NEW BRUNSWICK

We ended up getting dropped off in St. Martins for the start of our New Brunswick leg of the trip. This was not the original plan as we had hoped to start in Moncton, NB and work our way down to Fundy National Park, and through some wilderness to St. Martins. Given the uncertainty of the bicycle, and the reality of how far we could comfortably (and more enjoyably) go in a day, we made the right decision.

At the beach in St. Martins.

Sea caves accessible at low tide.

We stayed in a private campground at St. Martins and had some time to ride around town on the bike unencumbered by gear. We ended up down near the beach after passing through a covered bridge, and feeling a bit lazy decided to have dinner out after seeing a sign advertising "Award Winning Chowder". It was good, for seafood chowder. Laura enjoyed it, but I ate a burger.

Not sure "Award Winnings", but it was very good.

One of two covered bridges in St. Martins.

Waiting for sunset, a common activity during the bike tour.

The sunset for this particular day.

The next day we headed towards St. John, hoping to get well beyond it and make it to a Provincial Park Campground. It was a bit of an unknown; roads, terrain, distance, all of it a bit of a mystery. There was some climbing to get to St. John, but we made it in only a couple of hours. Passing through we were able to observe the Reversing Falls, but since it was low tide the falls were headed in the normal, down stream direction. The other side of St. John flattened out a bit so we were able to put some distance behind us. We even traversed about seven miles on Highway 1, a four lane limited access highway. I knew bikes were allowed on the highway, but it was verified when a police car drove past without a second glance. A nice wide shoulder made for comfortable riding and we made reasonable time.

Getting through St. John.

Looking at the Reversing Falls through the railroad bridge.

Lunch stop.

Riding along Highway 1.

Stopping at a convenience store in Lepreau for a snack, we were told by a young couple on an ATV that we had to "stop at the Lepreau Falls, since there was nothing else in Lepreau except the falls". Asking if it required any down hill riding (which would mean we had to come back up), we were assured there was no down hill involved, and besides, it was just down the street, then take a left and down the street a little further. We took the advice, and true to their word, it was a nice flat and short ride, and worth a quick visit. Beyond that, it was not much further to New River Provincial Park, our destination for the night.

Top portion of the Lepreau Falls.

The lower portion of the Lepreau Falls.

Ice cream while looking at the beach at New River Provincial Park

Looking out over the water.

Campsite at New River Provincial Park.

Our camp setup.

Having covered significant miles the previous day we had a reasonably short ride to Blacks Harbour to catch the ferry to Grand Manan Island. Along the way we came across a blueberry stand that had a plethora of blueberry items. Given it was blueberry season we thought it foolish to pass up some blueberry treats. We ended up buying blueberry muffins as we could not figure out how to carry a blueberry pie on the bike. Arriving in Blacks Harbour we had lunch while we waited for the ferry to arrive.

Blueberry stand.

Blueberry creatures.

Enjoying blueberry muffins.

Having lunch at the ferry terminal while waiting for the ferry.

The ferry coming in to Blacks Harbour.

Enjoying the ferry ride.

On the car deck of the ferry viewed from a truck hub.

The crossing was smooth and we enjoyed the hour and a half crossing staring out the window at the water. Approaching the island we could see several tents set up across the cliff overlooking the Bay of Fundy. This was the Hole In The Wall Campground that offered several primitive camp sites along the cliff. Getting off the ferry we pedaled to the campground in hopes of getting one of these cliff top sites. Fortunately they had one available and we enjoyed two nights of camping on the cliff looking out over the water searching for whales. Though we saw no whales, we did see several seals and porpoise in the waters below.

At our campsite along the cliff.

View of the ferry leaving Grand Manan Island.

Relaxing and enjoying the view.

on the rocks below our campsite.

Looking up at Laura at our campsite.

Monkey hanging out.

Dinner with a view.

More views.

Staying two nights gave us a down day where we were able to once again enjoy riding around without gear. We first stopped at the Swallowtail Lighthouse and walked the grounds where we ended up bumping into Laura's parents who came out to the island for the day. After a brief hello we went in search of some coffee. We found a little coffee shop inside the old post office. The owner convinced us to try some smoked salmon jerky. It was actually quite good so we bought a quarter pound of it and ate it on the spot. Moving on we next hit a bakery and had coffee, cinnamon roll, and chocolate croissant. While eating we got talking to a friendly couple from Ontario who had some interesting thoughts about the world, bordering on the paranoid, but also probably some truth in there somewhere. Our last stop was near the other end of the island where, based on the recommendation of the coffeeshop owner, we stopped and had afternoon tea and scones on the porch of a home looking over the bay.

View from Swallowtail Lighthouse.

Taking in the view.

Swallowtail Lighthouse.

Trying some smoked salmon jerky.

Afternoon tea.

View from the porch.

The name sake of the Hole-In-The-Wall Campground.

Our last full day of riding took us through Deer Island and Campobello Island where we camped for the final night at a Provincial Park Campground. We spent some time on the beach reading, cooked our last meal, and went to bed when a light rain started to fall. It rained through the night and through the next morning in which we packed and rode the last couple of miles to the Lubec, ME border crossing. Quickly through the border we sought out a place for breakfast (and to dry out) and waited for Pam and Don to pick us up and head back home. Thus ends our three week bicycle tour through the maritime provinces of Canada.

Sunrise view from our tent on our cliff top campsite.

At the ferry terminal waiting for the ferry back to the mainland.

On the ferry to Deer Island.

Having some lunch while waiting for the rain to fall (or not fall).

Relaxing on the beach. No sunset tonight.

Last morning, packed and ready to get to Lubec, ME., in the rain.

Click HERE to see more photos on Flickr.
See the route map HERE.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Riding on Prince Edward Island was a dream compared to riding Cape Breton Island. Mind you, Cape Breton Island was beautiful in the highlands, and we did know it would be some steep climbing, made more difficult by being on a fully loaded tandem, but as we met a couple of challenges of riding (not walking) up a couple of grades, we were content to move on and have a couple of extra days on PEI.

On the ferry to PEI.

On the ferry to PEI.

Arriving at Wood Islands, PEI.

Leaving Caribou, NS on the ferry we arrived at Wood Islands, PEI with the anticipation of rail trails and fewer hills. We were not disappointed as our first rail trail started about a mile up the road. After a brief stop we headed down the trail to Murray River for a lunch stop. We bought some bread and a block of cheese and sat on the wharf watching a man deal with his sailboat. Apparently he had purchased a used genoa for sail, but the roller furling system was getting hung up on the forestay when he tried to raise the sail. He had his friend there with a bucket truck to go up and get things working, which they did. We ended up spending the next hour chatting with them about all things biking and boating. We eventually made it to our first campground at Panmure Provincial Park, where we enjoyed a stroll on the beach, milkshakes, the lighthouse and the sunset.

Leaving Wood Islands on a section of the Confederation Rail Trail.

On the Confederation Rail Trail.

Happy to be on a rail trail.

Enjoying some lunch on the wharf at Murray River.

Watching the repair of the roller furling system.

An opportunity to dry out at the campsite.

Getting more ice cream at Panmure Beach.

Enjoying milkshakes while checking out the beach.

Riding along the causeway to Panmure Island.

Lighthouse on Panmure Island.

Waiting for sunset.

Enjoying the sunset.

The next day we were on the road headed to our next campground at Red Point. We passed through the quaint town of Montague, stopping for a quick coffee and cookie at the old railroad station while watching boats and birds in the harbor. We were able to ride another short section of rail trail before getting back on the road. Lunch was more cheese and bread with some Vienna sausages thrown in for good measure (I find them tasty and only eat them during such periods of extreme exercise) at a small gazebo in the town of Bridgetown. Continuing on, Don and Pam passed us on the road which turned out to be a good thing because we forgot to get our additional oatmeal out of the truck following our last transportation.  Passing through Souris we stopped at a beach stand and tried one of their locally made flavored sodas, Strawberry Rhubarb Basil. It was quite good and refreshing. We purchased some provisions and continued on only to be halted by a broken shift cable that operates the front derailer. Fortunately we only had a few miles left to go and the chain was stuck in the small chainring making for easy pedaling. I had a spare cable so was able to get it fixed and operating again. Another walk on the beach with red sandstone cliffs and another beautiful sunset.

Hanging around in Montague.

Trail out of Montague.

Another nutritious lunch?

Fresh carrots from a farm stand. Now we are talking nutritious.

Taking a break in Souris.

Enjoying the Strawberry Rhubarb Basil soda.

Campsite at Red Point Campground.

Waiting for another sunset.

Along the beach at Red Point.

The next day had us on the main Confederation Rail Trail where we put in a  good 60 mile day to reach the Brackley Beach area to meet my parents and Katie who drove up to spend a few days on PEI. It was a lot of time in the saddle, and we found the rail trail to be more undulating than we were expecting, but with smaller trains back in the day they could cope with steeper grades. We made one stop to hike into the woods to see the bubbling springs. We could see some swirl of water coming up out of the sand below the pool of water; kind of neat, but I think the mosquitoes were more impressed with the amount of blood they sucked out of us. Moving on, we made it to the cabin and were reunited with family.

On our way to the Brackley Beach region on the Confederation Rail Trail.

Taking a break in St. Peter.

Riding along the trail.

Having some Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble based on the recommendation of a biking couple from New Zealand we passed on the trail.

back on the trail.

At Bubbling Springs.

Checking out some carved lawn furniture.

The five of us took in Green Gables (Pam and Don also met us there) and an evening visit to Charlottetown, all by car which was a nice change of pace (but only for a day). We enjoyed some nice restaurants, sites, and pies (blueberry and strawberry rhubarb) and it made for a nice down day, along with a couple of nights in a comfy bed, but it was all too soon time to move on.

Dressing as they did in the days of Anne of Green Gables.

The house that served as the inspiration.

Entering Green Gables.

Anne's room.

Enjoying some lunch.

More lunch.

Out on the town at Charlottetown.

We took off the next day back to the Confederation Trail and made our way to Summerside. The weather was a bit uncertain, but fortunately no real rain appeared. It was windy, however, and by the time we made it to Linkletter Provincial Park on the Northumberland Straight, it was really blowing. We got the tent staked down, put up, and had a  simple dinner of bread, apples, and rice krispie treats in the tent vestibule​ to get out of the wind. Another beach walk and sunset rounded out the day.

Breakfast stop.

View along the trail.

Passing through Kensington.

A breezy day in Summerside.

Getting ready to devour a Nutella and strawberry crepe.

Eating dinner under the protection of our tent.

Campsite at Linkletter Campground.

Waitinf for another sunset.

The sunset.

Last day on PEI had us heading to the Confederation Bridge to meet Pam and Don to drive us across to New Brunswick. Before we started I went to tighten the rear rack only to find the brazon had broken off leaving one side of the rack not attached to the bike, but just sitting on the frame. A quick job with a tie strap to hold it in place did the trick. The bike is starting to look like it is being held together by the handy little plastic straps. On our way, we headed down a dirt road as a short cut, even though it said the bridge was out. We figured we might make it across, or if not turn around and go the long way around. Sure enough the work crew was there working, and one side of the bridge was gone over a four foot deep trench they were digging. A lady in a work truck said we couldn't go through and we said that was fine, we just came down to look. A couple of the work crew yelled across if we wanted through. We of course said yes, so they grabbed the bike and carried it over the trench. Saved us about five miles, awesome, but the other side of the rear rack had broken off. More tie straps and we were off. We made the meet with Pam and Don at noon, and following lunch crossed the Confederation Bridge and on to our last week of adventure, in New Brunswick. We hope the bike survives... 

Ready for our last day on Prince Edward Island.

Stopping for coffee and donuts.

Some of the guys that helped us over the bridge construction site.

On the other side.

The 8-mile long Confederation Bridge that we soon will drive over.

Click HERE to see more photos on Flickr.
See the route map HERE.