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| Northern arm of the world renowned Bay of Fundy |
NO choice but to back track to the T junction of Upper Rockport road and continue on route 935 to the opposite coast. Within 2 km I came upon another T, figuratively speaking, I tossed a coin and turned right onto Chignecto Bay. Little did I know it with a non functioning GPS and no clear maps, that had I turned left... I would have likely come to another 'Road Closure' sign which looking back... was very likely the continuation of the road I had been on a half hour previously, and who knows, perhaps I could have connected the two.
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| What else is new! |
Another time...
I was now on Dorchestor Cape road where I found more closure signs and the sign of some cottages. It wasn't long before civilization appeared once again in the form of the cute little burg of Dorchestor NB. Now many around these parts know this village for it's Federal Penitentiary, both old and new. It does however have some history besides that.
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| Gosh darn pretty! Traveling by MC is the Best. |
Stopping under a tree that really didn't offer much in the way of shade, at the Village offices for a swig of, by now lukewarm water in the 32 C heat, I did my tourist thing and wandered around in the town center for some photos.
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| I got to know Dorchester real well... was there 4 times, all on the same day!! |
I didn't stay long this time, as I was indeed on a "voyage of Discovery" of the New (to me) World and there was plenty of road yet to discover.
The "Pen's" looked very well kept both old and new and I was somehow inexplicably drawn to the large sign proclaiming lovely overnight bed and breakfasts at the old jail. I decided right there on the spot I would return for a stay on another night! After all, who could refuse such an offer, right!
I say the 'first time' passing through, as today riding for several hundred kilometers through the small villages of the north Fundy area I found myself at this same intersection of highway's 106 in both direction not once but thrice and a stint on Wood lawn Road as well! This is how easily is can be to lose oneself when exploring out here.I wanted to find my way across the narrowing arm of the Bay if at all possible and fortunately I did.
Having passed through Middleton, Dorchestor Parish and Memramcook, I swung south onto St Thomas street and crossed the mud flats before climbing from the low country past a beautiful church, and up the hill connecting with route 925! Before long on the sweeping curves I was in the suburbs of Dieppe.
I took the first turn I found on highway 106 East, and headed back looking for a route I was sure would take me back to the Cap Pele vicinity once again on sinewy tiny country roads.
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| B & B anyone? |
Keep in mind that I am but a dozen of so miles from the Trans Canada Highway, that show's KM 1 in Victoria British Columbia, some 6000 km distant west. It is a huge country this Canada isn't it. You could likely put Europe in here 4 times!
I wasn't headed to Europe today and even Victoria (by the Sea) at the bottom of Prince Edward Island, was out of the question.
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| Will try this one day. |
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| The "PEN" |
I found myself at a small pond after just connecting onto 106, slurping some more water in the heat and opening what amounted to a half melted energy bar from my pack. 106 was a throw back to the days when this used to be the TCH at one time in the distant past. When highways went "through town" and not around it. Sure it's convenient to stop off the highway at the truck stop or the Holiday Inn 'No Tell' but something has been lost when we shoot by a Sackville or Sussex at 120 kph.
Before long I was back in Dorchestor! Oops, I'd missed my turnoff somewhere so I tried the back roads through forest, farm and field... and eventually realized that I was riding into Dorchestor for a third time, that much more of this and I would be checking into the Jail yet that afternoon!
I took another route out or Dorchestor on tiny little lanes and guess what... ?Wrong, I didn't pass through Dorchestor again at least not this time but I had come upon the outskirts of Sackville where for all intents and purposes... I'd begun my adventure several hours ago! As soon as I realized I was back where I'd begun I took the first left and played connect the dots having sworn to myself, this time I would find the mysterious route that would take my across country to Shediac on the Gulf coast.
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| Everything is KING SIZE in N.B. |
Yup... right back into Dorchestor!
Now normally at this point I would stop and ask directions, but to be totally honest I was having a great day! It was hot, sunny, scenic and spontaneous.
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| I wouldn't call '50 kph kids' as slow, just sayin' ! |
Big Blue was running like a Japanese version of a 'Swiss' watch, it would return nearly 73 miles per gallon (I still can't come to grips with "liters per 100 kilometers, who in the hell came up with that!!!)
Okay, take it easy Frank, it could be your brain overheating. It is after all, hot. Take 106 and back track. By now I was getting down on fuel and for some unknown reason crossed over the Fundy mudflats once again and gassed up at a mini-mart/gas stop that appeared Mirage like in the distance..
"By the way ma'am (as I was paying for my fuel) I'm looking for a route that will get me to Shediac or there a bouts without doing the highway. Would you happen to now of any such route, I know it exists because I saw it on Google Earth yesterday when I was planning this trip."
As simple as popping a beer can, she tells me, ahem...
"well you could take the Old Shediac Road..."
'BINGO' I shouted, or something equally pathetic,
"would you be able to give me directions...?"
Sure...
"turn left onto the road, follow it to the right for 1 kilometer and there will be a sign, "Old Shediac Road. Turn here you idiot"
Okay I made the last part up but the sign was really there!
Now the reason I say that is... I had passed this spot not once, not twice but three times already and somehow missed the little green sign each time.
Moral of the story, stop in the little villages, people love to talk. (The other gal told me the story about her crashing her Vulcan 500 and nearly dying.)
Sure as the sun will ride tomorrow, there it was.
The Old Shediac road passed under/over the TCH #2 (I honestly don't remember which) was quickly renamed Calhoun Road and then route 132 passing me through Meadow Brook, Scoudouc and then Shediac, home of the world's largest Lobster! I thought I heard it say... Feed Me!!!
Now, I really don't like riding Shediac in summer. There are a gazillion tourists, that often have no idea they need gas until passing within 1 foot of the station's entrance, that and those polite people that will let an entire parking lot worth of traffic into the lane while my air cooled 600 protests, idling away in the near 90 degree heat and the lineup behind this good Samaritan builds several city blocks rearward!
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| Dorchester Penitentiary housing. |
AT some point (my brain was fuzzy by then) I was able to get past her and her air conditioned red Thunderbird and hightail it out of Dodge. I rode the coast road (rte 133) to the intersection onto 950 and Cap Pele and pretty little cottage country Petit Cap to the intersection between rte # 950/15 and 940 at Shemogue where I had begun my day many hours ago.
I rode the Yamaha at 100 kph the handful of miles to the Mates Corner turn off on route 955, what I call the Murray Beach road. I still had an adventure or two before reaching the bridge but |I was now in familiar territory. Having tried the Johnson Point road awhile back when riding the V Strom, I was determined to give the abandoned road at the top of the point a shot on my much more appropriate dirt bike 600. After all Big Blue is about 200 lbs lighter then the VS and is a single with grunt.
Surely the road couldn't be as bad as my previously encountered guide had warned, and lo and behold it wasn't. After several kilometers riding in and past the "Road Closed" sign, my 4th of the day, what I found was... there was NO road, it had simply vanished into a mud strewn tidal flat covered in bull rushes! Not only was the road closed but indeed, it had been abandoned like I was told. Staring at the impassable swamp before me and looking out at the strait which appeared about 6 inches below my line of sight, I had to laugh. It had been one of those kinds of days, after all.
I backtracked, across the peninsula checking out the many little back roads that were indeed roads and eventually made my way to the Confederation Bridge once again, homeward bound.
To say I was so "dog tired" as to bark... on the final stretch home, wouldn't be far from the truth.
My loosely planned 250 kilometer back road trip ended up being several hours and over 200 kilometers longer.
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| On the last leg home...what a great day it was :) |
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