2018 The Fundy FunDay

There was this shadow at work. No, not the "Me and my shadow" type, a red and black Honda Shadow that I saw in the parking lot every day I came in to work, and gone by the time I left.

Cape Enrage New Brunswick

I was late for the Red Isle Riders Bike Night, but managed to stir my lazy butt up and out in time to meet up with the gang, and shortly a woman walked up to me, introduced herself as Caroline, and told me she recognized my bike from work, etc etc. We finally got a chance to put faces to names, and over the next day or two we decided that a ride off island was in order, and I invited her to join me for fish & chips at The Boathouse in Alma New Brunswick on the shore of Fundy Bay. "Absolutely!"

Friday night rolled around and I found myself laying out my gear for the ride the following morning, excited because I had convinced someone to partake of my madness... I needed to make a good initial impression so I could lull them into complacency and trust in my navigation skills and riding ability. Muahahahaha!

The Grand Plan

Don't be deceived, I talk way to much at each stop, and managed to eat up all our extra time...

Of course you meet for a coffee

 I believe I mentioned kickstands up at 0830 but I wouldn't take the hint when Caroline started looking at her watch, and continued telling riding stories ad nauseum so we were fifteen minutes late getting underway. So much for good first impressions.

It was cool! I'd dressed for fall weather, but wasn't expecting it to be so brisk, so the first order of business was to pull in to a parking lot and get out a couple of extra layers. Brrrr!

Leg 1 - Charlottetown to Lower Sackville NB - 109 km

Leg 1 - Charlottetown to Lower Sackville NB - 109 km

Okay, time to get off the island and get onto my favourite little side cut, NB Route 955 through Murray Corner and out onto 15 towards Moncton... But then we shot across NB 940 bound for Lower Sackville NB, where we refuelled and grabbed a cuppa (And chatted again) while an enthusiastic group of University Students hit us up for a donation for Shine O Rama or something. Lol. I'm an easy touch, but have a poor memory.

Leg 2 - Sackville NB to Alma NB - 158 km

Leg 2 - Sackville NB to Alma NB - 158 km

Time to get moving if we want lunch as opposed to supper, and we headed through the town and onto NB Route 106, where the fun began. I completely missed 925 in the heat of the moment, and then I managed to impress Caroline with my navigation skills by arriving in Memramcook NB and promptly ignoring Garmin's sage advice, and leading us miles out of the way down the opposite bank of the Memramcook River before I caught the mistake, and sheepishly admitted to Caroline that we had to go back thataway. Oops! (I may have mentioned that Garmin steered me wrong at the time)

We navigated Moncton well enough, but by the time we hit Riverside, I had to go recycle my coffee and tea from the morning, and we got a good wee visit with a very well mannered Rottweiler named Sassy, who kindly permitted us to pet her for a few minutes.

Once out on the road again with Caroline leading, we promptly got stuck behind some motorists who were confused by signs that said things like "80 km/h" and insisted on driving at their own pace, that of a retirement home resident dashing to make the first sitting for lunch with their walker... Slow and impossible to get round, but Caroline managed and we enjoyed the sight of the tributaries emptying into the Petitcodiac River as it winds its way out into the Bay of Fundy, then seeing the Bay itself appear in the distance, just down from the rise we were travelling on. Sorry, my main camera is out of action as I lost the battery charger for it somewhere in New Hampshire's White Mountains, so no pictures this time. *sigh*

I was trying to shepherd her to Shepody Marsh at Harvey Bank NB, and managed to get us off the highway onto a wee asphalt lane that turned a corner and became a gravel access path for farmers out onto the pastures that border the marsh. I asked if Caroline wanted some help mounting knobby tires on her shadow, but she gave me a look. "That" look, and I knew that I had better get us back out onto 114 and get us moving on the macadam. Hey! A covered bridge! I freely admit to assessing her bike, her demonstrated riding skill, and the depth and quality of the gravel, before deciding that she had the "Right Stuff" and led her up to the wooden structure. "Hold on here for a minute of two, I want to take a video of you riding across the bridge!" Another bald faced lie as I prefer sequenced shots so I could pick the best of the best. :)

Sawmill Creek covered bridge, Hopewell Hill

 Ain't technology grand? And now for your viewing pleasure, MOVING PICTURES!

You can't take a car across this anymore, but a horse might just fit. 

I got us back out onto the pavement, and remembered the road that we needed to get out to Harvey Bank was the 914! Once on it Caroline took the lead again, until the turn for Harvey Bank, for as much as I love to talk, I'd forgotten to tell her what we (I) was up to that we needed to make a wee detour out to the marsh via the tourist trap the town has got. A fake lighthouse near what I believe used to be the boat pond of the shipyard that once graced this small farming community.

Lifted from the New Brunswick Provincial Archives:
Located on the Shepody River, 3.18 km SE of Riverside-Albert and 2.26 km NE of Harvey: Harvey Parish, Albert County: PO 1882-1950: in 1866 Harvey Bank was a farming settlement with approximately 23 resident families: in 1871 the community had a population of 150: in 1898 Harvey Bank had 1 post office, 1 store, 1 sawmill, a shipyard and a population of 190.

Shepody Marsh near Harvey Bank NB

This is only navigable at high tide, so the boat pond is protected by a lock system.

Look like you own the bike and not the bank... 

 A couple of older ladies drove up and we chatted with them about the weather, the area and sights. One was up from 'Murica so we avoided politics and chatted merrily about wither we were bound, Cape Enrage, the lunch that awaited up in Alma, and other minutia. It was all smiles and laughs until I told them that we wouldn't be taking the loop through the conservation area or dropping into the art studio, lol. One of them said I am going to have to visit again with a bike that will handle a rough road. :'(

We got back out onto 914 and I warned Caroline to be on the lookout for a lighthouse sign on the left for Cape Enrage Lighthouse, and off we went down that bumpy road for about fifteen kilometers of spine cracking "How's your Mama?" krazy quilt New Brunswick rural roads. What do I mean by Krazy Quilt? Road patches on patches, on top of patches. Yep, marked as 80 kph, but only if you are part of the Hare Scramble... Caroline set a good pace, and I was happy to butterfly watch as we hit the high ground and could see out over Fundy's majestic shoreline.

Remember that lighthouses are placed to warn sailors of navigational hazards? In this case a towering cliff of rock located on the remote end of the cape. The access road out to that lighthouse is not straight and level, and while I gave Caroline a brief warning about the curves, I didn't want to scare myself, so for once I kept mum and simply told her that taking it easy was the plan, and watch out for the hairpin corner.

The view from the top

Back just a bit further, Ron. A bit more... 

 I need to fire my current barber, but at least I'll have a great scrapbook for the personal care workers to peruse later in life while I sit in my chair and drool on myself. 

Where is Waldo? Hahaha, yes, timing is everything. 

Wow, is she ever short! 

 Once Caroline kicked my butt off the top of the beach and down a bit lower, the photo improves. :D

Selfie Photo Bomb! I forgot the rabbit ears. Next time! 

Man, this place is beautiful, but you have to use caution on the roads and ensure your skills are up to hairpin corners, and sharing those curves and hills with other motorists. Caroline admitted to a wee bit of white knuckling during the ride, but I think she deserves a pat on the back for staying the course. Gold star time! I am not going to ask you to do a search of the this blog for "Alma" and read my story of six years ago and this same road...

That road leads to a steep ascent and a could of hairpin corners

That road can be fun too. 

It's hard to believe that the ocean will flood past the breakwater right up this plain. 

Oh my! It's after 1400 and I promised this girl "lunch", not supper! It's taken us six hours to get this far today. Perhaps I'd better do less talking and more riding... 

Itotallyforgetthenameofthisbeautiful River, Cape Enrage NB 

 915 led us back down the ridge and into Alma, and I scooted ahead of Caroline again to show her where to park for the Boathouse Restaurant. No pictures of the fantastic fish & chips, but rest assured we got our monies worth. Caroline alleges that for an East Coaster, the best fish & chips she ever had was served to her in Las Vegas Nevada. Game on, prove it! Let's go rent a bike and check this place out, as well as the Grand Canyon and that damn Dam thingy that was named after a vacuum cleaner!

Leg 3 - Alma NB to Charlottetown PE - 265 km

Leg 3 - Alma NB to Charlottetown PE - 265 km

Both Caroline and I wanted to be off the mainland before dark, as neither of us relished a night ride out on 16 where the risk of collision with the wildlife is pretty high, and as it was now three o'clock and we had three hours of riding ahead of us, it was time to dispense with the The Grand Plan, and get moving via the Trans Canada if we wanted to be back on our island retreat before sunset.

So off through Fundy park we went with Caroline in the lead, the sound of her scraping pegs warning hikers and tourists that we were not stopping for anything less than four legs, a rack, and a metre tall. Seriously, the very first turn near the top of the hill by the parking lot? She one ups me and gets some decent lean angle! My grin was hidden by my helmet so I flashed her a thumbs up, and off we went up the hill and out of the park, homeward bound.

Thankfully she stopped just before the highway on the 114, and we put back on the layer of clothing that we'd removed at the restaurant. Not only did I don my heated vest again, I actually plugged it in as I was fairly certain that I'd be suffering from the early autumn chill well before reaching the Northhumberland Strait and the Borden-Carleton Esso where Caroline promised to let me stop and buy me a tea if I would only do my best to keep up to her on the turnpike.

She's quick. I manged to keep up and enjoy the ride, but it was getting windy, and brisk, very brisk. (Don't tell Caroline, but I flipped the switch on the vest at Salisbury, then turned it off when I pulled into the underground at my place, she'll think I'm a wuss. )

We got hung up behind some tourist RV out on 15 long before coming in Port Elgin, and with a conga line of cars behind them, and all quite content to do 10kph LESS than the posted limit, so when Caroline pulled off onto the south end of the 955, I was sooooo happy! She pulled over and asked if I was going to be okay for gas, and I gave her a grin and a thumbs up, and we made decent time retracing our route back up the bridge.

The estuary at Murray Corner NB

It was windy! As I told Caroline, I can't remember another crossing where my bike got tossed around so much. I managed to make it across the bridge, with visions of free hot tea as my reward.

 We pulled into the Esso station on this side of the bridge, gassed up for the final time of the day, and sat down with our drinks to chat with a few other bikers there, before heading off on one more wee adventure, down 10 through Cape Traverse and out into Tryon where we headed into Crapaud and North up Route 13's many twists and turns before heading into Charlottetown via the Kinkora road.

Sunset over the potatoes fields of Cape Traverse PE

Our last sight of the sun, viewed from Tryon PE

 And thus ends the tale of how it took two modern bikes and skilled riders six hours to get there, and three hours to get back.

What an awesome day!

Expect more from me if the weather is good next weekend as I promised a bit of a Dawn to Dusk ride to a few of the Red Isle Riders. St. Martins AND Advocate Harbour rolled into one. :)

2018 Advocate Harbour and Chignecto Bay

I didn't get out on Sunday, in fact I was a lazy slug and did little beyond doing the dishes and watching a couple of movies, so I decided that I had to make up for it by getting out for a good long ride on Labour day, the holiday Monday, but like an idiot I was up extremely late, and wasn't mobile til after ten when I posted up in Red Isle Riders to see if anyone wanted to join me last minute. Nope,

Advocate Harbour Nova Scotia

Charlottetown PE to Advocate Harbour NS and return - 480km

This is a wicked fun little jaunt...

I was on my own, so after a wee coffee and breakfast at Tim Horton's, I hit the Trans Canada bound for the Confederation Bridge, and as always, Murray Corner NB, down the 955, at the second exit off of the bridge. I whipped through there, and took Blackstock Road which took me back out to 16 and a short run through Port Elgin and Baie Verte when I mistakenly jumped onto 16 again and headed out to Highway 2. I needed to gas up, so left the highway for yet another Tim Hortons just on NS Route 6 where it meets Highway 2, then headed south west for Joggins on the 242. It's a lovely little road that heads along the Bay of Fundy past lush pasture and diary farms, and then on down to Joggins NS where it hooks up with the 209 that would take me along the coast and through the Raven Head Wilderness area.

Just outside of Joggins I spotted a newly bulldozed road out to what I presume will become someone's cottage lot, but for now it was a great means to take some pictures of the Joggins Fossil cliffs from afar, so I bumped and bashed my way down the rough road and out to a hilltop overlook of the shoreline.

Looking back towards Joggins and the Fossil Cliffs at low tide

I'm headed thataway

Rockport NB on the opposite shore

I love this bike. Thumb selfie!

 A wee bit further to the south is Old Branch Shulie Road, where a bridge used to span the estuary, but all that is left are the massive pilings and some rebar. It makes a great vantage point for the photographers... Three were pulled in when I arrived, making the fourth. Euchre anyone?

The old pilings are all that remain of the bridge.

 I hopped back on the bike, but when I crossed the Shulie River on 209 I had to stop yet again. I'm pretty good at checking my mirrors and doing steering lock U-turns these days. ;)

The Shulie River looking South and inland

I wonder why they call this the Sand River?

Up the Sand River, Raven Head Wilderness Area

 The curves on this road aren't marked much at all, yet they see a lot of traffic, so when you do see a warning sign of a curve ahead, you need to take heed, and the warning before a chicane that leads to this bridge is a yellow checkerboard. Be careful here, as it's a tight right then left onto the bridge, and cars will tend to miss the corner and spray pebbles out onto the road. Ask me how I know...

Bridge on the river Kwai? Nope, bridge on the East Branch Apple River.

I wouldn't want to hit his in the rain. 

East Branch Apple River looking down river and towards the Bay

 I knew I was going to head out to Chignecto Bay Provincial Park to get a few shots of the shoreline and the Cape in the distance.

Cape Chignecto NS

It looks like a little PEI washed up ashore here. 

 I headed on towards the beach where I watched my buddy Brian dump his KLR a couple of years ago, and made friends with a local KLR rider Allen, who showed us how it was done. That shale at the foot of the concrete breakwater is deceptively loose, and I did not relish asking any of the beach combers for a hand in picking up my Versys so I stayed safely on this side of the breakwater. Wuss! Yep, that's me.

The breakwater has been enlarged in recent years, and the collection of driftwood is magnificent leading me to believe that this is the ultimate in lee shores, and I can't help but wonder if many boats and ships met their end upon these shoal waters.

If you ever do ride this shoreline, the shale closest to the water is hard packed and you can rip to your hearts content.
The grey stuff near the breakwater and deep and heavy going. Ask Brian, he knows.  

That's as close to the shore as I came today.

Sticks and Stones 

The must have some pretty awesome bonfires out here...

 Wild roses line the inland side of the breakwater, and the hips? are the size of crab apples!

Sadly man makes his mark every where he goes, and the detritus of the commercial fishery is evident as netting decays on the wrack. We dump so much into the oceans these days, and not much of it is biodegradable anymore.

How long will the plastics in these nets last before breaking down?

 I was able to ride right past the Irving Gas station in Advocate, as I'd hedged my bet and topped off in Amherst just in case the pumps were closed...

I love this old anchor sitting by the verge. Thank you to whoever decided it would make a nice tourist trap. It works!

Cape D'Or

 From Wikipedia:
The Cape was named by French explorers (Cape of Gold) because bright native copper deposits appeared golden. Samuel de Champlain explored the copper deposits at Cape d'Or in 1607 and bestowed the name Port of Mines on nearby Advocate Harbour to reflect the seams of copper ore at Cape d'Or. 

I spotted a couple of bikes in the Wild Caraway Restaurant in Advocate, and swung in to see if my buddy Allen was knocking around, but they appeared to be small sized dual sport, a Yamaha XT225 and a 2009 Kawasaki KLX250. I asked a couple of the staff who rode them, and an older woman laid claim to the Kawi, and said Sarah owned the Yamaha. She lives just a wee bit down the road in Spencers Island, a short five minute ride, but she left home early and took the long way, pointing out a steep descent in the distance, a clay road that she'd come down, saying she even spotted a black bear out and about this morning on the one and half hour ride to work. She is definitely my kind of girl, but I'd have to switch to my XR400R if I was going to have any chance of catching her. :P

Out on the grass were a clutch of spiders, but one had it's carapace in bits all over the grass, as one of the bulbs had burnt out, and the pilot carries spare bulbs and a pretty comprehensive took kit. Yeah, one of them didn't have enough cargo space, so tows a trailer as well! Makes me look really hardcore with my top box full of "Just in case" stuff, like water and my rain gear. :) Do NOT buy one of these things unless you like extensive DIY jobs where you need to remove seven pieces of fairing to get at a bulb. Seriously, it was in pieces all over the place!

Can-Am Spyders (Snowmobiles with tires instead of skis)

 I'm always amazed at the height of the tides in the Bay of Fundy. See boats resting on the bottom between tides is just so foreign to me.

This puts the "Harbour" in Advocate.

On the flip side, there is nothing stopping you from donning your wellies and scraping the hull now and then.

 My Garmin was telling me that I was more or less about three hours from home, and as I wanted to be back in time for supper, I headed back onto the highway and began the ride across my favourite part, the Southern shoreline, as it has some wonderful elevation changes and incredibles curves that remind me of Cape Breton Island, and the very reason why I moved out East... Well, one of the reasons, but you have to admit, it is an excellent one.

Is that Spencers Island? And just how long has he been marooned on it?

I figure my friend Allen must be just up the road a space

 Guess what else they grow on the south side? Blueberries, and it would seem that today was the day to harvest them. A young lad is earning some Back to School money by helping dad with the blueberry harvest today. I wonder where they will end up in the market? Locally, across Canada, or in your Eggo waffles?

Back to School preparation in Nova Scotia - Harvesting the blueberries

 I've put about 800 kms on these tires over the weekend, and the Shinko 705s are performing very well. I'm tickled with them.

Knocking off the nipples this holiday weekend!

 I passed one cop the entire ride, and I had to check my mirrors for brake lights... You know what I mean. I always tend to wick it up when on my way home. Doh! Doesn't everyone?

I skipped the Parrsboro route, and headed north on 2, then over to the 302 and stopped for a coffee at McDonalds in Amherst and took advantage of the wifi to order Dominos 1/2 price Monday night Meatzza, for carry out on University Ave, but the mobile version of the website is harder to navigate then there regular website if you can beleive that, and I had to call the store to tell them that I'd be there in under two hours, not in 19 minutes. I was afraid they would toss it out or sell it to someone else. All those lovely onions and green olives... Mmmmm! I get lazy on ride nights.

I headed north on Main street aka NS Route 6 aka The Sunrise Trail in Amherst, then hooked up with the 366 up to Tidnish Bridge and on into New Brunswick on the 970 over through Baie Verte.

Baie Verte NB

 You saw this on Saturday. Quit staring and scroll down!

Spot the sailboat and win a prize. It looks like they are stuck in the marsh, doesn't it?

 I scooted out to 16 through Port Elgin, and thought about getting gas at Hardy Road Petro Can, but I still had two bars, more than enough to get back across the bridge. But even then I opted to ride number 10 through Cape Traverse and on into Tryon PE where I opted for 116 that would avoid the Trans Canada and let me test my gravel skills along Victoria Road. Oh what fun, every time I'd hammer the throttle, that brand new chunky rear tire with lighten the front end and roost! Fun!

Are those potatoes? Yep, you must be home. 

It was the golden hour, when the sun lit up the hay fields and I had to U-turn and get this shot, but sadly the iPhone has a horrible field of view. Go see it for yourself. Magical! 

The view from Victoria Road

Strangely enough, Victoria road runs through this quaint little town by the shoreline, but I've no idea what it's called.

More housing is going in and ruining my frame of this shot. :(

The obligatory Lighthouse shot.

 And again in case you missed that last one:

Looking across at Hampton PE, not to be confused with Hampton NB where my father was born and raised... Although they both strike me as really tiny.

Looking across to Hampton PE

 And again because I love the colours and the temperature of the lighting. You wouldn't understand and it's my darned blog!

Thumb Selfie! 

 Rip down the Trans Canada, dash into the dollar store for some portable chocolate desert and some whole cumin seed that was on clearance for LESS THAN A DOLLAR, the fools! This stuff is gold and will turn an ordinary chilli into food porn. :) Grab my pizza, stuff it into the top box and counsel oneself NOT to do any wheelies enroute home with the pizza unless I want an impromptu panzerotti instead of a pie, whip across Grafton to check out the Timmies, but none of you were there, and zoom down into the darkness of the underground to park the bike and finally kick off my boots and relax... Ummm, grab a computer and sink two and half hours into blogging?

Hahaha! I had a fantastic run, and hope you enjoyed tagging along with me today.

Note to self, lube and tighten chain before next ride... I stretched it like taffy again. :P