Day 20 - Bouctouche to Shediac

42.3 km - Total so far 1,525.70 km

RWGPS: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/15170659
Relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/g12166928993

Note (morning update):  The storm was only heavy rain in Shediac no wind damage that we can see from our motel room.

Good choice we made to stay put in Bouctouche last night as we discovered today there was not much to the village of Cocagne. In Bouctouche, we swung by the post office and left a card to thank the post mistress and staff for their help the day before. 

At the mall yesterday, we were told that we could not follow Hwy 134 South continuously and there was a detour that would take us over a bridge on Hwy 11. On Hwy 11, the bridges predate the reconstructed highway so you won't find the same wide shoulder on the bridges as that found on the roadway. While the traffic moves away from us on the bridges and its is safe, it does take some nerve to pedal on them.

We saw the sign "Road Closed". We have often seen this sign, ignored it and safely made our way over the closed section. This time, we were not that lucky. See photo below. We had to follow the detour and ride over the bridge on Hwy 11.

The sign should have said "Road Closed - No Bridge"

Interesting to note that the writings of Antonine Maillet
spawned a business that put Bouctouche on the world map.

It just so happens that Friday's are both garbage and large boat moving days. We encountered lots of both on the way to Shediac. 

One of the many boats we saw on the road towed by the
same blue truck

The bridge that gave "Shediac Bridge" it's name. One lane only 

and we were on it all by ourselves

This blue heron made himself hard to photograph. Whenever 

Hélène aimed the camera at him he looked right at her, exposing

little to photograph.

The world's biggest lobster in Shediac

We got to Shediac around noon under cloudy conditions. We spent time at an open Information Centre (that had not been warned about Hélène's possible appearance) and chatted what was available in terms of accommodations/camping near the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island. There was not much with the closest campground being 15 kilometer away. We headed to a restaurant to look at Google Maps and decided what our next step would be. It did not take long before the skies opened and the decision was made for us. There has been an ongoing thunderstorm since about noon and it is still raining. We decided to take the afternoon off and retreat to the nearest motel and sit this rain out. Forecast for tomorrow is sunny. 

The video below was taken from our dry and cosy motel room.

You can bring anyone or anything back to your motel room as
 long as it is not a lobster!

There won't be a summary video for Week 3, instead we bring you the Hélène Helene Cooking Video.

As we were having supper tonight, the CBC show Land and Sea was on. The topic was on New Brunswick one industry towns and the impact on the community when the industry closes. Dalhousie was one of the featured town, whose one employer Bowater paper mill closed in 2012. The town has not recovered from the closure and may never. We were at the Tim Horton's in Dalhousie a while back and we could feel that the mood in Tim's was unlike anything we had experienced before. To make things worst for the town folks, the Tim's is across the road from where the paper mill once stood. Another town mentioned in the video is Port Hawksbury. We have to go through there to get to Cape Breton.

26.28 miles - Total so far 948.02 miles