Creating a Cross Canada Overland Route

[deadly99]

So we got to the end of the gravel. My bike had been making a heck of a rattle for the last hour or so When we got to the small town where the ashpalt starts I got off to have a look. My exhaust pipe had cracked right through just where it comes out of the rear cyclinder. This was causing the bike to run bad, overheat and casuing a heck of a noise. Renauld had a few o clamps and I was going to get a soda can and rig something up, no worries. Then a local tells us what time it is...**** we forgot about the time change. We now barely have enough time to catch the ferry. Given my bikes condition I take off for the ferry leaving the other fellows changing brake pads on one of the GS's.

The asphalt ride to Blanc Sablon was great. Nice road, fun twists and excellent scenery. The small fishing villages are fantastic, right out of a post card.














I did not realize that we would be entering Quebec again along this road. Of course I could have guessed a town called Blanc Sablon was french.






Now I also did not realize how small of a town Blanc Sablon was going to be. For some reason I just assumed it was a small city. Ferry and how many times the name had been spoken due to it being the last stop in what we thought would be Labrador. Blanc Sablon is wee, not much there if you were thinking along the same lines as us.





In the backtground is downtown Blanc Sablon in the above photo


We got to the ferry, checked in and got in line. Worth noting is that you don't really need reservations for this ferry. The lady at the counter told me they would never leave a bike behind I like that attitude. Driving a truck? make a reservation ! Blanc Sablon doesnt look like the nicest spot to get stuck in, beauty scenery for sure just not much else to do.




So.....................

Not exactly sure what took place here. Dan was trying to get his rain pants off, a nice stranger saw him struggeling and offered to help.






So............................ somehow they ended up in this position. As everyone was staring I blurted out (yes I have no control over my tongue)..."Hey Dan, bet you didn't think you'd find love in Labrador". Renaud spit his drink out, Dan's face went red, the stranger looked..well...shocked and embarassed...and me...I had water rolling out of my eye's I was laughing so hard. At this point I hear someone ask how it tasted and this just set me off laughing again. Man if the stranger is watching I am truely sorry to have such a laugh at your expense, but damn was it funny. Dan.....what the hell was going on?






Got on the small ferry (it's about a 1.5 hour ride) and tied down our bikes (they provide straps).






Had a walk about deck as we took off. If I couldnt ride bikes I'd ride boats, I love being out on the water.













Met this fellow from the Toronto area (forgot your name, sorry). He was riding a vstrom and had also just finished the TLH. He was two days ahead of us and said he had percet weather, nice and sunny and dusty. He'd said he did the museum and stay in red bay and mentioned it was great. We'd met before at a few riding events in Ontario. Cheers, see ya next time, small world

[deadly99]

So.....a hard decision was made. I decided on the ferry to end this trip short and head home. This was not an easy choice for me by any means. A few factors lead to me to this choice. The surgery I was recovering from was acting up and the idea of being "out here" and having it kick in again and needing a specialist scared the crap out of me My bike was running like crap and needed work. My budget for the trip was blown to hell because of hotel sleeps instead of camping (no regrets I hate camping in the rain when a hotel in nearby) and bike repairs, I was catching a cold (runny nose and sore throat) and this was not a good thing for a recovery from said surgery, we had done the TLH and that was one of three ticks for the trip and the only tick for most of the fellows, the weather forecast showed one good day then another week of rain on the island, my wife is trying to get her business up and running and I promised I'd have the construction phase done for her but left before completing it (yes she was pissed), I have alot of trips left to come and the extra bucks not spent could go towards this, next year SkiBum69 will have the Newfoundland section done and I'll come back and ride it with him.

So a hard choice was made, not one I was proud to announce but one I felt needed to be made.
__________________




After getting off the ferry pelvis and myself headed south to deal with the ferry situation while everyone else headed north to the viking museum. Having a photo of a viking on my bike (ya not a real one but hey) was one of the ticks I wanted on this trip. I'm a geek at heart and love anything to do with swords and medeval times Pelvis had no more rear brakes and was scraping rotot and I believe he felt he'd had a good trip and was willing to join me for the drive home...thanks Pelvis Would have been a long drive home by myself.

We had been hearing rumours of how crazy bad the ferry situation was. Four of the guys had made reservations for two days later leaving from Port Aux Basques but we (Dan, Pelvis and myself) hadn't as we figured we would do it once we got to the island and looked at the weather, the calendar and how we were feeling. So we called the ferry terminal and were informed the next opening was 3 weeks away Jeepers this just won't do. We chatted with a few other bikers at some gas stations and they were telling us tales of people waiting in line for 9 days on standby Jeepers this won't do either. The newspapers were telling how the next day the local trucking companies planned on blockading the ferry terminals so no one could get a ferry As I understand it a broken down boat and bad weather had screwed uo the schedule big time. Also a coouple of big trucking companies booked every available commercail spot on every ferry for the summer and then would cancel at the last minute if one of their trucks wasn't going to be on it, this was really screwing the small trucking companies over. In years past it used to be a first come first serve...but the government in all their wisdom implemented this new reservation system and it sure didn't seem to be working out. So without many choices we headed south down the island and figured we would see what we could do.

The drive down the highway was absolutely gorgeous. Breaking waves on our right as the sun set over the water horizon, nice granite looking rock faces on our left, very little traffic and a very smooth road with some nice bends. Picture perfect.







We spent the night in a small town called Rocky Harbour which is tucked into the bay on the left of the above photo. I needed to get on the web and see what I could do about the ferry situation. Nice hotel, good food, cold beers (yes this was Pelvis's last province/territory to complete his list, CONGRATS on fullfilling your dreams Pelvis ) and the lady at the concierge let me use her computer.

We tried phoning the ferries but a message simply said we are too busy, try another day please...WTF ! I logged into their site and was greeted with all red x's showing every ferry was full except for tomorrow at 6pm...well I quickly picked two people and a motorbike, then i realized that meant they would think two people on one bike, I added this to the shopping cart and went back to add another bike/person but the ferry now showed full. Screw it I went to the shopping cart and hit buy, the price dropped and the bike was removed. Screw it I hit pay and got a reservation for 2 passenegers with no vechicle. Went back to the site and it now showed that ferry as full and no other ferries as having a spot open (even for passenegers for the next 2 weeks). So good/not good news. The plan.......SMILE...it's hard to get mad or deny people with big grins


Woke up the next morning and had a great drive down the rest of the island. Have I raved enough yet about how beautiful NFLD is?

Heck they even brag about how clean their washrooms are at gas stations























We stopped off the highway to get gas in this small town. The local kids all showing off doing wheelies, etc The lady at the pumps says "you must be roasting".....I still had the liner for my coat on, windy and about 15 degrees celcius...she informs me it was the warmest day so far this year Coming to NFLD, bring warm clothes, summer is a relative term












While driving down the road I spot this guy in the middle of nowhere and spin her around to have a chat.






Meet Joe. Joe has been walking for a year and a half. He left Victoria BC in the fall of 2008. A real cool guy and he had made a real neat rig. Perfectly balanced, nice sun/rain cover etc. Joe only plans one day at a time and if it rains he stays put. Wow what a difference than the last week of my life. I was very envious of him at this point. Real interesting fellow to say the least, if you see Joe, stop and say gidday Of course I had to take his rig for a spin







When we got to Port Aux basques we headed straight for the ferry and got in line to get our tickets. Now.....Pelvis isn't always the most smiley guy I re-enforced to him to just keep grinning. We got to the front of the line and played dumb with the sweet gal. "But I picked two motorbikes on the drop down", "well then I'll just pay the difference", "well no worries we'll wait and get the next boat". Boat full, no way, next one, full no way, etc She says hold on I'll get my manager, this grouch of a lady comes up (yes I understand these people have been yelled at all day everyday by pissed off people but seriously that isn't my issue is it, cheer up my taxes are paying your salary ) and says right out of the gate, no way no chance in fact I don't even want to see those bikes cross this line. ARG..."keep smiling Pelvis". The sweet heart in the ticket booth leans out and says "Just drive, ignore her when she screams and drive right by the food and immgration people, DO NOT stop. There is a building down on the left where people can complain. I'll phone ahead and tell them you are coming." Smiling worked. A quick thanks and vroom. "Hey, stop those bikes" Vroom


When we get to the complaints department you can tell people are pissed off and have been waiting a LONG time. "keep smiling Pelvis". This over the top gay fellow seems to be in charge and is telling his employee to keep telling people the boats are full, nothing they can do about it. He looks up and down the line up and spots me and Pelvis smiling like idiots (the only people smiling in the whole place), leans over to the young girl and says something, she replies "Susie from up front called and said these two would be coming here". Well he looks us up and down, winks and rolls his eye's in that gay I'm checking you out manner So without breaking the smile off my face I wink back.....wow shivers up and down my spine, I can hear pelvis freaking out behind his perma grin, lol The fellow tells the yound lady that me and Pelvis will be getting on the next boat and winks as he walks away Hells bells baby, we're on. Not only that but he gives us a cabin with two beds, a tv and a private bathroom

[deadly99]

We had a few hours to kill so we drove back into town and hit up a Canadian Tire to do a "get home job" on my exhaust.

The break




The tools





The after






While doing this Pelvis notices my chain guard is all bent up and inside the spokes of my rear wheel. Well that explains some of the rough running behaviour my bike has been having for the last 20 minutes. I cut out the chain guard and WOW is my chain loose. I had tightened it a few times during this trip and prior to leaving and wasn't having any issues. When they start to go they go fast I could almost remove the chain from the sprocket by hand. We tried getting a longer bolt to replace the tightening bolt, contemplated placing a nut between the bolt and plate but in the end none of these solutions would work for a 2000 kilometer ride back home. Screw it let's have a coldy and some food and just get on the boat, we'll deal with it on the main land.


You can see in this photo where the chain was slapping. Rubbing through the mudguard and getting dangerously close to the rear wheel. Also started rubbing on the spring of my rear suspension.






A quick burger and beer in town then off to the ferry. I sincerly felt bad for the guys on bikes who were in the standby lane. They didn't get on this ferry, god knows how long they ended up waiting in that parking lot.


Tieing down the bikes (they provide tie downs)









A great boat, hit the bar up before heading down to crash in the cabin and watch some tube.









Adios NFLD, I WILL BE BACK













Got a last minute room in Nova SCotia as our ferry came in at something like 2am. Luckily it was less than a mile or so from the ferry. Chain was bouncing all over the place. Crashed for the rest of the night and got on the phone first thing in the morning to see what I could do aboout getting some parts. Well, I could get a new chain delivered in 3 days. My back sprocket looked like it would make the ride home but the front was in rough shape. Past point, past hooking, starting to crack from the loose chain jumping I assume. So stay in Nova Scotia and visit a friends friends who was willing to come pick us up, buy a 380 dollar chain and wreck it on the drive home on the worn sprockets OR get Uhaul and get the hell out of here?









Sure enough the minute we head out it starts pouring rain and winds of up to 90 km/h the radio was saying. I'm not a big cage fan but damn the heat and windsheild wipers were real nice Not much else to say, am 18 hour drive home without anything to write about. It was real nice to get home and start planning the next trip Two more weeks and I head out with some guys to do a section of route we've planned heading to northern Ontario. Time to order some parts and give the beast some serious tlc

[deadly99]

And what happened to the other guys? Dan spent a week in Newfoundland, went through 6 more fuel pumps (jerry rigging snowmobile pumps onto the bike and vapour locking the cyclinfer;s everytime he stopped and forgot to turn of the fule lines), got rained on alot but generally had himself a good time by the sounds of things. The other guys went north up the island to check out the viking museum, spent a night in gros Morne park camping then headed home uneventfully.

All in all it was a great trip. Has the weather of been nicer the Trans Labrador would have been fun and dusty. But this is the way the cards played out...you dont always get to pick the weather when your on a trip. We made the best of it and in the end we all felt a certain sense of accomplishment which was great.

So that's the Labraodr section of the route. One lllooonnnggg road. I think it's about 2300 km's long of which about 1700 of it being gravel. A very cool place in the world for overland travelling in my opinion. Lot's of wilderness, some nice scenery, great people to meet along the way, etc

I need to get back to work now but I'll post up another province soon

[HMR]

All in all it was a great trip. Has the weather of been nicer the Trans Labrador would have been fun and dusty. But this is the way the cards played out...you dont always get to pick the weather when your on a trip. We made the best of it and in the end we all felt a certain sense of accomplishment which was great.

RIGHT ON!

Looking forward to the rest of your adventure.

[The Adam Blaster]

This is a fantastic project, I'm thankful that you guys have taken on such a daunting task, and especially thankful you've decided to include us "4-wheelers" in your plans and records!

I have barely read any of this thread yet, but I wanted to jump in quickly and say that Canada's population has topped 33 million now, we can't have anyone thinking we're only 31 mill!!! lol

[deadly99]

This is a fantastic project, I'm thankful that you guys have taken on such a daunting task, and especially thankful you've decided to include us "4-wheelers" in your plans and records!

I have barely read any of this thread yet, but I wanted to jump in quickly and say that Canada's population has topped 33 million now, we can't have anyone thinking we're only 31 mill!!! lol

33 ! Who are the new people

[deadly99]

Here comes the Ontario section or what we have completed of it so far. Grab a beer or three...it's a long read.

The route for Ontario begins at the Quebec/Ontario border in the city of Ottawa. Ottawa is a city of approximately 1 million people. The decision to have the route cross a major city was made soley based on we felt folks may need a break from the boonies and also to get access to parts/tools/mechanics, etc by this point in the route.

About 50 km's of ashpalt will bring the route out "into the country" and some gravel roads, eventually bringing them into the town of Merrickville, Ontario.

Scotch Line coming into the town of Merrickville, Ontario.







The route has intended spots to spend the night. Of course this bases the route on a schedule, some folks will find the schedule much to fast and others way to slow. Nothing we can do about that I suppose. The places to spend the night are being choosen based on things like campgrouns,motels, laundry mats, beer stores , restuarants, grocery stores and so on. Merrickville is a small touristy town and seems to have most of what is required for a nights stay.

This is the first installement where the route splits into the main route and the technical route. I'm not going to differentiate between the two in this thread but if something looks a bit too "serious" for your vechicle or skill lvele, know that the section your looking at "may" be on the technical sections. make sense?

[deadly99]

The route takes some gravel roads and a few short jeep trails before ending up in a town called carelton Place, Ontario. A short section of gravel/jeep roads ...






leads past the town of Almonte and follows a nice double track through the bush



before ending up on this powerline (NOTE:technical section)

[deadly99]

Some water crossing are inevitable. Nice on a hot sunny day not so nice when it's cold.

Depending on rain the water levels can change. Use common sense and walk what you can't see, always a good rule on thumb






Good example of too deep ....











Please remeber not every photo here will be on the route. Some days we got stumped and deadened, some days the terrain just became unsuitable or trails led us in the wrong direction.






I don't want to give the wrong impression...this is the go around or "main route" past the hydro lines






Back to the good stuff









Flat tires, like taxes and death are inevitable
























Off the hydro line for a stint around some bogs before getting back onto it














More flats .....