There’s just something about crossing into Nova Scotia that is so comforting to us. Perhaps it is the remembrance of an incident that occurred many years ago when we were leaving our cottage in Drumhead to return to the US at the end of summer. One of our neighbors’ sons, after hearing that our departure was imminent, asked, “when will you be coming home.” Guess returning to the Maritime Province is like coming home after a long absence. This was the first trip “home” since before the pandemic.

With this trip winding down and Rocinante tucked in to a comfortable campsite at Cobscook Bay State Park, Maine waiting for Lee to skidadle by, this certainly is a fine time to write this missive. Second installment of our 2023 Late Summer Trip to Eastern Canada. We crossed back into the US a few days ago.

Back to the trip. As written in the previous episode. Passing into Canada was easy. Pretty much waved through. The drive through New Brunswick to the Nova Scotia takes about four hours. Stopping on the way to meet some new friends, Alice and Ron. Alice runs the Facebook group “Camping Eastern Canada.” We are members and a while back asked her to send us a bumper sticker which Rocinante proudly sports now. Couldn’t figure out how to pay her in Canada while being in the US, so Alice said you’ll just buy us a cup of coffee sometime.

Well our debt was paid. We sat around a coffee shop sipping mocha and swapping tales. They are a most interesting couple who had all kinds of adventures in their lives. These included living on a boat and in an RV. The visit was all too short. These were the kind of folks who we wished that we met many years ago. Hopefully, there’ll be more get togethers soon.

At the Nova Scotia border, a stop at the fine visitor’s center is almost a requirement. The folks running the place are always really helpful. And of course the WiFi is excellent. While we were planning to spend the night there, it was discouraged. The workers at the center said that there will be some demonstrators there in the evening. Protesting what? Something he called a carbon tax. Anyway, it was decided to move on.

Turning off the TransCanada and driving the backroads to New Glasgow, is always delightful. It’s a drive through alternating forests and the very bucolic farmland. Our goal was to reach a truck stop about five miles before New Glasgow. It is a good place to spend the night: Relatively quiet and where Flounder can enjoy the many smells she craves. Got close but found a better place. A large parking area for a very big farm store that was closed. Flounder said that sniffing here was as good as it gets. So that’s where a very peaceful night was spent.

The next destination was the pier at the Canso Causeway. But first a stop for fuel, a breakfast and strong Canadian coffee at the iconic Tim Hortons and finally, just before the causeway, Martin wanted to try a fishing pier where there may be a chance for catching squid. No joy. Crossing the causeway bridge we arrived at the foot of Cape Breton.

The causeway pier is a famous spot for catching mackerel and one that has produced many for us in past years. Martin was hoping to try squiding there. Since the walk down is a bit long, Ruta insisted she go down first and check it out. There was a family with a bunch of kids who were fishing but fooling around more than anything and another couple. The guy who seemed more serious than the family said the fish had been sparse, he had a couple in his bucket and didn’t know if anyone had caught squid. Ruta huffed and puffed back up to Rocinante and since we were both getting over a previous cold, declared it didn’t pay to go down there.

It was decided the next stop would be Battery Provincial Park in the town of St. Peters. This park, located on the hillside of Mount Grenville, overlooks St. Peter’s Bay and is adjacent to the St. Peter’s Canal National Historic Site. It was the site of a small fort built by the English in 1974. Purpose was to strengthen British defenses during one of several wars with the French. A hiking trail leads to and around the Fort Dorchester ruins at the summit of Mount Greenville. We’ve been here once before and the combination of good fishing at the adjacent canal, pretty camping spots and plenty of hiking trails makes this park one of our favorites.

This was the day before Labor Day and of course the park had no spots available. However, there were many for the next day. So after making a reservation for the next two nights, Rocinante was driven down to the canal. The folks at the park said that it would be OK to spend the night down there.

Perfect! Camping right next to where the squidding will be done. First a little about the canal. It is a small shipping canal on Cape Breton Island crossing an isthmus and connects St. Peter’s Inlet of Bras d’Or Lake to the north with St. Peter’s Bay of the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The area had long been traveled by the Mi’kmaq people who portaged their canoes across the isthmus. Eventually a “haulover road” was built by French fur trader Nicholas Denys in 1650. There is a street named after him leading down to the site. A study in 1825 was conducted to determine the feasibility of building a canal to connect the 2 bodies of water. The Canal was built in several phases between 1854 and 1869, then later enlarged twice. It has been in continuous operation as a transportation facility for commercial and industrial goods and more recently for pleasure craft. There are 2 sets of locks to account for the tidal difference between the ocean and the lake. During our time fishing there we saw only pleasure crafts coming through. One set of locks are closed as a boat passes through the other set. Then those are closed and the canal between the two is either flooded or drained to match the water level where the boat is heading. Then the second lock is opened and they pass through.

Not only are the locks necessary for boat traffic but they make wonderful fishing platforms. Folks walk across them all the time. The lock operators are totally tolerant.

After parking Rocinante, Martin tried a few casts from one of the locks without results. It was time for our afternoon nap. Upon arising, there were a couple of fellows casting from one of the locks. Martin walked over and immediately hurried back to get a rod. They had about 10 really nice squid in a bucket.

He grabbed a rod and a cooler and ran back. Two casts later he had his first squid and a couple of casts later his second. These were very impressive specimens. In fact, they were the largest cephalopods we have caught since Australia. It did take a number of casts to get his third. Then the action was over for the moment.

That’s how the next two days went: In spite of the gloomy cloudy weather and rain every night, Ruta and Flounder would go for a hike in the morning. Afterwards, we’d drive down to the canal to go squiding, Catch a few and then wait a while and a few more would show up. Back to the campground for the late afternoon when Ruta and Flounder would hike again. However, by the end of our 3 day stay at St. Peters, a total of 78 were brought in. Not an impressive amount but except for a few mediums, they were all large, extra large and jumbo. These filled half our 12volt freezer.

One note: While Martin was quite effective at catching these critters, for some reason only the squid gods know why, Ruta struggled. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that while Martin is a compulsively persistent squidder, Ruta gets easily distracted and needs to move or hike around with Flounder. But hang on, she’ll get her revenge soon.

Time for a change of pace. What’s more delightful than visiting friends whom we haven’t seen since pre-pandemic. Victor and Judy, reside in Drumhead, the Nova Scotia village where we used to own our cottage. But first, what happened on the drive from Cape Breton to Drumhead.

Toodling along the Marine Drive, Martin remembered that he was once told that squid can be caught at Queensport. We needed to make a slight detour and check it out. Walking out on the wharf, a couple of anglers fishing for mackerel were engaged. One said she saw a few caught a couple of days ago. Ruta casts her squid jig and immediately pulls in a very large specimen. She continued to do so for the next couple of hours. Guess what Martin was doing. The best he could do was “take pictures.” While girl caught about 20 very large and jumbo squid, the guy caught three. Well that’s fishing.

Victor and Judy are both very fine artists. Judy does quilting and knitting and Victor turns bowls and does some fine carpentry. We spent a wonderful evening with them and visited again at a farmers market and craft fair the next day in Antigonish.

Time to move on. New Brunswick was the next destination, particularly since the weather again promised clouds and rain. Thought it would be nice to stay in a park and plug into electricity. Murray Beach Provincial Park on the NB east coast had a nice plug in spot with a beautiful view of Northumberland Straits. After spending several days stuck in the camper, Flounder immediately approved of the chance to roam around even though it was on a leash, albeit a long one. Interesting campground, still plenty of camping vehicles but few cars or people. We surmised it was more of a seasonal camp where folks left their campers for the whole summer and visited on occasion.

The following afternoon, while lounging around after a good rain, Martin spotted a bunch of white objects in the field nearby. A short hike and closer inspection showed these to be ten of the biggest Agaricus species (field mushrooms) we had ever found. Used to find many in Vermont cow pastures but nothing like this. Some were cooked up for dinner, the rest went into the freezer.

A few years ago, pre-pandemic, on the way back to New Brunswick from touring the Gaspe, a stop had been made at Cap Lumiere, a very busy fishing wharf. There we had caught numerous flounder and bought lobsters off a boat. Heading north and arriving at the wharf, Martin made an impressive effort to catch flounder. Sometimes it’s difficult to repeat history. There were no bites and most of the lobster boats didn’t go out due to rough weather. However a walk on the nearby beach resulted in an impressive collection of dulse.

By now the day was ending and a familiar camping spot overlooking the bay was found a bit further south next to an old deserted cannery. Martin was tempted to climb down a cliff, an exaggeration, because he saw one of the surfcasters catch a very nice striped bass. His loving wife said, “absolutely not.” The following morning, at the end of her walk with Flounder, Ruta spotted a bolete mushroom in the field nearby. Then another and another and finally she couldn’t carry all and returned minus Flounder to collect the rest. These turned out to be the much desired Italian Porcini mushrooms. A great substitute, along with yesterday’s dulse, for the lack of fish and lobster.

The weather forecast was not promising, Hurricane Lee was in Bermuda and heading up the Coast to New England and the Atlantic Provinces. It was time to leave Canada and work on a survival of the hurricane plan.

A camping spot in Cobscook State Park, Maine was chose to ride out Lee. It was perfect. Though the park has no hookups, the campsite included a lean-to where the generator ran free of the torrential rain. As it turned out, Hurricane Lee was whimp in our area. Quite a bit of rain but winds never exceeded 30mph. We did collect a few nice boletes and chanterelles while at Cobscook.

Currently parked in our favorite Maine campground. A beautiful spot on the Machias River, courtesy of the Maine Forest Service. The dulse and the few mushrooms found are in the dehydrator being run by the generator.That critter is making funny noises. Hopefully it completes the job before she goes to her final resting place. She is about 20 years old and has been a fine and useful companion for all the years. She deserves a rest. On the subject of mushrooms: There have been so few. This is surprising because of all the recent rain. Oh well, you cannot have everything.

The past couple of days have been spent in Eastport. The fishing and catching, for a change, was great. Not only were the mackerel thick, but the number and size of the whiting, silver hake, were fantastic. Martin says that he could eat that species three meals a days for the rest of his life.

This trip is winding down. We decided to return to Eastport tomorrow to spend the day and perhaps the next morning fishing. Then the road to Bangor with diversions down a few dirt roads in search of the elusive ’shrooms. The weekend weather forecast is for a rainy, windy drive. Ruta’s constant complaint this whole trip has been that every time she walks or hikes with Flounder she ends up with soaking wet feet. Good thing she brought plenty of socks and 3 pairs of hiking/walking shoes. Rain is a fitting end for our trip which has been cloudy, rainy and windy for many of the days. So why not on the long road home.

Addendum: We Had a wonderful day catching whiting and mackerel in Eastport and have them on ice. In addition, Ruta caught the largest Jonah crab we ever saw. Then a fellow angler gave us one almost as large. What a great dinner!

It’s now Friday morning and a straight line home. On the drive between Airline Rapids and Bangor, a few detours were made down Forest Service roads. This trip was capped off by finding a number of lobster mushrooms. These are fantastic. Not only delicious, but their natural history is fascinating.