After i drove off the ferry i headed ...
Trip Start
Jul 06, 2001
1
20
Trip End
Jul 22, 2001
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada
Friday, August 17, 2001
I rustled up a fine breakfast of Soggy Buns and the headed for the Highland Links Golf Course. This course has been rated the finest in Canada. I played it two years ago and absolutely adored it. I didn't have my clubs with me so I was just out for a walk around the holes. If you do get a chance to play this course I would recommend not using a golf cart, as you don't get a chance to see all the beautiful vistas incorporated into the layout.
Cheticamp Fish Market
From there I followed the Cabot Trail (with Fu Manchu's "The Action Is Go" blaring from the stereo) to the western side of the park. After you pass through the pretty town of Pleasant Bay you climb up the hairpin curves of MacKenzie Mountain. Just pass the summit, before you make the snaking descent down French Mountain, there is a great hiking trail called Skyline. This is an easy 3 km hike that brings you to the edge of the mountain that hangs over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On the trail I spotted two moose having lunch and at the lookout I could see a number of pilot whales having their fill of fish just offshore.
I can take a hint.
I raced down to the town of Cheticamp where you can find the World Famous Cheticamp Fish Market. This little takeout joint sits right on the docks and the fresh fish goes straight from the fishermen's boats into the kitchen. I had some seafood chowder and a crab bun. It was just as great as I remembered it.
I headed back into the Fish Market to grab an ice cream cone. I really just wanted an excuse to stick around Cheticamp for a short walk
Highland Links
. Cheticamp is one of my favourite places. It's an Acadian town so everyone easily switches back and forth from French to English as it suits them. The huge Roman Catholic Church definitely gives the town a Quebecois feel. Here the Acadian culture has survived without any help from laws or government. It only reinforces what a charade the separatist politicians of Quebec are pulling off on their constituents.From now on it would be a race home. I stuck to side roads most of the way through Nova Scotia. This way I could move along fast enough without cursing at traffic and I could roll across the scenic countryside without worry. I had a brief stop in Moncton just to check out my email at the Chapters store. I had planned to camp at Kouchibouguac National Park but there was no vacancy there. As I pondered my options I invented a new meal.
Bradley T Hughes Secret Recipe: Ravioli Sandwiches
Ingredients: 1 can of pre-processed ravioli, 2 hamburger buns
It's a lot like a Trunk Meat Sandwich except with ravioli instead of canned chicken. It's hard not to slop the tomato sauce all over yourself though
Obligatory Road Close-up
.I decided to keep heading northward through New Brunswick until I stumbled upon a campground. It wasn't long before I came across the All Night All Day Campground in Black River. It was a warm night and the sky was clear so I didn't even bother putting the cover on my tent. I fell asleep watching the stars.
Next morning I decided that I would have one last touristy event before I put my nose to the road. Just a short drive from Black River is a town called Baie-St-Anne. It's the hometown of Yvon Durelle, The Fighting Fisherman. Durelle was a boxer in the 1940s and 50s. He fought such legends as Floyd Patterson, George Chuvalo, and Archie Moore. His World Light-Heavyweight Championship fight with Archie Moore in 1958 is considered one of the greatest boxing matches ever. Durelle knocked Moore down three times in the first round and once more in the fifth before Moore came back to knock Durelle out in the 11th.
Moore spoke of Durelle in his autobiography: "The first time he put me down...I thought this guy can hit! They say Marciano was a house wrecker, and he was, but it took a volley to get the job done. This guy...one punch!"
When I came through this area two years ago the museum dedicated to this local legend was closed. I gave it another try on this morning and was denied again. Just when is this museum open?
The rest of the day was spent in the car - lunch in Campbellton, New Brunswick, flew by Quebec City around 4:30pm, grabbed a quick dinner in Cornwall, and was on my couch in Toronto just past midnight. I had done 1577km that day, 2237km in the past two days, and 8330km over the course of the whole trip. It sounds grueling and I was dead tired for the next couple of days after I returned but I wouldn't have it any other way. The only challenge is to top it on my next vacation.
Thanks for reading everybody. These Travelpod emails will bother you no more... until the next time...
