A Day Trip to St Andrews

 18^th September 2022

 

It is our second day in Saint John and a chance to have a look around the area. Unfortunately the weather has turned on us and it looks like we can expect light showers, at least until mid afternoon and the temperature is a crisp 11 C. The only positive from these cooler temperatures is that the autumn colours are just beginning to show on some of the trees. Hopefully over the next few weeks we will see some impressive displays.

 

Not ideal for doing lots of exploring on foot in the rain, we decide to drive to another seaside town about 100 km away called St Andrews. It is literally on the border with the USA State of Maine. We will have a late breakfast in Saint Andrews.

 

The rain persists for the duration of our drive to Saint Andrews, which took an hour and a quarter, and it continued for all of the time we were there. It is a very pretty little village and it is a shame the weather did not present it at its best.

The coastline at St Andrews has that Bay of Fundy Look about it

One historical highlight in the town is the “Blockhouse”, which was a mini fortress built when the British and Americans were fighting in 1812. It was one of 3 built by the local townspeople to protect the town from American Privateers and their military. The State of Maine is just over the water from where the blockhouse is located.

The large window on the top level was for firing a small cannon, smaller holes on the ground floor were for muskets

Cannons Guarded the shore in front of the blockhouse

 

After wandering around in the rain to inspect the blockhouse and canon emplacements, we drove into town to find a café where we could have a light breakfast. The main street, Water Street, is full of cafes and touristy shops, but it is Sunday, and very few are open or do not intend to open until 11am or 12 noon. We did find one quite new café, and had egg and bacon rolls and a cup of coffee (or what they refer to as coffee).

Our breakfast cafe, a relatively new building designed to fit in with the streetscape

Enjoying our breakfast

This sign inside the cafe highlights the closeness to Maine

 

Appetite sated, it was time to cover up and head back out into the light rain to have a bit of a walk around and take in the sights of this scenic little town. Tourism obviously keeps it alive, and just like many other places we have visited, getting hospitality staff seems to be a major barrier to operation of many of the small businesses.

The main street, Water Street

The Windsor House, a restored 18th Century Sea Captains House, now a B&B

There is a long jetty in town that seems to be the centre for significant water based tourism activities.

It is bloody wet and cold

Whale watching seems to be popular

There is road access onto the jetty and limited parking at the end

We have seen some great murals on this trip

 

It is time, to leave Saint Andrews at around 11.30 am and head back to Saint John. We are back in time for lunch and Carole and I walked across the road to a pub, Grannans, which was open (not much is) for a light meal. I had one of the best Caesar Salads I have ever had, with the dressing hand made to order. Carole’s fish cakes were also excellent.

 

Rainfall was abating and there was promise of better weather as the day advanced when John and I went for a walk around town at around 2.30pm. The rain had largely stopped whilst we were out and by 4 pm the sun was starting to appear, so we are hopeful of a nicer day tomorrow when we hit the road once more. 

A yacht pulled up right outside our hotel late this afternoon, but was gone when we returned from dinner.

 

Dinner tonight was a bit of a mix up, it seems the restaurant I booked is in a different Saint John, but eventually we worked it out and ate at a nearby pub. It was hamburgers all round with generous serves of salad instead of fries. We probably needed a break from big restaurant dinners anyway.

Hardly a light meal, but very tasty