Day 18

Just in case you are following along from yesterday … breakfast included eggs and bacon from 1870 … Still surprisingly fresh. 

 

We had a lovely morning visiting with Cathy’s friend Jane , from the TCT, who joined us for a coffee in the B&B.

 

 

 

We then mounted our trusty two wheeled transportation and headed out from our B&B for an exploration of Fredericton. Cathy was nearly apoplectic when we spied an old iron bridge, spanning at least twice the distance of the Saskatoon Traffic Bridge, that had been dedicated to active transportation only. 

 

 

The moment necessitated a video intended for Saskatoon City Council!

 

 

Believe it or not our next stop was a coffee break at a wonderful, local shop.  (Fredericton is noted for it's off-level store fronts)

 

 

 

Next we immersed ourselves in an historical tour of Fredericton provided free of charge by local groups. The first stop was a tour of the local city council chambers that turned out to be exceedingly interesting. I was fascinated by the clock build many years ago and restored to keep accurate time and ring a bell at each hour.

 

 

 

The next stop was a hanging of tapestries lining the frieze above the council chambers, explaining the history of Fredericton. 

 

 

The panel colors and layout were designed  by one artist in preparation for another artist who wove them from locally prepared wool.  One amazing aspect of the project was the life of the weaver.  He started out as a botanist, became an artist, started the New Brunswick School of Art and Design, became legally blind and then in his 80’s took up weaving and produced these masterpieces. Not a bad legacy.

 

 

 

The weaver worked until he was able to embroider in the style of the original written text.

 

Our next tour walked us around old buildings that were part of the early English occupation, with buildings that had been build back in the early 1800’s. 

 

 

   

Can you imagine an English Regiment walking from Fredericton to Kingston in February of 1813 in 52 days to support the war of 1812? We were reminded again of the significantly older occupation by Europeans of this area than the West.

Day 17

Today we moved from a chocolate/caffeine based energy source to one derived from our earth’s petroleum reserves.  It felt really unusual to sit for six hours in an electrically adjustable, padded car seat rather than bouncing along on a bike seat. We spent the day driving to Moncton in one rental car and back to Woodstock with that car and a van that will accommodate our bicycles for this next portion of the trip. After dropping off the small rental car in Woodstock we headed to  Fredericton for two nights at the Brennan’s Bed and Breakfast.  This house makes quite a statement as a living museum piece.  The interior is decorated with the most incredible period woodwork from the 1870’s.  Our bed is a monster four poster with a mattress that lets you sink out of sight.

 

 

Some of the elements are familiar and show a real tradition of turning and panels of quarter sawn oak.

Other woodwork is really interesting to me as I cannot figure out how some of the decorative features were created.

I'm not sure if we get a breakfast form 1875 or 2013... I'll let you know.

Day 16

Fog developed overnight and hung over Perth-Andover until just after breakfast. The rest of the day was beautiful and sunny with some wind, but not enough to bring us to tears from pushing against it.

 

Our unusual B&B last night included a breakfast at the local Bistro.  Charlie, our chef, and Shirley the sister of our B&B host (I know … it gets complicated..) cooked up a delicious egg soufflé to get us on our way. 

 

After discussion with some locals we decided to take the old TransCanada Highway out of Perth-Andover on our way to Woodstock.  While it had a great shoulder and the traffic was not crazy the experience was somewhat static compared to riding along and encountering small villages and life in action.

 

 

 

Florenceville-Bristol, the home of McCain’s International was our next stop where we hoped to get a coffee and take a break. We could see the factory on the horizon but had an uneasy feeling that not all potatoes were willing participants.  A few kilometers before Florenceville-Bristol we started to see the presence of escaped potatoes on the side of the road,  heading for freedom.

 

 

We stopped in Hartland for a photo op at the longest covered bridge in the world.  Someone in our travels had suggested we ride through the bridge for the experience. This seemed like a really bad idea once we realized there was lots of car traffic with lights on and no suitable place for us to ride.

 

 

Shortly after leaving Hartland we noticed a Trans Canada Trail sign and decent trail. We decided to swing our bikes onto the trail and really enjoyed our ride along the St. John River.  The color was beautiful but not as vibrant as we had seen around Sherbrooke. In addition many of the leaves had fallen as the season has progressed.

 

 

 

This will be our last full day of riding our bikes.  The road from here on has little shoulder and becomes quite busy.  Upon entering Woodstock we pulled into an Enterprise Rental store and picked up a rental car.  Our plan for the next week is to carry our bikes in a van as we explore the Maritimes.  We had an overwhelming flush of emotions as we traded in our bike wheels for car wheels.  We shed a tear realizing that we had finished about 1000 km. and also celebrated the chance to see some other parts of the Maritimes. 

Ignore the huge smile on Trent’s face and the small one on Cathy’s!!

 

Day 15

Warmed pear halves splashed with granola, shaved chocolate and topped with a maraschino cherry anyone?

 

 

 

Another version of Eggs Benedict, a selection of juices, honey infused with rose pedals and local maple syrup should get us pedaling.

 

 

What an amazing day for speed.  The wind practically blew us along under puffy white clouds vying for supremacy with direct sunlight.  Today was one of those magical cycling days where the wind decides to dance to the same tune as the rider. 

 

 

 

The route today was confined to the paved shoulder of highways 144 and 130 as it played chicken with the St. John River. The traffic was limited and the shoulder wide so we always felt safe. At times we could see across the boarder to the U.S.A. 

 

 

 

We stopped in Grand Falls for some lunch and then decided to carry on to Perth-Andover.

 

  

Accommodation in Perth-Andover seemed limited so we called a B&B we found on-line.  Cathy spoke to Eileen who relayed a rather complex set of options involving, a dental appointment, a flooded B&B, an apartment and a breakfast at the local Bistro.  For lack of other options and the possibility of a great story we decided to try it out. Our meeting with Eileen turned out to be one of those delightful opportunities to engage with someone who is passionate about life. We arrived in Perth-Andover and waited for 30 min. outside the Dental office. Eileen emerged with a frozen mouth and apparently in some discomfort.  She was a most engaging person who was incredibly hospitable and a superb ambassador for New Brunswick.  She took us by car to get groceries and drove us to see a portion of the TCT with a bridge over the Aroostook River. We did not use this route today so it was great to see it. 

 

 

Our apartment has all the essentials including space to store our bikes.

 

 

 

Day 14

The Auberge Du Chemin Faisant was built for the Mayor of Cabano in 1950 with a distinctive style that necessitated paying a lot of money to enjoy the ambiance. The dining room announced quite loudly that it had been touched by the wand of an interior decorator. It doubled as an Art Gallery with attractive paintings decorating the walls.

 

 

 

Once again the breakfast was superb in presentation, quality and taste. The chef did his own version of Croque-Monsieur by adding scrambled eggs and a garnish of greens. Quite delicious.

 

 

 

Cycling today took us along gorgeous lakes, trestle bridges  and mossy rock lined canyons.  The day was overcast, threatening rain and quite cool but we managed fine until Edmundston.

 

 

 

We had a sad moment realizing that we were leaving Quebec and the famous cycling culture that we have enjoyed for the last two weeks. We had our last Quebec lunch spread out in fine style on our travelling dining room table.

 

 

Entering New Brunswick did not disappoint however, as the trail continued on in much the same style as in Quebec.

 

 

The trail led us past a Botanical Garden on the way into Edmundston.

 

 

 

After a stop at the Information Center we gathered supplies, had some lunch and explored the town.  As we left to find our B&B the rain started and for the first time on this trip we experienced riding in a pouring rain.

Day 13

The owner of our Gîte had promised a surprise for breakfast.

 

 

 

Cathy kept pumping him for a clue but either the French translation was not working or he was steadfast in his resolve to keep it a secret.  In any event the first couple of items were delicious as expected.

 

 

 

Then came the main course with a crepe of fruit smothered in whipped cream and a surprise ‘face’ incorporated into the decoration.  This seemed even more of a surprise as the chef was the bicycle mechanic from yesterday.  A multitalented fellow for sure.

 

 

 

Our route today is billed as the first interprovincial trail in the country.  It is sponsored by Quebec and New Brunswick and connects Rivière-du-Loup to Edmunston.  If this is an example of what can happen with interprovincial cooperation then I say “Bring it on!”  We followed a rail to trail with a steady up hill grade for the first 50 km. 

 

 

 

What a beautiful part of the country.  The forest had shed many leaves but insisted on providing color and sun-lit spotlight moments for our pleasure.

 

 

 

Lovely, crystal clear streams bubbled along reminding us that we still had more uphill pedaling.

 

 

This area has numerous beautiful lakes with the occasional isolated cabin that looks very appealing for a remote experience.

 

 

We pedaled through a brackish low lying area scattered with abundant beaver dams, scrubby deciduous shrubs, birch, black spruce and tamarack.

 

 

This seemed to fit well with the information that this area harvests peat moss for distribution to the rest of the country. Areas where the forest flour was covered with soft lichen-like plants reminded us of areas in the Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan where nature begs you to set up a tent and have a sleep.

 

 

We arrived at the Auberge Chemin Faisant in Cabano and discovered a well equipped room right out of the 50's with a four poster bed and a pink tub.