scottz

Hello,

My partner and I are looking to do a 2 week bike trip this summer. We're located in Toronto and don't want to have to travel too far afield, so we're thinking about somewhere in the east. We're also looking for something not too challenging, where we probably do 50-60km a day and have a few rest days along the way. We would be camping for the most part.

Our current leading option is to do a trip in the Canadian maritimes: flying into Moncton and biking 2 days to the confederation bridge to PEI; shuttling across the bridge and biking 2 days to the ferry to Nova Scotia; and then biking along the Nova Scotia north shore into Cape Breton, where we would do the Cabot Trail clockwise before heading to Sydney to fly back out.

I'm interested in hearing from anyone with much experience cycling in the maritimes about what it's like. How are the conditions? The elevation? From what I can tell from research, the cabot trail is the only tough part, and it's worth it. Also, what about the camping? The sightseeing - where should we plan to stop? Any advice from the east-coasters is much appreciated .

Finally, we've not yet booked anything, so while we think we might have a solid route lined up, we're open to alternative suggestions of where to go for a tour if anyone has any.

Thanks all!

axolotl

I've toured on PEI, Nova Scotia, and the Madeleine islands. The Cabot Trail and the Madeleine islands were great. I was a bit disappointed with mainland Nova Scotia but haven't been to the north shore. PEI was OK. The Madeleine islands are very windy but also very pretty and unique. The only serious climb anywhere was the Cabot Trail but it's not that high compared to other climbs I've done. Baddeck was nice, and I wish I had biked some more east of Baddeck along some of the saltwater lakes.

sdotkling

Hey, I did that very trip, as part of my New York to Newfoundland month-long journey a few summers ago. Prince Edward Island is great riding and great seafood.
The southern coast of the island --the side where the bridge meets the island--is busy with traffic, though--nothing awful, but nothing you want to seek out. The northern side is much quieter, and stunningly beautiful. The Confederation Trail runs through the center of the island, east-west, and is a little dull after a while. It was a straight-as-a-pool-cue rail line, I guess, and trees on both sides, hence not much of a view. But once you round the eastern end and head up to the northern coast, things get better.
Did I mention the great seafood? And that it rains a lot?
It's a short ferry ride to Nova Scotia, but there's a 20 mile stretch from the ferry port to New Glasgow that is extremely, depressingly, like New Jersey--highways, strip malls, doughnuts. There's even a town called Trenton. This stretch was my lowest point. Heading east to Cape Breton Island along the coast it improved a bit, until the terrifying very narrow causeway-bridge that connects the 2 islands. No shoulders—a curb, in fact, to push you well into the roadway—lots of debris, and steady, heavy truck traffic. There are no alternatives. Let's look at the bright side: maybe they fixed it since.
Once you're on Cape Breton, everything changes, and it's drop-dead gorgeous, crashing waves, hilly, windy, and largely depopulated. I remember hurtling down a steep hill into a vexing wind coming from the side, and I remember a huge hill miles long soon thereafter, cars and lumber trucks snaking up and up. I also remember there being few places to eat, and few options for camping, except for an occasional RV-style campground, and the backyards of abandoned houses. (There are lots of abandoned houses. We were told that most people moved to work in the Alberta Tar Sands after the fishing gave out.)
Sydney is one of the few towns of any size, and it was pretty cool, but there was a sprawl of shopping malls and gas stations stretching out 10 miles that you need to get through to reach it.