Friday 19 September 2025--It's about 45 minutes from Saint John to St Martins, where we stop for a look at the sea caves in the sandstone cliffs. The tide is high, so we can't explore much.

We laid over in Saint John so we could spend today exploring the Fundy Trail Parkway, which I have not been on before. Opened in 1998, it runs between St Martins and Fundy National Park, a stretch of the New Brunswick coast previously without roads. It seems like untouched wilderness, but a couple of family burial grounds, hidden in the woods a few hundred yards off the parkway, hint at what once was here: a string of busy lumbering and shipbuilding settlements, of which there is now scant trace. The interpretive center at Big Salmon River provides more context. There once was a bustling village at Big Salmon River, with a sawmill, inn, school, and churches, all gone. The hardy visitor can walk from there along the coastal trail, another thirty miles or so to Alma. We drive to the end of the parkway, having barely scratched the surface, contenting ourselves with the numerous scenic lookoffs. It's another place I wish I might have visited in younger days, when I could walk greater distances.

The road runs inland, meeting up eventually with the western entry to Fundy National Park. We drive straight through, coming to Alma on the other side. Check in at the Parkland Village Inn and go for a pint at Holy Whale Brewery. Dinner back at the Inn, I think the best restaurant in the village.