After 36 fabulous years Atlantic Canada Cycling is no longer doing tours. We are now spending our retirement years enjoying cycling and helping people make use of our knowledge of bicycle touring. If you wish to follow in the tracks of our tours fell free to ask us questions on this great cycling route.
Bay of Fundy Bicycle Tour
The Bay of Fundy is one of our planet’s most interesting natural attractions. Each day 100 billion tonnes of seawater flow in and out of the bay – more than the combined flow of all the freshwater rivers in the entire world. Where the Bay of Fundy meets the Gulf of Maine, the ocean tides push nutrient-rich water to the surface, supporting a rich and diverse marine ecosystem. An important site for bird, fish and marine mammal migrations, including twelve species of whales.
On this tour we will explore this diverse Bay of Fundy ecosystem. This tour explores the Bay of Fundy’s New Brunswick side. Beginning at St. Stephen, New Brunswick at the U.S. border, we follow the Bay of Fundy coastline, as well as go out to hop about several islands in the bay. The Bay of Fundy Bicycle Tour will be a fun, social event. We are looking forward to sharing with you this spectacular coastline and island tour.
Tour Outline
Tuesday, July 19, 2022 – Saint Andrews to Deer Island
Wednesday, July 20, 2022 – Day Tour of Campobello Island
Thursday, July 21, 2022 – Deer Island to Grand Manan Island
Friday, July 22, 2022 – Day Tour of Grand Manan Island
Saturday, July 23, 2022 – Grand Manan Island to New River Beach
Sunday, July 24, 2022 – New River Beach Day Ride
Monday, July 25, 2022 – Return transportation to Saint Stephen
Monday, July 18, 2022 – Saint Stephen to Saint Andrews 69 km (43 mi.)
Our tour will begin with a short first day. We start at the U.S. border. St. Stephen’s long-time love affair with chocolate, includes creating some of the first chocolate bars (“candy bars” to those from south across the border). We begin with an easy first day to take allow exploring in the historic port of St. Andrews. We will be staying close to town, at the end of a peninsula jutting into the Bay of Fundy. A National Historic District, there are many things to do, including trails, golf, whale-watching, kayaking, boat tours, historic homes, and scuba diving. Kingsbrae Garden is a multi-award winning 27 acre horticultural masterpiece with 50,000 perennials in themed gardens, ponds, streams, old-growth Acadian forest, various animals and birds. There are as well many restaurants and pubs for our first night.
Tuesday, July 19, 2022 – Saint Andrews to Deer Island 78/70 km (48/43 mi.)
We begin our visit to New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy Islands. On Campobello, Grand Manan and Deer Islands, we will experience scenic fishing villages, beautiful scenery and friendly islanders. Deer Island is the first. It sits amid the turbulent waters between Passamaquoddy Bay and the the incredible tidal current of the Bay of Fundy. We can explore Eagle Shadow Hiking Trail at Chocolate Cove for breathtaking views and some lovely spots to have a picnic. We stop at Deer Island Point Park with our camp overlooking the U.S.A. and Old Sow, the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere.
Wednesday, July 20, 2022 – Day Tour of Campobello Island 54 km (33 mi.)
We explore this island of stunning vistas and magnificent beaches. There are often harbour seals, porpoises, whales, waterfowl and eagles. Herring Cove Provincial Park offers salt marshes and sphagnum bogs, as well as forest trails. At Head Harbour is one of Canada’s oldest lighthouses. Campobello was the beloved isle of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today you can visit his retreat, amid parkland.
Thursday, July 21, 2022 – Deer Island to Grand Manan Island 69 km (43 mi.)
Today will be a full day. We will island hop with two ferries. There will be 72 kilometers of cycling in between. Well out into the Bay of Fundy, we arrive at the largest of the Fundy Islands. Grand Manan is the primary island in an archipelago, sitting at the boundary between the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine. We will be here on this interesting island for two nights, staying on a a cliff overlooking the bay.
Friday, July 22, 2022 – Day Tour of Grand Manan Island (various distances)
Voted by Reader’s Digest as one of the World’s 7 Best Small Islands, Grand Manan offers a route to cycle all the way across the island. Thre are quiet beaches, excellent hiking trails, first-rate bird watching, whale-watching, sea kayaking, the Sardine Museum, beautiful lighthouses, breathtaking cliffs, craft and art shops, and scenic fishing communities. There is yet another island we can go to from Manan, White Head, with several ferries a day. Everywhere are huge numbers of photographic opportunities. We stay another night at our spot overlooking the bay.
Saturday, July 23, 2022 – Grand Manan Island to New River Beach 56 km (35 mi.)
A short day of cycling, but there will be a chance to add on with additional exploring before departing Grand Manan Island. We will also be able to explore the beautiful New River Beach Provincial Park and area. There are two circuits of hiking trails and a boardwalk through a marshland bog feeding the Bay of Fundy. It also hosts one of the best beaches along the entire Bay of Fundy coast – with tidal pools holding crabs, periwinkles, whelks and starfish.
Sunday, July 24, 2022 – New River Beach Day Ride 58 km (36 mi.)
Our last day of cycling will be a loop eastward, through a few small fishing villages and past vistas of the offshore Fundy islands. We return for a second night at New River Beach park and the last together of our tour.
Monday, July 25, 2022 – Return transportation to Saint Stephen
Those who are taking our shuttle to Saint John or Moncton will go later in the day.