Welcome to the next chapter of On the Road Again, with our exploration of the Canadian Maritimes. We departed on May 17th 2024 with smiles on our faces 🙂 Our planned trip is approximately 5000 miles in length crossing 6 states, three Canadian Provinces, and three countries. We’ll take an overnight 7.5-hour ferry to Newfoundland and a second short-ferry ride to the island of Saint Pierre which remains a domicile of France. As you can see on our route map, we’ll spend most of our time visiting destinations in Newfoundland. Note: You can click on the pictures to see enlargements!

The beginning of this trip includes three “getting there days” and a three day stop at Fundy National Park in New Brunswick.

First Stop: Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown New York

We really enjoy visiting microbreweries when we travel and the Brewery Ommegang stands out as one of the best. We learned that the facility was built in 1997 and is owned by a high-end Belgian brewery. The 1549 date is a recognition of an ancient festival in Belgium where apparently they enjoyed a good brew!

This is a Harvest Host location, so they allow us to camp for the night on their property for no additional charge. The grounds were quite beautiful and our camp spot on the edge of the employee parking lot was very relaxing. And yes, the brew selection was extensive, and we both found a microbrew that we really liked. Our evening at Ommegang was a great way to start a vacation trip!

St. Andrews, New Brunswick

After surviving a long drive and the grumpy Canadian Customs agent, we arrived in St. Andrews, a really nice coastal vacation-destination town. Our campground offered us an ocean-front campsite with a nice view of Passamaquoddy Bay and reasonably good weather (after our rain-soaked stay near Kennebunkport Maine).

We quickly mounted our e-bikes and headed into the village. We stretched our legs while enjoying a visit to several giftshops, then had a great down-east dinner with a lobster roll and fresh scallops. Yum!

The Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy is known for the world’s highest tides – upwards of 16 Meters or 52 Feet, twice each day. We camped at Fundy National Park and visited the Hopewell Rocks about 50 clicks north-east of the park.

This is our first view of the bay.

These sets of images are taken at the same locations at both high & low tide

This view is even more dramatic !

Hopewell Rocks

The Hopewell Rocks are located in a New Brunswick Provincial Park. At low tide, you walk along the seabed to view these amazing sea-stacks and rock formations. We had to be very careful where we walked as some places had stable sand while other areas were environmentally sensitive mud or seaweed. We were on the seabed about four hours ahead of low-tide and noticed the shoreline move out about 30 feet in an hour of time.

Fundy National Park Golf

On the last day of our visit, we got in a game of golf. I transported my clubs to the course via bike. We rented Joanne a set of clubs and she played very well! This course was definitely hilly but very enjoyable in the mid 60’s weather.

Next Up

We’ll leave New Brunswick and enter Nova Scotia as we head towards the Ferry at North Sydney about 350 miles north-east of Fundy National Park. We’ll stop mid-way for a night near the town of Truro, giving us some time for e-biking and sightseeing. We’ll shoot for another blog post in about a week!