St John, NB

Today we managed just over two miles of hiking, but most was on city streets.

David had a package he wanted to send by UPS to home, so we headed to St John. After taking care of the package at the UPS Store, we headed into “upper St John” to see the sights. Walked through the City Market (the oldest continuously operated market in Canada), Kings’s Square, and the Loyalist Burial Ground, and visited a local art shop. In the latter there were several paintings which certainly caught the feel of the shore in the area. Soon we stopped for a wonderful fish lunch at Billy’s Seafood Company at the end of the Central Market. A lobster roll and Deep Sea platter that included scallops, haddock, and clams (all served with a lovely salad) were all amazing.

Next we headed east to St Martins where we looked at but did not tour the sea caves. This is the beginning of a holiday weekend — New Brunswick Day — so there are so many people. After St Martins we drove out to the Fundy Trail Parkway — a lovely drive (toll) along the Fundy Coast. The 19-mile drive has many lookouts and, if we had time, hikes along the coast. It was low tide so we saw many broad, rocky beaches and mud flats. Particularly enjoyed walking the 84-meter suspension bridge over the Salmon River. Also, the drive down to Long Beach (16% grade in places) was breathtaking.

The drive back to our campsite was a bit of a slog. When we were on the suspension bridge we were just 32 km from Pointe Wolfe CG, by foot, on the Fundy foot trail. But there are no roads that way, so we had to head west to St Martins, north to Sussex, then east and south to the national park — a total of 150 km — 2 hours. We arrived back to the van just in time to climb into bed.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)