After a long day's travel Sunday we woke to beautiful sunshine. From Dartmouth we drove to Peggy’s Cove over the A. Murray MacKay toll bridge and Route 102 and 333. This was not the most scenic route but we took the Lighthouse route past small bays on the return to Halifax. Although it’s a popular tourist destination where we competed with tourists for parking and a place to photograph the lighthouse without people, it doesn’t seem spoiled. The dull flat light gave way somewhat to blue skies and puffy white clouds.
Peggy's Cove |
Once back in
Halifax it was a pleasant surprise to find street parking without a meter. As it turned out nobody was plugging meters
anyway probably as it was Labour Day! We
walked the whole waterfront promenade along Lower and Upper Water Street. Dinner was at an Irish pub, The Old Triangle,
just back from the harbour, where I had cod cakes and Jim lobster triangles. Our first lobster tasting! We ended with a stroll through the Public Gardens across
from the Citadel. On seven hectares, this formal Victorian garden was started in 1873 as a private garden and is an oasis of trees, flowers, ponds and fountains.
bandstand dating from Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee |
Sept. 8: South Shore. We travelled south along the old scenic route 3 which winds past Head of St. Margaret’s Bay to
Chester, Mahone Bay and finally UNESCO World Heritage Site Lunenburg. It was not a lot of driving; Chester was a
sleepy hamlet and the town of Mahone Bay was livelier with many colourful
buildings and shops to lure tourists.
The light was not right to do justice to the trio of photogenic churches
reflecting in the water. And the
Settlers’ Museum was not open though it was supposed to be. However, we had an enjoyable lunch of local
seafood chowder at Rebecca’s restaurant along Main Street.
Lunenburg Old Town |
Blue Rocks |
We pulled
into Lunenburg around 2:00, parked in the Historic Old Town where virtually
every old building has been carefully restored to Victorian facade and painted a bright
colour. We wonder how much original
material remains in these wooden buildings built in the 1700s and 1800s. It was surprisingly hot and humid. We drove the 8 kms to Blue Rocks which is a tiny fishing
village less discovered than Peggy’s Cove
with small houses, fishing sheds and lobster traps plopped on top of the
striated blue-grey slate and sandstone.
There were no tourist facilities in sight save a couple of tiny shops
selling ice cream and souvenirs.
At 4:30 we checked
into The Lennox Inn on Fox at Cornwallis.
The house, which stands across from the Lutheran church, was built by
one of the German settlers in 1791. It
was bought by John Lennox in 1804 who ran it as a tavern and inn, and is the
oldest operating inn in Canada now. Robert Cram bought it as a derelict former
apartment in 1991 and spent seven years in meticulously renovating it close to
its original state. Details of how he went about this can be found at the website: www.lennoxinn.com. There are four large
bedrooms furnished in antique period pieces.
The former taproom is the present dining room. We’re the only guests tonight.
The Lennox Inn, built 1791 |
Robert recommended a couple of restaurants
and we chose The Old Fish Factory where we had our first (but not our last)
lobster dinner on the waterfront as the light was fading. Unfortunately we didn't see the Bluenose II as she was sailing between Yarmouth and Digby.
St. John’s
Anglican Church down Cornwallis, built 250 years ago, was the 2nd
oldest church in Canada before being almost totally destroyed by fire in
2001. It has since been restored in the
original “Carpenter Gothic” style.
St. John's Anglican Church |
Lunenburg - Cape George - Cape Breton: Sept. 9 As we left at 8:30 there was a light
drizzle. We headed for Bridgewater and
the 103 north, skirting Halifax and following 102 to Truro, then Trans Canada Hwy
(104) east, stopping in New Glasgow for lunch (lobster rolls at Subway) We got off the beaten track on Cape George Scenic Drive (Hwys 245 and 337) with a
stop at the beach of Arisaig. Four hundred
million years ago this area was a shallow sea; layers of sediment have built up
which are now eroding exposing the fossils buried over the millennia.
Another short stop was the lighthouse, now
automated, at Cape George, a very windy promontory.
Passing
through Antigonish, we hit the Canso Causeway about 4:00, and headed up the
Ceilidh Trail, Hwy 19, 30 kms to our B & B, Rachel By the Sea, in Judique
(JOOD-ick). Rachel took me by surprise. She’s a very elderly widow who’s been running this business for almost 20 years. She has four immaculate bedrooms upstairs all
sharing a bathroom. We sat on her deck
sipping wine (ours) and exchanging stories.
She grew up on Cape Breton and wanted to join the Canadian Air Force in
WWII so she would get a paid education later, but her daddy said “No” because
she was a woman. Instead she worked in the U.S. before marrying an American from
Staten Island, NY, and that is where they moved and raised their four
children. After he died suddenly at age
60 she moved back to Breton to be close to her many siblings. She and her husband had bought the property
years before, coming back often for family vacations and had planned to build this house even before he passed away. Again we were the only guests. An advantage of staying in a guest house or country home is you don't pay tax, a considerable saving. The side benefit is getting to know the locals a bit.
The Ceilidh Trail, Cape Breton |
There being
no restaurants in Judique, we were advised to head for Port Hood. Not finding either of the two places Rachel
suggested we asked directions of a local who said a better place to go was
the “Clovitch”. He said “Tell ‘em Wullfurd
sent ya.” When we found the restaurant
called “Clove Hitch” we told them Wilfred sent us.
Crofters shelter, Cabot Trail |
Neil's Harbour, Atlantic Coast |
Baddeck to Amherst: Sept. 11 It
rained last night, our first real rain of the trip. We got coffee from the lobby and ate our
muffins and fruit before checking out, walking a km. or so to the Alexander
Graham Bell Museum where we spent an interesting couple of hours. The drive across to Mabou and down to Judique
was laced with sun, cloud and drizzle. We crossed the Canso Causeway travelling the Northumberland Shore (Sunrise Coast) to Amherst. Mid afternoon break was at the Jost Winery on Tatamagouche Bay. After this, the rain started in earnest. We arrived in pouring rain at Brown’s Guest
Home where Nancy showed us to our queen room in a lovely Victorian house that’s
been run by her family for 55 years; first by her mother, and now her. Dinner was a five-block walk through puddles
to Duncan’s Pub, where we had more food than we could eat (Greek salad
and jambalaya) while being entertained by a guitarist
who sang songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
sampling and buying wine on the Sunrise coast
Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick: Sept.
12 (Sat.): Today was not a long
driving day. In no time we were in New
Brunswick and skirted Moncton with great maps from the VIC, then travelled
along the Fundy coast to Hopewell Rocks.
We stopped in at the Chocolate River Motel at Edgett’s Landing to pay,
arriving at the Rocks at high tide.
high tide
We
couldn’t go to down to the beach until 3 hours past this, so we took the side
road 915 to Mary’s Point and Cape Enrage with its 150-year-old lighthouse. All day we were in changeable but not bad
weather: drizzle, cloud, even a bit of
sun. Fundy Bay is known for extreme
tidal change, caused by the funnel shape of the bay, deep at one end and
shallow at the other, and the pull/alignment of the sun and moon. We came back at 4:00 to walk the beach and
watch the rock doves flit among the flowerpot rock formations.
Tide going out, 4 hours later
nesting rock doves, Hopewell Rocks
We went for
another lobster dinner at the motel.
Probably we should take a break from lobster for awhile now!
Prince Edward Island, Cavendish Coast - Sept. 13 (Sun.): We had our complimentary egg, bacon, toast and
coffee breakfast at the motel restaurant before wending our way back to
Moncton, which we didn’t by-pass as it was Sunday, and Hwys 15, 2 and 16 to the
Confederation Bridge. The bridge is 12.9
kms and is free en route to PEI but you pay $45 to leave. Similarly, the Wood Islands ferry to Caribou,
NS costs $69 on leaving PEI.
We found
street parking in downtown Charlottetown and wandered around in drizzle, past
Confederation Landing Park and a seaside boardwalk before having lunch at a
street market on Queen Street (Indian food).
Province House, where the historic 1864 Charlottetown conference that
was the birthplace of confederation took place, was closed for extensive
renovations, but we caught up with the history at Founders’ Hall. Their presentation is state-of-art
audio-visuals, holo-visuals and interactive displays.
We stocked up on food at Sobey’s on our way up Hwy 2 to stock up for our cottage at North Rustico (www.nrmci.com) which took about an hour. Dwight was very helpful with local info and maps, and in no time we settled in. We’ve been spending about $100/day on eating so we’re going to enjoy preparing our own food for awhile. There’s a BBQ on the deck and a microwave, mini-fridge and coffee maker in the spacious cabin. It feels great to spread out and call one place home for 3 days. |
No comments:
Post a Comment