The hottest day of the year (so far) and Catriona and I went biking!!
Yes, we're crazy. A day of 26º was predicted, and we set out in our best bike gear (read: scrounged-up mish-mash of clothes and lopsided helmets) to conquer the Big Baddeck loop!
We left my house around 9, got into Baddeck at 9:45, visited with Chrissie at Arlie's (the shop where Catriona works, on Main Street, a gift shop), then headed out. The sun was already high in the sky and we were parched. We crossed the highway on a bridge, then started the Old Margaree Road, which is a two-lane secondary highway, bumpy and curvy. There were almost no cars.
The sun continued to beat down on us. We got to the first bridge (all the bridges out there are one-lane, hailing back to the olden days.) We went down to it, stripped to our knickers (away from the prying eyes of drivers, although there were none) and dipped in, just enough to suss out the ice-cold temperature.
Then we continued on. The road has been re-done, so it was smooth as silk, hugging the curves and affording us great views of valleys, and the Highlands beyond. All the trees are a pale green with spring's early growth, and the sun kept climbing high in the sky, beating down on us. We sucked back water like fishies. At one point a van of tourists from Ontario stopped us and asked where the Cabot Trail was--they were quite lost. We sent them on thier way.
We got to the second bridge, stopped and swam. We soaked our tee shirts before heading off again. They were dry in 15 minutes. Some hills were quite steep, and we would walk them. I also didn't want us to over-exert ourselves and get sunstroke or some such thing, so we drank lots of water and coated ourselves in 50 SPF sunscreen--no joke! It didn't work everywhere though, and now I am a bit burned, but more sun "kissed" than burned. I rubbed aloe on myself and am taking it easy.
All in all I'd say we biked 20-25 km...not bad for two out-of-shape girls on a friggin' hot day!
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