Tuesday 16 June 2026--The entry gate for Fundy National Park is just a few hundred yards from Alma. You don't have to stop if you're driving straight through on route 114, as I am today. The road ascends steeply from the Fundy shore and cuts diagonally across the park, ten miles to the opposite entrance. A mile before that, I pass the western end of the dirt portion of Shepody Road, coming from Teahans Corner. Just after the park exit, Shepody Road branches off again to the left. This section of it was upgraded to highway standards a few years back, to provide a link with the Fundy Trail Parkway, where I am now headed.

The lady at the parkway entrance kiosk has some difficulty with the payment machine, spends some time on the phone with a superior, and finally lets me go through without paying. I don't feel terribly guilty about it, because I don't really have much I want to do here; I'm driving it mainly just to do it in the opposite direction from last year. I stop only twice, once at the reception center shortly after the entrance--basically a gift shop and washrooms--and once at the interpretation center at Big Salmon River, which we stopped at last year. As I noted then, there was once a timbering and shipbuilding village here, one of a string of settlements all along this coast, of which there is now scant trace. I take the time to walk up the path to have a look at a suspension footbridge, which links up trails on either side of the river. It's closed for some major maintenance this year. An alternate route goes up a stairway to the parkway itself, descending another stair on the other side.

I finish the parkway, park above the beach at St Martins, and take a short snooze in the car. It's an hour and three-quarters from there to St Andrews. Check into the same unit Ron and I stayed in last fall, which is cozy enough for one occupant. Dinner is at Seasons By The Sea, and pints at St Andrews Brewing. The pub has brought in a projection TV to watch World Cup matches; Norway defeat Iraq, 4-1, this evening. Everyone is taken with the Norwegian team and their large and enthusiastic cohort of fans. I'm really happy to be here...St Andrews has become a favorite stop.