July 16-24, 2023

With our trip to Newfoundland behind us we left Cape Breton Island heading southwest towards Halifax. Since we planned to explore Halifax on our way out of Nova Scotia in a week or so we bypassed the city and swung south to the King Neptune Campground in Indian Harbor.

Turns out we were just minutes away from Peggy’s Cove a place that many people we met along the way said we had to see but wasn’t even on my radar screen. We were also within an hour of the pretty town of Lunenburg, a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage site.

In the morning before setting off on our adventure we went to the fish marked right round the corner and bought 3 dozen oysters for later and a shucking knife (which just happened to have Richard’s name engraved on it). The owner also proudly showed me his 14 pound pet lobster! After putting the oysters in the RV refrigerator we set off in the truck for Peggy’s Cove.

Peggy’s Cove was a beautiful spot and I spent some time crawling around on the rocks and snapping pictures of the lighthouse and surroundings.

Leaving Peggy’s Cove we drove about an hour to Lunenburg and after a bit of exploring decided to have a late lunch at the Salt Shaker, recommended by a family at our campground.

For dinner that night we ate some of the delicious, wonderfully salty oysters we had bought that morning. So good!

Our next camping spot was a much anticipated 4-night stay at Cove Oceanfront Campground in Parkers Cove on the Bay of Fundy. Although it was foggy when we arrived we did get to see some spectacular views during our stay, including seals in the water and stunning sunsets.

While there was a steep drop-off to the water’s edge where we were camped, just a short walk through the campground brought me to a spot where I could walk out on the ocean floor at low tide. It was so cool to meander among the tidal pools and grasses that spent most of the time submerged under 30′ of water. There was a bit of driftwood and brightly colored rocks scattered along the shore.

The next day we drove into the quaint fishing village of Digby, world famous for their scallops. We parked and ate lunch overlooking the harbor. I had delicious seafood chowder, full of lobster, cod and of course scallops. Yummy!

Before leaving Digby we bought 3 pounds of scallops. We ate some for dinner and put the rest in the freezer to share once we got back home (wherever that is).

Just up the road from our campground was the town of Annapolis Royal so the next morning we trailered our bikes up there to take a ride on the lovely Harvest Moon Trail.

Annapolis Royal is also home to Fort Anne, a much fought over spot between the French, British and native peoples. In the 17th and 18th centuries the fort changed hands between the French and the British seven times. This became Canada’s first national historic site in 1917.

Here are some more pictures I took while walking around town.

The next morning we took off heading southeast, back towards Halifax where we planned to spend three nights. We had been driving about 90 minutes and were about 30 minutes from our campground, north of Halifax, when suddenly there were police cars ahead of us directing everyone to exit the highway. Fortunately there was a large spot for us to pull over and I hopped out to ask the police officers blocking the on-ramp what was going on. Turns out the highway was closed due to severe flooding from heavy rains between us and Halifax. We tried a few alternate routes but kept running into road blocks on flooded roads. Finally we decided to turn around and head back in the direction we came from and let things dry out for a few days. Turning around was a bit tricky on the narrow, winding roads we found ourselves on and we ultimately had to pull over and unhook the truck in order to get the RV headed in the right direction. Yikes!

Fortunately we were not too far from the town of Wolfville which I knew was the center of Nova Scotia’s wine country. We called around and found a spot to camp for a few days at Land of Evangeline Campground in Grand Pre’ which turned out to be another UNESCO National Historic Site surrounded by vineyards. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons! We were just a short walk from Evangeline Beach. Here’s what it looks like at low tide and yes, that is Richard on a walk…a rare site.

The next morning we took our bikes up to the National Heritage Site where the Harvest Moon Trail started. This is the other end of the Harvest Moon rail trail that we rode on in Annapolis Royal! It was so beautiful and we were thrilled to see the sign for the Lightfoot & Wolfville Winery on the trail, one of the wineries on our list to visit. After riding through the town of Wolfville we turned around and on the way back took the side trail up to the vineyard for some wine tasting and lunch. So fun!

Richard spotted the bald eagle on the way to the bike trail!

After our ride, back at the truck, I took a quick walk round the historical site. Turns out Evangeline was the heroine of Longfellow’s epic poem, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love, Gabriel during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians. She does look sad 🙁

With one more day in the Wolfville area I wanted to check out another winery, Luckett Vineyards. In addition to great wine, Luckett is famous for its red British phone booth among the grape vines. I had read that you could actually make a call from there to anywhere in North America. We arrived on a beautiful day and got a perfect table outside overlooking the grape vines. I could just spot the top of the red phone booth in the distance. We ordered a charcuterie board and then left our table to do a wine tasting inside while our food was being prepared. The wines were all delightful and the lunch was good too.

Okay, so I had to go in search of the red phone booth and see if it really worked. I found it and tried to decide who to ring up…someone who would answer a call from Nova Scotia on a Monday afternoon. Bill & Beverly, who had just been in Nova Scotia with us, came to mind so I dialed them up (on the rotary dial) and sure enough they answered and we had a quick chat. What a kick 🙂

I can’t believe how much fun we had in this place we weren’t even supposed to go! Tomorrow we head off for New Brunswick and are hoping the roads will be open by how for us to pass through. Stay tuned…