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| Sunday, June 30: We wanted to catch the first ferry to Deer Island, which left at 9:00 AM. We planned to wake at 7:00, break camp, pack up, be at a nearby restaurant for breakfast by 8:00, and have plenty of time to ride the few kilometers to the ferry landing by 9:00. As is often the case, we found it hard to give up the comfort of our tent and we were about 15 minutes behind schedule every step of the way, including arriving at the ferry 15 minutes after it had sailed. The ferry runs every hour so it wasn't that big a deal. We just had 45 minutes to spend chatting with some of the other folks waiting for the ferry, as well as admiring the scenery and watching a couple of paragliders flying above Eastport, Maine across the bay. The ferry landing was very basic, just a strip of pavement continuing down into the water. Since it was low tide the lower reaches were covered in wet seaweed and mud, a challenge to negotiate even walking our bicycles. After disembarking on Deer Island, we rode the hilly route to the other ferry that connects to the mainland of New Brunswick arriving two minutes before boarding time. We got the usual cyclist's privilege of riding to the front of the line and boarding first. This ferry ride was especially nice; wending it's way among some of the smaller islands. And since it is a government ferry it was free! Once on the mainland we rode up to St George where a stop at the Tourist Info confirmed our suspicion that there was no alternative to riding Rt 1 to Saint John. Rt 1 is a divided highway for part of the way, but except for a short construction zone has good shoulders. And on this Sunday in the middle of a holiday weekend the traffic was quite light. If we had had a tailwind it would have been fun flying over the easy grades and making it into Saint John at speed. Unfortunately we didn't have tailwinds, and it was a hard slog into a quartering headwind most of the way. Jodi pulled most of the way and when we finally got off the highway on the west side of Saint John to look for a motel, she was spent. A hot shower and a couple of pizzas delivered to the room helped revive her, then it was early to bed because we absolutely had to be up in time to make the 9:00 AM sailing of the ferry to Nova Scotia. If we missed that one we would have to wait for the 4:30 ferry that wouldn't get us to Digby until 7:30 in the evening. We made nearly 102 kilometers today on top of the two ferry rides, so we have earned our rest. (We're in Canada now, so I am recording all distances in kilometers.)
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Copyright © 1996 - 2011 Allen F. Freeman |
