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- Cape Breton Island Bicycle...
After 36 fabulous years I am no longer running Atlantic Canada Cycling events. This tour information is being kept here for your planning. Feel free to ask me questions on this great cycling tour.
Cape Breton Island Bicycle Tour
This is the ride everyone dreams of doing: Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail! Spectacular scenery is one reason that it is, by far, the most popular bicycle touring region in Atlantic Canada. Cape Breton must be the luckiest cycling place in the world, with its magnificent seacoast mountains, clean rivers and lakes, ocean breezes, plentiful wildlife, and unique Gaelic culture. The Cape Breton Bicycle Tour is an affordable camping vacation, which will enjoy a carefully selected route around an unforgettable island. It will be a fun and friendly tour, with a great deal of socializing. Along the way, we will learn about Cape Breton’s history, discover its incredible variety, and experience what makes the island distinct. Join us for a tour which will be both enjoyable and memorable.
We’ve planned this trip with average cyclists in mind. To some, the tour will be a challenge, and the satisfaction of it completed. To others, it will be a chance to renew and strengthen friendships, or to make new ones. For still others, it will be the chance to see Cape Breton as no other form of travel can. For everyone, it will be the most inexpensive, not to mention fun, vacation of the island available. We will have 8 days of cycling, with an average 65 km (40 miles) per day. The amounts each day vary, with the days in hillier Cabot Trail terrain lower. You can bicycle each day in five hours or less of actual biking, leaving plenty of time for sightseeing and relaxing.
Options will be offered for both shortcuts and for scenic side routes. Terrain on the island is rolling to hilly. The three days in Cape Breton Highlands National Park have several small mountains. This road though this area is the famed Cabot Trail. Th ese are challenging, even with their much lower daily distances. With a relaxed tour schedule, however, they are feasible, even for casual cyclists. With the assistance of our support vehicle, we can offer a worry-free tour. By Atlantic Canada standards, the terrain is from rolling to hilly. New or casual cyclists will find this tour quite feasible. For more accomplished bicycle tourists, detailed options will be offered for longer daily routes. These will allow for taking in more of the province, while enjoying the event with others.
Tour Outline
Day 1 – Port Hawkesbury to Whycocomagh
Day 2 – Whycocomagh to North Sydney
Day 3 – North Sydney to Ingonish
Day 4 – Ingonish to Cape North
Day 5 – Day Ride to Tip of Nova Scotia
Day 6 – Cape North to Cheticamp
Day 7 – Cheticamp to Invernes
Day 8 – Inverness to Port Hawkesbury
Day 1 – Port Hawkesbury to Whycocomagh 78 km (49 mi.) Our first day follows the shore of Lake Bras d’or, an inland sea. We pass through Orangedale, with an old train station now a museum. Whycocomagh is two villages in one. On one side is a community settled by the Scots. On the other is a Mi’kmaq native community, one of several on the island.
Day 2 – Whycocomagh to North Sydney 91 km (56 mi.) Our route today will be a very pleasant run around the Washabuck Peninsula, through the once Gaelic speaking village of Iona and along the shore of grand Narrows part of Lake Bras d’or.
Day 3 – North Sydney to Ingonish 62/83 km (39/52 mi. We are nearing Cape Breton Highlands National Park and the Cabot Trail! Enjoy the spectacular coastal scenery, and the green dense forests. Cape Smokey Mountain stands in our way just before our day’s end, the first major climb of the tour.
Day 4 – Ingonish to Cape North 49 km (30 mi.) We follow a roller-coaster shoreline. Bay St. Lawrence is home to whales, often sighted while cycling. It is also bird country, including herons and eagles. This is a shorter day but there is a lot to see and do. There is also an extra optional ride out toward the northern tip of Nova Scotia.
Day 5 – Day Ride to Tip of Nova Scotia 45 km (28 mi.) We stay based at Beautiful Cape North and ride out as far north in Nova Scotia as one can go. The road follows the spine of what remains of the Appalachians, before they abruptly end at the ocean. Bay St. Lawrence is the suggested stop, an attractive and isolated fishing village. Meat Cove, the furthest one can go in Nova Scotia is a bit further on. It requires sturdier tires than 23 or 25’s. There are also other things to do! There are other short bike rides. There is also hiking. Kayaking is available a short distance from out camp. There is also a nearby beach.
Day 6 – Cape North to Cheticamp 70 km (43 mi.) One of the greatest days of cycling you will ever have! We will challenge ourselves on small mountains that rise up along the Atlantic Ocean. The ride down French Mountain is thrilling, a curving road, which looks out over the Gulf of St. Lawrence, one of the most photographed places in North America.
Day 7 – Cheticamp to Inverness 64 km (40 mi.) We follow the Ceilidh Trail, along the shore of the Gulf. We pass a region of French-speaking Acadian fishing villages, and later, into the heart of Nova Scotia’s rich Gaelic music and culture. This is our last night together- let’s party!