Peggy's Cove, NS
Peggy's Cove is a Maritime Landmark. It's is THE iconic lighthouse. And I've never seen it before, so on a whim, I decided to head out there on my motorcycle and camp out for a night with the intention of catching the sunset and sunrise. The weather was perfect and everything was in my favour... or so I thought.
The trouble began when I was just outside of Halifax. I pulled over to check the map and my bike decided to putter and die as I was pulling over. Great. Only a few hours until sunset and now my bike won't start back up. Two good samaritan bikers pulled over to see what was up (since I already had the bike torn apart trying to find a problem). We eventually came to find that the battery was toast. So, one of them gave me a lift to Canadian Tire and I got a new battery. After a few hours waiting for it to charge I was on the road again. I got to Peggy's Cove after dark and walked around for a bit. It's a freaky place at night. The waves were crashing, I was the only one there and there wasn't even a speck of moonlight. So, I got a cool milky way photo with the lighthouse and hit the hay.
The next morning I woke up before the sun and toured around the rocks finding nice angles of the lighthouse, using long exposures to create interesting skies and silky seas. I was treated to a really nice sunrise, but I learned that oddly enough it is sunset that puts the sun behind the lighthouse, not sunrise as I would have expected. Oh well, next time I guess.
Once I was done, I hopped on the bike to leave... it was dead. Again. Great. I'm in a fishing village far from civilization and mechanics. Luckily the town is filled with lovely people, including an awesome guy named Steven Mehle. Steve makes custom jewellery and runs Peggy's Cove Jewellery (http://www.studiorally.ca/artists/steven-mehle), but he's also a biker and a really knowledgeable guy. He checked out my bike and charged up my battery again, hoping that I could make it to a nearby bike mechanic. Thanks Steve!
Unfortunately the bike didn't quite make it. I broke down again on an on ramp and this time had to call a tow. What a nightmare. So, I had it towed to an awesome bike shop called Toads. Tony, their master mechanic, is a straight up bike genius. He figured out that it was the stator and regulator (read: the charging system on the bike). But they didn't have specific parts, but he was able to finagle me a solution, customizing parts from other bikes to fit and I was able to get home that night. They were awesome guys to hang out with and even shared some BBQ with me! I can't thank them enough!
What an adventure!
