12th
May 2016
Mud flats, low
tides, and porcupines
In my not yet
open and deserted camp site at Annapolis Royal I never saw a soul this morning,
even when I drove out. So I left a thank
you note and an Aussie stickpin for them, and left. It was a beautiful spot right by the water,
although I have to admit, there are already quite a lot of “bugs” out at sunset
– Courtesy of the very mild winter, I think.
Summer could be bad……
I went round to
the Tidal Generating Station that I had spotted last night, and been camped
opposite, but it was all locked up tighter than a drum – Visitor tours haven’t started
yet, and there were no information
boards outside. All I have is a
website if anyone is interested – www.nspower.ca -
And the fact that it is the only one in N America. The flow was in the other direction this
morning as the tide went out, with water flowing out of the Annapolis River
towards the (low) Bay of Fundy.
After making my
way cross country for about an hour and a half, I eventually came to the little
coastal town of Hall’s Harbour, where the immense tidal variations of up to 60
ft are made very obvious. Low tide when I got there meant that the boats were
moored several feet above the small river that still flowed out, which itself
was well above the sea level, and yet the boats were probably another 10 ft
below the high tide marks on the jetties.
Originally, in about 1779, this was a pirate base, while in the 1830’s
it became a ship building base, and eventually becoming a fishing port.
From Hall’s
Harbour I drove on around the coast to Burntcoat Head, where one is supposed to
be able to walk on the seabed at low tide. This is actually a National Park,
and unfortunately it was closed and a boom gate prevented access – Yet another
thing still closed ! Grrrrrrrr. It is actually very hard to get close to the
Bay of Fundy – This is all farming country around here and the ever present mud
flats and inlets ensure that the main road runs some way inland, with only
occasional dirt roads leading down to the coast, and of the 2 or 3 that I
explored, none of them got you close enough to see anything.
Mud flats are
really everywhere, and all the rivers are very tidal, and even some way inland
they all have big mud banks that never dry out between tides. I then carried on NE until I came to Truro (a
lot of English place names here) where I turned almost due west along the
northern coastline of the Minas Channel arm off the Bay of Fundy. Once again, hard to get down to the coast
itself, but I finally got down at a place called Five Islands Lighthouse –
Because there are 5 islands just off shore !
I went for a quick walk there to check it out, but there was no camping
there so I wanted to keep going to other areas where there was camping.
It is SO
difficult to even stop to make a sandwich or to answer the call of nature
here. For most of the last 2 days there
are houses EVERYWHERE, and every single gravel road off the main road is in
fact a driveway to a house. And with the
N American habit of having no fences, wherever you try to stop is within view
of the next house ! Most frustrating
! And all the gift shops and restaurants
are still closed for another week or two, and they have toilets, but they are
all locked up ! Hmmmmm
Coming back up
the track from the 5 Islands Lighthouse I thought I spied a porcupine waddling
up the road ahead of me, and got out my camera in readiness. There have been lots of dead porcupines on
the road, but no live ones yet – And not today either – When I got beside this
one it turned out to be a VERY bedraggled cat !! Also saw my first warning sign for moose
today – The country side looks very moose-friendly, but apparently there are
none round here. Should start to see them as I head north.
20 minutes later
I made another detour down to the coast at Parrsboro, heading down an unmarked
trail (courtesy of my Maps.me mapping system !) to a place called Partridge
Island, which a guy in a parking lot earlier today had told me about.
Absolutely nothing down there except a few holiday shacks, and I was very
tempted to camp there, but the tide was coming in, and there were lots of signs
saying “beware of high tides”, so after spending a while driving around on the
beach and the trails in the area, I decided to head on to Advocate Harbour
where I was assured there was a camp site – Above the high tide line !!
I was there in
another hour or so, and it is a sleepy little town – And they did have a camp
site – Gates open, but totally deserted – Not open officially yet !! So I checked at the local general store and
they said they were sure it would be OK, so once again I am all on my lonesome
in an enormous campsite that isn’t officially open ! Had the rest of my yummy scallops for
dinner, and settled down in the evening sunset. There are a few more clouds
around – I just hope this isn’t the end of the perfect blue skies we have been
having since I left Halifax on Monday.
Pics are here :-
https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6284564989275810417?authkey=Gv1sRgCJPFhL7Miqu1gQE
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