Day Four – Moncton NB to Ingonish NS
Miles: 397


I had arranged to have my headlight replaced at the BMW store in Moncton. Rally Motoplex in Moncton scheduled me in for 9:00 after rearranging other appointments. This was really nice of them to do, and I suspect many dealers do this sort of thing for people on the road. The day started with another overcast and misty day. Since we didn't need to be there until 9:00 we stopped for breakfast and even washed the bikes before heading to the shop. Steve was having some difficulty with his GPS connectivity and along with the rain and the fact I had to take my new bike to the shop all equaled a less than stellar beginning to the day. We arrived a little early and they got us right in. The folks at Rally Motoplex could not have been nicer. Once they finished they presented my bill, and I again informed them it was covered under warranty, but they said since they were in Canada and the bike was US they couldn't honor the warranty. I didn't argue much, and paid the bill. Upon my return home I contacted my dealership and BMW North America all to no avail. It really left a bad taste in my mouth. My first new bike I have ever purchased and this issue comes up and it is not covered. We took off around 9:30 and knew we needed to make up some time. We had planned to follow the northern coast of the Highland portion of Nova Scotia but the real prize is Cape Breton, and we did not want to sacrifice any of that riding. We crossed the Strait of Canso at 1:00, so we felt we were in pretty good shape time-wise. The best riding takes place north of Port Hood which we reached 30 minutes later, and made a quick rest stop looking out at Port Hood Island and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The good riding began and we soon found ourselves on Whale's Cove which we visited in 2005. We took many pics there and really enjoyed the sudden burst of sunshine. Back on the bikes we quickly crossed the Margaree River and officially began the Cape Breton ride on the Cabot Trail. We didn't find the road conditions on the Trail all that great, and just when I was thinking that we went a series of road construction projects that caused us to sit and wait as the road had been restricted to one lane. Also as we had climbed in elevation the fog had set in and the misty conditions were back. As we rode toward Pleasant Bay the mist cleared and we stopped to overlook Pleasant Bay. In South Harbour we broke away from the Cabot Trail on White Point Road. We pulled over to get a view from the overlook perched 225 feet above the sea. We stopped one last time back out on the Trail to duplicate a pic from 2005. We arrived to our hotel a little after 8:00, and didn't waste much time getting to the bar and having a few beers and another round of wings. The bar in the motel was pretty decent and even had some live music. It had been a long day and we covered a lot of ground considering we didn't get started until well after 9:00.