Canadian Maritime Provinces continued

11 August –

We left Lunenburg the UNESCO Historical town and headed around the coast and then on a highway to the Peggy Cove exit. We had a camp site booked in this area but decided to drive down to Peggy Cove. This is a quaint fishing village sited on a rocky outcrop on the Atlantic coast.

The large smooth granite rocks, which the village is built on, were formed by a glacier in the last ice age. This is a very popular tourist destination so there was a large carpark from where you can walk the whole area. There is a tiny harbour with old wharf buildings and cottages all around.

A large lighthouse dominates the headland. Everywhere you looked was a postcard scene. We sat at the harbour and had a hot dog for lunch before heading back to the carpark via the local church. About sixty people stay here all year. It is easy to imagine what a winter Atlantic storm must be like in this exposed spot. Back at the camp for laundry and haircuts.

12 August –

The mornings here are misty, as we drove from Peggy’s Cove along the coast and then inland to bypass Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia. After a shop we stopped at a provincial park at Porters Lake. Really just a relocation day.

13 August –

We were now on the East Coast region and followed the beautiful coastline for a short drive to a private camp at Murphy’s Cove. This camp is run by the 6^th generation of Murphy’s and is situated on a great peninsular with its own small harbour.

After exploring this camp we walked along a rocky shoreline. The water in Nova Scotia is incredibly clear. After dinner we went down to a communal camp fire by the wharf hosted by the Murphy’s before returning to “Ernie” to skype the kids  Best skyping quality so far.

14 August –

Nova Scotia has been in drought conditions with forest fires, but to the relief of the locals the drought broke in the night with a drizzle which turned into torrential rain. We headed north inland in heavy rain, across to the Northumberland Straits, and decided to line up for the ferry to Prince Edward Island (PEI). Our original plan was to catch the morning ferry the next day. There is only one ferry running at the moment, strange as it is peak season. (Must run to the NZ Interisland model) We had been warned that there was limited space for RVs so we had a nervous 3 hour wait before we were eventually boarded.

It is only a 75 minute trip but the ferry was chocka with many RVs left waiting for the next crossing in 3 ½ hours’ time. The ferry has 3 car decks. The first lot of cars drive on and fill the deck. The entire deck is then lowered down to the next level. The same thing happens again but this deck is then raised a level. Then all the high sided vehicles are loaded. Very clever!!  Just off the ferry we found a provincial park for the night. We got quite cold on the ferry so we have put the heater on tonight for the first time this trip.

15 August –

The rain cleared and we walked down to the beach before leaving on the coastal scenic road. The Cape Bear lighthouse marked the eastern most point of our trip this year. The road went thru farming country and wherever there was an inlet or river mouth there was a fishing village. All very picturesque. We stopped at St Mary’s bay at a provincial park on a sloping site. The Confederation Cycle Trail was built on the abandoned PEI rail network and covers most of the island. We biked from the park to Georgetown about 8 kms away. Unfortunately the rain had made the trail very muddy so we got a bit wet and dirty. We managed to dry everything off when we got back. A nice ride though.

16 August –

After a walk around a river trail we set off north across to the coast on the Gulf of St Laurence and stopped at a community camp at St Peters. It was a very nice camp so we decided to stay two nights. After lunch we rode the Confederation Cycle trail along the coast of the bay to Morrell a distance of 11 kms. It was a beautiful ride and after an ice-cream we returned to camp. The weather was sunny and mild so we bought some wood and had a good fire. The forecast for tomorrow is bad with heavy rain.

17 August –

The forecast was right. The rain started in the night and got heavier after our pancake breakfast. We hoped to do laundry and bike or walk to St Peters village but ended up staying in “Ernie” all day! I did some cleaning and some minor repairs, we read and played scrabble and watched a movie. This was the first “inside day” this trip.

18 August –

The rain cleared in the night and we left St Peters and headed west along the north coast. More great farming country (wheat, corn and potatoes) and fishing villages. At Green Gables we visited “Anne of Green Gables” house. Further along the coast we stopped at Cabot Beach State Park which looks out on the Gulf of St Lawrence.

We walked the beach and the lovely little fishing port. The soil here is red and so the sand and cliffs are the same colour.  More rain came and went allowing us to have dinner outside before an electrical storm forced us inside.

19 August –

It was a lovely clear morning and, to our surprise, an Airforce cargo plane flew over us and dropped wind direction streamers. These were followed by 3 groups of 5 parachutists who performed many manoeuvres with smoke and huge flags. It turned out that it was all for a kids camp next door but the campers all enjoyed the free show. Before leaving we walked the beach around into the harbour. It really feels like the end of summer in this part of the world. It was only a short drive south to our last provincial park in PEI at Linkletter Beach.

Our plan was to stay two nights here and then cross the bridge back onto the mainland and start our very long journey back towards the west coast of the USA. We can see the bridge across the water. We have a very strange couple next to us. She made bread from scratch including using a mixer and a small oven. Their camper is tiny. Where they keep everything is a mystery.  He seems to be fascinated by camp fire wood and proceeded to bring many boxes of it out of every storage place in the camper, including the wardrobe, and then sort it all into more boxes which he labelled. Had trouble reading our books with all this strange activity happening next door.

20 August –

We rode our bikes back to the town of Summerside along the road and a cycleway. After a look around this fishing harbour town we found a great restaurant/pub and had lunch. (Chowder for me and Haddock for Val) Back at camp the guy next door took all the wood out of the boxes again and chopped it up!!  There was a lovely sunset over the bay.

21 August –

Today marked a different part of our trip as we were now heading back across this part of Canada and south and west across the USA to meet Claire and Phoebe in Phoenix in a months’ time. Our plan was to cover at least 350 kms today and get close to the Canada/USA border tonight.

It was a short drive to the Confederation Bridge which links Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick. The bridge is 13 kms long. There is no charge to go onto PEI so the ferry trip a week ago was free but leaving PEI we had to pay a toll fee for the bridge ($46CA). Our plan is to use the main roads and we made good speed along the “2”. We continued after lunch and eventually stopped at a private camp 9 kms from the border (400km trip). The “Maritime Provinces” that we have visited in Canada have been great and completely different from the other Canadian provinces we have been in previous years. We will remember them for the great little villages with white wooden churches, working fishing harbours, tranquil bays and coves, farms and the feeling of peace and isolation.