Day 86 - Hopewell Rocks to Shediac, Port Elgen and beyond

Oh, what a bright morning, better put on my shades!

Like Bacchus waking up from a cozy slumber, I rejoiced in the nice change in weather and decided to stay a little bit at the campsite this morning. It like could be an easier day so I just had to enjoy it with sandals in the sun. The road wasn't that bad at all. Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy is a major tourist destination and the roads are very easy to navigate. There's even a lot of icecream shops on the side of the road which helps...

The first thing that I did which I couldn't miss was go to see the Hopewell Rocks. I from around 11-1 and the highlight of my trip was finding wild raspberries. Somehow I felt like I didn't really resonate with the place because of the cost to get in and the crowds. There was a lineup just to see the rocks, and I had trouble getting out of the viewing area because there were so many people just going to snap a picture. It was okay, but personally I thought the caves at St. Martin's looked much more beautiful.

I continued my leisurely bike ride out towards Moncton and found my to a Tim's for a late lunch / dinner (linner?) at around 5pm. It was at this point that that little thought entered my mind again...

"What if I just cycled through the night and got to PEI tomorrow instead of the day after?"

Moments later, I had already booked my 2 night stay at the Brackley Beach Hostel on PEI. I knew I had to put my pedal to the ... uh well... let's just say I knew I had to pedal a lot in order to reach my destination in time. One last swig of the java and I was on the road again towards Shediac, lobster capital of the world!!!

I passed through Shediac and stopped at a certain place to work on this blog for a little while and rest up for the night ahead. There was a really nice group of elderly folk from Shediac who I had the pleasure to begin talking with. In an act of kindness, they all felt it right to donate to Victoria Hospice, and so I took a collection for them to put on the website.

The people working had also heard about what I was doing and where I was going (cycling through the night) and one of the employees offered to make me a special drink. I think it had 5 shots of espresso in it (o_o) !

As my brain floated in a cloud of caffeinated dreams, I jumped on my bike put on my helmet, turned on my lights, said "Giddyup!" I was on my way.

So that's the fun part of the story. I rode through the night with hardly any cars down the quiet road until I reached Port Elgin where I hoped to (can you guess?) find some food. Unfortunately its such a a small place, and there wasn't anything open at 4am, so I found whatever I could eat in the little cooler that I keep with me, and then decided to take a short rest in the park.

It was interesting setting up my tent in the windy spot I was in, but with everything ready and the mosquitoes satiated for the moment, I slipped into my tent and promptly lost consciousness for an hour and a half...

... to be continued. 

Either Road through the day I gradually made my way to Monkton and through two words shed yak the place where the largest Lobster ever fished was ever was found. In a spur the moment in a spur of the moment, I decided to cycle through the night and dad around us I decided to move from Chevy a can continue along the road to work the PEI Confederation bridge. In the middle of the night at around 2 or 3 am I finally made it to a place called portal gun or Allegan point and I was hoping that there would be a McDonalds or something like that there but there was nothing so I ended up eating some of my own food and setting up my time just for 2 hours so that I could rest up. This was just a rest it wasn't asleep.

Morning on the Bay of Fundy

The narrow strip of blue is Nova Scotia 

Fields of Fundy

Shadow Selfie

Friends who I met at the campsite :)

The famous Hopewell Rocks

Beautiful sights from the tourist trap

No walking on the ocean floor today

A few hours later, I'd be able to walk down there...

But I was up here...

A different part of the tourist trap

Finding wild raspberries was one of the highlights of paying to enter this place...

I wanted to participate in the bottom photo...

Moncton in the distance

Downtown Moncton

On the road to Shediac

Made it

Sunset Approaching

Getting my picture taken in front of the lobster

Port Elgen by moonlight

Day 85 - Sussex to Hopewell Rocks

Surprise! Today was rainy day again, as I rode my bike through the Fundy National Park to Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick. I didn't actually get a chance to see the rocks themselves (that would be tomorrow), but they were very close to where I was camping at the end of the day. 

Keeping with the pattern that has been presenting itself since I got off of the main highways in Fredericton, there were some scary hills, but the road through this section of the road (see yesterday's post for contrast) was okay with nice shoulders.

I would say that the hardest section was entering the Fundy National Park. Also, I really wished at that time that it were a little bit better weather because I was feeling a bit chilly. And then there was the view. As I was on my way down from the Fundy National Park to Alma, I came across a viewing point, but it unfortunately hadn't cleared up enough to do the majestic place that it was any justice. I had to snap a couple of pics and then give up for the moment as I continued down the road.

I made it down the hill and ate another delicious, but overpriced meal of seafood and then stopped at a small café called "The Octopus's garden". The weather didn't relent during my coffee, so I just slogged along in the rain until eventually later on in the day it subsided.

Actually, it was a nice moment for me to experience the rain easing up and the sun starting to shine. There's always a moment when the steam rises up from the pavement and suddenly its like a sauna for a little while. I like natural saunas I suppose (haha). There's also something special which I have trouble describing in this blog about the way the nature around me also changes with the shifting weather. Nature was a constant for me, and I both enjoyed it and learned a lot from it, like in this case to be flexible and adaptable in life.

The rain had ended and I warmed up to the glow of sunset as I rode into my 40 dollar campsite. If only the shower had a nozzle.

Anyway, the campsite wasn't so bad, and I made some friends who offered me food and wine.

As always I'm filled with gratitude by the people around me offering their kindness.

Rainy Sussex!

On the road to Fundy National Park

Up and down

If this were a sunny day it would have been a really nice view!
From the top of Fundy National Park 

Welcome to Alma

Alma Chowder

These boats can only leave at certain times of the day because of the tide changes

Swimming in the rain, I want to go to the octopus' garden for a coffee...

Following the weather up the coastline

Some beautiful views to be had for sure...

Looking good

You see this guy everywhere in one form or another in Atlantic Canada.

Flowing down the road

Little glow of sunshine

Fields and water in the background...

Shifts in the clouds. Sunny day tomorrow

Almost at my campsite!

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.

Thank you to the Palliative Care Unit in St. John, NB!

St. John Regional Hospital  

On the Highway again 

Fields heading towards the ocean

Old roads to the Ocean 

Great Icecream-- and view

Ok, ready to go!

Beautiful views on the Bay of Fundy

Small towns...

Wild blueberries...

Got a flat tire here, but all is OK, up and running again!

Made it to the caves at St. Martin

Tourists at the cave

Closeup

I thought these caves looked even more interesting...

Nice area

Good chowder

Not worth the price, but also delicious

The sun sets and I move on

On my way to Sussex

Facing hills and worsening road conditions

I eventually made it here and set up my tent in the park!