I completely forgot to mention yesterday that on arriving (and disembarking) at St John we entered the second Canadian province of this trip, New Brunswick. We’re heading west on Route 1 today, as far as Upper Letang, then dropping down south on Rte 172 towards Passamaquoddy Bay and the Deer Island ferry (another ferry – yay!).

• Today’s Distance (miles/km): 65 / 105
• Time in saddle: 5h 36
• Max/min temp – in sun (or rather rain) (°c): 37°/14°
• Climbing (feet) : 2,965
• Calories used: 4,179
• Today’s 2nd Breakfast: Tim Horton’s, Upper Letang on Hway 1
• Ferry + cafe time: 3h 30

It’s something of a bumper blog today, which is appropriate given that it’s Independence Day in the US, so get yourself a coffee, or a nice cool drink and some snacks if it’s that time of day, and come along for the ride.

For fun, and perhaps to make yourself feel absolutely exhausted on my behalf, click here to see the route today as a fly-by video.

Using Route 1 is a very different experience to winding along the quieter backroads, but it’s full of pleasures of its own. This, for me, is mostly because of the amazing open spaces, the almost unbelievable distances you can see in every direction, and the lack of traffic. Nothing brought my trip in 2017 back to my mind more than doing the ride this morning.

Another thing I love about riding bigger roads is that where they cross rivers or lakes the bridges are often pretty spectacular. I rarely make it across one without stopping to take a picture. Here’s the beautiful Musquash Falls, a few miles before I made my 2nd breakfast stop:

When I got to the top of a long slow climb, the air instantly changed direction, and smelled glorious. The light and warm westerly became a fresh sea breeze blowing in off the Bay of Fundy, carrying that familiar seaweed aroma with it. This picture is looking out towards Five Fathom Hole and the Musquash Head Lighthouse (not my best photo but you get the idea).

After a healthy 2nd breakfast (as in ‘large‘, rather than ‘healthy’) I set out on the quieter road to try and get to the ferry before the rain arrived again (little did I know I was safe from a soaking today). I was aiming for Letete, where every half hour you can get a free boat over to Deer Island in Passamaquoddy Bay (boy, I typed that slowly). From there I was going to see how the weather was before deciding whether to stay the night on the island or head on to the next one, Campobello Island, which would be my last stop in Canada before crossing the border into the USA!

The afternoon was spectacular. My problem, as is often the case, is deciding what to leave out. I arrived at the ferry over to Deer Island and had just 10 mins to wait. I chatted with Bob and Melissa (Hi again if you made it here!) who were waiting in their vehicle. They were from Savannah in Georgia and promised to give me a shout-out when I arrive there in a few weeks’ time. We boarded the boat deck ferry together and set off for Deer Island. The weather was such a welcome change from the last few days: roasting hot, but with an atmospheric fog out in the bay:

Deer Island was so beautiful, but extremely hilly, touching 20% once or twice. I started out with the plan to stay at the campground near the ferry to the next island, Campabello, but I was feeling great, the weather was superb, it was still early due to my dawn start, and I decided to make hay. Instead of turning up a steep hill to find the campground, I turned left downhill to the harbour. With 30 mins to wait I cycled across the only bit of dry land left in the bay (it was high tide, which as you know is a bit of thing around these here parts) to go and see the ‘Old Sow’ (don’t ask me why it’s called that) tidal whirlpool. However, high tide meant that it wasn’t whirling.

The next ferry was absolutely bonkers – a simple boat deck joined to a sort of tug-boat using a strange hinge-system that was completely new to me. Once out in the bay, it swung around on its hinge and pushed us into open waters:

I then made the short ride to Herring Cove Provincial Park, which is almost deserted despite being stunningly pretty, and set up the tent in a glade of birch trees, showered (bliss), shopped at a nearby store, and created a hot-desk in the camp gazebo:

How could I not camp at an island called Campabello? My plan is to spend one night here then cross the road-bridge border into Maine tomorrow, marking the start of Stage 2 of this trip. See

There is also quite a bumper What Is It, Sam? today, the first batch mostly lichens which is one of his specialities, so I really hope he’s available. (I can just hear him saying ‘Lichens? Lichens?? They’re bryophytes for heaven’s sake’). I may DM him to negotiate a consultancy fee…

Here are some more ornamental and bum-free Adirondack chairs spotted today:

Very little in the way of funny signs, except for these two: