Grand Lake is going to be a south side bypass: stage 727 makes that a stick-on certainty. It’s a stage whose latitude starts out almost level with the bottom of the lake. and it ends up further south by the end, and still on the south bank of the St John River which itself is flowing south of the lake. It’s another lumpy stage running west to east but hardly any of it’s straight and it’s got some big lumps in it, especially the one that spans halfway.
The rollout from the southern suburbs of Fredericton is flat as it heads south east on Highway 7 but within two miles climbs, the road fifty feet to join Highway 2 as it passes by Frederiction International Airport. The road then descends gently over the next two miles to cross Fish Creek close to where it flows into the St John River. The Highway than embarks on a big horseshoe shaped anticlockwise loop around the south of Oromocto: it’s effectively a bypass. Halfway round the loop, at the intersection with Highway 7, the road climbs steeply on the biggest and longest climb of the stage to emerge at the highest point on the stage near to the Gagetown Military Camp at ten miles.
From the summit, the highway embarks on a lumpy seven mile descent that hangs a sweeping right hander at thirteen miles (otherwise the road would end up in the river) before snaking around the south side of Burpees Corner, which sits between Highway 2 and the St John River. After Burpees Corner, the road climbs over the hill that overlooks the district of Swan Creek before following the natural curvature of the river to the right and descending to cross Swan Creek Lake close to its smaller offshoots, Turneys Cove and Bull Paddy Cove. The crossing is the lowest elevation on the stage.
After the lake, there’s just enough time and distance left for two more water crossings: Allen Brook and Little Swan Creek at twenty one miles. The road straightens after the latter and climbs to the finish approaching Hobens Brook, which will be first up as a water feature on stage 728.
Distance: 22 miles / 35 kilometres
Ascent: 551 feet / 168 metres
RGT Magic Road: dmkYLzA59dJK
Max elevation: 136 ft
Min elevation: -69 ft
Total climbing: 547 ft
Total descent: -621 ft
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