0508 Halifax to Mavilette Beach

10^th May 2016

Tyres, lighthouses,  and hospitality.

The camp site last night was good, but somewhat expensive.  And it served its purpose, which was to allow us to sort our cars out ready to hit the road – And with Troopie this is quite a major operation as everything has been stashed away somehow, and it all has to come out, and then go where it normally is while travelling.  Anyway, all done, and I slept like a log, only to be awoken by my alarm at 6 am so I could get sorted and down into Halifax to the tyre place by 8 am.   Once up, showered, and breakfasted, I was just starting up to pull out and Bernard appeared at my window to say goodbye – I hadn’t woken him up (he said !), but was awake anyway and so came over to say goodbye.  We have had a fun week together.

The trip into Halifax wasn’t too bad – Bit of peak hour traffic at the end, but Halifax isn’t exactly the biggest town in Canada, and I got to Canada Tyre by 7.45.  This was good as my car was pulled in first, on the dot of 8 am.  And by 9 am I was out of there with two new tyres on the front, and ready for anything Canada could throw at me !

My plan is to drive clockwise around Nova Scotia, visiting any sights I want en route.  There seems to be a small windy coastal road that goes through all the little coastal communities, and then there is a main highway that just goes inland a little, missing all the coast, but getting you from A to B a lot quicker.  I decided to start on the smaller coastal road so I could get a feel for Nova Scotia, and also visit Peggy’s Cove where there is apparently a spectacular lighthouse. 

There is certainly a lot of water round here – Lots of rivers and lakes as well as ocean inlets beside the road.  After only an hour or so I reached Peggy’s Cove, having passed some delightfully scenic inlets and fishing sheds along the way.  It was the most perfect sunny day with a clear blue sky – Very chilly though, especially in the wind, which was bitter.  Peggy’s Cove is apparently one of the most visited fishing towns in Canada, with massive granite rocks around a scenic red and white lighthouse, and I was lucky enough to get there when there were only maybe a dozen cars in the large car park.  And it is scenic – I went for a scramble across the rocks for half an hour or so, and took some pics.  Built in 1868, it was manned until 1958, at which time it was automated.  It has also served as the village post office for many years !

The little town is also very scenic, with the old huts and boats and lobster pots and other fishing gear everywhere.  A very pleasant stop for a while.

Just a few kms up the road I found a memorial to a Swissair flight 111 that apparently crashed into the ocean off here in 1998.  I don’t remember the accident myself, but it was a major air disaster, and there are a number of references to it in the area.  People from this area were instrumental in the search for the plane at sea.

After staying on the coast road for maybe another hour, I realized that I was not going to get very far by the end of the day, so I decided to hop on the bigger road and zoom up the coast for a while.  I realized that many of the towns on the coast are very similar, and while it is nice to see them, one cannot spend the whole day winding around the coast all the time !  I was heading for Yarmouth at the western end of NS, where apparently the sunsets can be magnificent, and the stargazing also worthwhile at night. 

Once I got to Yarmouth it was getting a bit late and I was tired from my early start, so I was looking for camp sites.  The first couple I found were closed, (a lot here open on a holiday weekend on May 28^th), and one didn’t exist at all – a dirt road just stopped at the muddy edge of a lake !  Eventually I came over the brow of a hill at Marvilette Beach, and in the evening sun there was a spectacular beach.   Driving along it there were a few little car parking areas, but since it was a pretty small town I went into the Cape View motel that overlooked the beach to check if there were any local objections to people sleeping in the car parks.  A chap introduced himself as Russ and said he managed the motel units during the summer, and that I would be more than welcome to sleep anywhere I wanted, and if anyone said anything, to tell them that Russ had told me it was OK !  And so we could discuss everything properly, he invitied my in for a beer !  His wife and he are from Montana and look after the motel during the summer, and they had some friends from Boston staying with them, so we had a very pleasant evening before I headed down to the beach.

I set up right beside the beach, and it was a beautiful evening, although the wind was very cold.  So I had a quick supper, waited for the sunset (which was a fizzer), and then hit the hay.  Russ had invited me back for breakfast tomorrow, so once again had to set my alarm to make sure I woke up on time ! An interesting first day exploring the coast of NS, and it certainly is getting more and more French, especially now I am in Acadian Shores county which is the most French area around here.   

Pics are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6284563436154329169?authkey=Gv1sRgCIy_sfm1mNmCUA