Travels with haRVy

Seals and a great blue heron enjoying a nearby cove now that most of the summer tourists are gone

Today we stayed pretty close to camp only venturing about 10 miles out to explore a bit more of this area. The skies cleared, the sun returned, and the temperature rose into the 70s around 11 o’clock.

After my usual morning walk around the neighborhood, Melanie and Charles invited us in along with their neighbors, Barb and Frank. We all had a good chat over coffee and delicious home-made breads. We then harvested bags of fresh veggies and apples from Melanie’s garden.

The neighborhood lighthouse, right down the road

We visited a local Provincial Park (an open one for a change) where we had lunch and ventured down a trail with an interesting history. In 1886 a grand project to bring ships across the 17 mile isthmus from the Northumberland Strait to the Bay of Fundy began. It was designed to be a double tracked railroad with two locomotives pulling the sailing ships on a large cradle. A dock at each end would allow the vessel to be floated onto the cradle and then a hydraulic crane would lift the cradle and the ship onto the rail cars. Three-quarters of the work was completed, including the docks at Fort Lawrence and Tidnish Bridge, 16 of the 17 miles of rail-bed, and 13 miles of track before the project was scrapped due to financial difficulties. Today all that remains is a good story, a hiking trail and a beautiful stone bridge.

We had hoped to paddle the Tidnish River this afternoon, but rain and wind threatened. We toured the local cooperative art gallery, of which Melanie and Charles are participating members, and visited another nearby park before heading back to camp.

Tide’s out

Sunny morning, cloudy afternoon, cool to warm and back again…must be autumn. 27 miles