Birthday exploration

weve struggled a bit with uploads of content video and pics as we've been mostly off grid without connection the last few days!

After leaving the beautiful Lunenberg we grab the usual bottled water (fail to fill up the water tank!) and diesel and head across Nova Scotia to Keijimjuk park which is described as a beautiful and unspoilt park and we’re hoping to have a walk or a paddle on our way across to the other side of Nova Scotia.

Driving through small villages all the houses have space, garden and no defined boundaries and most are a unique design, timber framed and clapperboard finish and some are vibrantly coloured like those we’ve seen in Lunenberg.  We haven’t spotted a single housing estate so far and even the humblest house has a good size plot.

We manage to find the park and it’s deserted! Nobody checking for Park Canada passes and we get to the campground with what look like really nice showers and services (all closed), but again not a soul to be seen and it’s a little eerie! We’re learning that Nova Scotia doesn’t really wake up from it’s winter slumber until the back end of May and we’re a little early - the upside is we have everywhere to ourselves which is nice! We find a pretty little white sand beach on the edge of one of the lakes and park up ready for a picnic lunch.  Alex is immediately wanting to fish and messing about with his fishing rod and net and I’m about to finally get the paddleboard out for the first time (woo!) since we managed to source a hose and electric pump.  I get kitted up and it’s lovely to have a little paddle on the brown waters (it’s like Dartmoor back home where the rivers are peaty coloured) but the wind is getting up where the small bay breaks out into larger open water so I don’t stay out long.  Great to try the new  Red paddleboard, it’s a lovely ride and to prove to Guy it was worth bringing it half way across the world in Wendy’s shower!  So far we’ve managed to avoid any biting beasties but there are lots of black flies here so we’ve smothered ourselves in deet and have citronella bracelets to avoid bites.

After packing up and a sneaky water fill from a hose we find, we head out the park towards Digby which is home to the best scallops in the world (reportedly!) After a few KM we see some road signs with turtles on and very nearly flatten one shortly after! Not sure how many lives turtles have but he definitely lost one!! The roads here are in a poor state after winter and haven’t been repaired yet, so very rutted and pot holes that are even worse than ours in Devon!

When we get to Digby we spot a laundromat and stick some clothes in (we keep forgetting we have to get into a rhythm for chores like laundry and cleaning!!). We pop into the local fishing shop and get some mackerel lures and Alex and I try a spot of fishing on the wharf (failed to catch again) and then head for scallops at the 3rd restaurant we try - the captain’s table (first one we really wanted was full, second well dodgy and third seemed ok and was last option!).

After a huge seafood platter which was voluminous and mostly deep fried (seems to be the Nova Scotia default) - but the scallops were truly yummy, we pick up our washing and head towards Annapolis Royal.  As it starts to get dark we managed to find a spot at a provincial park facing the sea and watch a beautiful and epic sunset.  Our spot even has en suite facilities (aka blue portaloo) and is just outside Annapolis to explore tomorrow.

As it gets darker we hear night bird sounds and I wander out to take a look with my head torch and spot a shiny eye - on closer inspection I see a puddingy fat little bird with a long pointy beak staring at me - it’s an American woodcock!

We wake peacefully for my birthday and the boys have managed to find me cards which is lovely and I have my little pewter treasure from Mahone Bay to wear! Next stop is Annapolis Royal which is a pretty little town that has been fought over my the Brits and the French over many years and has a mix of cultures.  Lots of little art galleries and incredible views, we pick up some beautiful dangly earrings with Labradorite from Labrador not far away and as a birthday treat.

A quick coffee and we head off towards Wolfville in the the Annapolis valley - the main farming  area of Nova Scotia with lovely rich red soils like those back home in Devon and lots of little farm shops selling local produce.  We head to the Wolfville and Lightfoot Winery (biodynamic which I had to look up. It basically means the whole estate is treated  as a living organism - very cool).

The estate is beautiful and we sample some sparkling wines are all luscious and buy a couple one for birthday celebration and another for later.  If the sun was out this would be an incredible spot to drink vino whilst looking out across the wines.

We had planned to stay here as a “harvest host” which are locations like vineyards farms and museums where you can park an RV overnight but ended up staying in Hallls Harbour where we had a lobster birthday dinner.

The Halls Harbour Lobster Pound is where we head for dinner looking out across the Bay of Fundy and our first real taste of the incredible 16m tidal range in this area. The lobster pound is a place where they have live lobster in tanks and you pick your size and accompaniments and they cook it for you.  We went big and had large 2lb lobsters with butter rolls and fries for $43 each ( about £26)  bargain! The location is brilliant and we watch an incredible sunset.  Many locals pop down to see the sunset and we chat to an army instructor based at Aldershot ( the Nova Scotian one!) We stay in the car park right by the sea and as we’ve seen the water pretty low we want to see high tide,which is about 4am, to get a sense of the scale of the tides.  All in all the perfect birthday day! Early alarm call and it’s definitely worth it the volume and height of the water and change to the landscape is awe inspiring.  Noisy movement of fish trucks all night keeps me awake so I get up for sunrise leaving the boys asleep and am treated to 2 bald eagles taking off the wharf as I walk down it.

We grab breakfast and get chatting to Lloyd  LeBlanc who was foraging seaweed to smoke some fish and he gives us some great pointers to visit on our next stop up to Cape Breton, including where Alex might be able to catch an elusive Mackerel on the giant inland sea called Lac Bras d’Or.

We try to stop and visit one of the few cultivated gardens on the way but sadly it’s closed, we did manage to sample the amazing jellies and jams and come away with a lime, thyme and ginger jelly to go in our sarnies and a rose and raspberry jam!

We also manage to pick up a local delicacy I’ve been wanting to try of “fiddleheads”. They are the young fern shoots and we will cook them for dinner along with a steak, some asparagus and massive tomatoes.

A quick last stop in Grand Pre to see the poulderland (just think of Holland) and the red mud and cliffs (very reminiscent of the Ness at home) and it’s time to put in our first really long driving day to get up to Cape Breton.

We stop briefly in Windsor for lunch a simple town with the traditional white clapperboard church and stop by the harbour in Port Hawkesbury for that steak dinner. We break out the cadac bbq to cool outside for the first time (feckin freezing and windy!) but the steak is lush and the fiddleheads are delicious in lemon garlic and butter - even Alex likes them!!

We finally arrive on the edge of the Cape Breton and find a spot to stay in Battery provincial park right by the water and chill! We’re getting a little more used to finding places to stay on the fly as it’s so quiet and low season - suspect it would be a lot harder if it were in the peak summer season.

Emma

Pics to follow when we finally get some signal