Moncton to Port Elgin

It was a beautiful, cloudless day and we were looking forward to a leisurely cycle along the Northumberland Strait, that is, once we had changed a tire that had deflated during the night on Lois’ bike. We decided to start out on the #2 (TransCanada) since our hotel was just off the highway. However, we soon realized that the beautiful surface and meter-wide shoulders had disappeared at the last Moncton exit and we were obliged to ride on a narrow strip of uneven pavement, which was at times completely obliterated by a rumble strip. Despite it being early on a Sunday morning, the traffic was busy. So, after consulting Google maps to find an earlier exit, we went off on the #134. Shortly after leaving the TCH, Lois noticed that her rear tire was low again. As we happened to be right beside a gas station, we wheeled our bikes over to the air pump, which, unfortunately, was out of order. We examined the tire and found a thin piece of wire sticking out, which we managed to extract with the aid of tweezers from Lois’ makeup bag. Five minutes later, Lois again detected the telltale sound of a deflating tire. Again, a tiny piece of thin wire was pulled out of the tire by the same useful tweezers. (It is not clear whether we missed this piece of wire in the first and second tube repairs!) Finally, all tires rolling, we cruised along the #134/133 into Shediac, where we got our first glimpse of the east coast. It was actually quite an emotional moment to realize that we had now cycled from coast to coast! We celebrated by sharing a Lobster roll at Auberge Gabrièle and then going next door to the Auberge Inn Thyme for espresso/latte and homemade scones. As we were cycling out of town, we spied a chocolatier, which also warranted a visit (the 70% rich dark chocolate did melt a little in our food pannier, but was still delicious!)

We carried on along the #133,  turning onto the #950 to view a very crowded Aboiteau beach from the sand dunes. It looked inviting, but it was now mid-afternoon and we still had 30 km to cycle. We continued along the #950, through Cap-Pelé “Au Coeur de l’Acadie”. There were many fish-processing plants on the shore, producing smoked herring.

We are staying the night in a lovely Victorian B&B in Port Elgin. Dinner was fish burgers in the local (and only) diner. Tomorrow, we go to PEI.

P.S. We have added more pictures of Jasper to the Alberta photo gallery,  courtesy of Lorraine and Norm, who provided some wonderful action shots!

We are now on the traditional territory of Mi’kmaq People, specifically the Epegoitnag District.