I could see my breath as I crawled out of my tent. Oh how I wished I could stay cozy and warm inside my fleece-lined sleeping bag. Instead I had to get up for another day at the office – if that’s what you want to call the little piece of leather I park my butt on for the day.

It’s a cold ride along the coast but the view of the coastline and of houses overlooking the water is spectacular.

Our first stop is in Antigonish. All the little cafés seemed closed so we stopped at a hotel with a restaurant. Their breakfast special became our Breakfast #2. Antigonish is a beautiful town. Unfortunately time did not permit exploring it a bit.

As we made our way along a country road we came across a lemonade stand manned by 3 young entrepreneurs.  Naturally we had to stop. Michel and Eric were already there. The lemonade was refreshing and the fudge was delicious.

The Lemonade Stand

From there we pretty much rode straight through to the Canso Causeway connecting mainland Nova Scotia with Cape Breton Island. Just as we were approaching the causeway we saw a sign in front of the firehall that said “TdC Riders”. We stopped to take a picture but seeing no one around we carried on. We found out later other riders were invited into the hall by a woman whose brother rode the tour last year. She had a woke spread of food laid out. Unfortunately she must have been inside and we missed her.

Bridge on the Canso Causeway

We had planned on stopping after crossing the causeway for some lunch but discovered there really wasn’t much so decided to carry on. Our map showed several towns along our route and we figured there would at least be a convenience store if not a restaurant. It turned out that the “towns” were really just signs on the road. They must have been the names of the districts.  So eventually we just stopped at the side of the road for a PBJ sandwich. It was actually 50 km before we came to a convenience store.

Lake Ainslie

After 169 km we rolled into the campground on East Lake Ainslie.

Potluck dinner being laid out

Our crew was supposed to make dinner however we had a real treat tonight. The summer residents of McKinnon’s Campground put on a potluck dinner for us. So we chopped up some vegetables and took a veggie tray to the dinner. The meal was incredible and I came away so stuffed! Plus we had a chance to visit with people from various parts of Cape Breton who were spending their summer at the campground. Our thanks to the campground owners and residents for making us feel so welcome.