Day 4: Sheet Harbour to Sherbrooke

September 2, 2003

I got up at 8 and got on the road at 9:30. Once again it was overcast but today I have a slight headwind. I continued to go from bay to bay, seeing the water only occasionally.

I passed only a few towns during the day and the towns typically only have a gas station and a general store. No restaurants or other tourist facilities.

Typical small-town general store along Marine Drive.

I ate lunch at a fancy riverside restaurant at a large and upscale resort near the tiny settlement of Liscomb Mills. The only restaurant I saw all day.

Most of the time the road goes through the forest, up and down hills between the bays. In the afternoon I could see that the sky was clear a few miles inland. But the sky was continuously overcast along the coast. Traffic steadily decreases and pavement quality steadily gets worse.

Most of the time I just pedal through the forest.

At 4PM I arrived in the relatively large town of Sherbrooke which has a bank, grocery store, bakery, and several restaurants. I bought groceries and went to the Sherbrooke Historic Village until it closed at 5:30 PM. This is a large section of town that is now basically a historic theme park. It was interesting to see the old historic buildings, furnishings, and people in period dress. I especially enjoyed seeing a woman print notices on a treadle-powered 1888 model printing press. The clouds broke up while I was in the historic village. That significantly warmed the temperature and improved my mood.

The fanciest house in the Sherbrooke historic village.

Church and Temperance Hall at the Sherbrooke historic village.

I had plenty of daylight to continue farther down the road but I decided to camp at the riverside campground in Sherbrooke. While pulling into the campground I met 3 other touring cyclists camping there. A middle-aged couple from Brisbane Australia and a young guy from Toronto who just biked cross-country from Victoria B.C. to Newfoundland and is now traveling west to Halifax. It was nice to just relax for an hour and a half before the sun set across the river. The temperature warmed up to 22C (72F) when the sun came out but it dropped rapidly after the sun set and the mosquitoes came out in force. I zipped myself inside my tent to eat dinner away from the mosquitoes. I didn't take a lot of long rest stops today but the slight headwind seemed to slow me down noticeably.

Distance: 88.9 km (55.6 mi)

Average speed: 17.6 km/h (11.0 mph)

Maximum speed: 62.4 km/h (39.0 mph)

Climbing: 513m (1693 ft)

Hiking: Walked about 2km (1.25 mi) in the Sherbrooke Historic Village

Today's ride: 89 km (55 miles)
Total: 292 km (181 miles)

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