Cape Tormentine…cont'd

"For the ferry's staff, watching that bridge being built must have been like a condemned man watching carpenters build the scaffold he'd hang from."

Nothing says the world has passed you by more than when your railway station has lost its tracks. But what does it say when they board your information center up?

The weather back then was unrelentingly beautiful. At least that's how I remember it.

So, I had expected wonderful weather this time and wasn't disappointed. It was indeed sunny, but times had changed. Something hung over Cape Tormentine that wasn't there on any of those other trips. It was like standing at a site where a tragic accident has happened that no one can forget. It's a village that's been left behind, abandoned.

A few families still live there, but it's mainly a cottage and camping area now, which means there is no nasty, thriving industry to spoil a holiday. No trucks. No trains. No traffic. Nothing. Where people once parked their vehicles waiting to board the ferry, the paint of the dividing lines is fading. The wharf isn't being maintained and is now fenced off, condemned. The government buildings look dark and cold even on a sunny, summer day. The family restaurant that must have been thriving back then, looks suspended in time, frozen at the moment the bridge opened and the ferries stopped running.

Don't get me wrong. I like Cape Tormentine and recommend the trip there. It still has loads more character than its usurper, Cape Jourimain, where the bridge begins. I like Cape Tormentine for much the same reasons the residents are bitter, it has been forgotten. In Cape Tormentine it's always sunny but the mood is melancholy, which isn't always bad, especially when you can close the book or you can get on the highway and leave.

Terminal Tormentine

The wharf and surrounding buildings have all have fallen into disrepair and are unsafe. A chain link fence attempts to prevent access to the curious and foolhardy. Read more Tormentine…