True North East: Day 3
Originally posted: Advrider.com, July 2019
Day 3 Begins!
5:30am wakeup to catch the ferry. I tried to book a ticket over the phone last night like I’m supposed to, as I'm carrying "dangerous goods". Unfortunately all of the prompts were in French (I don't speak French). I booked online with the hopes that they wouldn't make a big deal of my 7.5L of gasoline *Fingers crossed* I figured I best not mention the bear bangers…….. I packed them away as I didn't want anything to get lost in translation....
All packed up and ready to roll!
"No problem and front of the line" he said. I guess motorcyclists are treated well in Quebec!
Riddle me this, how is it that the ferry from Digby to New Brunswick is twice as expensive? Seriously, I couldn't even tell when this ferry left port, the engines are that smooth. Coffee and hot breakfast is available on board, and it must be good, because the locals have been lined up for the last hour. After some google searching, I've determined that there are TWO, not one, but TWO McDonald's in Baie Comeau, this is good as I'm craving a breakfast sandwich and am running ahead of schedule :D nom nom nom.
I may have to go 600kms without gas in the next day or so if one of the "stations"(more like fuel pump in the middle of the woods) is closed, so I'll be filling up all my gas cans for an extra 17.5L total.
I found these Amazon alternatives to Rotopax to be excellent as the Rotopax leaked and the Amazon “cheapies” did not. (Sales made from the link below help support the channel).
Weather is looking to be a bit cooler today with some rain in the morning and "BIG" temperature swings throughout the day. At least I can wear all my gear without sweating to death lol.
I ran into an ADVrider.com “In-mate” who rode the Trans Taiga last year. We got to chatting, and as soon as he showed me the pictures I realized "I READ YOUR RIDE REPORT!". Small world.
ADVrider.com inmate riding the BMW R1200GS
The drive from Godbout to Boistown was scenic, paved, and smooth, with a few construction delays. It is quite shocking when you finally get to Bae Comeau and see the huge industrial plant, it really makes you realize how awful we as humans are to the environment; still an impressive feat however. I ended up getting a big Mac from the McDonald's as it is the same in English as it is in French ;p They're hiring starting at 16.50 an hour if anyone is interested...... I followed “brunch” up with some bike maintenance (chain adjustment & lube, as well as fixing up my chain guard with a little bit of wire and duck tape (More on that later)
The “road” is full of little spots like this. You’ll quickly realize that you just can’t capture them all.
The first 50km of dirt outside of Bae Comeau was washboard; like make your whole bloody' bike fall apart washboard. It's paved underneath from long ago, the potholes of which are showing, then there is loose sand and gravel on top. It also looks like it has a sandy base in the spots where the pavement has been long obliterated. At around the 70-kilometer mark there is a nice lake to stop at. It was here that I realized my chain guards "improved fix" was garbage and I reverted to zip ties. (You can see the mosquitos starting to swarm in the video as I get more Northern)
Okay, it's been at least 8 hours since I last added to this. The roads were decent after the first 70km, then once I started South again, they got really good (defined as mostly packed sand with rocks here and there), then about 20km ago they turned to nastiness, my chain guard was KIA, it was like a piece of spaghetti by the time I noticed.
Here is my only gripe with the route thus far, remembering of course that it was written in 2012; I just did 250 to 300km's of gravel/sandy roads, and then the route cut straight into highly technical “baby-head boulder” bashing? Not cool. I'm a bit “hangry” at the time of writing....... *Nom nom nom*
A full stomach fixes a multitude of issues……
Okay, honestly, the views were amazing, and they just didn't stop, I had to force myself to stop taking pictures because I was stopping every five minutes.
Camp is now all set up. It's weird being out here alone, there is literally nothing, no noise, no lights, just the fear of being mauled by a bear........
*Clutches bear spray tightly and cries self to sleep*
Stay tuned for day 4.