Down East with the Cousins

Tuesday and Wednesday:    The Scottish Mayflower


While Sue had a hair appointment Tuesday morning Jeff leisurely checked out of Arm of Gold, refueled the m/h ($5.10US/gal) and drove down to Scoby's in N Sydney to wait for Sue. We had lunch and got on the road towards Halifax about 1:20PM with no specific destination in mind for the day.
When we visited The Gaelic College in St Ann's Monday several comments were made of Pictou, NS the first landing of Scots in Nova Scotia. While looking for a campground on the water to spend the night Sue found the Harbour Light Campground, a Passport America Park on Pictou Harbor that fit the bill.

We spent a relaxing evening and Jeff headed for the Hector Quay, a museum and full sized replica of the good ship Hector, the "Scottish Mayflower", that brought the first load of Scottish emigrees to Nova Scotia (New Scotland) in July of 1773.  The sailing was to be the first of many boatloads of those fleeing the economic troubles Scotland suffered in the mid 18th century after the defeat at Culloden in 1745.

We have learned more about the history of the Scottish clans and their history here in Nova Scotia than either of us had ever heard, and all because a chance stop at the Gaelic College and the campground here in Pictou Harbor.

We had dinner at the Quay and spent an hour or so walking the trail along the water before returning to the campground.

That's a nice looking boat. Are you Scots descendants or just enjoyed the info?

Wendy

Wendy:

Nope, not Scottish. I just really enjoy learning about something in detail that I had no information on. (Pictou, NS? New Scotland? Arcadia?) Isn't something I had heard much about!

Three  branches of my family did come from PEI in Canada over 100 years ago but they were poor Irish potato farmers (O'Leary) and English fishermen (Souris).

Jeff Cousins said:

Three  branches of my family did come from PEI in Canada over 100 years ago but they were poor Irish potato farmers (O'Leary) and English fishermen (Souris).

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Ah, I'm also decended from poor Irish farmers......the Boyers (converted to Byers). But we mostly skipped Canada, except for Grandpa who enlisted in the Canadian Army during The Big One .... WWI.

Wendy

We left Pictou this morning in light drizzle but an hour later when we got to Truro, NS the skies were clearing and it promised to be a nice afternoon. We had decided to spend the afternoon around Truro to observe the Tidal bore at 4:11PM in the nearby Salmon River.

In Truro we parked in a Scoby's lot, unhooked the CRV, and headed north 50 miles to Springhill, NS, a small town on the Nova Scotia peninsula known as a mining town and the home of Canadian country music star Anne Murray. We have been fans for decades and decided this was as close as we would get to the exhibit. It took an hour or so to stroll through the story of Anne's life and career and helped pass the time before returning to Truro.

We arrived back in time to hook up the m/h and drive the short distance to the observation point just west of the city.A Tidal Bore is a wave created when the surge of an incoming tide is channeled into a narrower channel and meets the outflow of the river. This wave or bore floods the channel with thousands of gallons of water in a very short time.

We left Truro to drive south to Peggy's Cove and the King Neptune CG, a tranquil spot just west of Halifax on St Margaret's bay. It was a beautiful evening with a red sunset across the bay.

We will spend tomorrow seeing Halifax.

We decided to take advantage of the perfect weather today to tour Halifax, leaving the museums and other indoor activities for tomorrow. Hanna is forecast to hit Nova Scotia Sunday so conditions will probably change in a hurry here.

Our first stop was just down the road to see the memorial to the passengers and crew of Swissair Flight 111. The memorial was decorated with fresh flowers and children's stuffed animals left from services held Monday to observe the 10 year anniversary of the tragedy.
About two miles down the Bay is the Peggy's Cove Lighthouse and the village itself. We made a quick stop but decided to come back tomorrow when we will have more time.

The 40 minute drive into Halifax passes many of the small hamlets along the coast here and we met several tour buses bringing cruise ship passengers out to Peggy's Cove. When we arrived at the Halifax waterfront we signed up for a double-decker bus tour of Halifax and went to lunch.

The tour took us around the city that claims a lot of firsts and then up to the Citadel, the fort completed by the British in 1856 to protect Halifax from a land attack. We arrived just in time to watch the hourly changing of the guard as well as touring the battlements and gun emplacements.While touring the 150 year-old military facility we were treated to a slightly more modern military display as the RCAF Snow Birds demonstration team did a low pass overhead promoting the Air Show this weekend.The tour also included a stop at one of the three local cemeteries where victims of the Titanic are interred. Halifax became the recovery operation center for the Titanic disaster and there is a lot of information of that event here.

After dinner on the waterfront we stopped at Costco and then headed back to the m/h. By the time we got back to Peggy's Cove fog was moving in off Margarets Bay and has now enveloped the entire area.

Jeff, your picture of downtown Halifax from Citadel Hill captures my old office where I toiled for over 20 years.  I hope you enjoy your stay and yes there are lots of museums to see.  As I told Betty, Terry and Russ, one of the unexpected nice side trips, if the weather holds is the people ferry to downtown Dartmouth, and a brief visit to the Quaker House a short walk from the ferry terminal.  Donna and I haLunenburg, Mahone Bayve commitments here in NB until Monday, and we intend heading home Monday evening or Tuesday, so how long do you intend staying in the area.  You need to visit Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Riverport and Bridgewater, that's a day trip from where you're at.
  If you are going to be around, let us know.

Ed & Donna

Jeff, the two photos of the cove without fog and with fog are a great contrast.

ArdraF

Ardra:

Here is tonight's copy. We are waiting for Hana to hit and it really fogged up tonight.

Hfx_Cdn said:

Jeff, your picture of downtown Halifax from Citadel Hill captures my old office where I toiled for over 20 years.  I hope you enjoy your stay and yes there are lots of museums to see.  As I told Betty, Terry and Russ, one of the unexpected nice side trips, if the weather holds is the people ferry to downtown Dartmouth, and a brief visit to the Quaker House a short walk from the ferry terminal.  Donna and I haLunenburg, Mahone Bayve commitments here in NB until Monday, and we intend heading home Monday evening or Tuesday, so how long do you intend staying in the area.  You need to visit Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Riverport and Bridgewater, that's a day trip from where you're at.
  If you are going to be around, let us know.

Ed & Donna

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Ed:

We have one more day here and depending on what the weather does we may go back towards Halifax tomorrow. We stayed until it started raining around 2:30PM this afternoon so we headed back here and picked up (what else?) lobsters next door.

We are planning on moving on down to Lunenburg Monday morning for a couple of days and from there on around to Yarmouth and Digby so we will miss you on this leg. We'll be in Florida until the end of November before leaving for Phoenix if you make it down that early.

Have a good , and safe trip.  We likely won't be to Florida until early December, so looks like our paths will continue to be close, but will only overlap rarely.  We may catch you out west next year.  Enjoy what you have left of your eastern trip, there are some nice areas that you will visit on your way south.

Regards,
Ed & Donna

Jeff, great contrast with photo 3's significant fog.  Digby - SCALLOPS!!!

ArdraF

Saturday:  The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic




We returned to Halifax this morning and spent almost four hours touring the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on the city's waterfront. The museum includes exhibits on the part Halifax played in early Nova Scotia defense, maritime trade, and ship building in Nova Scotia. It also had special exhibits on the recovery of the Titanic victims to Halifax and the terrible devastation to the city when an ammunition ship exploded in the harbor in 1917.

Halifax was the home of Samuel Cunard, founder of the Cunard Steamship Company that pioneered high-speed passenger liners providing passage from Europe to New York. The museum includes a large exhibit on Cunard and includes many models.Nova Scotia became enamored with racing fishing schooners and the Banks schooner became a trademark of the province. The Bluenose was a famous competitor in this endeavor and is in port at Lunenburg where we will hopefully see it this week.

The owners of the Titanic contracted with local ships to recover the bodies of the Titanic because they were the closest boats available that were equipped for the North Atlantic. The recovery of over 300 of the bodies and the burial here of many of those had a great affect on the community.
Just a two short years later the north end of the waterfront was leveled when the Mont Blanc, a ammunition carrier during WWI exploded creating the largest man-made explosion until Hiroshima and killing over 3000 residents.

After lunch on the waterfront we went back for a tour of the CSS Arcadia, a hydrographic research vessel built for the Canadian government in 1913 in England and used until the 1950's. The ship was elegantly equipped for the comfort of the scientific complement aboard and spent six months a year charting Canadian and Atlantic waters except for the war years when it was turned over to Canada's navy.

It started raining as we completed touring the Arcadia so we headed back to Peggy's Cove and settled in for the evening including ordering fresh-cooked lobster from the pound next door. Ummmm!

Hana is expected to pass over Nova Scotia early in the morning and the forecast is for another wet day.

Sunday: Tropical Storm Hanna

Today we used the passing of the remnants of TS Hanna to take the day off and loaf around the motorhome as the wind blew and rain fell. It was a scenic storm here on the water but not necessarily a strong one; we had about two inches of rain n the past 24 hours and the winds were probably gusting to 45-50mph this morning.

Mostly the storm made for glorious sights as the surf pounded the rocks and the tide returned here in St Margarets Harbor. Jeff did go out for a couple of hours of photography along the coast and a walking tour through Peggy's Harbor and out to the lighthouse. The fact that this occurred on Sunday helped bring crowds of people out to Peggy's Cove.

By 3:00PM the storm had passed and the skies cleared. It was a beautiful evening here on St Margarets bay.We had consider going out to dinner but when you can go next door and have 1 3/4 lb freshly cooked lobster for $17.50 what the heck! Two nights of lobster in a row is really pushing it! We are definitely going to lighten up for a few days.

Great crashing wave photos!  Now just imagine fishermen out in boats in the winter with a storm like that!  Hardy people.

Oh that lobster looks yummmmy!

ArdraF

Ardra:

It was a day to watch from the shore! We are taking a Bluenose cruise tomorrow or Wednesday on calm water.


"Oh that lobster looks yummmmy!"

It was!

Monday:   Ovens

Today turned into another of those unplanned happenings that just seems to turn out well! We started in Peggy's Cove with no plans other than to move over to Lunenburg. The weather has been absolutely beautiful with clear skies, light winds, and temperature in the mid seventies, a nice change after the last couple of rainy ones.

We arrived at the Lunenburg Board of Trade Campground around 11:00AM and found a beautiful site that allows us to see the Bay on both side of the peninsula. After getting set up we had lunch on the motorhome and Sue went over to the visitors bureau which is also the campground registration office.We then backtracked eight miles or so to Mahone Bay where we toured the town taking photos, stopping at Hortons for Jeff's coffee, and stopping to pick up a bowl of Gelato for Sue. The Mahone Bay setting is just plain picturesque and we used up lots of digital memory capturing it. The churches along the bay are really intriguing with distinctive steeples and belfries.

Next was a short jaunt over to Bridgewater for Sue to stock up on our last supply of fresh Canadian vegetables at the farmer's market and we then just started driving the coast sightseeing. Distinctive landmarks include a cable ferry that shortens the trip across the west branch of the Bay.We then came upon a sign for the Ovens that we had read about earlier in the day. The Ovens is the local name for a series of sea caves that were expanded by mining for gold discovered in 1861. Names like Tucker's Tunnel, Indian Cave, and Cannon Cave are the stops along a 45 minute walk along the sea cliffs to view the caves. The action of the waves are really impressive as they are jammed into the openings.

Jeff got a little frustrated with the winding, back road route our GPS used to get us back to Lunenburg after leaving the Ovens until we came over a rise and saw Lunenburg Harbor lying before us looking across the Bluenose Golf Course. One of the golfers waiting on the tee told us that this scene adorned the back of the Canadian hundred dollar bill for quite some time.

We finally ended up back downtown about 5:30PM and stopped for dinner before returning to the motorhome. Because neither had had a real washing for some time Jeff washed the CRV and m/h before dark.

Neat photos.  Thanks again for the report.

Don't for \get to have a drink of rum while you're in Lunenburg, as it was the "rum running" capital during prohibition.  It was through building fast ships to outrun the "revenue-ers" that made them such great ship builders.  A good side with the rum would be a feed of german sausage and "Tancook Island" sauerkraut.  It's too bad you didn't dip a line in the Lahave River as it has great salmon fishing, but upriver, as opposed to the Riverport direction you took.  Hopefully the weather holds, as the South Shore is such a beautiful area, when the sun shines, but depressing when its raining.

Picture perfect!

ArdraF