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.