Halifax and Another Hard Promise

Stinking Bag of Spanners Part 1

 ["North of Truro and Earltown, Nova Scotia, things went south"]

I biked uphill at about 40 kilometers per hour on a relatively bad road (things were about to get a lot worse) and saw a road sign saying 'Tatamagouche Mtn.' My blood boiled.

"Why send us up here?" I said, imaging some municipal official thought it was a good joke to send newcomers on a crappy scenic route as part of a crappier detour. That being said, there was no 'us' heading toward Tatamagouche Mountain at the time. Just me, dead alone.

["'Tatamagouche detour!!' lives in infamy in my travel notes"]

The next detour sign directed me toward the worst road I have ever been on while riding a motorcycle and I include a gravel road near New Sarum that had water gullies so deep my bike almost bucked me off and into a ditch. No, that road was heaven compared to the route to Tatamagouche Stinking Mountain. The route I travelled was narrow, of loose dirt, steep, bordered by rugged, deep ditches, wet, muddy, slippery, slimy, puddling and rocky all at the same time. I cursed more than a half dozen times while struggling bitterly with the steering and when not thinking about imminent death alone in a strange land. Several times I pictured myself throwing furniture through windows of a municipal office and heaving a stinking bag of spanners across a certain Mr. Wiener's desk. And the day (Thursday, June 19; I won't forget it!) had started so bloody well!

["On Highway 131 at 9:56 a.m."]

["The hills are alive with gray clouds at 9:56 a.m."]

I woke up early in Halifax, felt fresh, had the bike loaded and gassed up by about eight a.m. and then comfortably made my way to Truro on the Trans-Canada Highway in good time. While topping the bike up with oil at a service station in Bible Hill (just north of Truro) I felt happy to have 100 kilometres of the day's ride under my belt and two stretches of secondary road ahead, i.e., Highway 131 to Tatamagouche and Number 6 to Amherst (familiar to me), also known as the Sunrise Trail.

I was soon cruising along at 80 - 90 kilometres per hour on 131, a lovely speed on peaceful highways, and whistling Dixie. I stopped once or twice to take photos of pleasant scenes, made a note to take my wife to Earltown (next time we were in that part of the world, to visit two fine looking shops covered with attractive metal signage) before spotting a 'detour ahead' sign and two more directing me to turn left on a hard-packed gravel road.

I thought, I hope this isn't a long one. I'm making good time here.

I didn't know a giant spanner was about to be thrown into the works.

["Things start going downhill on Highway 131 at about 10:15 a.m."]

To be continued.

Link to Halifax and Another Hard Promise

Photos GH