Day 33: Back To Dunromin

 Our last day on the road was uneventful, which is good. We made use of full hook-ups at our site and emptied the holding tanks, ready for winterizing. We were on our way at 8:00 but stopped for gas @ $1.38.9  in Bainsville, our cheapest gas on the trip...😃 

No traffic snarls  through Ottawa. We made a comfort and Tim's stop in Arnprior, stopped in Blind River and did take out at Burger King, our one and only fast food indulgence all trip. One more stop in North Bay at Walmart for some groceries and pulled into Dunromin around 4:30.... 553 km. We unpacked the food, left everything else to later. If any negative to RVing .... you don't just have a suitcase to unpack, you have a house on wheels to unpack.😏

Total mileage this trip 8,517 km 

Through Quebec and into Ontario

 It was our longest motoring day as we gained an hour passing into EST when we entered Quebec. We were on the road at 8:30, 7:30 new time. It was a very foggy start. We stopped for gas in Edmundston and were very disappointed, annoyed even that Shell would not honour the CAA gas discount.😠

There was some fall colour change here too. We made good time, a few slow downs for construction and detoured into St. Jean Port Joli  on the old highway along  the river so Kathy could check out a couple of artisanats. We stopped at a very nice Halte Routière in Villeroy to have lunch.

The traffic got much heavier as we neared Montreal. We took Route 30 around Montreal and arrived at Maplewood Acres RV Park , our first campground this trip, at 4:00, 5:00 old time. We drove 639 km.  It was another hot day, reaching 30º under partly cloudy skies.

Motoring Through New Brunswick

 

It was a motoring day in record setting temperatures as we drove 431 km through New Brunswick on the TCH, Hwy 2. The posted speed is 110 km the whole distance unlike Ontario and the 401. We started to see more fall colour change initially but  strangely less the farther north we got.  We made two stops, one in Salisbury for gas @ $1.46.9 at a Shell with our CAA discount and one for lunch at an Irving Big Centre.

It was 28º (felt like 33º) when we arrived at Camping Edmundston on the Iroquois River. It was only 3:00 and what a find for our 2nd last night on the road. Kathy and I enjoyed a dip in the pool.

Grand Pré

 

We had only a few km to drive from the campground to Grand Pré National Historic Site.  A new Visitor Centre had opened since Jean and |I were here in the 1990s. It houses a large exhibit hall and impressive multimedia theatre where we watched an informative 22 minute movie.

  Grand Pré is a 13 sq. km park in the south Minas Basin. It was  set aside to commemorate the Acadians who settled the area from 1682 to 1755. The exhibits and movie detail the British deportation of the Acadians. 

Grand Pré was designated a National Historic Site in 1955 and an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012. 

We spent two hours at the Visitor Centre and walked the    grounds to see the Memorial Church built in 1922 and the Statue of Evangeline, the fictitious character penned by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow in his poem in 1847. Evangeline became a symbol of the deportation and perseverance of the Acadian people.

blacksmith shop

We took a shorter more direct  route back from the Minas Basin to Hwy 104, stopped briefly at the Nova Scotia Tourist Information Centre (still no piper) and drove as far as Moncton to Camper's City RV Resort, arriving just before they closed at 5:00. It was only our second Good Sam campground of the trip.. There were lots of sites available, only two other overnighters. 

We drove  313 km, another hot cloudless day. It reached 29º, felt like 32º.

Exploring The Glooscap Trail

 We made good time driving west on the  smooth 4 lane  TCH 104, not a cloud in the sky. We stopped at a Shell station in Antigonish and used my CAA card to get the discount. We paid $1.49.9;  still it took $350 to fill the tank.

Near Truro  we took The Glooscap Trail on our way to Grand Pré.  The name is  given to the two highways which follow the shores of the Minas Basin and upper Bay of Fundy. What an unexpected find when we stopped at the Fundy Tidal Interpretive Centre on the Shubenacadie River and South Maitland Marsh.

 The displays of the "world famous" tidal bore where very informative. Kathy walked the  1 km trail through the wetland. I went far enough for a few pictures.

The highlight of  our drive was Burntcoat Head Park,  the location the world's highest recorded tides. We arrived mid-way between high and low tide but were still able to walk out onto the exposed rocks. We didn't actually walk on the ocean floor but it was quite a sight to see. 

The park has walking trails, a picnic area and interpretive displays.                              

We had our first wildlife encounter on the road. We had to come     to a full stop for a mother porcupine and her baby walking down     the middle of the highway in no hurry to get out of our way.  Shadow went crazy, jumped right up on the dashboard ...bark, bark BARK!! Fortunately for them, we were the only vehicle on the road,

We arrived in Grand Pré and checked in at Land of Evangeline Camping Resort, our most expensive campground of the trip, $66.70. The only campground in the area. At least we have good Wi-fi and t.v. reception at last...one channel, Global. We drove 316 km, back into summer like weather. It reached 25º, felt like 29º. More of the same tomorrow.

                                                                                                                                        

                      

The Cabot Trail: Day 2

 

Having a longer drive today, we were on the road earlier, 8:30  after taking a wrong turn leaving the campground....duh. We stopped at almost every look-off for spectacular vistas of the Atlantic Ocean. The interpretive panels at some of the  look-offs were very interesting.

The Trail left the coastline through  the heavily forested  interior of Cape Breton Highlands National Park and  eventually came out to the west coast.  More spectacular scenery.  We stopped at the Visitor Centre of the park. Kathy and I bought jackets at the gift shop. I also bought a biography of Rita MacNeil. We ate lunch before backtracking  a few km to Cap-Rouge, originally an Acadian village named for the nearby cape. Kathy hiked the Vieux Chemin du Cap-Rouge trail for an hour. Shadow and I walked in Trout Brook Provincial Park. We noted the Bear in Area warning sign.

We continued south along the coast to Margaree Fork where Cabot Trail turned inland. We picked up Hwy 105W to the Canso Causeway, left Cape Breton and drove a few km to Linwood Harbour Campground, another campground  I stayed at with Jean and Martha  in 2018. We drove 262 km. Again the weather cooperated... mainly sunny and warm. There was just a touch of fall colour change in some of the tress.

Cape Breton Island and The Cabot Trail

camp walk

  Cape Breton Island is the eastern end of Nova Scotia. It's highest           elevation   is 1755 ft.. The Cabot Trail is the roadway encircling  much   of   the island. It is 298 km long. 1/3 of the trail passes through Cape   Breton   Highlands National Park, " where the mountains meet the   sea."  The park   has 26 hiking trails,8 campgrounds. There are several   spectacular look-offs   along Cabot Trail with interesting interpretive   panels about the geology of   Cape Breton, the flora and wildlife.

We made good use of the campground's Wi-Fi and didn't head out until after 10:00. We picked up the
Cabot Trail at South Haven and immediately climbed Kelly's Mountain (elevation 787 ft.) along St. Ann's Harbour.We made several stops at look-offs as we motored NE along the coast.

We stopped for a few groceries at a Freshmart in Ingonish,  and ate

lunch there. We walked one short hiking trail, "a leg stretcher" at Green Cove, a rocky granite headland  where we spotted seals in the water. At the Jack Pine Trailhead, we look the coastal loop in reverse. Kathy hiked much farther than I did.

We stopped in Neil's Harbour, a very picturesque fishing village. While I took pictures, Kathy visited the Chowder House  for take-out.

We checked in at Hide Away Campground and Oyster Market at the northern end of Cape Breton Island in Dingwall. We drove 153 km under partly cloudy skies. The clouds really added to the stunning vistas, I had a totally different perspective from my last drive of the Cabot Trail which was from the west in 2018. This time from the east.

Back To The Mainland

We had one last task to do before leaving the campground: bring our bikes inside to avoid the $71.81 additional ferry charge for the 2 feet the bikes added to Harvee Too's length. Jean would be proud of us.

We had only a 12 km drive to the ferry terminal. Total mileage in Newfoundland: 3,714 km in three  wonderful weeks of sightseeing and adventure. I felt a little emotional leaving Newfoundland and Jean behind. It was her last wish after all.

It was very foggy. We could see very little of the shore line.

 

Our ferry for the return crossing was the Blue Puttees,

twin ship of the Highlanders  which joined the fleet in 2011. It has nearly 3 km of vehicle deck lane space, We left 20 minutes late at 12:05. The crossing took longer,  6 1/2  hours to do the  183 km. The ocean was calm. We weren't superstitious at all, this  Friday the 13th.😊😊

While eating  lunch in the ferry's restaurant, we saw dolphins swimming with the ferry.

 

We docked in North Sydney in much warmer weather, 21º and mainly sunny. It was nice to gain 1/2 hour back in Atlantic time. We had only a 7 km drive to Arm of Gold Campground in Little  Bras d'Or where we checked in at 7:00 p.m. new time.

There were a few more rigs from the ferry just behind us. Total mileage on The Rock and in Nova Scotia: 19 km plus the crossing .
 

The Final Leg on The Rock

got it right this time

Gateway to The North RV Park had lots of sites available. A very refreshing 7º this morning...our last full day on The Rock with more great weather.

We left the campground around 10:00 and motored "west" on the TCH, a much better highway than the secondary routes we had been travelling. Driving in the reverse direction (not east) gave us a new perspective. More beautiful vistas. I was busy with my camera remote   the entire  253 km.

We stopped along the highway at an overlook of Corner Brook, made one more stop along the     highway for lunch and arrived at J. T. Cheeseman  Provincial Park around 2:00.

Corner Brook

We unloaded our bikes and rode the 2 km hilly dirt road from the campground to the ocean

  

There is also a beautiful falls right in the campground. 

A very nice park for our last night on The Rock.