The Acadian Peninsula

Hi Blog!

It's Friday, May 25, 2018. We are still recovering from yesterday's epic 30 mile bike ride. After dragging our sore muscles out of bed, we decided to head into Caraquet and reward ourselves with brunch. We discovered the Boulangerie Grains de Folie. This cute little coffee shop, bakery, restaurant and book store makes delicious omelettes. Their lattes are pretty amazing, as well. The small latte comes decorated with a steamed-milk horse, but the large is decorated with a lobster. Next time, I'm getting a lobster!

Caraquet has a number of historic buildings. Our cafe, with the book store to the right in the photo below, is one of them.

In an effort to rest our tired muscles, we decided today would be a driving tour day. We set our sights on the Miscou Lighthouse, which sits at the most northeastern point of New Brunswick, between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Baie des Chaleurs. Our drive to the lighthouse would give us a chance to explore more of the Acadian Peninsula, including marinas of fishing boats such as this one in Bas Caraquet:

The Acadian Peninsula is situated in the northeastern corner of New Brunswick, Canada. It derives its name from the large Acadian population located there. Everywhere we looked as we drove we were treated to the waving flags of proud Acadians. Here is Bas Caraquet, we have not one, but two flags!

This patriotic fellow in Pokesudie even painted his camper red, white and blue with a yellow star!

We passed several impressive churches, but the one at Saint Simon just called out for a photo.

We were disappointed that the Ecological Park of the Acadian Peninsula hadn't opened yet for the season. It would have been fun to walk out the boardwalk and get a closer look at the bay.

Two major islands off the northeast tip of the peninsula, Lamèque Island and Miscou Island, are culturally considered part of the Acadian Peninsula. We stopped at Sainte-Cecile Church on Lamèque Island. We loved the view of the old church with the modern windmills in the background.

As we continued on our journey to Miscou Island, we discovered the channel light at Petite Riviere de L'lle.

We stopped to stretch our legs along this stretch of beach along the Miscou Channel.

As we crossed the channel from Lamèque Island to Miscou Island there were fishing boats everywhere!

As we drove across the island, we discovered this boardwalk. The peat moss on the island has not been harvested and is left in its natural state. This boardwalk allowed us to get out and explore the peat moss without getting our shoes wet!

We learned that the original First Nations inhabitants of this area were frightened to go to Miscou Island due to the legendary GouGou monster which was said to inhabit Miscou and which they feared greatly. Try as we might, we never spotted the GouGou.  We did find some misty moors that reminded us of Scotland, or the muskeg of Alaska and the Yukon:

We caught sight of this heron taking flight after we drove by. There were also lots of moose signs, but we saw no moose today.

Miscou Island is also known for the Miscou Island Lighthouse, which was built in 1856 and is located at the northeastern tip of the island. Here is our first look at the lighthouse.

When we arrived at the lighthouse, we were the only ones there. We took the opportunity to wander around the grounds viewing the light from various angles. Here's our favorite view.

Driving through the peat bogs got us thinking about Scotch Whiskey, so we looked up the closest New Brunswick Distillery.  It turns out that Acadia boasts a new micro-distillery not far from us - and it's right on the route we plan for tomorrow!  Can you say road trip?