Advertisement
It was Highway #1 with trucks in front of me and transports behind me. I persevered ...did not exceed 100 k but watched my gas tank indicator sink. The Americans in the 70's had something with their announcement to go no faster than 50mi.hr ...it does conserve the petrol.
My stay at
http://bocabeccottages.ca was very pleasant. My co-pilot and I made it to Hopewell Cape in good time without incident.
On this route more than seven cemetaries were encountered and last of all a funeral home. I drove very carefully.
So far during this trip I have seen five burned out houses, three cats running in front of my van and six deer (two of them dead). New Brunswick TransCanada Highway 1 from St. Andrews was little traveled and because of four lanes it was not necessary to go at the 110km/hr maximum. I also refrained from the 60km/hr minimum.
Masses of trivia and info at
http://www.thehopewellrocks.ca ; the highest tides, the Mi'kmaq legends, the geology, the beaches, the Acadians, the Empire Loyalists, shore birds, wildlife and much more.
“
.... the birth of the Bay of Fundy. The fascinating geology of the natural rock formations at the Hopewell Rocks, on the Bay of Fundy, is a history worth learning.
The story begins over 600 million years ago when two continents collided and the Caledonia Highlands Mountain range was formed. Over time, these mountains eroded; rocks and pebbles washed down from the mountain into the level ground of a wide rift valley. Over millions of years, these layers of rock and pebble compressed and cemented together into a large shelf of conglomerate rock interspersed with layers of fine sandstone.
Millions of years later, during a period of tectonic activity, these layers of conglomerate, sandstone and shale were uplifted and tilted to a 30-45º angle. Vertical cracks or fissures divided the rock into large blocks. Ice and rain caused these fissures in the rocks to widen and erode forming the beginnings of the flowerpot formations.
With the retreat of the Ice Age, a mere 13,000 years ago, this dry valley bed filled with the glacial meltwater and the sea level rose.”
I have reservations at The Artisan Suites. The owner is a potter and the rooms are under her shop and studio. Looking out my window I watch the tide
come in.
The room which is my base for wandering around this area of New Brunswick has a king sized bed, a Moffat stove, huge fridge french doors and a spectacular view of one of the tighter end of the Bay of Fundy.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“In July 2009, the Bay of Fundy was named as a finalist for the
New 7 Wonders of Nature contest that ended in November 2011. It was not chosen as a wonder. The Bay of Fundy is known for having the highest
tidal range in the world. Rivaled by
Ungava Bay in northern
Quebec,
King Sound in Western Australia,
Gulf of Khambhat in India, and the
Severn Estuary in the UK, it has one of the highest vertical tidal ranges in the world.
“Traditional
Mi'kmaq folklore states that the tides in the Bay of Fundy are caused by a giant whale splashing in the water.
Oceanographers attribute it to
tidal resonance resulting from a coincidence of timing: the time it takes a large wave to go from the mouth of the bay to the inner shore and back is practically the same as the time from one high tide to the next. During the 12.4-hour tidal period, 115 billion
tonnes of water flow in and out of the bay.”
“The Bay of Fundy lies in a
rift valley called the
Fundy Basin; as the
rift began to separate from mainland North America, volcanic activity occurred, forming
volcanoes and
flood basalts.
A
flood basalt is the result of a giant
volcanic eruption or series of
eruptions that coats large stretches of land or the
ocean floor with
basalt lava.
“These flood basalts poured out over the landscape, covering much of southern Nova Scotia.”
I had to research this geology of NB because the sides of the highway are paneled with vertical striations, that look like so many pizza pies ranged against one another. Such geological forms I have never seen before and I live in rocks ...the Cambrian Shield. These rocks here in New Brunswick are something totally different. The only rock I recognize are the veins of quartz. The above info from Wikipedia could be a whole winter's study.
Have had three sleeps at the Artisan Suites. The view is stupendous ... brown mud when the tide is out and brown water when the tide is in. During my stay here I managed to go shopping at Sobey's
The Emergency Stairway
Made out of wood these stairs were the only way toreach the shore. The "Closed"sign had been nonchalantly tossed aside.in Moncton 35km away, visit the Steeves Museum, visit the Hopewell Rocks at high tide, walk amongst the same Rocks at low tide, admire the work of many artists in the shop above the two B&B suites and spend a day in bed with the recurring April cough.
At the Rocks during the first visit I met a nice assortment of people; a group of young friends one of whom lives here and two who were visiting, two couples one from California and their friends from Connecticut and a couple with a little Jack Russel also from Connecticut but unknown to the first Conn. couple. We were all walking the same path albeit at different paces up and down gravel paths, thru pine forests and down the emergency staircase to the stone strewn shore. When the tide is in the erosion around the Rocks is not visible. The excitement of "walking the ocean floor" was to come the next day.
There were quite a number of people about. From the size of the parking lot this place must be overrun by visitors in season. At this time all is closed including the washrooms and everyone accesses the site
at their own risk. Whose risk is it when the gift shop is open? Adults and children, some in flipflops, others in ballerina slippers (not the dancing kind LOL), two or three in rubber boots were scampering about the ocean (bay) floor. Also seen were two young things walking barefoot in the red muck. At the top of the stairs a bench with water, brush and a boot wipe is provided to clean any type of footwear.
The erosion works slowly on these Rocks because the tide flows in slowly and receeds slowly. Dammage is done during storm when the water is more violently dashed against the seemingly fragile at times saturated lower parts of the Rocks. What makes the place amazing is the height of the tides. Sitting for 12hrs to watch the progression of in and out was not on the to do list ... easier to watch paint dry.
In Hillsborough stands the house of one of the fathers of confederation. The house is in good condition because successive managers of the Gypsum Works lived there. The Gypsum factory nolonger exists in Hillsborough. "The Albert Manufacturing Company was established in Hillsborough in the 1850s with
a milling operation for processing gypsum. Gypsum products were shipped locally and to the United States. The completion of the Intercolonial Railway in 1876 opened up the Canadian market and trade rapidly increased. By 1912, the mill was the largest of its kind in Canada. The Canadian Gypsum Company purchased the mill from the Albert Manufacturing Company in 1930 and operated until 1980." http://www.nbm-mnb.ca.
Across from the B&B is the. Too bad it stands closed until the summer season begins. The website is worth a read. Now back to the Steeves info....
"Set in the historic birthplace of the Honourable William Henry Steeves, the Steeves House Museum is a charming Colonial mansion filled with light from massive windows. The original cottage was finished in 1812, and William Henry Steeves was born here in 1814 as the oldest of eleven children. He became a Father of Confederation and, later, Senator Steeves. The larger house was added circa 1840 when the economy of the Village expanded. The house is now comprised of 6000 sq. ft of period rooms and antique furnishings." from http://www.steeveshousemuseum.ca. The website does show the vast collection of furnishings and dishes and knickknacks that are on display.
Fuschia Church Housing Antiques
The woman has been here for four yesrs and came from Newmarket, Ont. Her family lives here and it is a shop fullof treasures ... I found three I could not leave behind ... 6$ for two patches to sew on and a bottle of cod liveroil with the fisherman I remember from my first encounter with cod liver oil in Foleyet the winter of 1952. Because Steeves was a Father of Confederation a lengthy explanation is given considering how important that this contribution to history came to be.
I must confess I was more intrigued by the hand operated sock knitting machines, the albertite, and the fact that the Masons held their meetings here (monthly?weekly?)
"
Albertite is a type of
asphalt in the
Albert Formation found in
Albert County, New Brunswick. It is a type of solid
hydrocarbon.
It is a deep black and lustrous variety, and is less soluble in
turpentine than the usual type of asphalt. It was from Albertite that
kerosene was first refined. It was first truly studied by
New Brunswick geologist
Abraham Gesner, who had heard stories of rocks that burned in the area.
Albertite is named after the
Albert County in New Brunswick, Canada, from whence it was first found. The occurrence at the area which became known as Albert Mines existed as a series of discordant veins which were hosted in the core of an anticlinal closure of a fold. It was initially mistaken for
coal. The geologists of the 1800s were at a loss as to describe how this coal apparently came to lie discordant to the
strata of the
Hand -powered Sock Knitting Machine
This method of making socks must have been a common practice because the machines were donated from the community area, as they did not yet understand the nature of the
oil shale source rock, nor the fact that the albertite was essentially solidified asphaltum." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertite.
This Victoria Day week-end camp grounds, restaurants, gift shops, local attractions ... all will throw open their doors and the summer season will begin and proceed in high gear. Hopefully the weather will similarly be open to summer. On the night of the 18th of May the weather report warned of frost ...cover your plants was the directive.
More info than adventure in this blog ... sorry... the cough has laid me somewhat low. With this week-end begins in earnest my camping and sleeping in the van. No more wimping out and staying in B&B's or cottages ... cough or no cough ... any way my VISA is close to rebelling at all the extravagance. OH! almost forgot ... bought, cooked for 20min and ate fiddleheads. They are green, tasteless and like lobster only enhanced by generous libations of butter. This is a purely personal observation ... can a whole region of Canada be wrong in their taste for lobster and fiddleheads?
Just in case you need to know ... six uses of
Alive and Well
Thank you Nicole ... happy you suggested the foto. gypsum:
1.- primary ingredient in tooth paste
2. - surgical casts
3. - ingredient in foods like ice cream, white bread, blue cheese, flour, and canned vegetables???
3. - control tartness and clarity in wine
4. - simulate snow in movies
5. - soil additive for alfalfa, corn, cotton, wheat and peanuts. from www.gypsum.org
Advertisement
Tot: 0.138s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 10; qc: 32; dbt: 0.0294s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Darlene Dardick
non-member comment
enjoying your tour
you are one busy lady...and enjoying all of it....