I like to check travel books and websites to see what they say about the Canso area. I was somewhat taken aback when I found this on Frommer’s website:
“Way out on the eastern tip of Nova Scotia’s mainland is the end-of-the-world town of Canso (pop. 1,200). It’s a rough-edged fishing and oil-shipping town, often windswept and foggy.”
There are a couple of inaccuracies. Canso fortunately does not list oil-shipping as one of its claim to fame. The population is now 900-ish & falling (but that’s a story for a different day). However it was the reference to the “end-of-the-world,” that offended me the most.
It wasn’t until I had a chance to think it over that I realized that the description is entirely accurate. This is the furthest point east on mainland North America and thus the first point struck by the rising sun on the mainland. Whether for that reason or not, we are blessed with stunning sunrises. This time of day is is also enhanced during fishing season by the movements of the lobster boats through the harbour. It is a fact that has not escaped the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (of Beatles fame for those of you of an age to remember!), who has bought one of the Canso Islands from where he intends to broadcast messages of peace!
Much of the coastline is very reminiscent of the coast of North Yorkshire, near where I grew up, and has much of the same feel. The frequent light fog and drizzle, sea-frets my Mother would call them, are also almost comforting in their familiarity.
The coast is certainly rugged and sometimes harsh, as the Atlantic Ocean often is in comparison to her Pacific sister. There is nothing standing in the way of the wind from the ocean until you reach Europe. Indeed if you look directly east the next piece of land you would see, if you could see that far, is the west coast of France somewhere around Bordeaux. Looking out across the water though, it sometimes does feel as though there is no more land out there. According to Maritime mythology the Flat Earth Society believes that one of the corners of the Earth is in Newfoundland. Certainly here in Canso you can believe you are standing on a boundary running south from that corner – on the edge of the world!
J.Measures
Posted by emeasures 