Day 101

We woke up on the yard nice and early. It was raining, and it looked miserable. We packed everything up then went to the nearby cafe for breakfast. The price was too good not to! Michael and I got the biggest breakfast they had, while Agnes had a smaller version. I assumed the breakfast would be the size of any other place, but I was wrong. There was SO much food!! It only cost $8.65, and it was brought out on two plates because there was to much for just one. And they didn't skimp out on ANY of it. For example, instead of giving us two regular slices of bread for toast, each piece was almost an inch thick. It also came with three eggs, two kinds of meat (I chose ham and sausages and it came with 2 pieces of ham and 4 sausages!), a lot of homefries, and two pancakes, and tea (and it was bottomless tea, but it wasn't one of those cheap places that kept trying to add more and more water to the same bag, but they actually brought out a new bag every time!). It was wonderful!
After breakfast we were ready to hit the road. Agnes was really sore from yesterday and the weather wasn't helping her morale. As we got our bikes, we started talking to the guy working on the house next door. He told us to watch out for coyotes. He said they weren't like the small ones in Ontario, but they have been mating with the wolves, so are much bigger. He said a 16 year old girl got attacked the other night. She was at a campground with her parents, and slept outside (ie not in the tent with her parents, and not in any tent, just under the stars). She was attacked, but lived. The coyote bit her head so she needed stitches, but she's fine (from what he gathers). That obviously scared us a bit, and so we figured we wouldn't camp at the side of the road in Cape Breton, and go to either hotels or official campgrounds.
We cycled the pleasant ride to Inverness, which was about 20km away. The rain more or less held off, and the hills were nice and rolling. They weren't too steep, but they were windy. Agnes had a close call, and didn't feel comfortable (which also didn't add to her morale). When we got into Inverness we stopped at the store (to buy groceries and a bungy cord for Agnes). While there we talked about Agnes' options. We didn't have time to take a day off, unless she wanted to do a LONG day to make up for lost time (which she obviously didn't). So we came to the conclusion she would get a ride up to Pleasant Bay and will have today off. Michael and I would cycle up and meet her there, then we would continue cycling together tomorrow. This plan proved to be more difficult than expected. We didn't want to just throw our thumbs out because Agnes would be hitching alone, and we didn't want to send her off with anyone. Ideally it would be a woman, or a couple (maybe with kids), but definitely not alone with some guy(s). The next issue was they would have to have room for a bike and her gear. We talked to people in town (at the grocery store), and even went to the info centre about maybe a bus, and nothing worked! The guy working at the info centre was pretty useless. He told us there was no shuttle/bus. Then we met someone in town who told us she took it before, so we went back to get the information about it, and he said he forgot (he forgot about the ONLY bus that runs through the tiny town of Inverness, AND he works at the info centre! Explain that!). Just as we sorted out the price, and realized it was WAY more expensive than we wanted to spend, two other women trying to get information said they were headed up to Pleasant Bay and they would love to take her! Agnes crammed her bike, and then herself, into the back of the car. It was so nice of them!
Agnes took off, and then we took off (we obviously didn't start to cycle before we made sure she would be safe). Unfortunately we didn't hit the road again until 2pm. We busted it to Cheticamp. It was a really nice ride! It was fairly flat, with some small or not steep hills. The rain from earlier was all gone, and it was nice and sunny! Michael and I had a lot of fun cycling today!
When we got into Cheticamp, we took a short dinner break to try some Acadian food. It was alright. The chicken frigole was good, nothing special, and the meat pie was a bit dry for my liking. But now we can say we tried it!
We then went to the information centre at Highlands National Park. They were a bit useless there, and slightly misinformed, but finally, after a lot of circular discussions, we decided to just camp there tonight and do the Acadian trail. We didn't think we would have time to cycle to, and do the Skyline hike tonight, so we figured we would do this one, which was supposed to be nice! As daylight was against us, we quickly called the hostel where Agnes was staying (as there was no cell reception) and left a message with our ETA for tomorrow, then went to do the hike. We didn't have time to do the whole thing, so we went to the first lookout (which SUCKED! There were trees blocking the view. I don't know why they picked that location for a lookout!), and then a bit further until we found a good, but unofficial lookout. Not wanting to be caught out in the dark, we then went back and went to set up our campsite.
While going to shower, I met another touring cyclist who was really nice! He came over to talk to Michael and I about our trip, and about his trip and his past trips. It was really nice to talk to him! We didn't talk too long though, because it was pushing near all our bedtimes!