The breakfast room was a scrum of old French Canadian women, few more than 5ft tall, all seemingly from the same limited gene pool, and all very adept at keeping this Kiwi away from the coffee pot - short, broad and all elbows... I took the hint and returned later, this time surprised at an Asian woman who sat and waited until her phone had shrilled 7-8 times before answering it. Travellers! Last nights dinner took us to a new low in dining, not just in Canada, but anywhere. Most of us were pretty knackered, and were prepared to sacrifice significant culinarily excellence for expediency, but should have taken an early warning - whilst KFC brags of 11 herbs and spices, and is edible on most occasions, this joint claimed only 9. Those who remained at “After ride briefing drinks” rather than venturing out for a dodgy dinner may have made the right call. Over night rain and the forecast for more, combined with a reasonably significant drop in temperature saw us all in wet weather gear prior to morning departure. Whilst it is an effort to put on, and gets very uncomfortable very quickly when at rest, it certainly beats the alternative- the rain did stay away until after our first coffee stop (thank you Tim Horton), but when it arrived, it made the effort worthwhile. I made mention yesterday of the French tri-coloeur with yellow star - I now know that this is the offical flag of the “Acadians”, descendants of French settlers from the 17th & 18th centuries, hardy fishing folk, and judging by the many hundreds of flags, rosettes and red, white and blue paint everywhere, evidently enormously proud of this heritage. The heavily flared bows of 18-20ft fishing boats pulled up on the beaches appeared to indicate that the sea is a harsh mistress to those draw to the sea. We stopped in Miramichi, more for an urgent pit stop for those in desperate need than anything else, making good use of the facilities at Walmart. Good Harley people tend to stay well clear of anything other than Harley dealers but Linda and I stayed on for a wonder around while the rest of the crew headed off to the local dealer. It should be noted that whilst this dealer was not overly large, his catchment is more used to snowmobiles than Harley’s, and he had a very impressive show bike - impractical to ride at all! Our lunch stop was 5km along the road and we opted for Ben’s Lunch room, opened in 1937, so now 81 years old, (and decor reflects this too!). Apparently cigarettes by the carton used to be big business, but nowadays there offering is very limited. They serve Hamburgers, cheese burgers and double cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and of course the Canadian Poutines (cheese curds on chips), add a “soda pop” and that’s your lot. The young fella who served us was delightful, and keen to trade up from his existing ride, a 300cc crotch rocket sports bike to a big tourer - good man (even if his preference is a Honda Goldwing). Wets were again the go for this afternoon - another soaking seemed very much on the cards, and again we were not disappointed- rain in abundance, but we have all got the wet weather thing sorted out. So, we are now in Moncton, apparently the largest city in New Brunswick and as we found out first hand, Home of several Marriott hotels... Comments are closed.
|
Don MalcolmA perfect day involves being on my Harley with a long ride ahead.
|