|
About 40km east of Saint John along Hwy 111, one of the most beautiful portions of New Brunswick's coastline has been opened up by the Fundy Trail Parkway , a newly created, 13km-long scenic highway that drifts along a dramatic stretch of seashore. It begins at the attractive seaside village of St Martins , which boasts no less than two covered bridges and where there are several first-rate places to stay. Even more beautiful and a good deal wilder - but much further east - is Fundy National Park , whose rugged sea cliffs, bays and coves are patterned with superb hiking trails. Highway 114 cuts a diagonal through the park, branching off the Trans-Canada about 100km east of Saint John to access its trails and campsites, before finally emerging at the seaside hamlet of Alma , the only sizeable settlement hereabouts and a handy spot to break your journey. If you're after visiting both the parkway and the park, allow at least a couple of days especially as the drive between the two is a time-consuming, wearying business - though there are long-term plans to build a coastal road between St Martins and Alma. East of Alma, a lovely coastal drive passes by turnings for tide-battered Cape Enrage , the bird sanctuary of Mary's Point , and the curiously shaped Hopewell Rocks on the way to workaday Moncton , the province's third city. Beyond Moncton, the isthmus linking New Brunswick with Nova Scotia lies beside Chignecto Bay, at the east end of the Bay of Fundy. Of brief strategic significance after the Treaty of Utrecht, with the British in control of Nova Scotia and the French in Quebec, the isthmus and its surrounding shoreline have long been a sleepy backwater of tiny fishing villages and Acadian-style marshland farming, with past imperial disputes recalled by the windswept remains of Fort Beausejour . The Fundy coast is a popular holiday spot, so it's a good idea to book accommodation ahead of time. Also, pick up a tide table at any local tourist office - the tides rise and fall by about 9m, making a spectacular difference to the shoreline - and be prepared for patches of pea-soup fog: the Bay of Fundy is notoriously prone to them. There's no public transport to either St Martins or the national park.
Your Tip for Fundy Coast east of Saint John
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Fundy Coast east of Saint John - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Fundy Coast east of Saint John - visit the main Fundy Coast east of Saint John forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Fundy Coast east of Saint John webguide section below! Thanks.
|
