September 12, 2003
Day 14: Lower Barneys River to Upper Musquodoboit
It got down to 3C (37F) overnight but the temperature warmed rapidly in the morning sunshine. The radio station forecasts a significant warm-up today, with sunny skies.
I set up a clothesline last night to dry laundry but I forgot to take down the clothesline after removing the clothes. I needed that clothesline to tie my panniers and recumbent seat together at the airport. The temperature warmed up to 23C (74F) today and it stayed sunny all day. But the wind shifted to the southwest which means I had a headwind all day. I started by riding 12 km to the Trans Canada Highway, then 1 km on the TCH before finding a back road into New Glasgow. I stopped in New Glasgow to get cash, buy groceries, and eat lunch at a lousy Chinese restaurant. After that I rode 15 km through continuous towns - New Glasgow, Stellarton, and Westville. Finally I was in the country again on a very narrow road, highway 289. The road goes southwest (inland), gradually climbing to 177m (584 ft). The scenery is not very remarkable because the climb is a series of hills that get successively higher. Climb 30m, drop 10m, climb 30m, drop 10m. The area is very rural. I saw virtually no houses. But I did see a few pastures with cattle and sheep. I've seen very little agriculture in Nova Scotia. Mostly just forest.
After crossing the highest hill there is a long gradual descent to 45m (148 ft) at the Stewiacke River. The river valley is very beautiful and remote. Only a few houses here and there. It would have been a nice place to camp but I need to go much farther in order to get to the airport tomorrow afternoon. After crossing the river I climbed a big ridge up to 127m (419 ft), then dropped into the Musquodoboit River valley. This valley is also rural but more populated and not as pretty. All day long I saw the occasional log truck pass by and I started to see many more log trucks now. Full log trucks heading west, empty log trucks heading east. I got to the tiny town of Upper Musquodoboit at 6PM. There were no campgrounds in the area so I set up my tent behind the school. It was Friday night so I didn't have to worry about people showing up early in the morning. I partially filled my water sack at a gas station but didn't get enough water to take a shower. It was a bit cool for showering anyway. My stove made a yellow flame and turned the pot black. After I got home I discovered that the burner jet had come loose. It was easy to fix but I didn't know it at the time.
It was a quiet lonely evening behind the school so I went to bed early. Part of the melancholy feeling was caused by the realization that this is the last night of the tour. Today was similar to yesterday. I felt tired in the morning and felt gradually stronger in the afternoon. But unlike yesterday, today's weather was sunny all day and several degrees warmer. I wore long sleeves all day but I could have worn short sleeves for much of the day.
Distance: 86 km (53.8 mi)
Climbing: 609m (2010 ft)
Today's ride: 86 km (53 miles)
Total: 1,209 km (751 miles)
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