Change of plan (Are we nearly there yet?)

So I've basically done it. YAY
Day 82, total current distance: 6160km
I'll start where I left Jeremy and Megan (who've since finshed on the 15th) in Fredericton. They took off to take a direct route to Halifax, whereas I had the benefit of more time and rode over to PEI. Riding alone for the first time in more than a month was a strange feeling, but not the same as when I was alone for the first month. I can go a bit faster, so I can get lost in my thoughts and just crack on and pedal. Which is nice. I also haven't been getting bored at the end of the day, moreover I've been really enjoying riding later, because you get everything bathed in a golden sunset light. Because there's so much less pollution here compared to the UK (it's hard to pollute such a huge area filled with squillions of trees to the same extent) that the sunsets tend to be pretty spectacular.
My plan to do 130km every day, for 10 days, having dome 1600km without a rest has backfired. My legs decided to wuss out and feel tired and a once comfortable 23kmph was reduced to a 17kmph slog. I had half a day of riding, then stopped somewhere to rest. 1 flat tyre, 2 broken spokes, 1 cracked rim (on my bike) and I decide to pack it in and go straight to Halifax and miss the Cabot trail loop I had planned. I took a day off and slept on the beach in my hammock, eating rice crackers and jelly beans and reading Macbeth. My first night was spent talking to a group of three locals who bought me food and beer. Beer makes getting into a hammock at night interesting. I was planning to spend the next night on the beach, but the first miserable Canadian (and as far as I'm aware, the only one) decided to kick me off. Fair enough, there was a NO CAMPING sign nailed to one of the trees in the corner, but threatening to acll the RCMP if I didn't leave was just unnecessary. Luckily I blagged myself a comfy lawn to sleep on and a meal of chicken and pasta with a Dave and Suzanne MacNiel. My family met me with an RV (a slammer version of those monstrosities i've been bitching about) coming off the ferry from Prince Edward Island the next day and since I only have 200km left to ride in a week I've been spending 5 days with my family driving the Cabot trail and eating too much. I'm glad my plan to ride the Cabot trail fell through though, 130km per day on the hills there would have crippled me. Driving still felt like cheating (although i'm obviously not counting the distance driven in my total), so I went for a ride up one of the mountains...twice. It was amazing to fly up them without any of my kit in tow with the trailer and the view at the top was amazing, both times.

The plan from here is to ride 170km to Clam Harbour tomorrow, to met up with Becca, Lucy and Carolyn (girlfriend and family) then do the final 80km on the 23rd to arrive as close as possible to 1200h to be met by whoever's been organised to turn up. Hopefully the streets will be lined with people 15 deep waving flags with my face on it miles before the finish line, but I'm guessing it'll be a smaller affair.

That's all I can think to type, I'l do a conclusion once I've concluded on the 23rd, and then Fly home on the 30th. Provided the flight staff aren't striking, I'll be home on the 31st, sometime around 9 in the morning. I'm flying with IcelandAir, so I get to spend 3 hours in Reykjavik airport which should be cool, or boring...we'll see

Fortitudine Vincimus
Ben



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