Lakeville (near Moncton) New Brunswick
Distance traveled: 299.4 km
Cumulative distance: 3,849.2 km
Temperature range: 11 - 18 and occasionally sunny in the morning.
Maximum speed: 106 kph
We were up and on the way nice and early today, on the bike at a quarter past 8. It was fresh at 11 degrees and there was a lot of dew on the bike cover.
We had a nice break in New Glasgow at 9:30 at a coffee shop called River Run Cafe. Not much is happening in New Glasgow at that time of day, in fact, I was excited to see that I didn't have to pay the parking meter until after 10:00 am. Even though it was cool, it was sunny and was making for a pleasant morning, though we were feeling a little chilled.
As I parked the bike on the sloped street, a car come up behind us fast and erratically, the driver driving the front right wheel onto the curb before he settled in his slot, which I was happy to see was on his side of the line designating the parking space. An older gentleman stepped out and made a bee-line down the street and entered into the cafe where we were also heading. We strolled in directly behind him and he went straight to a table with four or five other gents of the same vintage. At another table, a couple of older chicks were sitting drinking their tea. I thought, "great, we've stumbled into some kind of meat market - pick up joint". I hoped that we weren't going to be picked on as outsiders. then my next thought, was how can a coffee shop serving $6 lattes hope to stay in business serving tables of older people nursing their brew coffee and orange pekoe teas? When the table of gents grew to 9 or 10 people, they got pretty boistrous, which truly astonished me. I prayed I wouldn't have to go over there to intervene and settle them down.
Editor's note: when I say "older", I mean older than us, not older like us.
We took our time with two lattes each and a breakfast sandwich. For dessert, I had a cheese scone. Which Nan ate half. Because she didn't want one. I sorted out tonight's accomodation at the Wild Rose Inn, which I thought, as ex-Albertans, was fitting.
We spent the day riding the back roads to Moncton. For the first half, we were on some pretty good twisties and we had our first really impressive views of the changing colours of the trees. Most trees and forests are still predominantly green but we were getting more than a splash of pink, orange, yellow, red or crimson today. That only lasted closer to Antigonish and New Glasgow and eventually returned to predominantly green but it made me excited for what was coming ove the next several days.
Despite the relatively short day distance-wise, we still had plenty of saddle time, arriving at around 2:30. We were excited to see the hotel because it looks grand from a distance and we have sore posteriors. However, up close, the hotel has clearly seen better days as the finishings outside are pretty worn. The wood siding is peeling and fading, as is the trim while the decks look suspect as whether they could withstand the weight of more than a few people at a time. Inside, everything looks a little tired. We have been "upgraded" to a different room, which is bigger and has a jacuzzi tub but the tub is offline for service. I noticed in a review of the hotel that someone said they had the jacuzzi room but the tub was not working. I had chosen a room that was listed as having four windows whereas the "upgraded" room we received is on the ground floor with one window. It is very dark in here. Everything looked so good online. Nan said, "it's like a dating app". Not entirely sure how she knows that but I laughed all the same. At least it is very clean.
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| The Dating App Inn. |
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| From the back. It even comes with chickens. Live ones. |
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