Day 2 | Chester to Newburne | 85 km

Intermittent rain through the night means wet tents to put away amidst the fog. My stash of homemade granola makes a great breakfast but I’m starting to realize I should’ve brought more. I tend to forget how much fuel I need on a trip like this.

There’s a slight chill in the air when I head out with the guys at 7:45. The wet roads are not ideal but at least it’s not raining.

Just 5 km into our ride we hit up Julien’s Bakery, which according to my sources has the world’s best chocolate croissants. Jim and Tim decided to test that claim and are glad they did!

About 20 km later I spot a sign for fresh-picked blueberries so I pull in for a quick pint, so to speak. Bonnie, the owner, then takes us over to see the goats and donkeys. Turns out the goats like blueberries too.

We continue along the rolling hills of Route 3 down through Mahone Bay and into Lunenburg. Being this close to the shore, the fog is so thick it doesn’t make for great sight lines. With that said, it would take a lot more than fog for me to miss a bike shop like this.

Then we stop at the Savvy Sailor in Lunenburg for an early lunch in an effort to delay our arrival into camp. Since it’s such a short ride today there’s probably more to see and do on the road than at the campground.

From there we switch to the 324 north and gradually ride out of the fog. The remaining 40 km are all hills and we start to understand why this route is capped at 85 km.

It’s such a relief to get into camp after what I thought would be an easy day. Tomorrow’s distance is significantly longer, so hopefully I can do better than five hours of sleep tonight.