I have been wanting to get out for a good ride for awhile now, and I also wanted to get some photos and video to make a trailer for our upcoming Labrador trip. So today was shaping up to be one of those "kill two birds with one SD card" days.
I met Pete at the Irving in Rothesay and headed out from there. I had a route in mind, that would be scenic and involve some good gravel roads since Pete really hasn't had the KLR off the pavement. We headed out past the Saint John airport, southeast bound for St. Martins on Route 111, with a slight detour out through Garnett Settlement and Gardner Creek on Route 825. Pete has lived here all his life and had never been out this way before.
We stumbled upon this little cabin on the coast, no one was there, so we decided to have a little look around and enjoy the view from the porch. This is exactly the kind of place I would love to have, one room cabin with an outhouse. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a beach that I think we would be surfable......perfect.
What a view
The Vstrom hiding in the grass.
We hooked back up to Route 111 and eventually made it out to St. Martin's. It's a scenic touristy place, known for the caves at low tide, and some world famous seafood chowder.
Low tide. The Bay Fundy has the highest tides in the world. I believe in St. Martin's it's around 30ft, and further up the bay it's close to 40ft.
Home of that famous chowder
The day was slowly starting to warm up. The fall days are approaching and I could feel a chill invading my pant legs on the ride out to the beach. I kept my rain liner zipped into my jacket which kept me warm enough in the 15C air.
We backtracked from the beach and picked up the Vaughn Creek road which is all gravel and goes up over Orange Hill and Saddleback. It's a great road, if you like gravel, and we do.
The last time I rode this was 4 years ago on my BMW G650, when I accidentally discovered it on a springtime ride with John Harrigan. We share the same birthday, so we had treated ourselves to a birthday ride. Back then I initially thought we were on Route 111 to Sussex, until it quickly turned to gravel. Being the studly adventurers that we are, and having my friend Garmin with us we pressed on.
So on this bright and sunny Sunday morning Pete and I retraced our route from four years ago. The road had some very small washouts in places because of the recent rains, and near the top of the hill was quite marbled, like the TLH is reported to be like in places. It was also wet and slippery in places too, so we got a good taste of various road conditions.
I'm running Metzler Tourances on the Strom, a 70/30, street/dirt tire, and they worked really well on the big bike. Never did I feel any issues, even on the marbles.
The gravel eventually ends and we are back on Route 111 once again, and we head for a much needed coffee in Sussex.
By the way, the McDonald's in Sussex has great coffee, however the service is painstakingly slow. When you have 10 people in line for food, do you think you should open more than one cash. Actually all the McDonald's I have been to in south eastern New Brunswick are terribly slow, and for the love of god do not ask for a fancy coffee like a cafe mocha, that takes forever to make. Stick with the black coffee.
We slabbed it home on the highway, and I somehow ended up following an ambulance the entire way, flashing lights and siren. It only accured to me towards the end of the ride to get some video of it. Figured I could do something dramatic with the footage.
Hemmings keeps telling us we need drama and cliffhangers. So this one is for you Greg.
No comments:
Post a Comment