A CLOUDY DAY ALONG THE SOUTHERN COAST

We escaped the rain until late in the day. The dark gray overcast skies actually enhanced the sense of coastal chill as we drove towards Halifax, stopping first in Chester and then in Peggy's Cove before heading overland to Wolfville where we are stopping at the Victorian Heritage Bed and Breakfast for the next two nights.

HERE'S WHERE WE ENDED UP AT THE CLOSE OF THE DAY AT THE HISTORIC VICTORIAN BED AND BREAKFAST IN WOLFVILLE.  THE DOOR TO THE LEFT LEADS TO OUT FIRST FLOOR ROOM.

Chester appears the ideal seaside community, filled with beautiful homes overlooking tranquil bay views in every direction. Sailboats and small boats at anchor offshore add to the serenity of the scene. We drove around town, got out of the car several times to admire the view and lusted after most of the weathered shingle hillside residences we encountered along the shore. Then we got out of town quickly before jealousy and envy could corrupt our sense of well being!

Peggy's Cove was another kettle of fish entirely. For the first time since our arrival in Nova Scotia we were engulfed in a “must see” tourist destination. The tiny village (full time population: 64) has become perhaps the most famous site in the Canadian Maritimes as amply illustrated by the almost constant stream of tour buses pulling into the parking lot disgorging visitors who swarm the rocky coast for the best shot of the iconic lighthouse before returning to their vehicles to be whisked off somewhere else. We joined right in!

The resulting images illustrate the appeal of the place (and demonstrate just how creative one can be in disguising the touristy nature of the entire experience).
 

Among those digital images from Lee's camera today, one stood out as the best he's shot to date.  It's a real winner!

Lunch was a mug of hot chocolate and a (delicious) Cornish pastie devoured while seated on the outside deck of a small coffee shop in Peggy's Cove, so this evening we splurged a bit and had dinner at Le Caveau, an award winning restaurant which is part of a winery in nearby Grand Pre – excellent wine and an excellent meal into the bargain.

A PICTURE PERFECT DAY

The weather forecast promised only occasional showers, but the day turned sunny and bright with temperatures in the lower seventies.  Early on clouds gave way to sun with fog rolling in at intervals.  All these rapid changes made picture taking a real pleasure with the result that Lee racked up over 175 images in just a matter of hours!

Following another of our interesting breakfast conversations over fresh vegetable and four cheese omelets, we first drove north to Mahone Bay.  Over the weekend the village held their annual scarecrow festival, but the rain really put a damper on the festivities.  Fortunately for Photographer Lee, all the displays were still in place this morning which made for a diverting stroll through town.

Heidi soaked in the setting sans camera and made a few gift shop purchases along the way.  We consequently passed a delightful morning, not at all what we had anticipated but ending with a pleasant lunch at what was until recently the Inlet Cafe just on the outskirts of town.

We then headed in the opposite direction out to Blue Rocks and Stonehurst along the southern side of the bay.  The landscape here is much more rugged with beautiful shale rock outcroppings everywhere.  Neither area has a developed tourist presence, just a lot of gorgeous seascapes accessible along narrow paved coastal trails - an "edge of the world" kind of experience.

Back in Lunenburg we stopped by to visit the Bluenose II reconstruction site where the famous schooner is being essentially replaced by a new incarnation due to be completed by March 2012.  One last Photo Op took us across to the other side of the bay to capture images of the village itslef in the late afternoon sun.

Back at the Alcion we sat on the porch talking with fellow guests, Fred and Jackie from Alexandria, and our host, Lorne, solving all the problems of the world and sharing a bottle of Beaujolais along the way -- a perfect ending to a picture perfect day!

FANTASTIC LUNENBURG

When, over breakfast this morning, fellow guests, Ray and Carol from Vancouver, raved about the several hours they had spent the previous day at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, Lee remained a bit skeptical as to the ability of ANY museum to hold his attention for longer than two hours or so before "museum fatigue" set in with a vengeance.  However, the weather forecast promised another rainy day, so Heidi and Lee set out a little after ten this morning, headed down to the Lunenburg wharf to see just how long "the art of fishing" could hold our interest.

Turned out we likely spent even more time there than did Ray and Carol!  Lunenburg has a long and rich maritime history dating back to the time of its founding in 1765 and the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic captures a good deal of that history in its myriad of exhibits.

We saw aquariums with examples of all the fish common to the local waters.  We learned about all the various types of boats used, from those common in inland waters to others setting out for much deeper fishing grounds.  We wandered around exhibits detailing how these ships (and models of them) were built by local shipwrights.  We clamored aboard a cod fishing boat tied up along the wharf and talked with a local fisherman for twenty minutes or so about his experiences out in the deep and about the state of the local economy in general.  We figured out how a lobster trap worked to entice the lobster into the "kitchen", then on into the "parlor" from which it was impossible to escape.  We marveled at the ship models and seascape paintings on display.

After a lunch break (lobster rolls at the Salt Shaker Deli), we even came back for more, focusing on local support industries (everything to outfit the ships built in Lunenburg was produced locally) and on the saga of Captain Angus Walters and the Bluenose, a schooner pictured on the Canadian dime that won a series of races against American competition back in the 1920s and '30s.

At the end of the day, the rainy weather hadn't mattered at all.  We still had enjoyed a fulfilling day of adventure and returned to the Alcion more aware of the importance of Lunenburg as a community of dedicated fishing folk and ship builders than was the case when we left earlier in the day.

And there's still much more to explore out there to keep us occupied tomorrow...

RAINY AND WARM

Heidi and Lee spent much of the day huddled inside our Honda driving the scenic route on Route 3 along the southern coast between Yarmouth and Lunenburg.  We poked along in the rain (the edges of Hurricane Ophelia) for much of the morning before stopping briefly in Barrington.

Here Heidi was anxious to visit a local museum housed in a Meeting House originally built in 1765, shortly after the arrival of a group of settlers known as Planters.  The Planters were migrants from Cape Cod who took up residence in Nova Scotia beginning in 1762 on free land parcels following the expulsion of the Acadians, French pioneers thrown out by the new, militarily triumphant, British rulers of the North American colonies in what is now Canada.

Lemuel Crosby (the first Crosby to live in Nova Scotia) was one of those early Planter settlers arriving in 1762 (as was -- we found yesterday -- Phineas Durkee, ancestor of Eleanor Moses Durkee, who settled in Yarmouth that same year).  Unfortunately, the museum was closed and the adjacent graveyard filled largely with deceased members of the Crowell family.  Since Lemuel was surely involved in the construction of the Meeting House itself, however, the stop was worth the effort - and we have the photographic evidence to document it!

SEAL ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE,
BARRINGTON, NOVA SCOTIA

Having determined by then that it would take several days to reach Lunenburg at our current pace, we shifted to Route 103 which zipped us along much more quickly, first to Shelburne where we stopped for a delicious lunch at the Charlotte Lane Cafe and then for a brief meander through the charming village of Liverpool.

Shelburne was first settled by Loyalists fleeing the Revolutionary War.  Liverpool was home to Privateers who terrorized the waters of the Atlantic in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, essentially as government licensed pirates.  Both villages tout their primary historical associations and are full of some lovingly preserved homes and public buildings, some dating back to the late eighteenth century.

This evening we've settled in at the Alcion Bed and Breakfast, another in our string of exceptionally beautiful residences, where we will bed down for the next three nights.

Lunenburg is a wonderfully preserved eighteenth century village and was named a United Nations World Heritage Site in 1995.  We're looking forward to some interesting excursions over the next couple of days as we explore our current surroundings.

A STORMY DAY IN SHELBURNE, NOVA SCOTIA