CCCT Part II - Windsor to Brookfield, NS

Monday, July 1, 2013
We got up at 6:00 AM and went down for breakfast at 6:30. I had 2 yogurts, 2 small muffins and a glass of OJ. I took an apple and an orange for later. We returned to our room and finished packing. We put our bags on our bikes and took them down to the lobby in the elevator. We dressed in our Canada Day jerseys and put Canada flags, that Bev had picked up at a Dollar store before leaving, on the back of our bikes. We got Paul, who was having his early morning coffee outside, to take a picture of us and our bikes. We set off for Brookfield at 7:15 AM. Paul had given us directions but when we got down to the bottom of the hill he had told us to go straight through. But straight through would have put us in some sort of a park!!! We went over to the gas station on the corner and asked for further directions. A lady who was also going in our direction was able to give us more accurate directions. We had to cycle up 4 or 5 hills to get to highway 236. It took us over an hour to cycle the first 8 kms. It was quite warm and humid and very overcast. We stopped in Kennetcook at a gas station for a pit stop. The attendant saw us checking our map and came over to give us directions on how to get to Brookfield. He had a rather interesting accident (oops accent) and was difficult to understand. Nevertheless we thanked him and set off again hoping to reach our motel before it started raining. We stopped in Latties Brook outside the St. John the Baptist Anglican Church for our lunch. It started raining. No lightning so we were able to take shelter under a nearby tree. A lady, cleaning the church, came out to chat with us and offered us sanctuary in the church. She was preparing for her 95 year old aunt's funeral. We put our rain gear on and set off in the pouring rain. No time to take shelter. Besides we had no idea how long the rain would last. We still had about 30 kms to go to get to our motel in Brookfield. The highway was mostly in good shape but without a paved shoulder. Some sections were pretty rough so we had to go slowly coming down the hills in the rain. In spite of having a "dew" rag on my head the rain combined with my sweat was pouring off my forehead and into my eyes. The salt from my sweat was really stinging my eyes so I had to stop and take my "dew" rag off and borrow Bev's helmet cover. She wasn't able to use it because she now had a red flashing light fastened on to the top of her helmet. We finally arrived in Brookfield at 2:00 PM. We stopped at a Tim's and found out we still had a few kms to go before getting to our motel which we had booked before leaving Lawrencetown. It turned out to be about 6 kms from Truro. We paid $75 for a one and half star motel. We had hoped to use the motel dryer to dry off all our wet clothing but it was kaput. We stripped off our wet clothing and hung them up on the furniture, kitchen counter, shower rail, etc. There was no closet space for hanging clothes??? By this time the rain had stopped so I hung my jacket, which was soaked, on the back of a plastic chair and left it outside to dry. When we stepped outside to go to the bar/restaurant for a beer we discovered that it had rained again and everything we had left out to dry was even wetter now. We put them under the eaves and locked up our bikes before going for our cold beers. There was cat and dog hair all over the place. We decided to order a pizza but found out there was no delivery. The manageress offered to send her son to get it for  us. The Wi-Fi signal was not strong enough in our room so I gave up and lay down for a nap. At 6:30 I went looking for our pizza. The manageress was on her way to our room with it. We ate in our room and later went to the restaurant with my Notebook so we could check tomorrow's route to New Glasgow. Bev paid $18 for our pizza and a large Pepsi. I paid $8 for 2 Budweisers. Nothing much to watch on TV so I did some reading. Bev off to bed at 9:30. A train came by  and blew it's whistle at 9:45. It scared the bejesus out of me. I must have jumped about a foot off the bed.
Gotta get some rest for tomorrow's ride to New Glasgow which promises to be even more hillier.
Tara Inn, New Glasgow, NS