Last little bit in Newfoundland, with well over half of the trip done at this point. Another tough week after a bit of relaxing in a hotel in St-John’s ( I deserve ). 16 hour ferry ride back sleeping on a chair and right into a brutal heat wave in Nova Scotia.

I had planned a brutal 170km loop that day and I was way too blasted to be doing that, on top of which I discovered the magical city of Dildo still existing in 2022, proud of its heritage and name, so much so they have a Hollywood sign of it. That’s right Dildo, embrace who you are. Don’t apologize.
At this point in my journey a 90km ride is just a “medium normal ride” that I can even do at an easier pace with no food. My gooch and butt are also starting to get real damn sore and torn up so it limits the time I want to be spending on a bike…

What the hell are these and ... do I want to sleep in one...? Wait it's for sleeping right? Not giving birth? Are they toilets? What is this

One of the little cove towns on the east side of this loop. Church, hill, marina. Cove town checklist.

That's the stretch from east to west to Dildo. Absolutely brutal headwind if you go west. 45-50kph on the way out, 25-30 on the way back, just suffering.

Oh yeah here we go, almost there!

View of the town as you come down the little hill into it. Church, hill, marina. Cove town.

Decided that I was tired enough to grab a beer at the Dildo Brewery.

This is a Salty Sour. It was pretty nice honestly. Love sour beers, they're half cider, half beer. If you like fruit-flavored beers, try sours. Unlike IPAs, sours are popular because they taste good.

It's at this point that I noticed the town sign in the distance...

Glorious

Town's marina. One of the people I stayed at says they use to process Sperm Whales in Dildo and you can dive and see a bunch of skeletons they left in the ocean. I didn't see any.

Way to screw yourselves out of all those tourism dollars. People would pay a fortune ( 2$) to hike up there.

Ended the day by picking up some Newfoundland beers! These aren't the fancy craft brews, those are the "my smelly fisherman dad drinks these to forget" brands.

This is it, the end of the first part of the trip: Cape Spear, the easternmost point in Canada. Also wandered around the more touristy parts of St John’s, which was a surprisingly happening city, where about 20% of Newfoundlanders live.

Started the day with this lukewarm Flipper Pie I got from a specialty grocery store.

Why is this called a "Flipper" pie, you may ask? Because it's made with sea flippers. It's basically a beef pot pie but replace the beef with flippers....

Seal flippers taste like seaweed/anchovies/canned sardines. It has an overpowering taste that takes over anything you surround it with. Try it lol!

St John's has a real San Francisco feel to it, with all these old colorful buildings on extremely steep streets.

City harbor seen from Fort Amherst

The fish market is their version of the stock market. They trade mackerel futures and tuna-backed securities.

View of the town from Fort Amherst.

Signal hill from Fort Amherst. It's a fort because they used it to watch for Nazi subs during WW2.

Cliffside of the fort. It's a good vantage point to monitor the bay.

Everyone gets an ocean view when you build on cliffs that steep.

Cape Spear lighthouse from a distance.

I think you can still see the St John's harbor and signal hill in the background there. Try and spot it.

Start of transcanada trail, which makes no sense since it's on an island. Does your "trail" also go to the moon? Japan?

Standing over the ledge outside the little fenced area. I want to be THE MOST EAST POSSIBLE.

Lot of tourists that day. Lot of french canadians all over the place in Newfoundland as well.

Cape Spear was used as a military base during WW2 as well, with big guns stationed on the hill in case of axis attacks on shipping lanes.

They left a few of them here, as well as their abandoned bunkers. Some would call this "garbage" but government calls it "historic sites".

The lighthouse. There's a bunch of stairs and gravel trails connecting the tourist spots there.

Stunning views all around the area though. You can walk up to the edge of the cliffs anywhere you like.

Honestly must be something special during big storms.

Now that's some lawn decoration.

Making it back towards St John's. Little more rural, little more ghetto. What the hell is this?

Don't know what this dude did, didn't read the sign.

Here, you read it. Email me what he did.

Evidence of hobo activity. Welcome to EVERY SINGLE CANADIAN CITY. You could settle the moon and hobos would loiter at your Tim Hortons on week 2.

Qui Vidi lake as seen from some hill. This is another well-known touristy spot of St John's.

It's got a little harbor, tiny old timey streets and many food trucks/restaurants.

Top of signal hill. Site of the first trans atlantic morse signal.

Where the french lost Newfoundland to the English in 1762.

Great view of the city from it. They stationed AA guns there during WW2 as well.

There's lots of tourist info and a little museum/gift shop there as well. Worth checking out since it's basically downtown.

Very steep hill as well, lots of joggers and cyclists.

Back to downtown St John's.

It has a few streets of restaurants. Seems to have great and vibrant nightlife, reminds me of Montreal.

Lots of cafes, bakeries, gift shops, pubs and restaurants.

Went to eat here, The Celtic Hearth. Lot of Irish/Scottish influence in Newfoundland. You can hear it in the way natives talk.

Cod Tongues. Yes they are what it says... They have the texture of scallops but taste like cod. Pretty good, say I.

Moose burger. It's more dry than beef and has a faint gamy taste but it works very well as hamburger meat since you can balance the dryness with sauce.

I didn't go. Regrets. Saw like 3 strip clubs two blocks away from the restaurants.

Last real day in Newfoundland here, made it to the northernmost spot in the St John’s area. You really have to want to visit because it’s at the end of a nasty dirt road. Stretched the rest of the ride with a jaunt through a bunch of little cove towns.

Started my morning with Fish and Brewis, fish cake and more toutons. Fish and Brewis is basically stuffing but replace sausage with salted cod.

description of Newfoundland at this point.

Cliff/Cove view from around Torbay, on Marine Drive. These words mean nothing to you.

Shacks n' coves. Welcome to Newfoundland.

I think this one was called Flat Rock Cove

See they put this kind of shit at the start of their trails...

When the road looks like this. Then you're like "ok whatever boomer".

Then it devolves into this minesweeper BS. Still tolerable as it's sort of packed gravel/dirt.

But it ends in total disaster, just loose gravel half destroyed by rainfall. It makes you question the use of their word "maintain".

But if you make it to the end of this exploded road, you get to the Cape St-Francis lighthouse.

It's a tiny closed-off lighthouse, nothing special, but the area itself is stunning. It's a hiking destination more than anything else. Not meant for... a road bike lol

Look at this. Just insane. There's a big rock with a screeching seagull colony there as well.

Bunch of idiots throwing their redneck trash everywhere though.

Evidence of redneckness. So cool: Go shoot your gun and slam beer bottles on the rocks, like a true hardass. Then die of a heart attack at 55 because you're actually a fat fuck.

Anyway, back to the view: It's awesome. Good spot for a picnic, just watch for the glass shards.

Tiny harbor of Bauline town, at the bottom of a very steep 160m cliff.

Final cove town: Portugal Cove.

In the distance there is Bell Island. You need to take the ferry to it but it seems to have a few things going on. Next time, next time.

Got myself a hotel room in St-John's to celebrate the end of the trip. 143$, but free laundry! That's the cheapest one around btw. Gives you an idea of why to sleep in a car.

This is a "Jigg's Diner", another Newfoundland thing. Bunch of somewhat bland stuff with a piece of salted beef and some "pease pudding".

Salted beef is like tougher, saltier smoked meat. Not bad. Pease pudding is chickpea paste. Has the consistency of a boiled egg yolk. Just kind of bland sorry.

Little EZ ride squeezed in before taking the 16 hour ferry ride back to Nova Scotia. Argentia, where the ferry departs, has just nothing else. It’s all industrial and then…. a ferry terminal with food trucks. Just weird how nothing touristy sprung up there, and the views are, again, crazy cool.
Maybe Newfoundland just needs flying cards to be invented before it becomes a bustling metropolis island.

Town of Placentia, where I parked to start the ride. Gorgeous as always. People here must be real sick of these views, just wanting to see a field with brown grass...

Little bush near the parking. Entire turn is infested with tourists and their dirty dogs.

Little bridge that connects Placentia and Argentia area.

Placentia beach boardwalk. About 1.5km long of this. In all this time I didn't even dip a toe in any beach. Maybe I should do that on the way back...

The Placentia Jesus House.

On the way to Argentia you pass by Castle Hill Historical site, where the French had built a fort to protect the port.

There's still ruins of the fort you can step on at will.

Fort is about 100m above sea level, overlooking the town of Placentia.

Some history for you.

There's many more canons all over the site, as well as a guided audio tour. Worth a little detour while you wait for the ferry.

Town of Argentia sign.

The ferry towering over everything else, with these cool hills in the back.

Goodbye Newfoundland! Need more Moose.

Good thing they never checked my pockets this entire time. You're free now my little friends. Go forth and destroy the ecosystem somehow.

So to get back you can either drive 903km from St John’s back to Port Aux Basques to take the 7 hour ferry, or drive 90minutes to Argentia and take the 16 hour ferry. Kind of all evens out time/money wise, except in one scenario you don’t need to be driving 9 hours.
Warning: The ferry gets booked up long in advance, especially the cabins if you want to not sleep on a chair… Ferry is 350$ and the 2 person cabins are about 200$. Makes a trip to Newfoundland pretty expensive if you want to visit in style. Glad I did it how I did.

Leaving Newfoundland. Super windy out on the deck.

Ferry has a casino/arcade. Also has a buffet style restaurant and regular snack bar/cafe.

There's a bar with 8$ Coors Lite. People straight ask for this shit. Why. If you're going to drink calories, why drink shit?

The bar area also has this huge lounge where local Newfoundlanders were playing country music for a few hours.

Have to hand it to those two guys, they really hung in there to entertain the crowds. Get that authentic Newfie country experience.

Had brought myself a bunch of things to do, knowing there was no WI-FI on the ferry.

Done! There's about 50-60 in there. Thank you everyone who read this and kept me company online during my trip!

Ended up sleeping in the theater. Was really damn cold. Some people smarter then me brought sleeping backs/pillows and just slept on the floor here. Next time...

Wasn’t sure I’d ride at all that day after sleeping 5-6 hours only freezing on my chair on the ferry and then finding out it was 36 degrees in Nova Scotia. Tried to sleep a bit in the car after getting off the ferry only to wake up drenched in sweat at 11am. Hung out at Tim Hortons until I felt good enough to ride in the evening, when it was cool. I’d seen this lookout when doing the Cabot Trail loop and thought it’d be a nice once for an improvised ride.
Ended up feeling good enough to do the up and down. 70km and 900m is a hell of a lot better then nothing!

Tons of big homes all around the huge Bras D'Or lake.

Love how creative people are with their businesses.

Huge bridge that connects Bras D'Or lake area to the rest of Cape Breton.

Cool red cliff from the bridge. There's a big RV park at the base of it.

Top of St-Ann's lookout, about 240m up, overlooking the lake. Don't know what that little peninsula is.

Other side of the mountain. Was going for a sunset picture but was just too early.

Down the other side, where the mountain pass connects you back to the Cabot Trail.

Lobster restaurant is about where I started the 300km loop last week. Hmmm lobsters. Eating money. Hmmm

Back up the lookout.

Just because you add a "share the road" sign doesn't make it safe or possible. What's this rumble strip even for? To warn you 0.2 seconds before you die?

Back to the bridge.

There's one of those little lighthouses on each side. So ends a long day.

Point of this ride was to check out The World’s Biggest Violin as well as to make it as east as possible while on mainland Canada. I sadly didn’t quite make it to the tip on Waddens Cove peninsula as it would have meant an extra 20km dirt road ride. Hell no. Heat wave still going on so by the time I passed by that road it was already over 30 degrees outside and I was out of water.
Was a tough day coming back with a headwind up a slow incline, in that brutal heat.

The Big Fiddle in Sydney, next to the visitor center/ port/ stuff!

Again, the plaque proves it.

That's the view you get from the ferry leaving North Sydney. Remember?

Route passes by Fort Petrie. Don't know what it is but they have a tank.

And whatever this big thing is.

Northern tip lighthouse overlooking Sydney harbour.

Some people having a little picnic there.

Lingan generating station.

Every little town has a museum in Canada. It's amazing. There must be thousands.

The sea from Glace Bay?

Getting closer and closer to the actual tip.

Good representation of this area. Little homes and towering wind turbines. Many people put up "no windmill" signs.

Wadden's cove. That's about as far as you can make it without getting on a boat.

Another beach in the area. Never ends.

Another thing you see a lot in the Maritimes are these fisherman statues. Don't know the meaning of them, if any.

Dude with a badass car.

You have to be ready for anything in life.

Driving to Halifax I came across this road that just opens sideways to let boats pass. Neat.

Halifax was a surprisingly cool town with a touristy harbor area with tons of shops and hot girls walking around. Maybe I’ve been single too long. Or maybe it’s because I got back from Newfoundland… The average BMI there is… not…. low. Peggy’s Cove also seems like a prime tourist destination of the area. It was Sunday so it makes sense that it was swarming with people. Sometimes I forget what day it is so I can’t tell if a spot sucks of if it’s because it’s 2pm on a Tuesday…

The Pier / boardwalk. Nice touristy area with that typical Maritime architecture.

A boat. I dunno.

Halifax also hosts some military vessels to enforce our might over the seals.

Bunch of kids not giving a shit about Karen's safety warnings. Good. Ride that wave.

Tons of food stalls for every taste there. Seafood, beaver tails. Donairs... which are a Nova Scotia thing for some reason, apparently.

Did I mention this is a touristy place? Tons of people doing jetski/boating in the harbour there as well.

She's having a nice day.

Saw lots of construction going on. Halifax is one of the hottest real estate markets in the country right now as other places become unlivable.

Oh yeah. This guy. Yeah....

Another big Canadian city trend are these rainbow colored crosswalks.

Out of the city, on the way south to the cove, you pass by endless lake towns like this.

What a mighty steed.

Lots of big houses with lake/ocean access.

You can see the Peggy's Cove area in the distance, oddly shrouded in fog during an otherwise sunny day in a heat wave.

The cove area is a protected natural site with a mix of these weird rocks and a bunch of bogs/ponds.

A nice guilt sign there. OH I'M BAD. I'M SO BAD. WHIPS SELF HMMM SO BAD, TELL ME HOW BAD I AM WHIPS SELF.

The entire Peggy's Cove area and town was shrouded in this thick fog. Gave me a nice break from the heat.

The lighthouse, swarming with impossibly slow tourists. Holy shit people are inept at walking.

Found another big lobster.

This guy being a creative street hustler. Not the worst way to annoy people.

Very cool view of the ocean from there. Probably nice on a clear day but what can you do.

The town itself has a very quaint old timey feel, again with the little colorful houses with white frames.

Heading back to Halifax. Lots of seafood restaurants all along the highway.

Passed by this cool solar sunflower at a garden center. Love taking pictures of big things and my butt was hurting a lot so it's an excuse to get off the bike.

Angus L. McDonald bridge that connects Halifax to Dartmouth.

It's a toll bridge that still has those cones you throw quarters into. Must create so much traffic during rush hour as confused tourists wonder where the fuck they're supposed to get quarters.

Ok has it been pride month for like 5 years at this point? I've been seeing these since day 1 in BC.

The harbor from the bridge, with some of Canada's fleet hanging out. God I wonder how many of my tax dollars they blew on this.

Treated myself to a bubble tea with 5x the beads. Ride was a game of trying to finish it without stopping for water just so I could get my bubble tea faster...

Another week down! Next week more Maritimes and maybe whale watching? Soon time for another “life on the road” update as well? Halifax was day 70 of this trip, less than 50 to go! Still not sick of it, but the sponge showers at Tim Hortons are honestly not the funnest part, will be great to get back to Anytime Fitness lands where I can actually take proper showers after rides…. if their damn system works.

If you made it this far, feel free to join my Instagram and/or Strava!

Touring Canada Week 10 - Escape from Newfoundland