***Photos by Amber Robichaud, Tey Steenbergen, Zaak Robichaud***
Another trek for the books is complete: Cycle the entire east coast of New Brunswick. I did this with my long time friend, Tey and Amber supporting us from the comfort of cafes, parks, info centres, and thrift stores. She definitely earned the leisurely week after a heavy teaching load this year.
New Brunswick is bordered by Québec in the north, the Northumberland Strait and Gulf of St. Lawrence on the east including the bridge to Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy to the south. Maine provides the western border. Much of the eastern shoreline has been settled by Acadian and British/Loyalist settlers since the 1600s and 1700s. My Robichaud ancestors migrated north after the Deportation of 1755 and eventually settled in the Beaubassin area of New Brunswick in the early 1800s.
My father benevolently lent us his 4Runner to get to our departure point in Matapédia, QC on June 30. Matapédia is situated at the confluence of the Matapédia River and the Restigouche River (which is a border line between the provinces). It is also the gateway to the Gaspésie Peninsula and part of the extension of the International Appalachian Trail. We stayed at a little 4-room auberge where we were warmly greeted by our hosts and given full reign over the little industrial kitchen for the two meals we were there for. The hosts left and we had the place to ourselves. We grabbed groceries next door and prepared a delicious meal of roasted veggies and toasted cheese on garlic bread along with a sampling of ales from notable Gaspé brewery, Le Naufrageur.
July 1 was also Day 1. Tey and I set out and crossed the Restigouche River to New Brunswick and followed it out into the Baie des Chaleurs. It was the only significant elevation we encountered on the trip as we left the small mountains of the edge of the Appalachian mountain range. This was also indicated by the change from the scenic mountain route sign (brown mountains) to the scenic coastal route sign (red starfish) which we followed to the end. We managed to count 17 bridges through the day, many of them large, picturesque structures, though we lost count after a while. Tey pulled out his phone to film many of these crossings. We rolled through the charming little city of Campbellton and then paused for some photos at a lighthouse in Dalhousie where a resident explained how birds had ruined the little island in the bay for sunbathers.
We descended to the rocky edge of the Benjamin River to take a lunch break. We ate the same lunch every day: peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches, a fruit, nuts, and salt and vinegar julienne cut chips. Amber met us on the road and gave us flags to stuff into our saddles so we could participate in Canada Day. All manner of cottages lined our route for the rest of the afternoon. We pulled into Bathurst at around 3:30 and finally got access to our Airbnb 45 minutes later. We cleaned up and enjoyed stuffing ourselves at District Burger and Cocktails. Amber and I grabbed a quick beer at Four Rivers Brewing Co. The live music for the holiday festivities was not inspiring so we returned to our place to play some card games.
I had never visited New Brunswick’s east coast north of Miramichi (and nothing north of Kouchibouguac since I was 9 years old), aside from an interior backpacking trip 2 years ago which terminated in Bathurst. The level of affluence and beauty surprised me as I was expecting more of a depressed region of the province. Amber spoke with someone who said that they don’t think much of the south of the province, where all the bigger centres are, except for shopping. Considering you can typically drive from one end of the province to the other in 3-5 hours, there is a notable gap in connectivity between the different regions.
Day 2 saw us finish out the Baie des Chaleurs on the north shore and enter the Peninsule Acadienne. Large stone Catholic churches or quaint steepled wooden protestant churches marked each small community. We had more heat and clear blue skies, so we pushed a lot of fluid again. Tey and I cycled the most we could on a small peninsula through Maisonnette and ended up on a sandy dirt road between some tiny cottages and the beach. We stopped for some necessities in Caraquet which stunned me as a gorgeous coastal vacation spot. I had a couple pieces of fish and a radler near the marina.
Heading south from Caraquet, we linked onto the VeloRoute of the Peninsula. It was hearing about this cycling path 5 years ago at the Congrès Mondial des Acadiens from some very distant Robichaud relatives that I first began to formulate doing this trip. The route boasts 610 km of paved trails that contain either road adjacent or dedicated cycling trails. We paused at a structure modelled after a train station, but dedicated to cyclists. A local man who had blown past us a few kms earlier pointed out another cyclist saying he was turning 90 later this month and had already logged 5000 km on his bike this year. This guy was likely to win the local gran fondo in his age group on the weekend.
Shippagan was navigated on a boardwalk and spit us out on a bridge under construction repair to our destination for the night, Lamèque. Amber and I spent 2 nights at a Bed and Breakfast housed in a Victorian style home and lavishly decorated with trinkets. Our hosts had told Tey they were all booked up when he tried to book a few months ago, but two bedrooms were empty during our stay. As a result, Tey had to drive 20 minutes to get to his lodging.
Our third day was spent exploring Île-de-Lamèque and Île Miscou. Due to a road getting washed out, we were forced to ride an extra 30 km than originally planned. We visited a couple churches on the first island – one of which hosts a baroque music series and has a startling pastel colour palette on the interior. We reached the lighthouse in Miscou before Amber, so we climbed the structure which is the oldest operating lighthouse in Canada. Tey phoned his parents from the top and we facetimed with them while looking out over the Baie-des-Chaleurs and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Amber caught up with us as we finished lunch and we met up with her again at La Terrace à Steve by the bridge bringing us back to Île-de-Lamèque. I enjoyed a plate of steamed mussels for the first time and Tey rode back to a church bathroom where he had accidentally left a water bottle. We caught some head wind completing the south east part of the island which was tough and almost discouraged me from continuing past my BnB. At the northeastern tip where we turned around, there were huge trucks and trailers loaded with lobster traps poised for the beginning of the season.
We enjoyed supper at Oktopus in Shippagan. The food was the best of the trip and we got to sample more beer from Tracadie based Brasseux d’la Côte. Also in Shippagan was a store called Robichaud Lingerie.
We departed Lamèque on the morning of July 4 ready for the lightest distance of the trek. We had a 25 km/h headwind almost all day, but this was tempered by the fact we got to ride on the VeloRoute all the way to Tracadie. Amber met us there at a sweet little bakery where we each enjoyed a treat. Amber also brought me a much needed Vaseline stick as the chaffing was getting real. We got to Néguac fairly early and I finished some leftovers from a couple nights earlier and had a quick nap. After supper, we walked around a boardwalk on l’Île aux foins.
Tey and I don’t speak much normally since we live in different provinces and we don’t call each other. But when we are together, all topics are open for discussion. On and off of our bikes, we enjoyed big laughs, political and religious discussions, catching up on the past 25 years, work, family, and the coastal landscape. It was very easy to pick up where we left off in university, working summer camps and standing up for each other at our respective weddings. Even strolling around the boardwalk after spending all day together, we found things to discuss.
On our 5th day, Tey had to turn around and bring back the car keys to Amber after just a km, so that was fortunate. On a crescent road to keep us closer to the coast near Burnt Church, I was chased by a large dog that got me going my top speed of the day (no hills that day). A couple hours in, we reached the Centennial Bridge in Miramichi. It is the largest of the rivers to cross and has a bridge to match. Cycling was prohibited on the southbound sidewalk, so we presumed the sidewalk on the other side was fair game so we faced oncoming traffic and commenced our ascent. The beginning of the sidewalk was covered in debris and I decided to walk my bike over, but then followed Tey’s lead and began cycling too. The northbound trucks shook us a bit and the height above the river was a little unnerving, but I got some photos and that felt good.
On the Chatham side of the bridge, we fortuitously met with Amber who was just a couple blocks from Tim Hortons where I wanted to use some gift cards. We used the washrooms, ate our treats and drank our quenchers. We rode east along the Miramichi river and then by Bay du Vin and Baie-Sainte-Anne and around the point on the 117. We stopped for lunch at a small marshy river without any significance.
Kouchibouguac National Park is one of my earliest favourite places. It contains dune protected waters and amazing beaches. Our road didn’t get close to either, but I was surprised at how the surrounding forest and ponds felt more wild and balanced than much of the logged and uninhabited areas we had passed through anywhere else on the trip. When we exited the park at St-Louis-de-Kent, the roads were wet. We met up with Amber and told her we were going to ride another 6 km to make the day an even 100 miles. She caught up to us as it started raining and we loaded our bikes into the 4Runner.
Our friends Samuel and Chantal lent us the use of their beautiful home for the night a few kms inland in St. Ignace. Unfortunately, they were away on vacation, but we got to do some laundry, shower, cook a meal and play some games in a quiet space. Amber fed us well.
On day 6, we drove out to where we had left off the evening before. We departed from just north of Richibuctou which is the largest centre near where I was born, inland near one of the branches of the Richibuctou River. We crossed the wide river near Rexton and hiked our bikes to the secondary road so we could ride east along the coast and then south through Cap Lumière and to Bouctouche. We visited the washrooms and the Bouctouche dunes at the Irving Eco-Centre and then took a quick peek at the Irving arboretum. K.C. Irving was a pulp & paper and oil refinery magnate in the province, building up the largest private empire in New Brunswick (though Wal-Mart pulls in 50% more in NB than Irving’s numerous corporations combined!). Irving hailed from Bouctouche, so he ensured to leave a legacy there with these natural attractions.
We cycled south through to Cocagne where we ate lunch on a covered patio of a restaurant that was being renovated. A light rain persisted as we rounded Cap-de-Cocagne and Cap-des-Caissie where I lived when I turned 13. I couldn’t tell which house we lived in even though I tried very hard to identify it. I also was unable to find the school I attended for grade 7 in Grande-Digue.
I have never visited the area of Shediac Bridge, but it is pretty deluxe. We breezed by all the construction traffic entering Shediac by the giant lobster which felt pretty good. Then the rain started and our final hour of cycling was in a downpour. The final stretch into Robichaud, NB mirrored our last kilometers when I cycled across Canada in 2003. Tey insisted on a photo in the rain by the Quai des Robichaud sign where my terminus 21 years ago was.
We had to ride a detour to my father’s house over highway debris and a gravel and dirt roads because the bridge in the neighbourhood is being replaced. We were well fed after we showered and dried off.
Our final day, July 7, we cycled from Robichaud, NB to Tidnish Bridge, NS. We popped in to see Colesti who had cared for my grandmother in her final years. It was a special surprise for her. Tey got to see Confederation Bridge for the first time – which we would have ridden had it been allowed. PEI was not in sight as the visibility was low. We lunched as we strolled through a visitor centre at Cape Jourimain. I enjoyed a handful of ripe service berries there too. The last 40 kms or so to the Nova Scotia Border felt a bit rushed as I knew Amber was waiting for us with the 4Runner and we were running a bit late. Blaise was flying in a little later too and I didn’t want to miss the pick up. As expected, Amber met us with her camera on as we raced over the line to end the coastal ride. We got ice cream across the street and rode back to my father’s place, then collected Blaise at the airport.
I enjoy getting out of Calgary and into nature as soon as possible when school lets out so that I can get my mind in a new state of relaxation. This trip added some physical exertion which I had to train for (thanks to Andrew for making me do some hills on the outskirts of Calgary a week before the trek). Amber was able to join in on her own terms too, which was a mutual benefit. One thing I marvelled over again and again was that I had conceived of this trip independently and made it happen despite a lot of competing interests for the time and money it took. It provided me with a sense that I can still set goals and achieve them – and enjoy them!
- Total Distance: 890 km
- Longest Day: 161 km
- Time on Bike: 36h 47m
- Average Speed: 24.2 km/h
- Rain: 1 hour
- Dogs chased by: 1
- Bridges: lost count