Moving North to Kouchibouguac National Park

Monday, August 19, 2013

Yesterday morning we packed up and left Five Islands. We enjoyed our hike there but, two nights were enough. We were ready to move on. After a quick stop for breakfast at Diane's, recommended by the guy at the St. Peter's visitor center, for their good clams, which we were too early for, we drove down the coast to Parrsboro. Here we cut across the Chignecto Peninsula through wild blueberry fields being harvested, and rejoined the main road out of Nova Scotia.

Please take me in to breakfast with you!

Towering forests of Blueberries

Bluets, or blueberries, are the big cash crop on the Chignecto Peninsula. Crates waiting to be filled.

We stopped at the Nova Scotia visitor center. We had been there a couple times before and knew where to park to pick up wifi. A young man in a kilt was playing a bagpipe for the tourists. It was a fitting farewell to Nova Scotia; New Scotland.

Back in New Brunswick we headed north for the Northumberland Strait coast, that leads to the Strait of St. Lawrence. We traveled across the water from Prince Edward Island, and could see in the distance the giant wind turbines we had visited on the northwestern tip of the island. We followed the Acadian Coastal Route. This area was settled by Acadians and has the highest concentration in New Brunswick. The big annual Acadian celebrations had been going on, and there were lots of the red, white, and blue Acadian flags flying.

Typical small Acadian town

Mussel and oyster farmings

By late afternoon we reached Kouchibouguac National Park. It comprises a large coastal area of marshes, wetlands, forests, and long, sandy barrier islands. We were happy to discover an extensive set of well groomed bike paths throughout the park. We also discovered giant, hungry mosquitoes! Our assigned site in the large campground is in the woods, but open enough to get some sun on our solar panels. We decided to forgo the electric hook-ups. The national parks are pricey, even for no hook-ups, so we decided to stay two nights.

This morning Greg got up and discovered the water pump making odd noises. After driving to the water fill-up and tightening and jiggling a few parts, it seems to be happier. Looks like we will need to replace part of it when we can find an RV dealer. That will probably have to wait, since we are heading to some remote areas. Then he took the bikes off the hitch. No use since PEI meant rusty chains and dusty bikes, so by the time he finished with bike maintenance, he was ready for lunch and mosquito bitten! There was a prediction of rain for late this afternoon, so he left for his “power ride”, while I puttered in the rig.



When Greg got back, we took off on our bikes together. After a few miles, the sunshiny day suddenly clouded up and it started to sprinkle. We turned back, but it was too late, we got pelted on the way back along the nice, bike paths. I had to use my assist motor to keep up with Greg in the rain! By the time we got back to the campsite, the rain had stopped and the sun was out. It clouded up again later for a brief time, but no rain, and it is clear this evening. After getting drenched we still needed a shower. The downside of this life is the unpredictability of the showers. This one was clean, but had hot and cold running mosquitoes, a push button shower, and a shower head shorter than me. Greg said the one in the men's room was plenty tall enough. Seriously? Women are always shorter than men? Okay, at least we are now clean. In a small RV that can be pretty important!

Fierce wildlife guarding his territory at the beach...groundhog

Fishing boat returning to the small pier across the river from us

The beach and barrier island

Late afternoon snack of Digby Chicks, salted herring.

We had a nice dinner as we planned our future travels, and watched two snowshoe hares nibbling the grass at our campsite. Summer is almost over here, they need to hurry and fatten up for the winter. And time for us to finish heading north before it gets too cold!