The day started with the lovely opportunity of speaking to both Jessica and Sally - and wishing Jill's brother Roy in Australia a Happy Birthday via email. Both activities bringing home the oddity of being in different timezones - we're behind everybody else and just getting up whilst the day has progressed beyond midday in the UK and way into the night in Australia. We've passed through numerous time zones on our travels, and experienced a time zone change on the border between Canada and USA. It has made us realise that it wouldn't be so difficult for Scotland and the rest of UK to have a time zone (i.e. different) that worked well for both rather than the unhappy compromise that we have currently: roll on devolution.

Here in Maine, today was the day that Jill had been able to make a hairdresser's appointment to have her hair cut in Bucksport so we set off there after coffee. Jill dropped Dave at Dunkin' Donuts - not to buy doughnuts but because there was a barbers next door and then drove on the short way further into Bucksport. It's always a little worrying getting your hair cut by a new hairdresser but Linda was great, checking all the while if she was cutting as Jill's usual hairdresser cuts it - and the result is good. Linda was interested in the UK education system and when Dave arrived (sporting a smart haircut) Jill and Linda were deep in conversation about national curricula and the influence of state officials: good and bad - or just bad in the current case of the UK government. Dave had also had a good experience discussing US and English clipper sizes (to make sure a number 4 was actually the number 4 Dave wanted), local winter snow and the barber's rescue dog.

We'd planned to have lunch out today at a cafe that Jill had spotted on TripAdvisor (what did we do before TA?). This proved to be an excellent choice - just down the road from Bucksport, close to the small village of Stockton Springs but actually on Highway 1 - 'The Good Kettle' offered everything that TA said it would. We ordered their lobster roll (lobster roll is probably Maine's default lunch, on the menu everywhere and everywhere claiming their's is the best in Maine) and crab pie which the server said was unique to their cafe. Both where excellent - the crab pie being particularly good. We must add our feedback to TA! While we were eating an old bloke caught our accent and asked us if we knew a little village near Hexham! It turned out he was born in Leeds, lived in Maine but had friends near Hexham - small world. Oh, and yes we had good local dairy icecream too - Dave 'Gingery Ginger' and Jill 'Maple Walnut'.

Then off to nearby Sears Island to walk off lunch. Sears Island is a spit island connected via a short causeway and at low tide it's possible to walk the five miles around it. As usual once more than a few hundred yards from the car park we were alone. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon and the walk was very peaceful and beautiful but not very relaxing. The terrain was a continual onslaught of boulders and stones and eventually when we reached the jetty track on the far side of the island we decided that our poor ankles and knees deserved to walk back on more even ground. But we had enjoyed exploring the different rock types - we're endlessly fascinated by the sheer variety of rock that is found on the beaches here and the strata of the mostly shale bedrock. We agreed that an afternoon with a knowledgeable geologist would be good! And Jill is always amazed, and pleased, by how much her balance and ability to manage downhill paths and uneven surfaces such as the bouldery beach have improved whilst we've been away. The challenge will be to maintain that improvement when we get home.

Our next stop was Stockton Springs itself to see its Lighthouse - probably as well to stop Dave's withdrawal symptoms as it is a couple of days now since he has had the opportunity to photograph a lighthouse! So a disappointment to him that Jill has the best lighthouse photo of the day....

We had also hoped that we might fit in a visit to the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory which is a viewing platform inside one of the bridge supports. The bridge itself is an amazing sight (see photo from when we drove over it on Saturday) and the observatory is the highest of its kind in the world. But due to the rocky terrain the walk around the island had taken longer than we'd anticipated and the observatory was closed before we got there so we still have that to look forward to for another day - maybe tomorrow?