Mon. 12th October ‘26
We’re continuing our trek east today as we enter the last quarter of our Canada trip. As can be seen from our posts, we’ve had a fabulous time in Canada. But I am particularly looking forward to the next two sections in Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) and before that Prince Edward Island (PEI – or IPE if you are of the French persuasion). The upshot of this is that our time in New Brunswick is very very limited. PEI is a province in its own right (one of 10 provinces & 3 territories that comprise Canada) so we will be in NB for barely a day.
One upshot of all the time we’re spending in the car is that we are rapidly catching up on the backlog of podcasts 
we listen to. We are bang up to date on the travails of Eddie Pepperell in The Chipping Forecast as he tries to retain his card on the DP World Tour, and we are in 2026 episodes for both the Kermode & Mayo and Chasing Scratch podcasts. The downside of all this travelling is that the backlog of movies (& TV series) we want to watch keeps growing.
As we leave Miramichi, we feel vaguely guilty that we haven’t really seen anything of the town other than a small stretch along the riverbank by the hotel. Oh well. Our slavedriver does have an itinerary for us and first up is Kouchibouguac National Park a watery park of barrier islands, salt marsh, lagoons and bogs very different from the Gaspé cliffs we left only a day ago. The park covers a large area and so our first challenge is to find the right parking spot for the walk we want to do. In the end, Kellys Beach boardwalk did what it said on the tin – a long boardwalk across the lagoon to a barrier-island dune beach. In practice, it just wasn’t very interesting.
The Bog Trail however was much better than the unpromising name suggested. The walk leads through a 
forest to a peat bog that is gradually expanding. The observation tower at the edge of the bog not only provides a view but also has a vertical scale illustrating how long it has taken the 6m depth of the bog to build up. The boardwalk then continues out over the bog populated by stumpy trees and scrubby plants. For me the most interesting were the patches of white lichen interspersed with plants with vivid red leaves.
We can’t spend too long in the park as we still have a reasonable drive to do. The town of Shediac not only provides a good stop to grab some lunch but also has a giant lobster sculpture. Claude is surprisingly sniffy about the sculpture, but for me it seemed natural to get my model to pose alongside the fisherman. We need to keep moving on as we are only halfway and it seems that PEI is not as small as you might think from looking at a map of the whole of Canada.
Entry on to the island is made easier by the Confederation Bridge. It opened in 1997 and at 12.9 km, it is the longest bridge in the world over ice-covered water (I think this means “over water that is sometimes ice-covered” and I also suspect that the caveat is important!). Nevertheless, it is an impressive structure. It certainly stretches on for a long way after we found a shore-based viewpoint and, as the weather closed in and the wind picked up, we were very happy to be crossing in La Bête.
It is Thanksgiving in Canada today and we had been warned that places would be busy and that is borne out when we find the car park for our hotel full. Fortunately, they find a space for us and I am left wondering as to what Thanksgiving is all about. After a bit of research, I conclude that it is a more formal version of the Harvest Festivals we would have in the UK – a celebration of the harvest having been successfully brought in. Here it is national and secular whereas it is local and based around the church for us. Also, it is earlier here in Canada than the US (by 5 or 6 weeks) because the harvest needs to be gathered in earlier here than in the US.