I feel like I’m doing this backwards… this cross-Canada thing. Leaving historic resplendent Quebec City behind and heading east is not the way the Europeans did it when they were first exploring and settling this New World.
But here I am, re-tracing the steps of those intrepid pioneers, backwards. Starting from where the river narrows, sunny 400-year-old Quebec this morning, my drivers propel me back along the Saint Lawrence River.
Ho hum, another day, another film crew follows me as I wind my way through the cobblestone streets and out of the only walled city north of Mexico.
I guess I’m like a pioneer myself, with my ultra-thin compact electric motor. And I’m heading into unchartered territory, Atlantic Canada. Well, unchartered for me and some vehicle navigation systems anyway!
Louise Fyfe of Café Lotus Bleu
But first we (drivers, filmers and me) ooh and aah over the fertile farmlands just beginning to pop and the roiling St. Lawrence River that’s wide like an ocean.
We hug the south shore of the River and peer across the bright waters trying to see belugas and blue whales that we’ve heard come to feed in the Saguenay – St. Lawrence Marine Conservation Park. No luck. Too early in the year.
We veer away from the river ‘inland’ and start the trek into New Brunswick, the largest of Canada’s three maritime provinces and the only official bilingual one in the country. Bon! I get to keep practicing mon français!
New Brunswick is virtually covered by forest, teeming with bear, deer and moose. The province is considered a North American leader in forest management. There are also rivers galore brimming with salmon and trout and perfect for white-water rafting. It’s the perfect spot for a planet-lover like me!
And speaking of planet lovers and pioneers, I have to tell you about our lunch stop in Edmundston. Pulling up to Café Lotus Bleu, on chemin Canada, you wouldn’t know about the exciting things going on inside. Until you talk to owners, Louise Fyfe and Estelle Sabatier, that is, two vivacious young ladies who are so passionate about their conservation efforts in their café and in the community that you almost want to hug them and run around spreading their spirited message. If I had arms and feet, I’d do both those things!!
The City of Edmundston has no recycling or composting systems in place. When Louise and Estelle set up shop, they took it upon themselves to do these things and more. They take their compostables to the New Brunswick Botanical Gardens, they recycle and re-use everything right from the counter top in the café (used to be the floor of an old hardware store) to the tables that come from a schoolhouse that was torn down to donated paint collected by word of mouth on their Café Lotus Bleu Facebook Group. Hence the wacky warm colours on the walls.
The food in the café is all organic, locally sourced and if you order the Pad Thai, there’s a chef from Thailand there to prepare it for you. On some days, an Edmundstonian originally from Iraq will cook you one of his special dishes.
And, in all of Louise’s spare time (not!), she even has Rainbow Factory, the biggest ‘socially responsible little tie-dye shop in the world. Geesh, their fair-trade coffee sure gives them wings!
Okay, okay, I know it’s time to go… we’ve still got Hartland, with the longest covered bridge in the world, and more forests and rivers to sweep by.
And then Fredericton, lush river city and capital of New Brunswick, which claims the longest pedestrian bridge converted from railway in the world, a 581-metre-long bridge that forms part of the Trans Canada Trail, a cross-country network that has acquired and improved abandoned rail corridors and re-appropriated them for walking trails.
Oh, Canada.
These statues depict the original meeting of Loyalist William Orser, one of the first settlers of Hartland area, and Maliseet Chief Pierre Toma. A blanket from Orser and a salmon from Toma were likely their first exchange of gifts.