I had had a book about the Saint John River Valley since I was about 12 years old. The photograph that had made the biggest impression on me was the one of the covered bridge at Hartland because it was the longest covered bridge in the world. This Sunday I was finally going to see it in person.
It was a wonderful day. First of all I had a delicious breakfast at my fabulous bed and breakfast. This was easily the best bed and breakfast I stayed in during my entire stay in Canada. There were others that were very good. But this was fantastic. A great location on the Saint John River, welcoming hosts, beautiful rooms and delicious breakfast. What more could you ask for?
I’d been upgraded to a bedroom with a view of the river and a spa bath and Judy was such a good cook, omelette, vegetable frittata, blueberry yoghurt, strawberry compote with yoghurt and rhubarb cake. While the house didn’t have the novelty value of the lighthouse or rotating house I’d stayed at on Prince Edward Island, this one still stood out.
I wanted a scenic drive today and I certainly got one. I set off on the main road and soon turned off to follow the Saint John River. I missed the town of Woodstock because I was on the wrong side of the river. It didn’t matter. Whatever side of the river you were on the scenery through the Saint John River Valley was gorgeous.
I took my time enjoying the route and around an hour and a half later I arrived in Hartland. I pulled into the car park for the Tourist Information Centre by the river and there it was, the covered bridge I’d first seen in my book 35 years ago. It looked exactly like it did in the photo.
Hartland Covered Bridge was built in 1901, but not covered until 1921. The walkway was added in 1945.
You can still drive through the covered bridge and you could also walk through it. So I decided I was going to do both. After 35 years I was going to savour this experience.
I walked through the covered bridge first. There was a walkway running along one side and as this was a bit off the main tourist trail, it wasn’t busy with traffic. A few cars drove through the bridge while I was walking through, but I certainly wasn’t choked with fumes.
When I got to the other end of the bridge there was a couple from Florida there who drove all over North America to see the covered bridges. Obviously they had to come and see the longest one in the world. As they set off back to the other side of the bridge, out came my gorilla grip to get some photos of me in front of the bridge with all the lettering over the bridge about the length in shot too. I attempted to take some photos inside the bridge, but they didn’t come out particularly well as it was pretty dark inside. I took some photos at the other end of the bridge too. I covered every angle!
The bridges were covered to protect the structure from the weather and increase the life span. The climatic conditions in Eastern Canada and the USA meant that a lot of these bridges were built and quite a few still survive, Hartland being one of the most famous because it is the longest in the world by far.
Then it was time to get in my car and drive across/through the bridge on my way to the Covered Bridge Crisp Factory. Unfortunately the factory was closed for tours, but the shop was open, so I bought some crisps. Prince Edward Island is famous for its potatoes and New Brunswick is famous for its potato products. Not only is New Brunswick home to the Covered Bridge Crisp Factory, it’s also home to McCain foods. I had never realised that McCain, of frozen chip fame, was a Canadian company. It was established in Florenceville in 1957.
I passed through Florenceville and as well as being the home of McCain, the town also has a very attractive partially covered bridge. This bridge was never covered the whole way across, but it was covered at both ends. However, the roof on the other side of the river burned down and so now only the Florenceville side has a cover.
I wasn’t intending to drive all the way to Grand Falls, New Brunswick, but as I still had plenty of day left, I decided to check it out.
Grand Falls is a strange place for several reasons. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province and while most of New Brunswick is predominantly English speaking, there are pockets of New Brunswick that are French speaking. Grand Falls is an island of French Canadians amongst Anglophones. Ironically Edmundston which is in the far north west of the province bordering on Quebec is English speaking.
Secondly, despite being called Grand Falls, the waterfalls aren’t that high at 23 metres. There’s a huge hydro electric dam here on the Saint John River, interfering with the water flow and scenery, when the water is high the falls are engulfed and completely disappear. It’s a weird place.
I went in Tourist Information and picked up a map of hiking trails around the Falls. The steps down to the bottom of the gorge were closed. These 401 steps were accessed through a school and they were worried the children would run down the 401 steps and jump into the river or that someone would walk through the school and abduct one of the children! There had been a lot of complaints about closing the steps and I pointed out that today was Sunday so they weren’t at school anyway. Nothing like this used to happen before health and safety gone mad! The steps were going to be open tomorrow, which was absolutely no good to me at all!
There was a zipline across the falls. I’ve done ziplines to death. I think I must be addicted to them though, because despite saying I wouldn’t do the zipline at Grand Falls, I ended up signing up for it. I had a haematoma and was a little hesitant for this reason, but as I’d done so many ziplines in the past I knew it wasn’t much of a strain, especially compared to a bungy jump.
Canada is a safe country to do adventure activities, there is legislation in place to make sure any adventure activities are operated in a safe manner and the equipment is up to standard and ziplines are generally no problem anyway. I talked myself into it.
There were 2 ziplines. One went across the gorge towards the falls, the other went past the falls. I loved them both. I was side by side with another girl who was bigger than me and therefore travelled faster than I did. We only had to hang on until we’d jumped off the box out of the covered area where the zipline began and then we could let go. So I did! As soon as I was able I let go, leaned out and turned round. I enjoyed the ride and the view immensely. On the second zipline I got the side closest to the falls. The zipline was definitely the best way to view the falls, you fly right past them.
After the zipline I did the walks for a view of the falls and the gorge. This confirmed that the best view of the falls was from the zipline. However, you did get to see some of the gorge that you couldn’t see from the zipline. The trail takes you to another part of the river where the gorge narrows and there are some smaller falls and some rapids. You can also see the Camel’s Back which is a section of very hard rock which hasn’t been eroded away, unlike the softer rock that once surrounded it and stands in the middle of the Saint John River. It’s a very picturesque location, well worth the effort of driving there, I was pleased I’d gone.
Finally I had a walk down the main street, Broadway and saw a statue of Canada’s most famous jockey, Ron Turcotte who was born in New Brunswick, and reiterating the importance of potatoes in New Brunswick, advertisements for a Potato Festival. There was also the Tractor and Trailer Pull which was supposed to have been taking place that day, but I saw no evidence of it. Maybe it had just been a morning event.
I drove back to my bed and breakfast on the other side of the Saint John River, this time I did go through Woodstock after driving over the partially covered bridge in Florenceville. On my return to the bed and breakfast I told Tom that I’d been to the covered bridge in Hartland. Tom had been in the RCMP and said that they took a lot of pride in the covered bridge in Hartland because there had been some instances of covered bridges being set on fire and if they were destroyed by fire, they weren’t rebuilt as covered bridges because they were too expensive to replicate. He said they were always upset when they got a call out about an arson attack on a covered bridge because once they were gone, that was it. I said I’d done the zipline too. It had been a great day.
I travelled around Atlantic Canada in June 2018.
I stayed in Sunset on the River in Upper Kingsclear on the Saint John River, located on Highway 102, 10 minutes drive from Fredericton. This Bed and Breakfast comes highly recommended.
I did the zipline with Zip Zag in Grand Falls, New Brunswick. It costs $40 for two ziplines. Zip Zag is open daily in July and August and weekends only in May, June and September. Grand Falls is 210km and approximately 2 hours drive from Fredericton.
Hartland Covered Bridge is in Hartland, New Brunswick on the Saint John River, 125km from Fredericton and is a 90 minute drive through the scenic Saint John River Valley.
The Covered Bridge Potato Chip Company is open for tours on weekdays during the summer. The gift shop is open daily. It is located in Waterville, 7km from Hartland.
Check out my posts about my other Canadian adventures.
Canada: Magnetic Hill and Fundy National Park
North Cape Coastal Drive Part 1
North Cape Coastal Drive Part 2
Charlottetown – Pocket Capital of Prince Edward Island
Cavendish and the Rotating House of North Rustico
Canada: Quebec – Waterfalls, Via Ferrata and A Religious Theme Park
