Journey Notes

I got a late start again this morning. This time it was setting up the new Koodo phone (on the Telus network) that I will carry because our Fido phones are just about useless here. It wasn't working when I left but by about 1 pm, it started working. It's actually a nice little phone.

One thing that I learned today is not to trust the weather forecasts here!

It was really windy, gusting up to 65 km/h! It looked like that wind would mostly be behind me but not always. As I got going, I realized that it was hitting me mostly as cross winds and the first 2 hours of riding were really tough. The weather did not forecast rain but after about 30 minutes of riding it started raining. The sun was still out so for at least an hour I was getting rained on but still had warm sun and a beautiful rainbow off to my left, lower down in a valley. Eventually, the road turned more northernly, the wind was more behind me but I was also moving under some really dark clouds. I had no rain gear with me. Luckily, just before the rain really started to get bad, I heard the rumblings and anaemic horn of VanGo. I put on more rain gear, made plans to meet Rochelle for lunch at a gas station (almost the only civilization on the route today).

We were low on food so we ate at a gas station restaurant. Not the best meal I've ever had!

The afternoon dried out and warmed up so off went the rain gear again. The winds were not so gusty and were tail winds as often as cross winds so I made some pretty good time.

All in all, the roads today reminded me a lot of those in British Columbia. Lots of long hills in wooded terrain with big bodies of water and mountains to look at.

We are staying at a small, unserviced provincial campground. It is really nice and would be even nicer in warmer weather. Our camp spot backs onto a beach on a small lake and there is another beach/lake just across from us. And only $15/night!

The winds are howling outside and rain is in the forecast. In fact, the next two days look like rain, with Tuesday's forecast as “Heavy Rain”. I'm not looking forward to that! If that actually happens, I might take another rest day and wait it out.

Getting Internet access has been really tough since we arrived in Newfoundland. So posts might not be all that timely in the next few days.