New Brunswick – Canada.

The most direct route from Appleton in Maine, to Saint John in New Brunswick, would have taken us along Route 9, and a little over 4 hours of riding.

I started the day with a huge helping of Lasagna, which would hold off hunger all the way to Saint John in Canada…

I chose instead to follow the coastal route in northern Maine and visit Acadia National Park in the process. I had heard that the scenery along this section of the coast was well worth seeing, and it would keep us out of boredom’s way to boot…

Riding along the major highways and Interstates in the USA often becomes so boring, that by the end of the day I feel as if I have been riding down a well-lit, tree-lined tunnel, and can hardly recall any interesting things I might have seen along the way…

The first section of my ride from Appleton to Belfast was through beautiful countryside, the road twisting and looping through equal parts of dense forest and wide open fields of Blueberries and manicured farmlands. I looped around the town of Belfast, and then took the road out to Searsport and Stockton Springs, skirting the cold, grey waters of Penobscot Bay, in the process.

We followed the shores of the bay to where the Penobscot River entered it and then turned north, taking the winding road that runs alongside the river, all the way to the massive and impressive Penobscot Narrows Bridge.

I stopped at the viewing area and met two bikers who were parked there. Chris “CJ” Mutch, and his friend Brian, were on a tour of the northern parts of Maine, and on their way back to Oka, east of Montreal, where Chris lived. We stood chatting in the bright sunlight, describing our routes for the day ahead to each other, and trying to figure out if we might meet along the way. They had planned to visit Madawaska on the way home, while I was heading for Canada, so no chance of riding together it seemed…

The Penobscot Narrow Bridge with the tallest bridge observatory in the world…

Chris “CJ” Mutch at the Penobscot Bridge.

CJ’s riding buddy, Brian, who was also aboard a BMW. His was a spanking new 1200 Tourer as I recall…

I rode on to the town of Elsworth, tucked up behind Chris and Brian for much of the way, who had overtaken me with a wave, while I was stopped on the side of the road to take a photo of the Motel below…

Choose your colour…. A small roadside motel just outside Bucksport, on the road to Elsworth. There were about ten of these chalets in all, each painted a different colour…

I had heard a lot about the beauty of Arcadia National Park, and added the loop to my route…

While my newfound buddies headed east out of Elsworth, I turned south and rode into Acadia National Park, taking the western loop towards Seal Harbour and from there to Bar Harbour on the eastern side of what is actually a fairly large island, joined to the mainland by a short bridge over the Mount Desert Narrows.

I guess I was expecting a little more from Acadia, because I found the 100 km loop I made to be very similar to the scenery I had been riding through for the past few hours. I cruised through Seal Harbour and then headed north towards Bar Harbour, from where I planned to head into the National Park, and ride to the top of Cadillac Mountain.

This place is special because it is the first spot in the USA to be touched by the rising sun each day. It was close to midday when I arrived at the entrance to the park, and saw to my disappointment, that a long line of cars were already waiting patiently to make the drive to the top…

Lobsters a’grilling !! There are many of these small diners scattered along the coast of Maine. I am still trying to find one which serves lobster flesh only, without the huge hassle of having to mess around, digging a handful of meat out of three pounds of shell and legs !!

Boats on the bay… This is the yacht basin at Seal Harbour.

And in places, breathtakingly beautiful too…

Considering how much further I still had to ride to get to Saint John, I reluctantly gave up on the idea of riding up to the peak, and headed back across the bridge onto the mainland, turned east and cut loose…

There was very little traffic in the area and I took full advantage of this to try and make up time… Although the sun was only due to go down at about 8.00 pm, it was beginning to look like I would arrive in Saint John after dark, which was not something I enjoyed doing, especially when I did not know exactly where I would be spending the night…

I rode back to Elsworth and then refueled, before heading out to Hancock Town and Milbridge, still hugging the coast. Somewhere along this road, I passed Chris and Brian standing outside a diner where they had obviously been having a late lunch…

We waved to each other as I passed and for a second I was tempted to stop and have a beer with them, but the lasagna was still weighing heavily upon me, and all I wanted to do was get as far down the road as was possible, before stopping for a snack…

The clouds had been slowly rolling in from the north-west as I rode, and spots of occasional rain had begun gathering on the windshield. The temperature had dropped accordingly, but it never got cold enough or wet enough to stop for rain gear…

Open roads in rural Maine.

I was now close to the mouth of the Bay Of Fundy, passing Campobello Island, where the Roosevelt family had spent their summers since 1883. Franklin D. would later become the President of these United States… I passed through the small town of Perry and stopped to check that my passport was where I had last seen it, (Jacket pocket, top right) and that my bike registration papers were handy. I was barely 20 minutes from the border, and usually stopped a short distance from each border I crossed, to ensure that I wasted no time standing about looking for documents when I arrived there…

The scenery along the coastal road of northern Maine confirmed that I had chosen the best route to ride into Canada on..

Ha-ha…!! Very funny !! I have often considered setting myself on fire to have a smoke, just to see what the good folk around me would do… One day I shall work up the courage to do so, and THEN we’ll see who’s laughing…!!

And they have many other ways to discourage smoking, such as making the enjoyment of the aromatic weed a rather expensive exercise… I remember paying almost R180.00 ($18.00 !!) for a packet of 20’s in the Yukon Territory last year, and never less than R100.00 a packet in most other states in Canada !!

And the stomach-churning photos they put on the outside of the packets, often make me ask the shopkeepers to hand me a few packets so that I can choose the one that least affects my gag reflexes !!

When parking becomes an issue…

The towns of Calais and St. Stephen, straddle the border post on the St. Croix River, and but for the large Immigration building on the Canadian side of the border, you would hardly know that you are crossing an international boundary… Cars were riding straight past the little American customs and immigration building in Calais, and onto the bridge over the river. They hardly slowed down as they passed the lone official standing outside his little cubicle, chatting on a cell phone..,

Bridge over the River Croix… Canada Ahoy !!

Satisfied that all was well, I rode across the St Croix river and entered Canada. I was greeted with a smile by the friendly border official, who asked a boatload of questions about all the stickers on the bike, while traffic backed up behind me… I asked if I could take a photo of the “Welcome to New Brunswick” sign.

Entering Canada. Photo courtesy of a friendly Immigration officer…

No shortage of saintly destinations in Canada…

My destination lay about 120km away, and I managed to get there in just under an hour, letting the Big Fella have his wicked way with the speed limit, overtaking hundreds of law-abiding Canadians, many of whom seemed quite annoyed by the fact that I was passing them.

The Island View Motel, just short of Saint John, was where I finally brought the day to an end after a long ride into Canada.

He shared a little information about Saint John that had us having a lengthy discussion about oil and petroleum. Turns out that the city was the site of the second largest oil refinery in Canada, and a massive pipeline which would double the refinery’s output was being constructed from way up in the Artic Circle, and would be completed sometime next year…

Camden and Appleton, in Maine, to Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada.