Well i/we just got back from an amazing 2100 mile week long ride up through nova scotia to ride the Cabot Trail. I am lucky enough to be able to ride with my parents and this our way not only to relax, but to spend some great family time together and see some amazing sights at the same time.
We started from Ct last Friday 8-22 and started out the morning at a local breakfast joint like we start every trip. Have the bikes all packed up and ready to start the day




We planned day one to ride from Ct to Portland Maine which we would catch the ferry (the Nova Star ) to bring us to Yarmouth Nova Scotia. The ferry worked out well to bring us to Nova Scotia because it leaves port in Maine at 8:30pm and arrives in Nova Scotia at 9 am the next morning. They also had a special price running , 50 dollars per bike and 50 per person, which was about a 200 dollar swing in price when we first checked the price back in april/may. Portland Maine was a beautiful area also to walk around, and even stay for a day or two.
































All in all the ferry worked out great for what we needed it to do. We slept in reclining chairs for the night which weren't the most comfy, but we also didnt want to spend an extra 2 hundred and something for a cabin with 2 beds. We slummed it for a night and it served its purpose well.

Day 2 we arrive in Yarmouth Nova Scotia to yet another beautiful sunny day. Our plan was to ride from Yarmouth to Baddeck Nova Scotia which it about 15 minutes from the start of the Cabot trail. Overall i think it was around 450 miles our so to Baddeck from Yarmouth. We took 101 from Yarmouth to the Trans Canada highway for most of the rest of the day but even so the Trans Canada highway was very little traffic and had great views.

 

Once we arrived in Baddeck we stayed at the Trailsman Motel for two nights. A great 2 night stay with a beautiful view





The next morning we started our treck towards the trail. I have to say i will post these pictures but pictures really cannot capture the depth of what we were seeing. The views are absolutely spectacular and something you must see on your motorcycle at some point in your life.

 

 

I have plenty more but i dont want to get too repetitive here. I think you can picture what we were looking at for about a 150 mile stretch ..I have to give photo credit to my mother as she was taking most of these pictures with a click and shoot on the back of my fathers bike while cruising at a good clip. Again, pictures can show some, but pictures cannot show the true depth and wide view pf what we were looking at...Words really could not describe.

After that day 3 was a pretty much straight jaunt to Bangor Maine from Baddeck which was a long 650 mile day. though a nice ride; towards the end of the day we were pretty worn between the wind and sun. Though sunburn is better than getting poured on. We stayed in bangor Maine for one night and then we high tailed it to Lake George Ny where we settled and relaxed for a couple nights after a long stint of straight riding to wind down the week.

This trip was one to remember and to do it safely and with family made it that much more. I would recommend to anyone to ride the trail even if once. Hopefully you'll have amazing weather like we did so you can take it all in

 

Now that sounds like a great trip. Love the pictures. What a great addition to anyones bucket list. How are the prices in Nova Scotia for hotel's/motel's?
Thanks for posting and feel free to add some more pictures or stories!

 

The Trailsman motel which we stayed in was very reasonable at 90 dollars a night. I dont ask for much when we stay somewhere, as long as its clean and doesn't smell im happy. And thats exactly what this place was. Very very clean and very reasonably priced. The breakfast was lacking, no eggs/sausage/ bacon etc, but did have some nice thick local bread, fruit, cereal, and enough to get us jump started in the morning, again im very simple, doesn't take much to make me happy lol. Saying that food in canada is always more expensive. We ate at the "silver dart" which was highly recommended by our hotel receptionist, and it was the best 15 dollar hamburger i have every had. But again in Canada it seems to be the going rate if not usually a couple dollars less for "bar" type food.


As far as anymore stories there really isnt much to add. The weather was picture perfect, thank goodness there was no bike troubles, really the only thing to add would be about the ferry. The Nova star to us , was the best way to get to nova scotia, the main reason being the cost and timing. The rate we received was again a "special" pricing which was reason number 1 but reason 2 was that it would have been a LONG day leaving from CT and trying to haul butt to get as far deep into nova scotia that first day. So the ferry leaves Maine at 830 pm and arrives in nova scotia at 9am which is perfect so you are rested and you miss most of the trans canada highway. Comign back is a different story though because the ferry would leave nova scotia at 830am and arrive in Maine at 9 pm. so you would pretty much lose a whoel day which we did not like. And also talking about food prices, well on the ferry, a dinner buffet is 26 dollars lunch 18 and breakfast 12 dollars, which would be ok if the food was decent. Well nothing there really made us want to spend that type of money for the food they had so we passed dinner but had breakfast because well,. you really cant mess up eggs and sausage right?

 

Beautiful. We saw those ferries in Portland; it's interesting to see what the inside looks like. Can't see that water in Baddeck without thinking about floatplanes. We've only been in Canada for shorter trips in more crowded areas, so we could cheap out on food at Tim Horton's.

 

excellent! thanks for the time to post this. Ferry pics very interesting

 

Tim Hortons was our "go to " on a few occasions also.. Much better than D&D here in the states.

 

What's D&D? I'm guessing it's nothing to do with the games.