Day 24 - The last day! Mixed emotions, for sure.

miles today: 65 total miles: 1,565 km today: 105 total km: 2,519

We knew this day would come, and feeling are mixed to be sure. We feel a sense of accomplishment and kind of woke up thinking of today like the Champs-Élysées stage of the Tour de France - a shorter day, unlikely to change any outcomes. I wondered who would pour us champagne on the way into town.

The sun rose over the Tidal Bore Inn and we made breakfast, happily using all but a few tablespoons of oatmeal and coffee, and burning off our remaining stove fuel making a second cup of coffee for each of us.


As Chandra mentioned, while we were at the tip of the Bay of Fundy and hoped to witness the tidal bore here, we couldn’t really see it from our vantage point. It was definitely worth a try, though. As it was, we got going pretty early and started the day with a nice long flat stretch along the Bay to warm up our legs.

We turned south with a very heavy atmosphere of humidity and clearly the gray skies of the impending storm, but thankfully the winds (predicted to be straight in our faces from the south) were pretty gentle as we climbed some rural hills and made our way south.

The riding was pretty, sometimes stressful with a fair bit of traffic and no shoulder, but, again, courteous drivers and safe passage (also managing to avoid the few potholes along the way and make it flat-free!).

At lunch, we were happy to scoop out the final remnants of peanut butter from our jar and continue the using up of things we were carrying.

We followed the Shubenacadie river upstream then crossed into the nine locks of the Shubenacadie Canal that leads to Halifax. A little routefinding and rerouting, and we soon found ourselves across the bay from Halifax in Dartmouth. We paused to watch a couple 4-person canoe races (apparently this is the main canoe racing venue in Canada!).

Then up a couple hills, through the commons to a great view across the Bay into Halifax and then across the Bridge.


A little bit more climbing and recon and we made our way to the Good Robot brewery - just around the corner from the place we are staying - for a celebratory beer!

And just like that - we reached our destination! After a beer and a snack, we headed over to The Narrows Public House (amazing pub food and drinks!) where we have rented the AirBnB on the third floor above the pub. We quickly got to work sorting out groceries before a nearby store closed and disassembling the bike and trailer to be ready when Ryan (super kind guy who has been holding our boxes all month) and his partner Cait were planning to deliver the boxes (so kind!!).

It was a little emotional to tear everything down after a month of so much care keeping all aspects of our gear functioning and happy. It also turns out that the Narrows is a hot newish spot in town, having gone through a decade of renovation (historic old building) and loads of care to refurbish and open as a fantastic gathering place for food and drink. As I worked on the bike, the owner and several of the staff chatted with me which was nice and a little distraction from the gravity of the moment. I trudged all the gear up to the third floor flat and carefully laid it out so we can box it up in the morning. When Chandra got back from getting groceries, we relaxed for a few minutes before joining Ryan and Cait for dinner in the pub.

It turns out Ryan and Cait are relatively new to Halifax, both Americans from the east coast who moved here from Northern California. They are a super cool couple (in addition to their generosity with the boxes) and we had a lovely time chatting about bike touring, places to live - a perfect couple to share our final night of biking with. While we are all very different, the crossovers were humorous (lived in the SF Bay Area, bike tourists, Americans, pescetarians, and officianados of Whipserlite stoves) - we joked that we had held the first meeting of a little society.

And so, it ends like this. We accomplished our goal, got to experience a range of places, cultures, and environments across Canada. We beat the storm but still look forward to exploring Halifax in the rain tomorrow, thence to start the journey home. We plan to write one last blog post summing up our experiences (mostly for posterity and ourselves, but we will share it) so I will just leave you with this lovely photo of a souvenier that I may well have into the next year - a little tan line on my legs.

Thanks for everyone who has been joining us on this journey, and we are already thinking of what will be next!