Winter Road Trip

Winter in Nova Scotia is sure different from what we’re used to – it’s like a perpetual Alberta November with the bonus of lots of fog and wind. We’re settling into a pattern of ten degrees above zero to a few below. We still get the thrashing rain storms combined with snow but when we feel like bitching we remember – IT’S NOT 30 BELOW! - that makes us smile. We went for a quick circumnavigation of the South coast between Christmas and New Years. We wanted to see the places that we keep hearing about, and start our summer planning. It had been so mild that we seriously discussed bringing our kayaks and then a blizzard came by and we changed our minds.

The coastline here is one small community after the other –with only an occasional big centre. Most of the small villages have their own docks and wharfs, complete with various sized fishing fleets. Yarmouth is on the bottom tip of the province and is the south’s main community.

Yarmouth is well known for being a way to the United States via ferry. It is also well known for its lighthouse. It’s the weirdest lighthouse I’ve ever seen – like it was in a scene from Star Trek.

Following up the Fundy coast we stopped at Scallop capital of Canada, Digby. The wharf here has to account for the famous Fundy tides – about thirty feet at this point in the bay. We walked out onto the wharf at low tide. The tops of the antennas of the big scallop fishing boats were barely poking above the decking of the wharf. We walked over to the edge and looked way, way down at the decks of the boats. We watched a fisherman swing his legs over the edge of the wharf and begin the long climb down a metal ladder to his boat. It was about five degrees below, windy and snowy.

We looked at each other, shook our heads and shuddered.

Annapolis Royal was our favourite town. Historically, it is the oldest settlement in Canada – and was settled by Acadians. These people had French origin, but considered themselves separate people - independent of both the French and English. They just wanted to do their own thing and be left alone. Each of the many times that the French and English would fight, one or the other would come over to the Acadians at Annapolis Royal and burn their fort to the ground. The site of the fort is right downtown. We watched kids toboggan down the National Historic Site walled fortifications.

Crossing back over to the East Coast, there was nothing but scrub and the odd lake. It appears that if you couldn’t get a boat to it, it wasn’t worth settling. It was nice to get back to Lunenburg – it feels like home now.