I'd arranged with work to have Friday off, so I could take my time and leisurely make my way to the Greater New Brunswick Adventure Rally (GNAR)
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| Pebble Beach, Cape Enrage, New Brunswick |
The grand plan:
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| PEI to Adair's Wilderness Lodge and Return |
I was going to ride out to Adair's Wilderness Lodge via a fairly straight route until I cleared Moncton, and the there I'd follow the coast until past Hopewell Rocks, where I would head across Shepody Marsh and up to Cape Enrage, then down to Alma for fish & chips a the Boathouse restaurant. Caroline was busy in town that morning, and if I took the morning to pack some gear, that would work as I was not ready for a quick start that morning.
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| Dubbin for the win! |
There was a severe rain warning for Saturday, so I used the time to waterproof my boots so they would take longer before soaking through to my socks, reminiscent of the shopping bags I wore on a ride with Caroline in 2019 from Quebec City QC to Chicoutimi QC. I should have grabbed a couple of Caroline's clear plastic bread bags just in case, but missed the opportunity.
Kickstand up at just after noon, and I was away to the end of the driveway, where I gave it a bit too much throttle while in the gravel and felt the read end slide and go out but it caught the pavement, and whoosh! I was off and away on the road for Borden-Carleton and the bridge!
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| Shepody Bay New Brunswick |
I left NB 16 in favour of NB 955 that would take me through Murray Corner, but construction detours at Chapmans Corner put me out onto NB 15 via Woodside NB. You know that route is pretty, but I've taken so many photos there that I just rode until I was through Moncton, Riverview and well on my way along the coast of the Bay of Fundy.
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| Shepody Bay New Brunswick |
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| Shepody Bay New Brunswick |
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| Do I have to walk my iron horse across the bridge? |
If you jump off onto the old Route 114 at Hopewell Hill NB, you can cross the Shepody Dam Road and enter Harvey Bank, that is, if you don't mind some gravel and the odd pothole.
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| Sawmill Creek covered Bridge NB |
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| Having an early supper |
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| Andersons Hollow Lighthouse |
I looked up the lighthouse to find that it was moved from it's original location twice before finding a home near the Shipyard museum in Harvey Bank. More information is available here:
https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=1144 It was an incredibly busy community in the latter half of the 18th century, a shipyard, complete with telegraph station, and railyard. Look up "Gaius S. Turner Shepody" for much more. :)
The shipyard is still there, albeit a pond at the moment, with a modern spillway at the dam, and I doubt that channel has been dredged in ages. :)
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| Looking from the Shipyard along Shepody River |
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| Gaius S. Turner made his mark at Harvey Bank, The Shipyard. |
It's an older community, and not a lot going on there now, but these buildings stood out, the church on the left and the hall on the right.
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| Harvey Hall |
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| First Harvey Baptist Church |
The roads on that side of the marsh seem to have been done recently with
chipseal, so I had to be extra careful in corners and at stops. It's completely rideable, and according to cruiser riders, grass on the road is significantly more dangerous. ;) I stay upright on this stuff, so cornering lean angle is a no go, but I was still making great time.
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| Chipseal. Argh! |
Cape Enrage is a dead end road that takes you on a lovely romp though hill and dale out to the coast, but I had to stop at Long Marsh Creek and grab a photo from the bridge on NB 915.
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| Long Marsh Creek NB |
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Pebble Beach,
Cape Enrage,
New Brunswick |
When you ride these roads with a spirited pace, you want to be aware of holiday traffic and wildlife, so yield the center to the unknown, and you'll meet Winnebago's and site seers with a smile and wave. ;)
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| You can't park there |
So the cars park up on the pebble, but be cautious with bikes as those stones can shift under your tires, as I've experienced in the past, especially the close quarters turns to leave the lot. I chose to park it in the green stuff this time.
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| Summer's gone and winter is coming |
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| There are more people than I usually capture in a photo. |
It turns out I'm fairly good at curating my photos and avoiding masses of people in the shot, but this time I thought I'd share with you the sea of humanity.
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| Pebble Beach, Cape Enrage New Brunswick |
I first visited this beach in 2009 with my family and friends...
https://www.ridereports.ca/2009/08/2009-gaspe-and-prince-edward-island.html , and that same chipseal knocked over one of the riders, on the inside of a very steep hairpin corner.
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September of 2018 with Caroline
Note my smile is much bigger in this shot. |
It's a lee shore, and many things will get tossed up this beach from the ocean.
If you carry on from Pebble Beach, be careful on that corner, as that is where Mike T. dropped his V-strom back in 2009, when he stayed to the right to avoid oncoming traffic, and his tires rolled on fresh chipseal gravel and down he went PDQ!
They want cash money to visit the lighthouse and gift shop, so I parked in the overflow up above and took some shots of Pebble Beach from above, then recreated a favourite photo I'd taken in 2018 with Caroline.
It's not nearly as much fun doing this alone, but I had to for posterity's sake. Right?
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Me, Myself and I crowding into the shot.
Cape Enrage New Brunswick |
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| My smile is definitely bigger. See? |
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| The view over Rocher Bay, Fundy NB |
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| Newfoundland Creek, Fundy, New Brunswick |
The view overlooking Waterside Beach is astounding, and quite reminiscent of riding the coast of Prince Edward Island.
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| Waterside Beach, Rocher Bay, Fundy New Brunswick |
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| This scene could be straight out of PEI |
There are a number of farms along the road, and when I peek at them using google maps, I'm going to guess that at one point the land was cleared much more for agricultural use, and this shed is an example of excellent East Coast construction designed to stand the test of weather and time. I was quite taken with the "reveal" that showed how is had been constructed long ago. I wonder if the owner had any idea that it would outlast them to this extent. I find myself picturing a landscape a hundred years ago, and then further back to the early 1800s when I believe this land was very sparsely settled.
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| Shed or home? |
It was now after 1600 and I was thinking about supper as my lunch had been pretty small, and quite some time ago.
I opted to drop into The Alma Boathouse Restaurant for a well known and loved plate of Fish & Chips, that I realized that I had not sampled in six years. It was every bit as good as I remembered complete with a generous portion of hand cut french fries, perfect with malt 'n salt.
I had cleared the fish and fries away, and was just about to tuck into the coleslaw, when to my horror, the silver pick up that was backing up, did not stop and backed right up into my bike, the bumper riding up over the tire, the horrifying crack of breaking plastic, and watching it in slow motion as it rolled back then toppled over, breaking the foot peg in the process. OUCH!
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| Not my day... |
Tom was very apologetic and we struck a gentleman's agreement that he would make good the damage done to the bike, and we shook hands and parted ways after I did a test ride to see if all was still in alignment and working correctly. I'm still depressed about this, but such is life, and there seems no sense in getting upset and stressing out, it was a simple accident.
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| Remodeled front fender and footpeg. |
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| Tom was truly sorry, and a real gent. |
Well, that put a damper on my plans for the weekend, as no way did I want to ride this home in an all day raid storm with no front fender, so I contacted Zac to let him know my change in plans, and at about 1800 I called Caroline and let her know the bad news, that I was going to be home tonight and spoil her time alone with the house all to herself.
Riding NB 114 in reverse back into Riverview was fun. Lots of fun, although you have to be alert for speed changes and motorists. In fact, stopping to grab this photo from the bridge exposed me a bit too much for my composure, but I think the shot is worth it, showing what an outgoing tide looks like along the banks of the Fundy's many creeks and streams that empty into the Bay of Fundy.
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| Minor's Brook as seen from NB 114 |
I was riding into Lower Cloverdale when I thought I recognized the area, and started to look for "Rue Kierstead St." and as luck would have it, I spotted it as the very next sign! This was too good to miss so I did a U-turn and headed back for a quick stop, and ran into a couple out for their evening constitutional who obliged me greatly by taking this picture for me.
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| A Kierstead on Rue Kierstead |
The weather was cooling off rapidly, and I took the opportunity to throw in my leather jacket liner for the remainder of the ride home.
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| My street. Mine! |
That was it for photos as I wanted to be back onto the island before darkness and moose related danger increased out on NB 16, so I booted it onto the highway outside of Moncton, and shot back to the Island making some pretty decent time. I was down to one bar on my fuel gauge when I pulled into Ceretti's Mobil to top off the tank, but I was floored by how beautiful the sunset was, and thought I'd get another shot.
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| Wow! |
I was riding home, but constantly looking into my mirror or over my shoulder and had to stop again and again.
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| Sunset over Cape Traverse Prince Edward Island |
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| Sunset over the Tryon River, Tryon PE |
Caroline had the garage door open for me, complete with lights on as I rolled in as the last of the light faded away. She came out to look at the damage, and offered to make me a "Frankenstein fender" with her plastic welding kit. I told her that I want holes and zip ties too. ;)
She made me share all my trip goodies with her, but it was a fun night with her and the dogs, and in spite of the damage to the bike, I had a great ride and quite enjoyed myself in the near perfect weather of the day.
The actual ride:
430 Kilometers - 5 hours and 42 minutes
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1nGEZqKvlPM-91sQGgyr-TpgrcZX4IyI&usp=sharing
test
UPDATE: 2024-09-12
I sourced the parts on fleaBay, and have one coming in from Quebec, a used front fender in a matching Grey, and a new foot rest coming up from the states that I paid import for. If I don't get hit with additional duty, I'll be out of pocket about $20 but the bike should be put back to as good as was. ;)
Cheers!
UPDATE: 2024-10-03
The accident damage has been repaired for the most part, as I've replaced the fender and mounted the replacement foot peg. Hooray!
I opted to drop into The Alma Boathouse Restaurant for a well known and loved plate of Fish & Chips, that I realized that I had not sampled in six years. It was every bit as good as I remembered complete with a generous portion of hand cut french fries, perfect with malt 'n salt. 
