Quick Nova Scotia Trip, Friday

Of course, the first night in a hotel, nice as the room was, neither of us slept well even though we were wiped out from the trip.  But we got up eventually and had fine coffee and a couple of nice omelets in their restaurant, and then got on the road a bit before 10:00 (9:00 by our clocks) on Friday the 27th.  It was a stormy, foggy morning and though we were just a block or two uphill from the harbor we could only see a few huge fishing boats right at the dock.

We found 103 West, which took us around the Southeast part of Nova Scotia, up toward Halifax.  There were very few other cars on the road, as was the story throughout most of the trip, and though it was raining … sometimes pretty hard … the scenery was stunning.  The sun tried to break out a few times but then the rain would come back hard.  It was savage, seaside weather, which we loved, and we caught glimpses of small fishing villages and vistas out to islands and the North Atlantic for the few hours up to the capital.

The traffic and the rain got intense and 103 ended and dumped us on local roads when we entered Halifax.  We followed 111 through town and over the MacKay Bridge, which suddenly required a $1.25 toll!?!  We’d been told that the only toll on Nova Scotia roads was in one stretch of route 104 and so hadn’t gotten any Canadian cash, let alone coins for the toll hopper.  Luckily there was an attendant out in the pouring rain, and she accepted five US quarters and raised the gate for us.

It was time for lunch, but we wanted to get out of the big city and finally did, continuing Northeast onto route 7 and eventually highway 107.  We had our eyes on the Rose and Rooster in Grand Desert on the Chezzetcook Peninsula, and this was a very mellow lunch stop in an artisan bakery/sandwich shop.  Sarah had excellent crab cakes and I had a very nice Cobb salad.

Just as it had always been low tide when we were in Scotland, it’s always high tide in Nova Scotia, by my scientific observation.  We crossed over and drove along several beautiful inlets of the sea, and briefly considered changing plans and exploring the peninsula more.  But we had objectives and didn’t linger, getting back onto route 7 and touring farther and farther up the coast, past quaintly named peninsulas and towns (Musquodoboit, Jeddore, Popes Harbour, Mushaboom, Watt Section, Dufferin, Necum Teuch, Ecum Secum, etc.) and more and more sudden views of the stormy sea.

We finally made it to Marie Joseph and the eponymous, deserted Provincial Park there, where we took a short break to stretch our legs and feel the stiff onshore wind coming off the Atlantic and through the offshore islands.  It was getting late by then, but we were still barely on schedule to make our reservations in Auld’s Cove that evening.  Route 7 turned North soon after that in Spanish Ship Bay, and it was a few more hours across the interior of Nova Scotia, past several long lakes, up towards Antigonish.

Place names familiar from our Scotland trip had started, and signs were now bilingual in English and Gaelic.  One of the lakes was Lochaber, and several towns in the North of the island had the ubiquitous “-ish” suffix.  We turned East on 104, a two-lane superhighway after kilometers and kilometers of pot-holed, severely twisting coastal and mountain roads.  Highways and gas stations are all metric in Cananda.  I can multiply by 0.64 pretty well, but after a while this got to be a pain and we changed our brains and the car’s dashboard display to kilometers.  Another unusual note was that much clay and rock in Canada is red, and so we were traveling on pink macadam.

In Havre Boucher the traffic came to a dead stop, there may have been some kind of accident, as no cars were coming the other way.  We took a quick (illegal) u-turn and got off onto route 4, which parallels the superhighway.  Another few miles on the Sunrise Trail up to Auld’s Cove, where we turned onto the D 31 Road out onto a peninsula, ending at the Cove Motel and Restaurant, where we were going to stay for two nights.

We loved this place!  We were in a touristy area, at the gateway to Cape Breton, and though this was one of the less expensive places it was still a pretty high price, but well worth it.  We got a secluded cabin off in a corner of the peninsula with a king-size bed, a table big enough to play games on, a nice bathroom, windows that opened, and wonderful views.  The rain and wind were peaking again, and after dumping our stuff we made our way back to the restaurant, where we had a fine seafood dinner and couple of beers.

Ty Wallace entertained the guests with his well-produced, solo country act.  He basically played karaoke tracks, accompanied them with his big six-string, and filled in with a very nice baritone.  He did all the usual suspects, Yoakam, Haggard, Travis, Jennings, Buffett, Denver, etc. but sadly didn’t cover any Canadians!  Oh well.