Distance: 148km
Elevation: 1,616m
I had miscalculated the distance to North Sidney – so I knew it would be a long day.
Jamie had prepared breakfast for 7am. In his family everyone called him by his middle name “Ryan” which was common in catholic Cape Breton, since the first name of men tended to be “Joseph” and for women “Mary”.
We chatted more about his business and the challenges that came with it, e.g. having enough money and time for product and business development.
Since we both worked in professional services, many challenges sounded all too familiar. But both of us wouldn’t want it any other way.
His garage was linked to a nice office complex and people started coming to work early.
I really admired his passion for helping people from the area to make a decent living through SAP configuration and programming without having to leave their beautiful home Cape Breton.
Given that he started this with 38 years, this was pretty visionary.
Taking care of others seemed to be something that he and his wife Miranda cared a lot about.
Also their little dog, who was now 15 years old, had been a case of lifelong caretaking because of his fragile health.
I was in the saddle by 8am and cycled back to the main island of Cape Breton. It was cold and sunny. I had to stop every now and then to take in the beautiful views.
The entire day, my route followed the south shore of Lake Bras d’Or (Arm of Gold), a saltwater inlet which filled the central part of southern Cape Breton.
The northerly wind became increasingly strong and cold. Since I zigzagged along the coastline I had a lot of crosswind which was challenging when going downhill.
The climbs were really sick but still it was so stunning to reach a peak and have the view across the windswept waves of the lake.
It was simply impossible to capture all the beautiful sights but I had to stop every now and then to try it.
At a gas station on First Nation Territory, a Mi’kmaw crew member took interest in my project and wanted to know more about my bicycle and the project. We chatted for a while.
He mentioned that in their reservation only a few people still spoke their old language and that there was no school to learn it. It looked like things could be very different from one reservation to the other.
In Cape Breton you can meet people who speak English, French, Mi’kmaw, and Gaelic. In fact, many village names are spelt out both in English and Gaelic.
Also, pretty much all names are recycled from Scotland, including Loch Lomond.
In the afternoon, I approached Sidney which was pretty bad because of the traffic, the bad roads and the poor driving skills of many Canadians (sorry guys, your driving sucks).
I had to turn North directly against the wind in order to reach North Sidney where my ferry would leave tomorrow. It was no fun.
But, around 7pm, I finally reached the campground who was super nice. I had a long warm shower, set up camp and had dinner.
Then I joined a jam session of a local folk band in the barn that belonged to the campsite. Mostly because it was warm there – the music, which is different from country, was not quite my thing. Also, I was the youngest in the room by far. But it was good nonetheless.
Around 9pm, I called it a day and crawled into my sleeping bag. I was very happy and a bit proud of myself to have reached North Sidney.