nichepoetryandprose

Today I am happy to announce – it has been one year since I began my virtual travel, as part of my efforts to exercise and to motivate me to ride my stationary bike more regularly.  Although I have really only biked in my tiny exercise room in our basement, I have travelled, with the help of Street View (Google Earth) to central France, to the south coast of Cornwall and, now, to northern New Brunswick.  During the past year, I biked 143 days (an average of 30 minutes on each day) and over 530 kilometers.  I am so proud of myself!!

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During the last four days of my virtual biking, I went through the Town of Dalhousie, at the mouth of the Restigouche River.  At this point, the river opens into the Bay of Chaleur (la Baie des Chaleur) …

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8-7   January 21, 2014   30 minutes  3.0 km (Point La Nim to  McNeish)

8-8   January 23, 2014   30 minutes  3.0 km (McNeish to Dalhousie)

8-9   January 25, 2014   30 minutes  3.0 km (Dalhousie to Darlington)

8-10   January 28, 2014   35 minutes  3.0 km (Darlington to Eel River Bar)

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One of the sights along this part of my journey is the 315 MW power generating station at Dalhousie, once operated by NB Power.   This generating station was decommissioned in 2012 but remains interesting to me since I was hired in 1978 to monitor the biological effects of air emissions of the various industries in the Province.  One of the reasons I travelled in northern New Brunswick was to carry out a monitoring program to study the effects of the Dalhousie power generating station.

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Dalhousie power generating station (image by Street View)

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At the end of my four day ‘virtual travel’ last week, I crossed the beautiful Eel River Bar.  This is the location of the Eel River Bar First Nation (Mi’kmaq people).  The sandy bar is a barrier beach and one of the longest natural sand bars in the world.  Water on one side of the Bar is salt and on the other is fresh.  The highway is built directly on the Bar …

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Across the Bay from the Bar is the low-lying peninsula of Miguasha, Quebec and the backdrop of the hills and mountains of the Gaspé  peninsula.  Boats at the entrance to Eel River are tethered as part of a fish netting system  …

February 2, 2014 ‘boats at Eel River Bar’ Jane Tims

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Copyright  2014  Jane Tims