Fredericton, New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia
9/14/23. 12 miles: (6 mi. to bus, 3 mi to ferry, 3 mi.to B&B)
Will we miss New Brunswick (New Bum-stick)? Nope, not one little bit. I hate to judge a province by the weather in 4-5 days but our experience has been unflattering to say the least. However, we have had some good human experiences… kindness of strangers…so I’ll let you know who and where…
1. Jimmy the RV campground owner. Super nice to us. Like I said he could have told us to move along but instead he opened a dry place to eat, offered his restrooms and spent some time visiting with us. (The joys of off season maybe?)
2. The female server at the brewery yesterday. She was curious about where we’d been and where we were going. After we finished and paid the bill, we stopped at the bar on our way out to buy 2 cans of beer for later. She swings over and says they’re on her!
3. The Silverwood Inn owner took a look at us this morning when we dropped the key off. It was pouring rain.. we looked like ducks… wet ducks! He offered to buy us lattes from his bakery before we took off for the bus station! We declined because we were suited up and ready to go… but super nice!
4. Jim had to take care of his cleat situation at a bike shop this morning right at 10am… opening time… before we rode the bus at 11:15am. He needed replacement screws. Well… his cleats were vintage 1990 (maybe)… and they didn’t have any. What he really needed was new pedals..His probably were not going to survive the trip. but they were out of “spd” pedals. He scrounged some old ones from somewhere….$10… put them on and Jim is good to go. They’re good for at least 3 weeks or 30 years🤣! They’re white and purple too!!
Pretty sure there will be more nice people…I’ll keep you posted.
Testimony to our wet weather gear.
Rain jackets are by Showers Pass out of Portland OR. Really good. The rain cap isn’t that great.. fits weird.
Rain pants: mine are North Face. Jim’s are Marmot. His are better with full leg zippers and leg elastic drawstring. Pockets front and back.
Waterproof socks are from Showers Pass
Booties: Jims are full neoprene ( good for cold weather). Mine are Pearl Izumi light thin neoprene. Not as good if it’s really cold. Fine for this season.
Rubber gloves: $2 Dollar Store. I tried these once before when it was rainy and snowy… not so good that day in Wisdom MT but perfect today at 60 degrees!
The bus depot
It’s a happening place in Fredericton. While Jim was off to the bike shop, my assignment was to bag our panniers similar to baggage for flying. We kept our laundry bags planning to use them along the way! Also needed to purchase bus tickets and the 2 large plastic bags for the bicycles. It was thick clear plastic, probably 10’ long. I removed the front wheel and zip tied the wheel to the frame. Then I dressed my bike into the long tubular plastic bag. About the time I finished my assignments Jim showed up to bag his bicycle. While all this was happening people were rolling into the small depot delivering packages to ship, buying tickets to Moncton (eastbound), and Edmunston (north) and St John’s (south). It was filling up and our entourage of bikes and bags was taking up some space people had to navigate around. I tried to apologize. Oh well…
The bus arrived and the driver took care of loading our bikes first. He was grumbling a bit, but with our help we got them in the back of the small transit bus (20 seats or so) and our large cumbersome pannier laundry bags and other peoples luggage.
A hour and a half ride to St. John’s.
Quick transition in St John’s, NB
Google said it was 5 km(25 min) to the Digby Ferry landing. We arrived in St John’s at 12:45 and the ferry leaves at 2:15pm. Wothout wasting any time we put our front tires back on, loaded the panniers, jacketed up and set off for the ferry landing. The amazing thing was it was foggy but NOT raining in St. John’s! We made it easily, bought tickets and waited less than 5 minutes to board the ferry. Big ferry… semi trucks and all! Upstairs to level 5 there was comfortable seating and food available. We made ourselves comfortable for the 2.5 hour crossing of Bay of Fundy and fixed ourselves some lunch. The
at St John. Explosions and all.
Closed schools and businesses due to hazardous air.
Yesterday we thought we’d stay in St John’s but realized today we could make the connection. We’d rather be in a cute coastal town to ride the storm out than industrial St John’s! And yes, the Hurricane is going to hit Digby… we’ll have a ringside view at The Bayside Inn! The bay is across the street. I can see the fishing boat marina from my window. We will be here from Thursday night to Monday morning… waiting the storm out! It’s our first hurricane. Right now we are not nervous. It will hit on Saturday… wind starts Friday night… latest update.
I had to cancel my hotel reservation in St John’s. Called them … used the storm excuse and being on bicycles… blah, blah, blah. No charge! That’s #5. Nice Canadians!
Good news.. not currently raining
Another “ world” event
Absolutely soft and melt in your mouth delicious! Never had a scallop this good.. typically rubbery right?
Tomorrow…
If it’s okay weather like the forecast we’re going to take a short ride up the Digby Neck between Bay of Fundy and St Mary’s bay. Could be windy… it’s an out and back ride so we can turn around at any point. Then hunker down for “the storm” Saturday and Sunday. This weeks laundry is done. We should smell clean for a few days. Not going to lie… with all the wet and damp this week our motel rooms have been stinky 😱
cinnicrew 
We hardly got wet
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Sounds like a good eventful day accomplished. Good to hear you are hunkered down during the Lee attack. I’m amazed at how much you guys do in a day. The scallops looked yummy. Hope your Friday is good.
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