Cape Enrage

TOO bad Hopewell Rocks didn't have lockers for us riding tourists.  We would certainly have liked to stay longer but as it was, the sun was passing it's high point when we left the gate and started the V-Strom up yet again. 

Cape Enrage looking across Fundy to Nova Scotia

Old lighthouse keeper's...

Staying on 114 until the 915 turn-off to Cape Enrage, we slowed to a more reasonable pace on the narrow and rough black top.  Lots of dips and broken pavement isn't conducive to high speeds.  A road like this is better suited to my XT 600 with it's high clearance and lots of suspension travel than the "Adventure DL 650."  A couple of times my engine skid plate touched down in quick dips. 

Now a cozy little restaurant

At a glance you could be in the back woods of Kentucky except for the occasional views of the Bay of Fundy in the near distance. 

300 Million year old rock reef.

About 20 minutes of 915 we saw a small sign pointing to the turn-off that would take us to the Fundy coast.  The access road to Cape Enrage is narrow, with several switchbacks and steep short climbs.  It's not a place to play Ricky Road racer with the occasional Motor-home taking up the entire road and literally blocking the tighter turns.  Once up the mountain though, you'll be in for incredible views of the far side of the Bay, ancient rocky reefs and wind swept beaches.  I was here last year while running the D2D on my 225 Serow in a crowd of other like motorcyclists during rainy weather but today we had a sunny (and hot) bird's eye view of the point.  There is a small fee for entering the facilities and on this day we were the only bike among a parking lot of vehicles, mostly SUV's and a few R.V.'s.



A Big bike can be a bit of a handful getting here but the view is pretty spectacular if you can make the trip. 

We enjoyed wandering to the lighthouse over look, watched some zip liners zipping down the cable and would have had a meal at the restaurant had we not eaten an hour previously.  Certainly not everyone will enjoy getting there, but once there, you can't help but admire the views.

 

Zip lining

I took the opportunity while there to stiffen up the pre-load on the Suzuki's suspension which gave us better ground clearance but of course made my already tall and precarious perch even taller.  Riding the V-Strom on my own I can run with a little less clearance, even though I am tip toe on the ground. 

Having the bags and trunk attached and Brenda mounting from the left, by standing on the foot peg and then after lifting herself up, swinging her leg over the bike as I do my best to keep us from falling over, reminds me once again of the benefits of lower, lighter motorcycles.  It's always a compormise, that's why I have different bikes!

Wharf at Alma N.B.

We left via the access road heading down the valley this time and after getting back to 915, turned left towards the cute little community of Alma.  Ideally, for a motorcycle (or even a car trip like this) you would have unlimited time and the ability to stop over at any point. 

The Fundy tide, the highest in the world was coming back in even while at Hopewell Rocks, soon the fishing boats would be floating once again.

I took a few photos of the temporarily stranded fishing vessels just prior to heading into Fundy National Park and what was soon to be many construction zones.  This is where an Adventure bike has some advantages over a street bike with it's greater ground clearance and comfier suspension, although my XT 600 would have been an even better choice pretty much everywhere but on the Trans Canada, more on that later.