finally cold and pouring rain. According to the internet, the temperature shortly after we arrived was 4C with a wind chill of –3C, see I said it was cold!!

14^th June 2008 – Twillingate to Rocky Harbour (Gros Morne National Park).

Our main reason for visiting Twillingate was to take a boat tour to see the Icebergs and whales. Unfortunately the foul weather has put paid to that (yesterday’s winds were recorded as 56kph gusting to 80kph) as none of the operators expect to run for a few days yet; as a result we left this morning shortly after the worst of the rain had subsided. It was really, really cold and damp again as we made our way back along the Trans Canada Highway but just as we started to head north towards the Gros Morne National Park the sun came out (it was still cold but what the heck!). Rocky Harbour is a very pretty little town inside the park and we have checked in to a very nice hotel on the waterfront and we have a nice warm room with a view, an on site restaurant and a pub with local entertainment this evening so things are definitely looking up.

15^th June 2008 – Rocky Harbour to St Anthony.

We had a really good evening, one which we shared with a guy (Robert) who’s originally from Krakow, Poland but now lives in New Jersey; it was very interesting to compare notes as he’s been to a number of places we’ve also been to. It was fairly bright when we checked out this morning and we headed north towards St Anthony, which is pretty much the most northerly point of Newfoundland. All was well for the first 120 miles but it then got foggy and very windy in places – not very comfortable at all for the remaining 60 miles but we made it safe and sound. Our plan was to visit the nearby Viking settlement tomorrow (an original settlement that is used as a living museum) but the weather forecast is pretty grotty so we may just sit it out, read a book and go on Tuesday but that depends on what the longer term forecast is as we can’t just sit around for days!!

16^th June 2008 – Visit to L’Anse aux Meadows.

It was foggy when we woke this morning but, as the weather isn’t supposed to improve for a few days yet, we decided to stick to plan A and visit L’Anse aux Meadows where an authenticated Viking settlement was discovered in around 1960. There is a small museum and visitors centre where you can see some of the original artefacts along with some on loan from a Norwegian museum and where you can watch a 30-minute film showing interviews with the archaeologists who made the discovery and some original footage of the site being excavated. We also joined a guided walking tour of the site that finished up at a reconstruction of a number of Viking buildings that were ‘occupied’ by locals wearing Viking costume – all very interesting. From there we went along the road to a reconstruction of a small Viking village, which, amongst other things, houses a Swedish built replica of a Viking ship. One of the things that surprised us a little was to find a rather large pile of snow still on the ground and to discover that just two weeks ago, the ‘vikings’ who were ‘living’ there had been madly shovelling snow trying to get the place ready to open (you could also see an iceberg just off-shore when the mist allowed and the temperature read out on the bike showed just 41F). Just as we left it started to rain and rain hard so, after a brief stop for a warming bowl of soup, it was back to the motel to sit it out and decide what to do from here. Mileage to date 5742.

17^th June 2008 – St Anthony to L’Anse au Clair, Labrador.

We decided that today was the day for us to visit Labrador. Having been told that we would have no trouble getting on the ferry we booked a motel on ‘the big Land’ as they call it and then started to make tracks, no problem we thought as the ferry doesn’t leave until 15:30 and it’s only 75 miles away. There was just one fly in the ointment in that we didn’t have enough gas (petrol) to get us to the ferry terminal and the whole peninsula had just suffered a power cut so neither of the fuel stations was functioning – hmm! To try to kill a little time we went out to see the park called fisherman’s landing and en-route saw a whale frolicking just off of the coast. We then headed back in to town, still no power, so we went back to our motel to take refuge from the cold and drizzle and just as we arrived the power came back on – phew. Once we’d gassed up we headed south through a lot more drizzle and some very, very strong winds stopping on the way for a nice warming bowl of chilli. We arrived at the ferry terminal with lots of time to spare and stayed in the booking office as long as we could before loading. We left the ferry and rode to the motel in sunshine; it still wasn’t warm but a definite improvement. Having sorted out our room we went off for a ride along the only piece of paved road in the province which extends for approximately 50 miles. Our original intention had been to ride to the end of the tarmac but the winds were absolutely howling in places and it seemed like a pointless exercise so we turned around and headed back for a nice warm shower.

18^th June 2008 - L’Anse au Clair to Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland.

It was back to the ferry this morning for another uneventful crossing. The sun was shining when we left the boat and it stayed that way for the majority of the journey (just one short shower along the way) and it was also a lot less windy – heaven! We’ve returned to a motel we used earlier in the week as it’s in a nice position, has a good restaurant and a bar with entertainment. We’re not really sure where we’re going to stop tomorrow as we’re near enough to get back to the ferry back to Nova Scotia but not if we stop and see some of the sites along the way, it’s a toss up whether to make it one long day or two short one’s - decisions, decisions! Mileage to date 6052

19^th June 2008 – Rocky Harbour to Port aux Basques.

Sometimes going back to somewhere you previously enjoyed can be a mistake as was the case last night. We returned to the Ocean View Motel to discover that they had moved into their summer season so the room cost $25.00 more than last time and the restaurant menu had changed with prices there increasing considerably too. Worse than that, their new menu was causing some system problems and orders were not getting through to the kitchen – that’s all very well when you know about it but we didn’t until it was too late!! Our main meals came out before our appetizer so we sent them back, we then waited and waited; at one point we were told that our starter was on its way out but it still didn’t arrive so, to cut a long story short, we ended up with me having a ‘discussion’ with the head chef (it was all very polite but I made my views known) and we eventually got our meal, in the right order, and we didn’t have to pay for it. Before leaving the hotel this morning we rang ahead to book a ferry for Saturday morning only to discover that we could leave on Friday morning or not until next Tuesday!! That made our minds up for us and, having made a short detour around a really pretty fjord, we headed for Port aux Basques and the ferry that’s reserved for tomorrow at 09:00. The ride was fine until we reached a point around 20 miles north of town where they have permanent high wind advisories posted – I can honestly say I’ve never been so frightened on a Trike, the wind was incredibly strong and made every effort to take us off the road, we were both leaning as far left as it was possible whilst staying aboard and I still don’t know how Graham managed to hang on to it but thank heavens he did.

20^th June 2008 – Port aux Basques to Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

We were up early this morning to be at the docks in plenty of time to collect our tickets and make the 09:00 sailing. Unfortunately, the ferry operator had a problem with one of it’s vessels and had to take it out of service so we spent a few hours in the terminal building waiting for the replacement boat and we eventually left around three hours late. The crossing was pretty uneventful although we did see two pods of porpoise and two whales, not something you’d see on our usual cross channel ferries. Whilst on board we met a very pleasant local lady who was telling us some stories about the weather including the fact that she couldn’t leave her house for twelve straight days last winter because of snow; she also pointed out a house that had had it’s refrigerator and freezer removed by high waves one winter. We mentioned the strong winds we had encountered and she told us that it is normal for winds across ‘the wreck’ as they call it (very aptly named) to be around 90kmph (56mph) and that they have been known to reach 210kmph (130mph), she also said that, on average, one vehicle per week is taken off of the road by the winds; I’m glad we didn’t know that before we went across!! Once we reached Nova Scotia we made the short journey back to the town of Baddeck and the same hotel we’d used before. En-route we saw something we’d never seen before i.e. a cycle race with a difference – a unicycle race that must have covered 20 miles and took in some pretty steep inclines – these people must be mad.

21^st June 2008 – Baddeck.

As the weather forecast was showing good weather (hoorah!) we decided to book a second night in Baddeck and have a lazy day pottering around town and that’s exactly what we’ve done. We’ve walked through the town in and out of the shops, had lunch outside (whoopee!) on a café deck with a view of Lake Bras d’Or, and walked back via the lakeside boardwalk, all very pleasant. Whilst in town we met a couple of ex-pats who’ve been living in the town for the past two years (interestingly the guy was ex-army and the youngest Beefeater to have ever worked at the Tower of London) and we asked if they knew of any entertainment in town this evening. They mentioned a number of possibilities, the best of which (to us) seemed to be to pay a visit to the Royal Canadian Legion where there is local music and where, we’re told; they welcome all visitors with open arms, sounds like it could be an interesting evening.

22^nd June 2008 – Baddeck to Pictou.

Well, it was an interesting evening but not quite what we’d expected; we’d seen an ad on local T.V. for a nightly Ceilidh at the village hall and, as that was just across the road we decided to take a look only, as we discovered this morning, they don’t actually start until next week! As that hadn’t worked out we went along to the Royal Canadian Legion who were more than happy for us to join them for their advertised dance only the ‘them’ turned out to be just a handful of people including one very, very drunk ‘Robert’ who told us a number of stories at least three times each !!! As there wasn’t much happening there we went further along the road to the Thistledown Pub which is attached to a Spa/resort. They did have live music but it was one poor guy playing very Dillon-esque music competing against a mob of females away for a ‘girlie’ weekend, but we still had fun despite the very loud girly giggles. This morning dawned warm and sunny (at last) and the temperature this afternoon reached the dizzy heights of 79F as we made our way back off of Cape Breton Island and across to the Northumberland coast ready to catch a boat across to Prince Edward Island. As we’d been told of a nice little town where the original Scots landed and formed Nova Scotia (New Scotland) we decided to stop early, get a room in a nice B&B and walk in to town before getting the boat across tomorrow.

23^rd June 2008 Pictou to Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island.

Pictou turned out to be a nice little town (although there is a rather ugly/smelly papermill across the water) and, during the day, being a Sunday, was fairly full of people enjoying the sunshine and ice cream on the waterfront. The evening turned out to be much quieter with just a handful of people out to eat (the locals apparently have their main meal at around 16:00) but we had a pleasant evening chatting to the waitresses at the Alex Thom pub. We left our B&B early enough this morning to catch the 09:30 ferry and were in PEI as everyone calls it, by 11:00 (They have a very strange system here, you don’t pay to get on to the Island only to get off and the cost of the ferry is less than taking the toll bridge so I’m not sure how they work that out between them!). After a brief visit to the tourist office we made for one of the scenic routes that takes in all of the eastern peninsula. There is nothing stunning about the countryside but the Island appears to live up to its nickname of ‘the gentle island’ with rolling countryside full of farms and very nice houses. We had one minor delay on our trip around when we saw two fellow motorcyclists stopped on the side of the road having run out of gas (petrol). As they had some gas and their truck at their cabin a short distance away I stayed with the lady and the bike whilst Graham ran the guy home to get the truck etc. Our good deed for the day done we continued on our way and, having realised by now that all of the B&B’s appeared to be in the middle of nowhere with no prospect of eating close by, we rode out to an Inn that was signposted from the road but, as it turned out, their restaurant isn’t open in the evenings so they directed us to their sister property a few miles away. It’s a really nice historic house with a sea view and has a posh restaurant on site so it’s inevitably expensive but they did give us a free upgrade so that Graham didn’t have to tackle the stairs in the tower.

24^th June 2008 – Bay Fortune to Charlottestown via the East Point Loop.

It’s just as well we got the free upgrade last night as the restaurant offered a five course ‘Chef’s choice’ menu where the chef decides the menu for you based on what’s particularly good/fresh that day, this was accompanied by a wine flight – four wines to accompany the various courses (If you include the ‘amuse bouche’ and the sorbet it was actually seven courses). As we rarely get this sort of opportunity we took it but, in doing so, we blew around a weeks budget in one night – oh well!! We woke to heavy rain this morning but by the time we’d had breakfast it had stopped and it continued to improve throughout the day. Our route took us through a number of small communities, along some pretty coasts but mostly through arable land. As we were in desperate need of a laundry we booked ahead to a chain motel in Charlottestown, the Provincial Capital, which had the requisite facilities and we arrived at around 14:30. As the weather was still good we took the walk into downtown and along the waterfront before happening on a very nice Brew Pub called Gahan’s where we sampled all seven of their brews plus their very own root beer (which was truly horrible). A few beers and a pleasant meal later we made our way back to the motel and the laundry, ho hum, I suppose it had to be done!

25^th June 2008 – Charlottestown to Summerside via the Blue Heron scenic loop.

It was warm and sunny when we left this afternoon but was also a little breezy; it stayed sunny but became very windy in places as the day went on. As today’s route was a complete loop we decided to stop off on the way out and book a motel so that we didn’t have to think about it later. Having booked in to a motel that can best be described as ‘no frills’ (but it is cheap) we made for the scenic loop. It was undoubtedly pretty in places but nothing to write home about. PEI is most famous (apparently) for being the home of L M Montgomery the author of ‘Anne of Green Gables’ and most of the sites on this route are related to that fact (the house where she was born etc), the whole route only took us a few hours. From the literature we’d seen we expected Summerside to be a smaller version of Charlottetown with a scenic waterfront etc. but it hasn’t turned out quite like that, there is a waterfront but nothing has been made of it, in fact, the shopping mall on the front is practically empty as many of the stores have moved out to the bigger mall on the outskirts. We’re planning on making the final loop tomorrow and that will bring us back here again, whether we’ll stay at the same motel remains to be seen.

26^th June 2008 – North Cape Loop.

Yesterday evening we took a five-minute stroll along to a pub/restaurant where we spent a pleasant evening chatting to the bar staff and a guy from Ontario who’s working in the area. When we went out it was warm and dry but by the time we left it was belting with rain, it’s surprising just how wet you can get in a three-minute dash back to your motel especially when the local drunk passes you on his bicycle and then promptly falls off in the middle of the road (he seemed to be okay)!! It rained for most of the night and still looked pretty threatening this morning but, as we made our way around the last of the scenic loops on the island, we escaped with only a couple of short showers. This loop took in all of the western peninsula and, as the name above suggests, the most northerly point on the island; the scenery was all very gentle, nice rolling fields (mostly of potatoes) and pretty coastal inlets. In total it was around 200 miles and a generally very pleasant day which saw us returning to Summerside but a different, much nicer motel (which only cost around $10 more).

27^th June 2008 – Summerside to St. George, New Brunswick.

Just next door to last night’s motel was a 1950’s style Diner that was very well done. The décor included two period gas (petrol) pumps, a juke box (which unfortunately wasn’t working) and staff dressed in circular skirts and bobby socks; we ate burgers, fries and had a huge milkshake each – very 1950’s and great. It rained again overnight (heavily) and was still raining hard this morning so we went for breakfast trying to decide weather or not to move on or stay put (as we’ve still got plenty of time). As the weather forecast suggested we’d be riding through, and out of the rain we left and made for the Confederation Bridge, an 8-mile long toll bridge across the bay of St Lawrence. It cost us $16.50 to cross but if we’d used the ferry (as we did for free to get on to the island) it would have cost us around $56, it’s a very strange system they have but it certainly worked in our favour. Today’s ride was damp in places and, as it was all on major roads, relatively boring but it has got us to within easy striking distance of the U.S. border so we’ll be heading there in the morning to see what fun and games we have getting back in!!

28^th June 2008 – St George to Bar Harbor, Maine, USA.

We made St Stephen where the Canadian/US border is within about an hour of leaving this morning; we then spent the next hour sitting in a queue to get to the crossing itself. Once we did we were asked where our white US immigration forms were and we explained that we’d handed them to the Canadian immigration officer when we left last month; we were then asked to park up and go inside as we needed to get new documentation. The process was painless for us as we have visas, all they needed was to check our fingerprints/photos and where we were going and then we were on our way (it cost us $6 each for the documentation) but they did say we must make sure we handed in our white slips before we leave the U.S. (not sure if it’s us that was confused or them as that’s just what we did!). From the border we joined US1 and headed south to Bar Harbor a nice little town that we visited last year, we’re now staying in the same room in the same motel as we were in last year (purely by chance), we’ve booked in for 2 nights so we have time to potter around town tomorrow. Mileage to date 7461.

29^th June 2008 – Bar Harbor.

Whilst searching out a laundromat yesterday afternoon I chanced upon a blues bar that was advertising a live band for the evening. We went along and spent a really good evening listening to some great music and chatting to a number of different ‘locals’ whilst having a drink or two (I really do have to get used to the American hand poured measures again). It was raining (for a change) by the time we left and it rained for most of the night and quite bit of this morning and there was thunder mixed in too; as a result we’ve spent most of the day in and out of stores, cafes etc. As we came across the border yesterday we realised that we would be in the U.S. for the 4^th July celebrations and that, as it falls on a weekend, we would have to try to find somewhere to go and to book ahead. Trying to find somewhere sensible to go hasn’t been easy, particularly as the weather forecast in most areas seems to be rather unsettled right the way through to next weekend, so we cheated and called Jeff & Edith to see what they’re doing for the holiday and have found ourselves invited to a weekend party at Don & Brenda’s (the guys we travelled to Myrtle Beach with) so it should be fun whatever the weather.

30^th June 2008 – Bar Harbor to Montpelier, Vermont.

We left this morning if fog (warm fog but fog none the less) and we rode through a mix of heavy showers and sunshine. Our route was a little less than direct as we didn’t want to take the Interstates and did want to take a wide swing west to avoid New York City. We’ve covered almost 300 miles, some of it through the White Mountains and other pretty bits of New Hampshire/Vermont and we’re now ensconced in a chain motel close to I89 as we have little choice but to join the Interstate for just a few miles tomorrow when we start to head south and in to New York state.

1^st July 2008 – Montpelier to Saugerties, New York State.

After 30 miles or so on the Interstate we joined some very pretty roads through Vermont, Massachusetts and in to New York State. Highway 7 in Vermont is a particularly pretty road and all was going well until we discovered that Highways 7 in Vermont and New York State are two different roads going in two different directions and we’d taken the wrong one – oops! We’d ended up rather further south on the wrong side of the Hudson river than we’d intended but all was not lost as we were able to take the ‘Rip Van Winkle Bridge’ across (honest, that’s what it’s called) to reconnect (ish) with our original route. The other slight problem we encountered was a torrential downpour which only lasted around 10 minutes but which was enough to soak us through and cause our nice new £700 ($1400) worth of camera to fog up so badly that it won’t work!!! With luck it will dry out overnight if not we’ll be making a call to our insurers tomorrow.

2^nd July 2008 – Saugerties to Lancaster Pennsylvania.

The camera survived – hoorah! It was raining again as we left (not hoorah!) so the camera stayed firmly in the top box until it had stopped and we’d lost the threatening clouds. After yesterday’s little faux pas we’d chosen a route that looked quite simply i.e. join the 209 heading south west and keep going; it started out okay and took us through the Delaware Gap National Recreation Area (a bit like a State Park) so the road was good and it was pretty. Unfortunately, shortly after leaving the park the roads turned to utter poop and we ended up going through a number of grubby, grotty mining towns that all appeared to be clones of one another – not good. To add to that, we chose to rely on our SatNav to get us to the motel we’d spotted that had a laundry and it took us right through the middle of Lancaster which is fairly big city and one of the roads we were supposed to take was closed so that was fun and games. As it turns out the motel is right next door to an outlet mall so it may just be that we go and console ourselves with a little retail therapy. Mileage to date 8221.

3^rd July 2008 – Lancaster to Berlin, Maryland.

It was hot and sunny when we left this morning and we made our way across country on some of the more scenic Pennsylvanian roads, into Delaware and down to Haus of Trikes where we were met by Jeff and Edith who was in her gallery next door. Also there to meet us was one of their new dogs Jackson; they’ve just adopted two ex-racing greyhounds (well actually one who raced and one who didn’t make the race circuit) the other dog Luke was at home waiting for us when we arrived later in the day. Once Jeff had closed the shop we went back to the house before heading out to dinner to discuss plans for the weekend.

4^th July (American Independence Day)– Berlin to Granite, Maryland.

As the weather forecast wasn’t great we decided that it was sensible for us all to travel up to Don & Brenda’s in Jeff’s Motorhome (they were taking it anyway so that the dogs could come along). The journey took around three hours as we were, thankfully, heading in the opposite direction to most of the traffic that was making for the beaches. We arrived early afternoon and were shown around Don & Brenda’s beautiful home which, is on the register of historic houses, where Don was born, and which has been in his family for generations – lovely. The garden wasn’t bad either, just 5 acres with a few other properties scattered around it, room for pet goats and a fishpond that would fill our back garden. As the day went on we were joined by a good number of people from the local community as well as some of Don’s work colleagues and members of Don & Brenda’s families. There was a barbeque (despite the rain we had during the evening), lots of food Brenda had prepared plus about five bagfuls of the famous Maryland crabs (that was an experience, ‘picking’ our first crab). Some of the neighbours who had joined us put on a firework display later in the evening and it was, all in all, a very good day.

5^th July 2008 – Granite, Maryland.

Today was spent mooching around the local area and visiting some of Don’s relatives and neighbours. We’d already heard a lot about a car collection which belonged to Don’s late brother and he arranged for us to take a look and, boy was it worth it; there were something like eight large garages filled with all sorts of goodies including three Corvettes, a couple of Impala’s and even a 1930’s Rolls Royce complete with UK registration – fabulous. We also went along to take a look at a neighbours swimming pool that Don had spent a good number of months helping to dig out, it was wonderful, had it’s own diving board, slide and jets which allow you to swim without going anywhere (the owner is a tri-athlete who uses it for training purposes). From there it was back for yet more food and an early celebration of Edith’s birthday tomorrow.

6^th July 2008 – Granite to Ocean City.

It was back in the motorhome and south to Jeff & Edith’s home this morning – we made very good time as, once again, we were heading against the traffic. After a light lunch, a shower and a rest, we went out to a nice, local restaurant to celebrate Edith’s birthday and we followed that by a very pleasant evening sitting in the hot tub on their first floor deck with a glass or two of wine. This is definitely the life.

7^th July 2008 – Haus of Trikes.

We took the trike down to the workshop this morning to get the oil changed and to have a few other service items take care of. Unfortunately, Graham has managed to pick up a chest infection so the rest of the day was spent with him languishing in bed whilst I entertained myself at the house. Jeff and Edith have very kindly said that we can stay as long as we wish, it’s at times like this that you know who your friends really are.

8^th July 2008 – Berlin, Maryland.

Graham was still pretty poorly this morning so stayed in bed for the day whilst I went out for ride on Edith’s trike with me riding and Jeff passenger (brave man). After Jeff had gone to the shop I did a little shopping before settling down on one of their five outside decks with a book and a cold drink making the most of the hot, humid and sunny weather (there was quite a thunderstorm later in the day though).

9^th July 2008 – Berlin Maryland.

As Graham was obviously still unwell we decided that we should visit the local walk-in clinic to see if we could get him some antibiotics. The clinic was in Ocean City and from leaving ‘home’ it only took around an hour and a half for us to get there, for Graham to be seen and given a prescription for said tablets, not bad at all except that it cost $105 at the clinic and a further $37.50 for the prescription, still it’ll be worth it if it works and the travel insurance may well pay yet. Other than that it’s been another lazy day spent at the house.

10^th July 2008 – Berlin, Maryland.

Although Graham was feeling a lot better this morning we decided to stay put for one more day before heading off to Gettysburg for a rally this weekend. Instead we borrowed one of the cars (again) and went to shop for some of the bits we wanted to take home with us, after a few hours of retail therapy we returned for another restful afternoon. As I mentioned we plan to head off to a rally this weekend, it looks a bit ‘knuckles down to the ground’ but it seems it’s worth a visit – we’ll find out tomorrow!

11^th July 2008 – Berlin to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Well, it turns out the rally was worth a visit (not knuckles to the ground at all). This is a little more like an oversized U.K. rally in that you pay to get in to a central site where there are bands playing, silly games etc. but there are a whole host of vendors on site too. We spent a good few hours (and lots of money) on site yesterday and stayed to listen to the band, but it turned out to be a country music band which isn’t really our cup of tea, so we left and headed back to town where there are other ‘biker’ events on. The motel we’re staying in has it’s own underground bar and we decided to check that out – good decision. We were joined by a group of guys, one of whom had a guitar and proceeded to play all sorts of songs all evening (most of them risqué and some down right rude) and we were all expected to sing along (even Graham), it was great fun. We hope to meet up with Don & Brenda sometime tomorrow and will go back to the site to see what the next band has to offer.

12^th July 2008 – Gettysburg.

We returned to the main rally site this morning and met up with Don, Brenda and their son-in-law Cliff all three of whom had entered their bikes in the bike show. We had a wander around the vendor sites together before heading for the hall where the bike show results were being announced and where Brenda’s trike took second place in the three-wheel class – well done Brenda. From there we went our separate ways and Graham and I took advantage of the pig roast that was being provided by the local fire-fighters before visiting some of the other vendor areas set up around the town. Included in the rally schedule was a ‘parade of chrome’ where any bikes/riders who wanted to could join a parade through the town watched by lots of the locals who were lining the streets to watch (very like the FIM rally parade of nations except that there’s only one national flag on display). We decided not to take part but to watch instead (it took 15 minutes for the bikes to pass us) and we did that from the entry to the main site so that we would be able to get somewhere to sit to watch the band this evening. The band was an (almost) all girl band called Mustang Sally, their music was on the rock side of country and, although we’d never heard of them, the reaction of the crowd and the fact that everyone else seemed to know the words to all of the songs, suggested that they were pretty famous over here. The band was followed by a really good firework display and a mass ride back in to town and a return to our motel.

13^th July 2008 – Gettysburg.

Having spent 2 days as ‘bikers’ we decided to spend today as tourists. For those of you who don’t know, Gettysburg is the site of a pivotal three-day battle during the American civil war and there is a civil war trail you can either follow under your own steam or on a guided tour. Graham and I came here a number of years ago and followed the self-guided driving tour but it was pouring with rain the whole time so there were things we didn’t see and we didn’t get the whole story so, this time, we decided to take the guided tour which was very interesting and informative. Later in the day we visited the Gettysburg museum which is directly opposite our motel; unusually for an American museum it was not particularly well done and very cheesy. The weather forecast for today predicted thunderstorms for late in the day (it’s been really hot and humid the last few days) and by the time we left the museum it was pouring with rain so we returned to the motel and spent the evening watching the drag racing on T.V. and eating pizza.

14^th July 2008 – Gettysburg to Grasonville, Maryland.

The rain had cleared by the time we woke this morning and it was overcast and warm but less humid. We left town and made our way back to Baltimore via a different route making first for ‘Bob’s BMW’ where we’d bought our summer riding suits last year. The idea was to buy some winter gloves and look at the Olympia winter suits (the summer ones are so good we’ve decided to try the winter ones), unfortunately, they don’t have any winter gloves in stock but they did have the suits and we’ve checked out our sizing and arranged that we will contact the salesman before we come over later in the year and he’ll put some aside for us. From there we went along to ‘Honda of Crofton’ who supplied the blue Goldwing to see Paul & Lorraine Zublionis who we’d stayed with for Thanksgiving last year; as it turns out they’re on vacation but we had a good chat with Derek the salesman and bought some new rain suits. We’ve crossed the Bay bridge and are staying at a motel overlooking the bay with a restaurant just across the road, that means we’re now only a short hop back to Haus of Trikes who should, by now, have our new tyre ready for fitting before we leave.

15^th July 2008 – Grasonville to Berlin.

It was only a short run down to the shop this morning and we were there by midday so went along with Jeff, his son Gary and Gary’s wife Kirsten to lunch at a local restaurant. Unfortunately, our new tyre hasn’t arrived yet so we spent the afternoon helping to run a few errands (like purchasing 100 x 2” x 4” timbers!) and then it was back to the house for another very pleasant evening.

16^th July 2008 – Berlin.

It was very hot and sunny again today and we spent a lazy morning doing not a lot before going up to the shop to take Jeff and his son Gary out to lunch at a restaurant called ‘Big Peckers’ and, yes, it does have the same connotations over here! Graham and I then went shopping for another suitcase (so that we could get all of our goodies home) before Jeff and Edith took us out to ‘bike night’ at Smitty McGee’s (a bar/restaurant we’ve been to before), it’s a nice ride out and the evening was well attended with around 50/60 bikes turning up. We finished off by heading in to Ocean City itself (very busy) and having an ice cream which was a nice way to finish the evening off especially as it was still warm enough to ride in shorts and T-shirts.

17^th July 2008 – Berlin.

It was time to start preparations for going home (unfortunately) so we spent the morning with me doing laundry and packing and Graham washing the trike so that it was clean and ready to go into the showroom where it will be stored and used as a display model. The rest of the day was spent at the shop and the evening at ‘home’ (after going out for a nice Mexican meal).

18^th July 2008 – Berlin to BWI and homeward.

We’d decided to get a rental car for the return journey to the airport as it’s cheaper than the local shuttle (around $55 including gas) and a lot less hassle than Jeff having to make a round trip of 240 miles to take us up there. As the rental company wasn’t due to collect us until around 12:00 we made ourselves useful by changing the bed we’d used and washing the towels etc. Once we had the car we loaded up and went down to the shop to take Jeff and Edith out to lunch before saying our goodbyes and leaving. The journey to the airport was okay (not exactly a pretty route) and we did the usual with me dropping Graham and the luggage at departures and then taking the car back, we were checked in by 18:00 and on our way by 21:30. Total mileage 8959.

19^th July 2008 – Back to Heathrow and home.

The flight was okay and we both managed to get a little sleep (but it was a little). We’d arranged for a taxi to collect us at Heathrow and the driver was there waiting for us when we came through customs so, after a typically tedious run around the M25, we were home by 12:00.

Where next ?