Sun Aug 10th - Move sites and truck leak!

Sun Aug 10th - Move sites and truck leak!
We hitched up and moved to our site for the next 5 nights (site 72).. very nice. We did however notice that there was an inordinate amount of water coming from the front of the truck. At first we thought it might be from the air-conditioning. After setting up and sitting outside with a coffee on our wooden deck!!!, Derek checked and noticed that the coolant level was down... he filled it and it took quite a few litres, so we knew we may have more of a problem than we thought. We decided not to leave the campground today in case there was a major issue with the truck, and so spent most of the day reading, walking around the campground and generally relaxing. We wandered down to the shore at about 10pm after a fabulous pork chop meal (chops from New Brunswick farm). We were told by a guy camping nearby that there was supposed to be a meteor shower (an annual event here). But after about an hour sipping our beers in the dark on the beach we gave up (turns out it does not happen until Aug 12th). We researched GM dealers to take the truck to tomorrow. Sad to give up a day in this heavenly place to go get the truck looked at.. but such are the hazards of this lifestyle.
No Photos today... !!!!! 

Sat Aug 9 - Ile D'Orleans

Sat Aug 9 - Ile D'Orleans

Unique church on S side St Lawrence- Quebec

Bridge over to Ile'D'Orleans

Our Site at Ile D'Orleans for 1 night

View from (side) back window

Camping De la Demi-Lieue, is so great, and we only have a 2 hour drive left to get to Ile D'orleans, so we decided to hang out at the camp for the morning (checkout is not til 1pm). We did a load of laundry and generally lolly-gagged around for a few hours. we started our drive to Ile D'Orleans and arrived about 3pm and were given a lovely site at the edge of the campground overlooking fields. We set up and walked around to see the site we will move to tomorrow.. looks wonderful - wooden deck, patio furniture and nice and wide, close to the river facing the south shore of the St Lawrence river. We cooked up a nice dinner with baked haddock, Quinoa and purple beans --- YUM!! We are so excited to be here at Ile D'Orleans.. we last camped here many years ago with our friends Derek and Lin from UK. This island is beautiful, and we can't wait to get to taste the cassis, the bread, wine, smoked fish and soak up the lovely landscape that make up this wonderful french rural Quebec island in the middle of the St Lawrence River.

Fri Aug 8th - New Brunswick to Quebec

Fri Aug 8th - New Brunswick to Quebec

View from campground (S shore) - low tide

Camped at Demi-Lieue CG

We left our site at Headquarters Campground not long after 9am and started the drive toward Ile D'Orleans, which we expected to take two days. However we just kept driving and had hoped to get the rest of the tires replaced enroute. We stopped at Canadian Tire in New Brunswick, who appeared to have the only tires of the size we need in the whole of the Maritimes. After checking the car in and spending and hour or so a t a local MacDonalds they called and said they actually had made a mistake and the tires we need are not there (the owner put them on his truck, without recording them 

Lovely Campground... recommend it!

) ARGGHH!! So we also had them check the computer codes as we had an engine warning sign.. they reset the codes and said there appeared to be no problems... so we kept driving until we found a site. Thank goodness for cell phones and mobile internet and Woodall's Campground Guide. We had difficulty finding anywhere that had space for 2 nights. Drove right through New Brunswick and camped on the south shore of the St Lawrence in Quebec at Camping De La Demi-Lieue (Half Mile Campground)..... It was really a camping resort. Fabulous spot... pool, lake, tennis courts, snack bar, laundry, Bocce ball, and the list goes on. After setting up we went for a quick walk and wandered into the snack bar. Unable to resist we ordered a small portion of poutine (for those non-canadians, this is a dish specific to Quebec and is basically french fries (chips to you in UK), covered with a generous portion of cheese curds, then smothered with very hot dark brown gravy.... OH HEAVEN!!!) It was the best poutine we have ever had... good job we are not staying more than one night!!!!
This is definitely a family camping resort and campfires were ablaze all over the place. Laughter, BBQ's smoking and kids galore... loved it!! We called Camping Ile D'orleans to see if they could take us a day early (tomorrow) and they had one site available for tomorrow night ... we will have to move the next day to the site we had already booked for 5 nights... well at least we have somewhere to go tomorrow and we will be on the island early. 
We are a little concerned that the engine warning light came on again... nothing seems to be amiss, but we will check it again when we get to Ile D'Orleans. 

Thurs Aug 7th - 10km hike Tracey Lake and Bruin Lake

Thurs Aug 7th - 10km hike Tracey Lake and Bruin Lake
 
What a great day today. We decided to do a longer hike despite the 'rain' forecast... learning not to take them too seriously!! So we took off for The Tracey Lake trail which has a side trip to Bruin lake. The trail-head starts at Bennett Lake near the Kayak rentals, so we had hoped to go kayaking after the hike (didn't happen).
The trail was wonderful, winding through the forest and across a small stream (Janice was terrified of balancing on rocks and logs to get over the stream but she did it!!) After about four and a half kilometres, we arrived at Tracey lake and chatted with a father and his 2 sons who were there wilderness camping by the lake. We then headed further up the trail to the end of Tracey lake then up another short trail to Bruin Lake... lots of big frogs/toads?? Back at end of Tracey lake we had a picnic lunch. So peaceful, not a sound, no traffic, no boats, just the lake and the forest. The trail had an abundance of mushrooms of various colours. We were hoping to see moose or deer, but no luck there.. just moose poo and a few squirrels and chipmunks! We only passed one other young couple hiking the trail, so it was lovely to have it all to ourselves. Hiking back we passed the father and sons again and met a few young guys further down the trail who were heading out to wilderness camp at the end of Tracey lake (our picnic spot).. they will have a great time.

 When we returned to Bennett Lake after our 10km total hike, we were not really disappointed to be greeted by heavier rain and so the kayak idea bit the dust and we headed back to camp for a hot shower. We packed some of the trailer ready for leaving in the morning for a two day drive to Ile D'Orleans in the St. Lawrence River near Quebec City.

Wilderness Camp at top of Tracey Lake

Wonder why they are called Red Spruce?

Typical Mushroom site

The dreaded stream crossing

Bennett Lake - lovely

Wed Aug 6th - Caribou Plain Hike

Wed Aug 6th - Caribou Plain Hike

Easy but beautiful !!

Caribou plains.. easy trail

 

Not letting rain get in the way!!

Rain was threatened all day so we stayed at camp, but as the day wore on the rain was not showing itself to be more than a few small showers, so as cabin fever set in we took off to go on a short hike at Caribou plains and the Caribou boardwalk... only 2.6 km total, but at least we got out. After the hike we drove over to Bennett lake where the have kayak rentals, but the showers were getting heavier and the guy said it would be too risky to go out. We decided to maybe try again tomorrow. We headed back to camp in the rain and relaxed for the evening and played a game of scrabble ... a close game and lots of fun!! 

Not sure what it is, but 'twas a big bird

View from road

Tue Aug 5th - hanging out / bbq / campfire

Tue Aug 5th - hanging out / bbq / campfire

Today we had to move the ‘condo’ as someone had reserved our site 103 for the next two nights. We are staying on until Friday so we moved down two sites...all very confusing reservation system. However as we have no sewer at these sites it was time to do a dump anyway. Much finagling and careful maneuvering to get to the dump spot, but all well. Move and set up completed we walked into Alma (including descending the 119 stairs to the road below) Wandered around and decided to grab a bite at the Tides restaurant patio. Fried clams and chowder! Good but not great. Walked back up the steps and read for a bit before BBQ’ing the steak from the farmers market, which together with the purple beans and new garden potatoes was a feast. We joined the campfire with the folks from Sussex, New Brunswick, and had a great time. A few more people from around the site joined in with roasting marshmallows and weenies.  One of the guys (from South Carolina) had built an ingenious canine carrier to tow along behind his Harley… Derek had a close look at it. very impressive!!  The huge Yellow Lab apparently loves being in it.

Monday Aug 4 2014 - Hiking and Lobster

Monday Aug 4 2014 - Hiking and Lobster

Off on the Coppermine trail... easy start!!

Babbling brooks  - Really!

Glorious trails

At the top!!! Bit disappointing 'climax'

View of Fundy bay on way down trail loop

Love the peaceful trails

View from Shiphaven trail

Started with a rather long drive to get gas as the station in town had run out of Diesel. After filling up we headed in the opposite direction toward the Coppermine Trail. By the time we got there it was getting close to noon, so we had most of our picnic lunch before we set out. It was only a 4.4km trail, but it went straight up and then straight down. Some pretty steep sections. The problem we have with Fundy National Park is that the trail map is lacking detail. It shows you where the trails are and other than that you are given the length, and whether it is an easy/moderate/advanced terrain. No descriptions of the trails themselves, and not many ‘loop’ trails to enjoy. The Coppermine trail is one that is mostly a loop and ‘moderate’ It meanders up through forest with only one lookout along the way. We had hoped to see something of the old mine, but there is nothing to see, just a sign at the top of the trail indicating where it was. When we returned to the bottom we took another very short 1km trail (Shiphaven Trail)to see the covered bridge and the location of an old lumber mill (again mostly gone now, other than a small remnant of a old wooden bridge and a concrete platform from a boiler.) A ride down to Herring Cove (an old settlement site) was a little disappointing as all evidence of the settlement was gone and just a field and a small beach remained. We feel that the National Park has done its best to return all this area back to nature, but in doing so have removed much of the human history of the area, other than a few photographs. It is a bit of a shame, but we understand the motive and it is a very well protected ‘natural’ environment. We drove back toward camp and stopped at the pool to check it out… heated by solar panels up to 78-80 degrees. We sat on a bench looking out over Fundy Bay and enjoyed the remnants of our picnic, and watched a few kayakers working hard against the tide and the breeze.

End of trail - covered bridge and mill remains

 

 
Back at camp we changed and tripped down into Alma (which is just outside the National Park) to go to the Alma Lobster shop…. And each had a very large and delicious Lobster… best yet! The meat was bursting out… served on a picnic table on a large metal tray lined with newspaper, served with homemade coleslaw and a fresh bun.  Back at camp we sat by our fire outside and enjoyed a nice hot cup of tea! Great day! 

Early evening Alma

Floating again!!

Alma harbour with water

The Lobster fiend

Mouth Watering!!!!

Alma Lobster Shop... basic and delicious!!

View from Alma Lobster Shop

Hard to imagine 12 hours earlier!