DAY 53 : August 29/22 Monday. Val Brillant QC to Petit Rocher, New Brunswick. MARITIMES!
Woke up amidst the trees/bois at Val Brilliant this morning around 7am to the tranquil sounds of the train whistle and the railroad crossing dinging away. Sounds obnoxious but it was actually kinda okay. Kids emerged from their den up top above the cab and crossed the 10-12 feet of floor to our bed for snuggles. I went for a shower soon after at the nice washrooms just down the little road by the office and when I came back I found Jonathan sat outside on the picnic table bench while the kids took turns using the barber clippers to buzz down his many days of beard growth into a handlebar moustache. He had given them free rein/reign to choose the facial hair pattern of their choice. After the main pattern was buzzed in, he took the kids to the shower block to clean up and he shaved his face following their moustache of choice.
Carrot muffins for breakfast, followed by some whittling (Amelia worked hard on peeling the bark off her walking stick with her carving knife). We packed up and decided to drive a short way down the road to the playground and tennis courts we had seen when we drove into the campsite yesterday evening. It was a muggy warm day so we didn’t last too long, but had a nice play on the playground, “exercised” on the outdoor exercise equipment and bopped a few balls around on the weary and hard packed astroturf tennis courts.
By 1:30pm and 110559k on the odometer, we pulled out of the parking lot and were back up onto Rte 132 headed for New Brunswick.
We got to Matapédia, QC around 2:40pm and with 110652km on the odometer we were getting pretty desperate for diesel. I’d tried using the Gas Buddy App but nothing was registered for pricing in the area so I resorted to using google maps gas pricing and hazarded a guess as to what the diesel prices would be. Already were very close to 500km on this tank of fuel and it appeared that this town would be the best option if we wanted to make it to the Maritimes without running out of fuel on the road! Scrambling to figure all this out as we drove and rolled through Matapédia, we decided a detour back to the Ultramar was the smartest option rather than pushing through to NB on fumes. After getting diesel, we drove up to the elementary school parking lot and pulled over to make a quick lunch of sandwiches, leftover pasta and fresh salsa/chips.
3:25pm : Bodies and Rig fuelled, we continued onto cross the tiny little bridge into New Brunswick! There was construction on one whole side of the bridge and we timed the crossing perfectly to not have to wait. Ta Da! We were now in the maritimes!! We were now on the NB Rte 11 towards Bathurst/Campbelton. We passed a sign that said, “Fiddlehead Capital of the World”
Also to note, the time changed. We are now four hours ahead of Vancouver time.
5:45pm we reached Petit-Rocher, NB. I had keyed in the coordinates on google maps for Beresford Beach as a spot to pull over and get out for a stretch. On route, we were driving down a road in the little town that would dead end at the water, and the google maps directed us to turn right. Jonathan said, “no way… I’m going to drive straight and check that out!!” Pointing at some blue containers that were converted into some kind of roof top decks above a little beach cafe. Our original stopping point was abandoned, and we drove straight down the road to park between the elementary school’s huge spread out playground, and the local cemetery. We walked over to investigate the blue containers at the little Quai and ordered a small fish and chips for Ollie who was hungry, then across the picnic table area to the opposite container “bar” and ordered a local lager and a beautifully crafted mojito. They had menus in French and English and spoke both languages fluently. We sat up on the deck patio that caught Jonathan’s eye, and enjoyed the view and the drinks. When the kids finished eating, they ran over to the playground while we finished our drinks.
Jonathan had spied a couple RV’s parked across a road by the little boat launch and was curious if they were parked for the night. He decided to walk over and check it out and I went to check on the kiddos who were playing a hugely imaginative game of “dimension explorer” they had made up. The playground was fully fenced with chainlink, but the hook to close the gate was not locked. The playground was expansive and spread out and made for very fun games that involved time travel and some kind of dimension changing. They barely noticed me and were so focussed on their play, it was nice to sit and watch them have fun. Jonathan came back happy that we could park there for free overnight. Kids were happy they could keep playing. We went back to the tiny bistro for another beer and crème brûlée. YUM! ** oh and when Jonathan ordered his beer from the bar below he came up giggling because when he ordered his beer from the same friendly gal at the bar, the young guy behind the counter said, “J’aime l’handlbar”… Jonathan said, “pardon?” And the guy told Jonathan he liked his handlebar moustache. Hee hee. J was pretty tickled.
Kids ran back eventually after what seemed like hours of playing. We walked them over to the rig at the boat launch and we enjoyed skipping the thin shale rocks and watching the sunset. Our “neighbours” in the truck/trailer beside our rig walked down to the beach/ramp and introduced themselves. The were from South Montreal and had been traveling for 5 weeks around the Maritimes. They used boondocks welcome app, along with iOverlander (we have that one) and hadn’t paid for overnights at all on their trip. Pretty cool. They were super sweet and friendly and we chatted about our trip and theirs for quite awhile before it was time to head in for bed.
Good night from the quai in Petit-Rocher, NB! x
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