A note about the Canadian region in which we currently travel:
In 1604 Acadia, the first New France colony, was founded in what are now the Canadian Maritime Provinces. During the next 150 years, Acadia changed hands a few times due to numerous conflicts between France and England. From 1755 to 1764 the British deported Acadians en masse, an event known as the Great Upheaval. In all, of the 14,100 Acadians in the region, approximately 11,500 were deported. Of those, 5,000 died of disease, starvation or in ship wrecks. Many Louisiana Cajuns trace their roots to the influx of Acadian settlers after the Great Upheaval. The Acadia region to which modern Cajuns trace their origin consisted largely of what are now maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.
Most of us spent our day under our overhead shelters because of light rain much of the day. Nearly everyone worked maintaining bicycles to get them ready for the remaining 8 riding days in the tour. Two days of intense climbing uphill and downhill descents on the Cabot Trail of Nova Scotia will require gear shifting and braking systems to be in top condition. I changed out the pads on my rim brakes for improved stopping power. Most riders have bikes with disk brakes, which have more braking power that rim brakes, especially in rainy conditions.
Two of our cyclists went out on a lobster boat very early this morning to about 15 miles off shore and in 100 feet of water. They watched the boat crew of three pulling up traps holding lobsters, measuring the catch to keep only legal sized lobsters, then bait and lower the traps once again. The captain of the boat hosting them was the source of the lobsters we ate for dinner last night, and he brought them directly from his boat. Can't get any fresher lobster than that!
Meet Eric and his side kick, Pinky. I have mentioned Eric, our agrarian expert from Winnipeg, a number of times. Eric gets a few pictures of himself and Pinky daily from various Canadian points of interest to send to his grand daughter. Pinky will belong to her after the tour, and in the meantime, she is learning much about Canada. Good show, Eric!
This campground had a very nice men's washroom, much nicer than most places we have camped. The campground is a co-op owned by a number of private individuals. In contrast to some of the other places we camped, this washroom not only had excellent amenities, but it was open all hours, and we did not have to rouse personnel to unlock it in the morning!
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Now that we have our bikes properly maintained, we are ready to depart tomorrow for the last week of our tour. Come with us to enjoy the rest of our tour across this large nation!
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