It has been a very long time since I've made a post on the blog. 2016 went by without a single post so I am going to make a few posts to catch you up on what has been happening with us. This post is a recap of our RV trip to Nova Scotia.
We left home on July 21 heading to Fredericton, New Brunswick for their annual Highland Games. We enjoyed visiting Fredericton. We took a walking tour and visited the Boyce Farmers Market (which was awesome). We visited a couple nice pubs: The Ale House and Snooty Fox; and several breweries/tasting rooms: Picaroons Brewtique, Red Rover Cider, Graystone Brewing, Trailway Brewing, and Grimross Brewing.
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Changing of the Guard
Officer's Square, Fredericton, NB |
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Massing of the Bands
Highland Games, Fredericton, NB |
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Massing of the Bands
Highland Games, Fredericton, NB |
After Fredericton we headed for Nova Scotia. We traveled along the Northumberland coast of Nova Scotia, visited Tatamagouche Brewing, stopped for the night at Seafoam CG, and then in the town of Pictou before crossing in to Cape Breton.
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| View from Seafoam Campground |
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The Hector - "the Scottish Mayflower"
Pictou, NS |
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Hector Heritage Quay
Pictou, NS |
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Celina at Hector Heritage Quay
Pictou, NS |
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View from Sunset Sands Campground in Port Hood
Cape Breton, NS |
The weather wasn’t great so we decided to travel the Cabot Trail counterclockwise, which meant we would be driving the land portion in the rain. We visited Glenora Distillery and then drove to a campground on Bras D’Or Lake in Baddeck. Next morning we visited the Alexander Graham Bell museum. By the time we were finished at the museum, the weather had cleared. We drove north on the Cabot Trail. The scenery is wonderful, but there aren’t a lot of places to stop. We decided to head to Meat Cove for the night (thanks to Nan and Keith for the recommendation). 30+ miles on a dirt road. The drive was beautiful, but we arrived to find a very packed campground. We turned around and headed back down. Not too far along we found a level pull off with plenty of room for the camper. We parked with our window overlooking Bay St Lawrence and spent a wonderful, quiet night. Best of all it was free!
In the morning we drove back to the Cabot Trail and continued on our way. We spent the night at a Provincial Park in Wycocomagh and drove to the Highland Village in Iona the next morning. We arrived just as they were opening and we spent a couple of very enjoyable hours learning about the history of the Scottish settlers in Cape Breton.
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Scottish Crofters Cottage
Highland Village, Iona, NS |
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Highland Village
Iona, NS |
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Weaving demo
Highland Village, Iona, NS |
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Spinning Wheel
Highland Village, Iona, NS |
From there we drove to the campground in Louisbourg where we spent the next two nights. We spent the next day and half exploring the Fortress of Louisbourg. A great historical site run by Parcs Canada.
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Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site
Cape Breton, NS |
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| Wildflowers and one of the restored buildings |
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| Lace Making |
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| Kitchen |
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| Barracks |
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| Boats and barrels |
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| Louisbourg Lighthouse |
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| View from Lighthouse Trail |
After leaving Louisbourg, we drove south on the Fleur du Lis route. We spent the night at Battery Park Provincial Park and then continued on toward Halifax, stopping for another night in Sherbrooke along the way. On the last leg to Halifax, we stopped at Henley House, home of Sober Island Brewing. We then spent 3 nights at Shubie Campground in Dartmouth. It makes a good base for touring Halifax as it is on a bus line. We took the bus to the Dartmouth ferry terminal. The ferry drops you off right in downtown Halifax. Halifax is a great city. We enjoyed visiting the Citadel, had meals at a couple of good pubs (Henry House and Old Triangle Irish Pub) and one bad one (Gahan House). We also visited Garrison Brewing and Halifax Distilling.
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Celina on the Walking Bridge
Larry's River, NS |
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Sunset from our site at St. Mary's Campground
Sherbrooke, NS |
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An old ice breaker waiting to be salvaged- CCGS Tupper
Marie Joseph, NS |
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Our camper
Marie Joseph, NS |
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| Sheet Harbor, NS |
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Our tour guide
Halifax Citadel NHS |
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Noon cannon firing
Halifax Citadel NHS |
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Guard on duty
Halifax Citadel NHS |
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Clock Tower
Halifax, NS |
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| Our lunch spot in Halifax |
After Halifax we headed across Nova Scotia toward the Fundy coast. We wanted to visit the Acadian region where my ancestors had lived in the 1600-1700’s. We drove down the coast toward Brier Island, which is out in the Bay of Fundy. Along the way we stopped for lunch at a brand new brewpub (it’s second day) called Roof Hound Brewery. We arrived at Brier Island around 2:00 in the afternoon. First thing we did was to check with the whale watching company to see if we could go out the next day. They had a cancellation for the zodiac trip that was starting in an hour or so. It turned out to be a great trip. The ride out and back was rough, but we saw lots of humpback whales and schools of porpoises so close you could reach out and touch them. Unfortunately we did not bring the camera because the zodiac is not exactly a dry environment so we don’t have any pictures to share. Afterwards we drove up to Brier Island Lodge as they had graciously offered to let us park overnight in their lot. We had a wonderful dinner with a fantastic view of the sunset. If you like whales and beautiful scenery, Brier Island Lodge is the place to be.
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Our view from dinner
Brier Island Lodge |
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| Brier Island, NS |
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One end of the island is a Nature Conservancy Preserve
Brier Island, NS |
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| Brier Island Nature Preserve |
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| Brier Island Nature Preserve |
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| Brier Island, NS |
From Brier Island we headed back to the mainland and started north along the Fundy coast. After lunch in Digby, we arrived in Acadian Country. We visited the Port Royal National Historic Site (NHS), Fort Ann NHS and Melanson Settlement NHS. We spent a night at Dunromin Campground - a not very level and pretty noisy, crowded campground. The next morning we visited the Historic Gardens and the Acadian House before heading to Grand Pre where we visited the museum and learned about the deportation of the Acadians.
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Fort Anne NHS
Annapolis Royal, NS |
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Kitchen
Port Royal NHS |
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Dining area
Port Royal NHS |
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Acadian House
Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens |
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Celina with a listing of the Acadian families of 1671 which
includes Daigre (the original spelling of Daigle).
Her ancestor Olivier Daigre was an early settler in Port Royal. |
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| Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens |
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Evangeline and the Chapel
Grand Pre, NS |
We continued driving north along the Fundy coast and around the Minas Basin before stopping at Five Islands Provincial Park for the night.
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| Our site at Five Islands Provincial Park |
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| Sunset at Five Islands PP |
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| Five Islands Lighthouse |
In the morning we followed the Fundy coast towards New Brunswick. We stopped at Cape D’Or and then Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a UNESCO heritage site before crossing back in to New Brunswick. We spent the night at Wolfe Lake in Fundy National Park before driving home to Binnshire. The Maritime Provinces of Canada are really beautiful and are worth visiting again and again. We are lucky that they aren't very far away.
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