Ride For Rand : Day 84 - St. John to Sussex through St. Martin

Today I took the scenic route through really beautiful countryside along the coast line, in an area which some locals described as "New Brunswick's secret". A word of warning: some of the hills on the pathway were really (insanely) steep, and it would have been hard for me to get a regular bike up, let alone one with all the gear that I had on it. Heck, I think that some of the hills would have been a hard climb for cars too. But before I get carried away with the story, I want to relate something that happened to me in the morning before I left St. John.

As I had mentioned, I stayed in UNB St. John up in the hills which happens to right next the regional hospital. I went to the hospital to have some coffee and breakfast, and was inspired to ask where the palliative care unit was. I went there and was floored by the warm reception that I received. Before long I had ginger snaps in one hand from local volunteers and ice cream in the other. We all took a picture together and having a chance to tune into one of the great purposes of my trip was really a great experience for me.

As I was saying, I managed to stumble on "New Brunswick's Secret" on my way through the countryside. It was a really nice place called Gardner Creek along Road 825. The hills were really steep and the roads were windy (in both senses of the word), but it was certainly a pleasure cruise in paradise. Also while I was on the way through, I saw a man outside playing with his dog and stopped to chat. In another one of those moments which I have spoken of so many times on this blog, the man told me that I had seen him before when he was at the hospital earlier that day visiting a very sick relative. Here I was in the middle of nowhere, meeting someone from a place I had just come from.

About half way through the hilly coastal route, there was a house converted into a shop which sold a variety of ice cream--it was the best ice cream of my life. I felt like I had arrived in paradise. It was gorgeous.

From there, I continued and easily made it to St. Martin's where I saw the sea caves. The caves were stunning, but the food, however, was not. I don't necessarily think my meal was so bad, but I felt like it should have been about half of the price for the quality. The only thing that I can say was really good was the chowder and I'd get it again although the portion was small.

After St Martins I went towards Sussex where there were some epic hills along the road as it was approaching dusk. Despite the hills, all was well until I reached a point where there were some construction signs and pavement ended. At that point, the road looked like it had just been ripped up and had stopped being pavement. Usually in cases like this, they leave half of the road or groom the road in some kind of rudimentary way, but I was shocked to find soft silty gravel just like on the KVR with only a narrow band of packed dirt in the middle of the road which was dangerous to ride on.

I was having a hard time with the back of my bike swaying back and forth, barely able to stay on while having to move over to the edge of the road to avoid getting hit every time a truck came, and it was starting to dawn upon me that it was going to be a long night indeed. These were some of the worst road conditions I had seen on my trip and I didn't know what to do.

And yet, even amongst all of this difficulty, a kind family who had driven past me in their pick up truck stopped and backed up to ask me if I needed a boost past the difficult part.

It was terrible terrain and already 9:00pm, so I decided to accept the offer, and they even offered to drive me to Sussex Junction which would save me cycling through the night, so I accepted.

After riding in the pickup for a little while, they let me off in a park near Sussex Junction where I could stay the night in the park.