advice for touring a bit of Canada

[dogcart]

My wife and I are big fans of Canada but always go to The Rockies for winter sports. We'll be there again in a couple of weeks.
However, I fancy a summer time trip with the bikes and my wife always mentions Nova Scotia (I do a lot of tours in Old Scotia so probably ought to see what the newer one is like!) We have a friend who works in the University in St Johns and there are direct flights from UK to St Johns in the summer so that ought to be a good starting point. I would intend using bike boxes for the transatlantic flight then leaving them at a hotel or with our friend if she has room.
I have a few questions for anyone with experience:
1. other than pedalling would there be any other means of moving bikes around such as buses or trains? Say if we did an A to B tour rather than a loop.
2. I haven't launched into Google yet but are there any reliable resources for cycle routes available?
3. where should we go? My wife would prefer to avoid big hills, undulations are OK, 40ish miles a day is probably enough (60ish km). She has declared her camping days to be over so some sort of lodging or hotel would be preferred each night. Costs aren't really a problem but most certainly don't need 5 star hotels and fine dining!
4. midges/mosquitoes/annoying little flies, what's the deal? I've heard rumours!
5. I'm suggesting a summer trip but when is a good time for decent weather (we live in North Yorkshire and it has been cold, wet and grey for several months now, we would like some warmth on our backs if possible) We have appropriate gear for Scottish weather but would prefer to avoid using it if we could.
6. Should we start somewhere else? St Johns is convenient but anywhere with a direct UK flight would do. I'm suggesting east coast as we've never been but am open to suggestions.
7. We will be on our Thorn bikes so reasonable roads would be preferred but we are happy with decent gravel forest roads or old railway tracks.
8. and if we can throw in some whale spotting that would make my day.
We're retired so don't have any time constrains but would be thinking of a 2-4 week trip
Any help would be much appreciated
Nick

[hendrich]

We have toured/camped, doing a loop of the circumference of NS, except for Cape Brenton. It is beautiful, we especially liked the Northumberland Strait (Amherst to Cape Hawkesbury). However, away from the north, the secondary roads have no shoulders and considerable traffic. The black flies are intense, but if you are not camping and mostly on the move, then not so bad. We did not use any off road paths, they are bad owing to ATV traffic. We would likely not do NS again.

Have you considered Quebec? We have toured from near Montreal to the Atlantic and back, looping the Gaspe peninsula and along the Matapedia River. Quebec has well establish bike routes (Route Verte), most have large shoulders. The ride along the St. Lawrence is spectacular. Camping/food/wine is great. We will do this again sometime, adding Lake Saint-Jean along the Saguenay River.

August is the best time of year.

Have fun, Mike

[in4]

I posted this one a short while ago. Might be of interest.

https://www.clearwatercounty.ca/p/rocky-nordegg-trail

[mickeg]

In 2019 I did a loop tour in and out of Halifax.  I did not go to Newfoundland.  I used my Thorn Nomad Mk II.  I doubt that many things have changed, but since I was there before Covid, I would expect changes in lodging, campgrounds, and restaurants have occurred. 

I did not stay at any hotels or motels.  I stayed at an HI Hostel at the start and finish in Halifax.  Also stayed at HI Hostels at the north end of Cape Breton Island and at Charlottetown, PEI.  Everything else I did was camping.  I was there for a bit over five weeks.

I am glad you numbered your questions, easier to answer.

1 - I do not know about mass transit options.
2 - I just made my own route with Google Maps and a general desire on where I wanted to wander.  And I often deviated from my plans.  Cabot Trail (highway, not a real trail) is a popular route, but that includes some serious hills.
3 - I mentioned Cabot Trail.  Bay of Fundy has really big tides, not sure if that would be of interest to you.
4 - See first attached, the mosquitos were waiting outside my tent mosquito netting, waiting for me to unzip the door so they could come in for breakfast.
5 - I was there in Jun and early July.  I try to beat the crowds, but later is probably good too.  I want to be on my way home when the vacation crowds start approaching.  Later likely is dryer.  This is my go to favorite website to assess weather for planning my trips.  I put in Halifax.
https://weatherspark.com/y/147454/Average-Weather-at-Halifax-Stanfield-International-Airport-Nova-Scotia-Canada-Year-Round
I think you get the best data if you put airports in the location search.
6 - I can only comment on Halifax.  The Hostel I stayed at probably will not store your bike boxes unless something has changed, they had a small luggage room when I stayed there but the luggage I left there was pretty small.  A bike shop named Cyclesmith offered to store my luggage for me when I contacted them by e-mail, I asked them if they could suggest a good motel that would be willing to store my luggage.  In my case, I asked the hostel in advance by e-mail if they could store it for me.  WHen I mentioned bike box, they did not read the rest of the e-mail, they said absolutely not.  But when I stayed at the hostel, they told me that my luggage was small enough that they could store it.  My luggage was an S&S Backpack case, which collapses quite small.
7 - I was mostly on lighter used highways, but I did ride on some rail trails on Cape Breton Island and on PEI.
8 - Whales, can't help on that. 

Second attached is a map of my route.

Third attached, the steepest hill on Cape Breton Island.  I pushed my bike up this hill, there was no way I was going to try to pedal up that thing.  The sign says 13 percent grade.  But it was only a couple km, so was not a trip ending problem, I knew about that hill from my pre planning before I got there.

Fourth attached, my bike.

Since I was camping and you would be looking for indoor sleeping, I can't really comment on where lodging may be difficult to find.

[mickeg]

I took a small shuttle bus from the Halifax airport to the Hostel.  The shuttle driver said he was not supposed to stop there, but he did anyway.  For the return, the shuttle would have been maybe (I am guessing) a one km walk from the hostel.  I carried my luggage in two trips, but my two larger checked bags were backpacks.  If you did that trip, not sure if you would need to rent a vehicle for a day at the start and end or not.

There is a high sales tax, but I do not know what it is right now.  Point being that if you budget without factoring the sales tax, you could be surprised.

A few photos attached.

First, my luggage at the airport.  The big black box as my S&S Backpack case with my bike in it.  One pannier was a carry on and one pannier was my "personal item"

Second, this was on Cape Breton Island.

A foggy day on Cape Breton Island.

And a nice day on Cape Breton Island.

[mickeg]

First photo, my campsite on Five Islands Provincial Park overlooking Bay of Fundy.  Tide was out.

Second photo, the ferry I took to PEI.

Third photo, they do not allow bikes on the Confederation Bridge from PEI back to the mainland, I took this photo from the shuttle that took my across the bridge.