First full week back from Newfoundland, big heat wave engulfing Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 30-35c during the day. Definitely a big change of scenery compared to the epic rocky coves of the Newfies. The Maritimes are much more flat and agrarian. There’s very few farms in Newfoundland, all their towns seem to be centered around fisheries and tourism. Ship building was the big industry here in the 18th-19th century. This week also passing through the Acadie region, where a large pocket of French Canadians have lived for centuries and continue speaking weird to this day. Acadians are Quebec’s Newfies.

Lunenburg is a World Heritage Site protected for its unique 18th-19th century architecture. It’s very small ( < 2500 people ) and home of the Bluenose II, a replica of the famous(?) Bluenose racing schooner. The Bluenose II was built to sell beer, so you know it’s important. The old town and harbor are really nice to see and have tons of tourist activities. It’s very reminiscent of Peggy’s Cove.

Started the ride in Mahone Bay, which also has some of the old colorful architecture.

They have a little tourist village/area with brewpubs, ice cream etc. Tourism makes you real fat unless you're biking.

Town's little harbor.

Some James Bond villain enjoying his own private island mansion there.

Welcome, welcome. I found this town by total accident btw.

One of these days... I swear.... it will happen.

People enjoying the Lunenburg old timey harbor, despite the threatening weather.

Celine Dion's boat ( probably ).

Some of the iconic buildings on the waterfront.

That's the boat! The boat from the coin! Remember coins? lol

Wish I could have taken better pictures.

That boat was also pretty cool. Love bike tourism btw, you can just zoom from spot to spot 10x faster than the unwashed masses just trampling over each other.

Some kind of buoy souvenir store? That's pretty original. No I didn't buy one, don't get your hopes up.

The town has a few old timey streets near the harbor.

I think that's a hotel? Lot of Adams Family type buildings in the area.

Just a bit outside of town, going west, there was a deer outbreak.

You suck, why can't you be a moose?

Yeah I'm talking to you. You wish you were a moose.

Oh no, not this again. Road completely out.. thankfully the detour made my ride a bit shorter instead of longer. Sometimes you win.

Fog/clouds were rolling in. Did the ride in the evening to escape the heat wave. Was almost rewarded with rain...

One last church before heading back. Very nice and quiet lake cottage typearea in general.

A ride I just added to the plan to see more of this area of Nova Scotia. Seemed to be something there! Strava marked the Cape’s hiking trail as a “dirt road” so I thought I might as well go and attempt it. Unfortunately it really was just a 12km hike in the woods/rocks, not bikeable unless you were an expert mountain cyclist maybe.
But apparently the cape is quite a sight, so 2 dudes who chatted me up tell me. You can see seals, seabirds and whales from there.

Ride start in Kentville. Sort of a random little town like 500 others.

The inland of Nova Scotia has tons of scenic farmlands.

But everywhere that's rural in Canada has a lot of these decrepit/abandoned buildings.

Up the 200m climb to the Cape. Awesome view of the farmlands and little towns.

You can see all the way to some of the coast from here. Seems to have that same red stuff as PEI.

That's the guy who lives on top of the hill in case you wondered.

On the other side of the hill I entered a deep patch of nice cool fog. Apparently morning fog is a Nova Scotia thing.

A pretty unique lawn ornament.

Cape spit parking lot. Tons of people there already to start the 6km hike to the actual tip.

That was the trail.... no biking this. Sad.

Damn. Looks like it would be cool.

Can't even see the coast. That sucks. To escape the heat I left early and apparently that means thick fog hiding everything :(

Coast on the way back up the hill.

Must be really nice on a clear day. Could have stayed there 2-3 hours to find out but... yeah.

The loop going to Wolfville has really cool view of these pastures/farms with an ocean backdrop.

Very nice.

Apparently Nova Scotia has some wineries/orchards as well. Who would have known?

A few brewpubs randomly on my loop.

Decided to grab myself a beer, because I deserve. Hashtag.

Saw they has lobster poutine on the menu and decided to try. They use a rosee sauce instead of brown gravy. Very good, honestly.

On the way back strava tried to shove me on this garbage "bike path" instead of just staying on the nice direct road back. Die, strava.

Moncton has a huge French Canadian population so it felt like I was back in Quebec, right down to the wind, farms and busted up roads. Was a brutal day with 80-90km of cross/headwind. Headwind in all directions is a way bigger mystery than “Magnetic Hill”. At least they didn’t charge me money to bike on it.
Not a whole lot to see in this area. The city runs along this gross brown river with clay banks. Meh.

This is Hnatiuk's taxidermy studio / hunting emporium, between Halifax and Moncton.

They have this big trout which I assume is the world's biggest. Ok maybe it's a little cheating to get this specific...

As you keep going north you'll pass by Mastodon Ridge, right off the highway. It's a large road stop with tons of restaurants and a caveman themed miniputt.

I always love this kind of stuff where people just decide "Let's built a cool thing here and hope people come".

So rarely are these in big cities too, because they just subsidize trash abstract "modern art" and "guilt" art now. Not gonna build a 40 foot t-rex.

Anyway, Mastodons were pretty big. Imagine the ribs. Hmmm

Pic without the sun blasting at your face. The downside of late afternoon/evening photos... That sun...!

On this same Halifax-Moncton road, you will pass by Oxford, the self-proclaimed "Blueberry Capital of Canada".

Now I'm trusting them, because they have the big statue at a road stop. That's all the evidence I need.

Awe.

The Moncton city sign. Maybe I missed it but there doesn't seem to be any cool historic pier/downtown part to this city?

Right behind the sign you can see ancient hobo artifacts.

There was a hobo angrily shouting at campers at 1am in the Wal-Mart parking lot. He's the victim though and deserves our understanding and help, we're the bad people.

The city is built around the Petitcodiac river, listed in 2003 as the most endangered river in Canada by Earthwild International. Even the rivers are going extinct now lol

The main attraction around here it Magnetic Hill, a tiny little road with an optical illusion that makes it seem your car goes backwards in neutral.

They learned HARDCORE into that hill. There's a big water park there, packed with people.

A little tourist town on a pond, where you can feed swans and ducks.

Also the Moncton Zoo is here. Look at these animals dying of thirst, waiting in line. Cruel.

There's also a fair type thing with games/ shops/restaurants.

Plus mini golf, with a moose. I've seen so many more moose statues then actual moose so far in the last 2 1/2 months.

That's the explanation for the hill. Sort of.

The actual hill is a tiny stretch of road. You just drive up to the white markers and put your car in neutral.

Then you car rolls "back up the hill". I have to say it does look wonky even biking it. Can't tell from the pictures of course...

It's one of the few attractions you have to actually be there to experience. As a cyclist you experience "magnetic hills" nonstop when you're on 1-2% "false flats".

As you leave the hill you climb up about 100m. There's the Magnetic Hill winery here, overlooking the area. Majestic.

Crossing a little river to go back to Shediac ( home of the largest lobster, remember?)

Great views of the ocean from here. You can see Prince Edward Island in the distance.

Fried clams ( hehe). Making some effort to sample the local foods so decided to stop by.

Fried haddock is Nova Scotia/New Brunswick's version of Fish n' Chips. Not as good as Cod imo. The fried clams are little rubber bands, nothing too special.

Big church on top of a steep climb. At this point I'd been getting blasted by headwind for a solid 90 minutes so good time to stop and take a picture...

One of the many berry farms/orchards/wineries in the area. Big strawberry but not THE BIGGEST. Sorry.

Making my way back up north next to the Peticodiac river. It has these brittle clay banks that I assume are what make the water brown.

Closer view of the river. Moncton is definitely not a prime cycling destination... More of a hub you stop at on your way to see cooler things.

I brought my bike in for repairs in Moncton, hoping to get it back early enough to do a longer ride at Hopewell rocks. Sadly my rear derailleur broke while they were tuning it and there was no way to fix it anywhere in town. Luckily the shop’s owner ( I think ) lent me her boyfriend’s road bike, since the shop had only gravel/mountain bikes. That still meant I started the ride 4 hours later then anticipated…
Then I parked at Hopewell Rocks thinking it’d save me some time, but you can’t even bike there and the lady said the parking closes at 8pm. Did the ride full blast with headwind both ways and made it back at 7:58. Of course what she meant by “The parking has to be empty” was “We don’t let people come in anymore bust leave whenever you want”. Thanks, blasted myself for nothing.

Started my day with traditional Acadian cuisine from a little hole in the wall restaurant. This is called "Rappie Pie"

It's pretty much just mashed potatoes mixed with a bit of... bacon? Then broiled/grilled in the oven or in some sort of pan. Maybe an ok side in small portions or with some kind of sauce?

This is "Poutine Rapee" which has nothing to do with the good kind of poutine you've probably heard about.

A thick wall of mashed potatoes with some pork in the middle, floating in an ocean of pork broth. Ratios are all wonky and it's pretty bland. Why.

That's a "Pet de Soeur" ( Nun Fart ) which is leftover pie crust dough baked with sugar/cinnamon/maple syrup. Yes it's delicious as hell. Equal to a cinnamon bun in my opinion.

My loaner bike. It feels so heavy but it does the job!

Bikes aren't allowed at Hopewell rocks. So. There, that's what they look like. I'd have gone but was pressed for time because of the bike problems.

Route goes along the ocean with these wide open views of the coast and some beaches.

Though most of it is inland / rural. That's at Cape Enrage.

The top of the climb to the cape. Has a lighthouse and some other stuff, but it was closed because they were filming a movie there?

The cape itself. Sorry for the horrible picture, the sun was blasting in my face. Must look amazing on a clear day.

Here's the cap on the clear day. Thanks google.

Movie helicopter filming a scene I guess? You can see the camera under its nose.

At the base there's this grassy area with marshes / mountains. Pretty unique to this region and quite scenic!

People chilling on the beach getting ready to watch the sunset over the Cape, I assume...

The cap from the base of the climb/hill.

People filming something here too.

Lot of flat rock beaches. Sounds like walking on glass with my bike shoes.

One last view from a little hill on the coast, coming back. I believe this is called the Fundy Scenic Drive.

Hurried the entire time because the parking lady said "Yeah parking has to be empty at 8pm.". This was the parking at 8pm....

It was raining in Moncton so I decided to move my whale watching a day ahead. Was a welcome day off because of the previous day of putting myself in the red. Only thing is I ended up not eating until 5pm due to having to drive 3 hours to make the tour start time.

20 minutes outside Moncton you will find the world's largest Silver Fox. Some say it just lost its paint.

St. Andrews harbor, where the tours depart.

Didn't do the zodiac. There's 4 companies that operate here and they're all going to the same spot checking out the same whale every day.

Inside the boat.

I don't know why I'm showing you this. I could delete it right now. But will not.

View of some of the many islands, from inside the boat.

Salmon farms. Very efficient in terms of feed-to-meat, apparently. Likely not plentiful due to typical government red tape eco horseshit.

My expensive whale pic. This is a bit of the back of a Minke whale.

It came within maybe 10 feet of the boat. Some days.... are more exciting...

A googled image of a Minke whale. These are 20-30 feet long and very common ( and lame ) to see. You only see a bit of their back before they dive back down.

You'll also see dozens of harbour porpoise. These are 3-5 feet long and good luck photographing them with a phone. ( thanks Google )

We also saw a Fin Whale. It's a very common whale but still the largest in the world, reaching 80 feet in length vs the blue whale's almost 100. ( google image)

There was this cool island in the distance with fog warping around it.

On the way back to St. Andrews they show you this rock where grey and harbour seals lounge around.

That's as good as my camera can do sorry.

Googled image of gray seal. These are big bois, reaching up to 800 pounds.

Google image of harbour seals. Much smaller then the gray seals but still sharing the rock in peace.

Back in St. Andrews I just rode around a bit. Here's some canons.

This should be a video game or something.

You can drive across ( I assume only at low tide?) to the Minstrel Island and hike/bike around the trails.

I mean. It's something to do right?

Badass old car in front of this house. Very euro.

St. Andrews is a very touristy town of course, with plenty of food to eat and shops to get souvenirs and all sorts of weird things.

Seafood chowder. Had quite the chunks. I guess this dish depends a ton of the recipe, hard to say if someone will like it or not.

Low tide in the evening. The water drops dozens of feet in the Bay of Fundy, exposing lots of smelly sludge for you to frolic in.

Did a nice big ride in perfect weather in Saint John, home of the reversible waterfall. The tides are over 50 feet in this area so there’s this bridge under which the current switches direction depending on the tide. You really have to watch it a long time before you notice though… haha

Started in the industrial / downtown part of the city.. I think? This is an Irving plant, producing delicious oil for all to enjoy.

Inland view where St. John river opens up into Saint John harbor. Yeah the spelling of Saint vs St. also confuses me.

That's the bridge over the reversible falls. Wasn't a whole lot of falling going on when I got there, sadly. This is right near the city center.

Another view of the St John river from inside the city.

This area has a little bike path with lots of informational signs / sculptures. It's quite nice and reminds me of Ottawa.

They even have a Hollywood sign!

Some of the sculpture/info on the little tourist path. This network extends very far though seems scattered and not a continuous trail...

Info about the biggest tides in the world in the bay. Shows you how crazy they get when you put a human for scale.

This little fort/ fort town on the path. Neat.

There's some fee to enter but it's as big as a parking lot. Pfff. No one wants to learn that bad guys.

God damn plague of marathons all over the country in the summer.

Some example of the old timey architecture.

The parts of the city I saw were definitely less well preserved and cute then Saint John in Newfoundland. Also change your name, there should only be one Saint John in Canada.

Now outside the city just going along the Kennebecasis river.

Some people really go hardcore with the decorations. I need to take more pictures of these kinds of houses.

Saw a ferry spewing out cars/cyclists on the way out. I had no idea there were many of these free ferries crossing at all points of the river.

More of the river. It's like that on both sides for a solid 40km, with houses all along.

Sometimes you pay for going clockwise when you mapped the ride counterclockwise. Thankfully I'm a bike so rules don't apply.

My first boat ride. I was so stoked because I thought it would just be bridges. LITTLE DID I KNOW.

This is a cable ferry, like in Drumheller. Also freeeeeeee!

Been seeing a lot of these inflatable unicorn things. Guess it's the summer's trend?

No passage through rural Canada is complete without demolished barns.

Second cable ferry ride! Weeeeeee

Nerepis marsh ( huge! ) in a little town called Grand Bay-Westfield. Best marsh of the trip so far.

It's quite huge and the weather was just great. Saw an osprey.

They have all the info you need here. All the info.

This highschool thing going off the rails here with many KMs of telephone polls having these banners on them... Why

The capital city of New Brunswick for…. some reason. It’s a pretty flavorless city overall as far as I can tell. No epic scenery, no historic downtown, no gigantic Moose. Just a quiet, typical Canadian city built along a large river. Basically a suburb of Toronto.

Even their town sign is bland. Well I guess it's better not to lie about yourself.

The "nice" part of downtown with some of the historic buildings. Google "things to do in Fredericton" and you'll see...

Sometimes people paint funny things on big rocks on their property or even the roads. This is a particularly good one.

Little restful pond pic for you.

Another entry in my ongoing "Canada's crumbling infrastructure" series.

The point of this ride was Dunbar Falls.... only road to which is literally at someone's house. What.

Rode a good 20km up the Nashwaak river. Lot of people up the river today all floating down the current.

You can rent tubes and float downstream for what seems like a LOT of KMs. This goes all the way back to Fredericton.

Bridge crossing the river. I feel like I don't need to write that.

Back downtown near the water. If you lean closer you can hear it attempt to scream "kill me, please, make it end".

Two cute asian girls filming some kind of... youtube show probably? They seemed to have a lot to talk about.

Saw a fishing contest being judged. They put people's fish in that tank that's sitting on a scale. Neat.

For sale, but no price. Pretty badass.

Got a flat because some fuckface "accidentally" dropped a bunch of tacks on the shoulder at regular intervals over a few hundred meters...

There's always so much trash everywhere btw. Let's pretend these tacks are just trash...yeah... not intentional at all right?

Here, it's not hard. You put the trash in these bins, you god damned apes.

Somewhat more rural along the river, with a few farmer's markets, one boasting this badass potato man.

Been seeing a lot of these Osprey nesting platforms. They always fly off when I stop though.

Another big bridge over St. John's river.

View from said bridge. Lots of boating/ jet ski on this river. Fredericton looks like a good spot to be a half redneck, half bureaucrat.

This awesome bear statue at an Ice Cream shop. God bless whoever made this. Thank you.

Another 20+ hours of biking, but less driving. Hoping they get my orange bike fixed soon in Moncton so I can be on my way. With this I’m saying goodbye to the Atlantic ocean. Still a bit nostalgic for Newfoundland’s beauty but enjoying the Acadian culture and language of the people here.

If you made it this far, feel free to join my Instagram and/or Strava!

Touring Canada Week 11 - Maritimes and Bay of Fundy