Day 11, Wednesday 1 October

The centre of Saint John proved to be much more interesting and picturesque than first impressions had suggested. We were taken to the market hall and let loose for a short time. The market was very lively and pretty and Ian and I spent a while there. He then wanted to go further into the town with the others, to find a bronze statue of a moose. I stayed in the market with Keith, spending my last Canadian dollars on maple syrup cookies and sweets.
Our second stop was at the Reverse Falls, where the Saint John River flows through a gorge, creating rapids, before it flows into the bay of Fundy. On the rising tide, the water flows the opposite way, therefore reversing. On this day it was on the falling tide and its flow was pretty impressive.
The rest of the morning was taken up with the drive down to the US border, always a bit of a tense time but all was well. The border is the Saint Croix river with Saint Stephen in Canada and Calais in the US. A bit further on, we stopped at another state park site. It overlooks and depicts the first attempt to settle in the area by the French, on St Croix island in the river.  It proved to be a disaster due to lack of vitamin C at the same time as a particularly harsh winter. In the spring, the few survivors left for Nova Scotia, where they were able to establish themselves better. The depiction of the site was very good and then we found a very helpful and friendly ranger at the centre there, who gave us some of the story. Lunch in the car park had no fruit or salad as we had just come over the border.
More miles down to the Acadia National Park to book in at the last hotel of the trip. It comprises several buildings overlooking the sea outside Bar Harbor.  Our rooms were motel style on a lower level. We had a quick turnaround before we were back in the van for a trip to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the island with 360 degree views.
By now, we are seeing more autumn colour and, at times, it was beautiful today.
Most of us had booked a trip out into the bay on the sailing ship, Margaret Todd so Ian prepared by buying a bottle of whisky.
The activity comprised motoring out into the bay, putting up the sails and wallowing about for a while before motoring back in again. At no point could we have been said to be under sail. We chatted with Keith, watched a couple of porpoises and saw a seal and a loon. There was an irritating musician aboard who played guitar and fiddle and sang. He was positively intrusive! Not great value for money.
We were all very glad to get into the warm and have some dinner. Ian and I sat with Chad, Nicola, Connor and Alun and had quite a riotous time talking about children's books and many other things. "Whinny the Pooh? I used to love that film"