{"id":712,"date":"2023-08-15T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/2023\/08\/15\/motocycle-trip-to-newfoundland\/"},"modified":"2023-08-19T06:02:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T10:02:00","slug":"motocycle-trip-to-newfoundland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/2023\/08\/15\/motocycle-trip-to-newfoundland\/","title":{"rendered":"Motocycle trip to Newfoundland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ready to go!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Riding across Newfoundland has been one of my top destinations since I\u2019ve come back from the Blue Ridge Parkway<\/a>. I needed at least two weeks to get there, explore, and get back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting ready for the trip was a breeze, relatively. Check the bike, a 2016 Triumph Bonneville T120: fuel, brakes, lights, horn, coolant, tires, oil\u2026 The dang cap for the oil is on too tight! I have nothing to open it with. Off to Canadian Tire\u2026 Oil is good. These modern bikes keep their oil for much longer than decades ago; the maintenance schedule has the oil change only at every 16,000km. The Bonnie is in top shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used the same inventory as my last trip; I\u2019m glad I recorded it then. Basically: tent, mat, sleeping bag, clothes, tools, rain gear, electronics, camera, and I\u2019m all set. After a good night\u2019s sleep, I load up the bike and head out at the crack of dawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road seems less of a bore when riding; it seems I\u2019m taking in the views more than usual. On a long trip, I tend to experience more of what\u2019s happening and more of the environment. Distances seem shorter than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some traffic entering the city, I make a quick stop in Montreal for coffee & breakfast at Les br\u00fbleries Faro<\/em>. I taste Myracle Kitchen Mylk<\/a>: not bad! A pit stop at the Apple Store to pick up an adapter for my iPad so I can import the pictures from my camera, then I\u2019m back on the road. I\u2019m impressed at the awesome engineering of the Jacques Cartier Bridge,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, I don\u2019t see the time go by as I travel past Trois-Rivi\u00e8res, then Quebec City. I make a pit stop after L\u00e9vis, then at T\u00e9miscouata-sur-le-Lac. I check my schedule. I had booked a ticket on tomorrow\u2019s 12:15PM ferry to Newfoundland. I need to be at the dock by 10:15AM, that means I have to camp at most three hours to the dock. I book a site at a provincial park near Pictou, New Brunswick; I\u2019ll have to ride a long way to get to the campsite, and at night too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Daniel in New Brunswick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t usually enjoy riding highways. Not because they\u2019re dangerous; they\u2019re actually the safest roads to ride: everyone driving in the same direction, no intersections (i.e. no cross traffic), no pedestrians or bicycles. No, not because of that. They\u2019re just long, monotonous, boring, sometimes hypnotic, stretches of road. The 417 from Ottawa to the border of Quebec is one of my least favourite. The 416 to my brother\u2019s board game caf\u00e9<\/a> in Spencerville is a close second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highways in New Brunswick are an exception: I absolutely love riding them! They are like large, wide ribbons draped over heavy, lazy hills with awesome, unique, ever-changing landscapes for hours on end. Most of the time, there\u2019s little traffic. Riding the NB highways is so peaceful and calming, it\u2019s like meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New Brunswick highway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I avoid riding at night, specially because I can\u2019t see as far as during the day, and other drivers can\u2019t see me as well. I wear my high-visibility rain jacket to improve being seen a bit at night, and use my high beam headlight as much as I can to keep an eye on possible wildlife moving onto the road. A big part of motorcycling is managing risk. Awareness has to be 100% on all the time: expect the unexpected, ride as if you are invisible to others<\/a>\u2014awesome video by FortNine, by the way. I make an exception this time, because I need to make my way to the campground tonight to be on time for the ferry tomorrow. I realize I should have given myself more time and booked passage on a later ferry. It runs only twice or three times a day, my choices were limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Daniel in Nova Scotia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1,452km. I think that\u2019s the farthest I\u2019ve ridden in a single day since I\u2019ve been riding. All that on the first day! My butt wants to kill me\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map
Day 1: Ottawa ON to Pictou NS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Riding distance: 1,452km<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Riding across Newfoundland has been one of my top destinations since I\u2019ve come back from the Blue Ridge Parkway. I needed at least two weeks to get there, explore, and get back. Getting ready for the trip was a breeze, relatively. Check the bike, a 2016 Triumph Bonneville T120: fuel, brakes, lights, horn, coolant, tires, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5,12,9,6,7],"class_list":["post-712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-motorcycle","tag-newfoundland","tag-road-trip","tag-trip","tag-triumph-bonneville-t120"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/img_1545-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":772,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions\/772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}