Grand Falls to Woodstock

We haven’t had a tough day for a while now, so I guess we were due one. We woke to the sound of rain, but it had stopped by the time we left the B&B and the day remained dry, but hot and muggy, with thunder clouds in the distance. The cyclist who had suggested the alternate route for yesterday had advised us to stay on the TransCanada after Grand Falls, as the side roads are windy, hilly and dangerous. So we stuck to the #2 all the way, except when we left the highway at Aroostook, looking for Mary’s Bake Shop, which we eventually found in Perth-Andover. We had an early lunch of homemade vegetable soup and tuna sandwiches (we were too full for Mary’s homemade pie!) and bought a date square to share later. The highway has a wide, paved shoulder, but the constant long hills and a stiff headwind, were tiring. Joe, the cyclist we met in Ontario, described this section of the route as saw-tooth topography, i.e., up and down and no flat! We did get great views of the St. John River.

We often prefer to stay in B&B’s, which are usually near the town centre and restaurants, rather than hotels out on the generic strip, but  as we passed a Best Western on leaving the highway and then descended steeply for 3km into Woodstock to our B&B, and considered that climb back up tomorrow morning, we had momentary regrets! However, we did find a good place for dinner, we are in a comfortable B&B and, apparently, there is an alternate route along the river back out to the #2. More of the same tomorrow, we fear…

We remain on the traditional territory of the Malécite People