The Road Goes On…

2024 Eastern Canada

  • St. Siméon-de-Bonaventure, QC to Caraquet, NB

    After spending almost two weeks in Quebec, it was time to move onto the next province – New Brunswick in our case. On our 2019 trip we had discovered the Fromagerie Les Blancs d’Acadie (47.77444N, 64.99578W) and enjoyed their fresh cheese curds. They were so fresh that we saw them come out of the basin and they were still warm! This time was no different and we got to sample them again.

    We picked up a big bag of fresh curds and some other types of cheese that we were able to sample.

    A short drive further is Le Carrefour de la Mer which is a recreational and cultural centre right by the marina. It has a performing arts centre, a couple of restaurants, artist run shops and walking paths along the bay. One of the artists made woodcut prints on paper he had made himself.

    We enjoyed a nice beer on the patio and walked along the boardwalk at sunset, ending the day with a chocolate dipped ice cream.

  • Caraquet, NB to Lameque, NB

    Today we drove to the end of Hwy 113 where the Miscou Lighthouse is located. What a wonderful spot to have a chocolate croissant, latte macchiato and a smoothie, sitting on a terrace overlooking the Gulf of Lawrence in full sunshine. Even better when there’s a dog on the terrace.

    Freshly energized, it was time to climb up the lighthouse, learning about the history of not only the lighthouse, but the various churches in the area and even about the emergency landing of a Russian aircraft in 1939 on the first non-stop flight attempt from Moscow to New York.

    The Miscou lighthouse (48.00928N, 64.49293W) itself was built in 1856 and is one of the oldest in the Gulf of St. Lawrence region.

    We walked along the beach, collected stones and watched the fishermen, some of whom were having pretty good luck.

    On our way down from we stopped at the Miscou Island Interpretive Peat Bog Boardwalk (47.96393N, 64.52968W) where we learned about bogs and the plants that live in this acidic environment.

    Fascinating were the carnivorous plants. We saw a whole moose get eaten… not really, but the bugs do succumb. Seems fair since the bugs ate us too.

    The Saint-Cécile church (47.87130N, 64.63664W) hosts a baroque music festival each year which we missed by a few days. We were able to see the inside of this rather unique church.

    We decided to go to Camping Lameque (47.814657N, 64.691869W), a paid campground, tonight to do laundry and some cleaning.

  • Lameque, NB to Moncton, NB

    We woke up to grey skies with clouds that might pour rain and the mosquitos loved Ruth dearly. She did not respond in kind.

    We continued on the Acadian Coastal Drive hoping to find something interesting to see or do, but alas, today we didn’t find anything.

    We stopped in Miramichi for lunch at Boston Pizza for their $15 lunch special comprised of an entree, salad and drink.

    Some of the roads were in pretty bad condition and then the rain started. Our idea of staying at the Kouchibouguac National Park didn’t seem to make sense given the volume of rain.

    We decided to head to Moncton where we got our Costco fix including gas and then headed to Walmart to join the rest of the camper vans.