… this morning. Winter is here by the looks of it. Mind you the beautiful clear sky had a lot to do with that – all of the radiant heat disappearing through the night. But I really ought to stop complaining and get on with some work.

Still, you can’t keep a good man down, and not even me, and so I was off down the road into the gorgeous day.

Skirting the edge of Moncton and climbing into the hills at the back, some of the views were terrific and it was a total pleasure to have had a good day to see them for a change.

This is a view from the top of a bank somewhere along Homestead Road and somewhere down there is the truckstop where I spent the night, and of course the Trans Canada Highway as it closes in on Moncton. It’s a shame that the photo can’t really do any justice to the image but, like I said, it was something to be able to see clearly today.

In Moncton, it was largely disappointment. Princess Autos, the big motor factors, had nothing that was of interest and even if they might have done, the staff, while helpful, know totally nothing about their stock and so they were of no help at all.

UPS doesn’t have a budget freight service and the guy there suggested the Post Office for me to ship back a few things, but Home Depot did even better. A Ryobi plus One impact bit driver and two lithium batteries plus charger for just $119. You can’t even buy the batteries for that in Europe, and the bit driver costs more than that alone.

From there it was to the seaside, which was why I came down here anyway. This is the fishing port of Shediac. It’s only half an hour or so from Moncton and it’s one of the most beautiful places in New Brunswick. Strawberry Moose and I had a really good wander around and he made quite a few friends, both animal and human, more of which anon, and I took plenty of photos.

From here, we followed the Acadian Trail northwards. The Acadians were the original French settlers of the area and after the fall of Nouvelle France to the British they were obliged to take an oath of loyalty to the British Crown. Many of them did so of course, but some refused and those were deported to other French possessions (such as Louisiana, where they became known as “cajuns”) in North America, although once tensions had eased in the Maritime Provinces many of them filtered back

If it weren’t for the fact that the water here is absolutely freezing even in High Summer (this is the Northumberland Strait between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Isle – no Gulf Stream here) this would be a splendid place to come. There are lots of little beaches (but like in most areas of North America, quite a few of them are private) and lighthouses and all of that kind of thing to entertain the tourist.

Unfortunately, the tourist season is very short and Sunday was the last day for that and so there isn’t much that is open to the public right now, but who cares anyway? I’m enjoying the weather and the sea air.

Some of the small towns are quite pretty too. This is Bouctouche, a little further north along the Arcadian Trail, and the photo was taken from the steps of the large church.

The bridge is comparatively modern and at the side of it you’ll see a ramp down into the water and on the other side of the river, heavily overgrown, is another ramp. That seems to indicate “ferry” to me because even as late as the 1980s there was nothing like the number of bridges that you see today and the whole route was punctuated by ferries. A water-borne paradise and I for one am disappointed that it’s all gone.

But Bouctouche, or rather the huge Bouctouche sand dune, is where I’m heading. There’s a big car park quite discreetly hidden amongst the trees and that is where I plan to have my overnight stop.