CCCT Part II - St. John, NB to Lawrencetown, NS

Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Got up at 7:30 AM. It was raining. We had scones with peanut butter and a banana for breakfast. I left a $5 tip for Billy and note thanking him for the cold beers and suggested he try a different type of battery in the smoke detector alarms i.e. alkaline batteries seem to work best if I remember correctly. We finished packing our bags and loaded them on our bikes. By this time the rain had eased off. I programmed my GPS for the St. John - Digby Ferry Terminal and set off at 9:15 AM. We arrived at the terminal at 9:45. Rain had stopped. We paid $33 each (senior fare) and $10 each for our bikes = total $86. We had a hot chocolate while waiting to go aboard the ferry. several passengers approached us asking about our trip including a 76 year old lady from Pennsylvania travelling to NL in her camper van on her own and a gentleman from Stittsville who recognized my KNBC jersey. At 11:30 AM we went outside to wait for our turn to go aboard the ferry. It was quite windy and a bit chilly. Finally we got the go ahead and walked our bikes onto the ferry up to the very front, parked them and went up to the cafeteria for lunch. We both had crispy chicken with fries for lunch and shared a Danish pastry. We watched a movie "Saving Planet Earth" and a Bay of Fundy documentary and did some reading during the 3 hours it took to cross to Digby. We arrived at 3:00 PM, returned to our bikes and waited for 30 some cars to drive off  before we were allowed to proceed with our bikes. Pat, Bev's sister, was there to meet us. We unloaded our panniers into her van and cycled to Lawrencetown stopping at a VIC for highway info. I asked for a NS pin and the person helping us gave me the pin off her lapel. I gave it to Bev as it was her birthday. We also got maps for NS and the Annapolis Valley. We stopped at a German Bakery for pastries and a cold drink. Bev paid $14.++. We had to put up with quite a strong head wind so took turns drafting for the last 30 kms. We arrived at Pat's at 8:15 PM and put our bikes and bags away, showered and sat down to a dinner of spare ribs and BBQ chicken, potato salad, salad and birthday cake with a fresh strawberry sauce and whipped cream. I chatted with Almont, Pat's partner, while Bev and Pat cleaned up and got caught up on the latest family gossip. Eveyone was quite tired to it was off to bed at 11:00 PM.
Springall Residence, Lawrencetown, NS