June 29, 2022
Day 81 - Sussex to Alma
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Our ride to Alma is one of the things Kerry has been looking forward most on this trip. We were here on a road trip with friends in 2005 and he has wanted to visit again. Our previous two bike trips to New Brunswick didn’t include Alma, so this year we put it on the itinerary.
As I said yesterday, it’s a ride I’d worried about – lots of steep climbing and needing to use the “four on the floor”. This is the place where I should say I was worried about nothing, it was not hard at all. That’s not true. It was hard, but not as bad as I had imagined and I’m glad it’s done!
We rode through downtown Sussex to start the day. There were many murals in the business district depicting scenes from Sussex’s history. This is the only one I got a good picture of.
The first five miles were pretty flat, then we started climbing. The views were very pretty.
I think I should be allowed to decline cycling any route with a ski lift!
Kerry had seen two covered bridges on the map, so we stopped to see those.
The first one was the Urney Bridge, built in 1905.
The second covered bridge was also over Trout Creek. It was the Moore’s Mill Bridge, built in 1923.
Past Moore’s Mill Bridge was Trout Creek Falls. There was a short, steep path down to the falls. Kerry went down to get some pictures.
This is a pumpkin field. Someone had to tell us. We guessed some type of squash.
Walton Lake
Our lunch stop was at Adair’s Wilderness Lodge. It was the only place to get food along the route and it turned out to be great. The food was fine, but it was the people there who made it wonderful. We were welcomed by servers Maddy and Jen and the owner, Ida.
After we ate, Ida gave us a tour and told us about the history of the business. She and her husband first built the lodge in, I think, 1990 and started with one cabin. They were set up for hunters. Over time, snowmobilers wanted a place to stay in the area and they began hosting them as well. Ida showed us the function room which they use for weddings, birthdays, banquets and local performers.
There was a large mural across the top of the room. Ida told us the significance of the various scenes, including the drawings of her husband, kids and grandkids.
Our good time at Adair’s wasn’t over yet. As we were leaving, we saw a couple on bikes in the parking lot. They were Alan and Elaine, who drove up from their home on the Bay of Fundy for a ride and lunch. We had fun talking cycling, of course, and then found out that they were the first owners of the B&B where we will be staying in two days. They even invited us to a get together at their house, but it is the day after we will be by there. A couple of hours later, as we were working our way up a hill, a car slowed behind us, but made no move to pass. I waved them on and it turned out to be Alan and Elaine! I was quite jealous because they had their bikes on the car and were driving up the hill.
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The route advice we got from the guy at the bike shop yesterday was to take Shepody Road. Apparently, it is a newly chip sealed road which was, until a few days ago, a snowmobile/ATV trail. It was not a bad chipseal surface at all. There was also almost no traffic. It took us to Hwy 114 at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy National Park.
In just a few miles, our climbing ended, and we descended in three miles what we had ascended in twenty! It was fun going down. Kerry had his new brake pads and kept the speed under 25 mph.
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This is the view from our room at low tide. Watch this space for high tide pictures tomorrow. The next high tide is about 1:30 AM - I don't expect to photograph that one.
Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 2,693 miles (4,334 km)
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