After our wonderful trip to the Montmorency waterfall, we continued our world tour the next day from Quebec City to New Brunswick.
Since we also pay a lot of attention to our beloved bikes, we first drove to the nearest gas station. After all, the tire pressure should be checked every now and then - especially when riding loaded. Here we had to find out once again: "Other countries - other customs!" First: You can only rarely inflate tires at gas stations.
Secondly: Here in Canada you can inflate the tire quite easily for a few Canadian dollars. But the air just runs on time depending on how much you paid (like with us the vacuum cleaners at the self-wash stations). Only the pressure gauges to check the tire pressure itself or to stop in time, you look in vain!
We tried to get the information from a gentleman who arrived with a total flat tire and inflated his tire with air again. But despite our now very good "English-French" we just could not understand how to know that the tire pressure is now enough! We failed miserably to inflate our tires properly!
A few days later on our trip we had then learned from our host in Saint Jones (Nova Scotia) that there are only two options in Canada: either you have a pressure gauge with you yourself - or you just do it "by feel"!
But back to that day again! We decided that our tires looked good enough and set off. In contrast to the previous days, it was once again really sunny - but very cold. To move a bit faster and shorten the driving time a bit, we took the Trans-Canada-Highway ("TCH" as the Canadians like to call it) properly for the first time. At lunch time we stopped at a somewhat larger rest area with tables and benches, the snow was still partially next to it. We were looked at by the other guests very pityingly and asked umpteen times if it is not a bit cold on the bikes. YES!!! But if we were already cold on this day, then we apparently did something wrong. Because a few minutes after us came a couple in a convertible with the top down. These two were apparently not cold at all! The lady had not even the winter jacket on!
But we were again quickly taught better when we left the highway. Despite the funny traffic signs on the road (Attention - snowmobiles crossing) we were really not prepared for the next one. Just a few miles down the road we came to a road that was along a river. We just had to stop. There was still snow everywhere (just not on the road) and the whole (!) river was frozen. An incomparable sight!
Despite all our stops, we had planned our driving time quite well and should actually have arrived at our next destination on time. In the middle of the way, Andreas suddenly told Kerstin by radio: "My cell phone has done something very strange: the time has changed!" What we had not considered of course: Canada is not only large, but there are also several time zones here! When you drive from Quebec to New Brunswick, you also cross one for the first time! Unfortunately in the wrong direction and so we had suddenly an hour delay!
A part of the road in New Brunswick on which we drove, leads along the border river "Saint-John-River" between Canada and the USA and we both could see the USA for the first time. On our world trip we want to visit Alaska around July and later drive down the west coast to Mexico. Therefore we wanted to start our US visa in no case already at this time (runs from the first border crossing) and Andreas had had some trouble with his route planning in advance to teach the navi: ""No, you must not always take the shortest/ most pleasant/ best ... route!"" - Since these suggestions would almost always lead across the USA!
Photo: 1.) First glance from Canada to the USA
However, this issue was resolved a short time later, as it became colder and colder. At only two degrees (at 4 degrees the displays on the dashboard start flashing) we made the decision to get back on the highway, even though the landscape there is not that spectacular. However, we could not make up for the time difference.
When we arrived in Perth-Andover (near Carlingford) it was no longer deep winter, but spring was not yet in sight either!
For the night, however, minus degrees were announced again and we were really glad that we could simply fall after a really warm shower also in a warm bed!
The next morning after breakfast we were able to chat with our hosts a bit until the temperatures were high enough to drive comfortably again. We learned quite a bit, about the area here and how life had changed here. In New Brunswick, potatoes are grown for the most part. Before the TCH was built, one of the main routes in New Brunswick was Route 130, which went through the towns and cities, and you used to be able to buy all kinds of vegetables and fruits along the way. Since the TCH exists, many things have changed in the villages and towns, because of course less and less people passed by. However, there are attempts to revive tourism here and you can see that very well. The route 130 leads along many beautiful lakes and the river and offers really very nice excursion destinations. So - who still needs a vacation destination in summer: here would be one!
The night before, we had already seen some bottles filled with a brown liquid at the table in the kitchen. It reminded us a bit of home when our families made their own fruit/berry juice or jam. In the middle was a pot of something solid brown that couldn't really be called solid or liquid. Something in between was it. So we couldn't help but ask our hosts what it was. The answer: our own maple syrup!
After we hadn't had the chance to visit one of the famous "shugar shacks" or we just hadn't found anything that wasn't so purely touristy-kitschy, we were of course very happy about this answer. And our host had time and took us into his "garden". We got vividly explained how a maple syrup is made. It is much more complex to produce such a syrup than just to knock a tube into a tree and collect the liquid!
You also often don't know beforehand if a tree will yield any liquid at all. With some you think that here would be so much to harvest and then you have nothing at all. Other trees seem quite inconspicuous and give totally much juice. This does not happen all year round, but only towards the end of winter or in spring (i.e. from January to April) - in any case shortly before the trees start to sprout and then only for a few days.
Small holes are drilled into the tree and small cannulas are inserted, which are connected with long thin tubes. These tubes then end up in a sort of bucket (at least if they are private small harvests) where all the sap is collected. A further step is then a constant slow heating of this juice so that the sugar contained in it caramelizes and from this the syrup is obtained. => All this is of course quite simplified now times represented! The large syrup manufacturers have of course not only a few trees, but whole forests and there it looks certainly somewhat differently. However, the principle is the same.
What we still found quite funny was that if you heat the juice in the house in the kitchen, also a lot of steam rises and the "sugar then drips from the ceiling"! For this reason, for example, our host had built his own hut complete with homemade wood stove, where he is then a few days a year busy with their own syrup production.
Also in the week before our coming, fresh maple syrup was made by our hosts and so we also got a bottle with very fresh syrup on the way. A big THANK YOU again for this!
We can only tell you: this syrup tastes completely different than the syrup we got to buy at home (even the good "organic variety") and is simply delicious!
With real original Canadian maple syrup in the luggage we went then "ibahabs" further through New Brunswick on our world trip further towards the next Canadian province!
Comentários