Slow start – as far as I could tell, the North Sydney ferry just wasn’t very far away and I had booked the evening sailing.  Puttering around my site, I did some receipt book keeping at the picnic table.  It was almost like camping as I relaxed and the squirrels and birds invaded my site.  Since I still ached too much from hiking the night before, I didn’t have much ambition.  If anything, just to get to Coastal Waters in Ingonish – one of those Food TV/You Gotta Eat Here restaurants.

I had their “Big Lebowski” burger with a side of mushrooom soup.

Good burger, if a touch messy:

After lunch, it was time to head south on the Cabot Trail.  Interestingly enough, that section was quite a bit more entertaining.   Nice tight twisties – too bad there was traffic.  If there was ever a reason to go do some sections twice, that would be it.   Great views, good roads.  Great combo.

Heading towards North Sydney, I wasn’t quite paying attention and ended up on the Englishtown Ferry.  Small toll – $5, but the bigger problem was probably missing out on some decent roads.  On the plus side, as I got closer, I realized I had time to swing out to Louisburg.  Not great weather but still a nice little stop.   The Parks Canada system really loves their recreations and reenactments.  Kind of follows those old TV commercials about the history of Canada.

Local regular turkey.   Strutting his stuff in front of the crowd at the main fort.  There must be something about turkeys I don’t know about because the tourists seemed awfully spooked and most of them jumped if he sneaked up on them and would run away.

Managed to pick up some groceries well ahead of the time I needed to be at the terminal.  As is typical with most of the grocery runs so far, I got greedy.   The big mistake this time was picking up the 6-pack of coke – in plastic bottles.  Financially, it’s a good deal.  Less ideal when you’re trying to cram random bottles into bags and crank down on the cases just to get them to close.  A few did end up getting shoved into the bungee net.

The plan to grab a bite to eat outside the terminal was a bust.  The ferry is a little bit dysfunctional and inconsistently strict with security.  But effectively, once you’re inside, you’re not really allowed out.  You can walk out with your ID and ticket, but it’s a fair hike and my bags were overflowing with food anyway.  I had another great meal of huddling beside the bike and eating out of cans and packages.

Advisories suggest arriving 2h before departure in the busy summer season.  Given my original scheme of eating, I was at the terminal a good 3 hours before boarding.  Plenty of time to be bored out of my skull. I guess since people know they have a captive audience for a few hours, they took advantage by providing some entertainment.

The bikers kept trickling in – but almost all Harleys and Goldwings.

Nice folks and we had a nice chat.  I think the couple from furthest away was Alberta.  They shared in the whinging about following instructions and showing up so early.  I still felt a tad out of place as I was the only chain drive and back to the gills with gear – including those aforementioned bottles of coca-cola.  It wasn’t until much later in the evening before 3 sport bikes showed up.

Boarding process apparently doesn’t make sense to anyway.  They let a few lines of cars before sending the bikes after.   And even then, it was a lot of sitting around.  Worst part was, the very first bike in line was a brand new Harley that had starting/battery issues.  So he had to leave it running while we waited in line.  Uncomfortably loud for me being directly behind it.

We all got strapped in – I learned a few new tricks about the equipment they provide for tying down.  But this is a typical comparison shot – Mendy overflowing with equipment, covered in filth – next to a nice shiny, polished cruiser with maybe one extra bag tied to the luggage rack on top.

Buttoned down, I went up stairs, found a seat next to the window and tried to get comfortable.  They charge extra for berths – so they don’t allow people to sleep on the floor between rows of seats and there’s no way for the arm rests to go up so you can lie down on a row.  I could at least put my feet up on the window sill and tried to get some shut-eye.