Whilst yesterday had been windy but sunny we woke today to grey skies and rain. McLaughlin's Wharf Inn is set right amongst the wharf buildings and creek so offers atmospheric views all round. The Inn has 6 rooms but it turned out we were the only guests. It offers lunches in season so has quite a large dinning room which felt a little strange for just the two of us at breakfast. Anne looked after us very well providing a hearty start to the day with bacon and toast for Jill, poached eggs and bacon for Dave. Anne encouraged Jill to trying peanut butter on her toast with the bacon: surprisingly tasty!

As Anne is involved in maintaining Grand Manan's (pronounced Ma-nan by the way not Man-an) trails we picked her brains about local walking. She thought our plan to spend one day walking round the southern coastline was a good choice so we had the beginnings of a plan. However, the inclement weather meant some uncertainty over whether our booked whale watching trip would go ahead today. We'd seen the weather forecast indicated the rain would clear during the afternoon and when we phoned Sea Watch Tours their suggestion was to turn up at 12 noon as the trip was likely to go ahead.

We had spotted there was supposed to be visible evidence of a fault line at Red Cove Point, just out of Seal Cove so despite the rain we decided we needed fresh air and had time for the short walk. Wrong! We walked down the road for 45 minutes with no sign of a trail or the expected shore cliffs, so damp and a little disappointed back we trundled to get kitted up for a cold afternoon at sea. Our second disappointment came when we turned up at the harbour to be told by Peter, our captain, that he was not going out in the rain and we could come back tomorrow when good weather was on the cards. By now overheating in our warmest gear we headed back to base again.

We were determined to make something of the day so despite the rain we lost a few layers and headed off to circumnavigate the south end of the island. Anne had advised she'd done the whole planned walk in a brisk three and a half hours. So we set off in the rain, following a dirt road but almost immediately the route instructions didn't match the path network. However, the routes were marked by painted tin lids nailed to trees and we soon learned that the tins were the reliable guide and if we stopped seeing tins we'd taken a wrong turn.

The tracks across the island were somewhat puddled which added to the dampness of the day so far. However, as we reached the west side of the island the rain stopped and the skies began to clear. By the time we reached Hay Point the sun was shining and we hung our waterproofs here and there to dry whilst we tucked into a by now late lunch. Hay Point was quite beautiful and certainly felt like a reward for the poor day so far. As we ate we saw seals bobbing about below the cliffs and there were splendid expansive sea views further west towards Campobello Island. As we looked out to sea we saw a couple of long black backs and fins surfacing relatively slowly but a fair way off. Our best guess is these were minke whales as this species tends to feed along the coasts and they seemed to be moving differently to dolphins or porpoise. There are thousands of minke but despite this they are rarely seen so a lucky sighting for us.

Turning south we continued to follow the red tin lids along narrow, winding trails, up and down along the cliff tops, mostly through coniferous and birch woodland. The trail was tiring because it was very uneven underfoot with a lot of tree roots and was boggy in places necessitating minor detours. However, when the trail did break out onto the cliff tops the views were lovely. At one point we found ourselves high above a group of about ten playful seals. They were almost in a neat circle and you could almost imagine they were practising synchronised swimming!

As we approached and passed the island's southern lighthouse the path became more open with more frequent access to the decreasing cliff tops. Round the tip and we soon came upon the Flock of Sheep (see photo) which are a group of pale rounded boulders, glacial erratics, that stand out from the dark, angular bedrock. As the trail continued to wiggle along we were both wilting by 5pm and were very glad to reach the road and a short stretch back to our starting point.

Back at Seal Cove we decided to have the lobster dinner take away we'd seen offered at Fundy House. When we phoned in our order we were told the full lobster meal was not available as a take away so we opted to eat in in their cafe, which we had to ourselves. It was probably a good thing that we were the only diners as we both found demolishing the whole lobster a messy process. However, only one of us ended up with lobster in their hair! Most of the lobsters did get eaten rather than splashed around the room and they were delicious as well as less expensive than many of our previous meals out.