Peggy’s Cove, Halifax and Fort Louisbourg
Up the Eastern Shore to Cape Breton
Bridgewater is where I stopped to get work done on my Element, restock, take inventory, and reset. My overnight was probably my first positive experience with police since D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) in grade 6. I’d parked at the end of a school parkinglot and gone to sleep early when I got woken up by a knock on then window. For a moment I thought the cops were going to tell me to leave but they were just checking in and were totally cool with me sleeping there, giving me a buisness card in case kids “come around and bother you.”
The next morning I took stock at Canadian tire, buying a rear windshield wiper (I bought the Element with one that didn’t fit) and then found out the motor is toast. I also got a tire pressure gauge and was intending on making sure the tires were well pressurized but the shop did that for me already when they did the wheel balance and alignment. I also got seat covers 60 or 70% off, two for 20$, to cover up the tear in the driver’s side. Lastly, I got a Thermacell to keep the mosquitoes away. These things are quite expensive and don’t last long but then again no mosquito bites would be heavenly.
Taking stock also involved some research on Newfoundland at the library and buying travel insurance because after August I’m nolonger part of UofT. Then I went to sportcheck to get new running shoes and Shoppers to get soaps and sanitizer. It took until the middle of the afternoon to finish my errands but then I was ready to depart for the next chapter.
Peggy’s cove is located about 45 minutes away from Halifax so it’s a popular destination for tourists, especially cruiseship passengers. The hype was worthwhile though because it was super cool; not for the lighthouse but for the viewing platform designed by architect Omar Ghandi that I’d seen in the guest lecture he gave at UofT and the houses around the cove that were very picturesque. The clouds were moving in when I arrived at the lighthouse so the pictures of the cove became very intimate and quiet. I thought this turned out better and more atmospheric than if it had been sunny so I was quite happy with the result.
The landscape is very glacial. From the erratics scattered along the shoreline to the scars on the granite to the roundness of the rocks it’s all very obviously glacial. To the side of the cape along the roadway are little islands and salt marshes that look fantastic in the fog.
At Peggy’s cove two chinese girls asked me how to get back to Halifax and it turned out that they’d taken an uber here without a proper way back. There wasn’t much I could do though because I only had one seat in the Element.
I drove to Halifax and arrived quite late so the citadel was closed but I was able to walk the waterfront. I quite enjoyed the waterfront and it was a nice promonade with many food establishments, bars, and loungers that I could imagine would be a good time with a group a friends. Being alone though, I went for Jamaican Jerk chicken. My original intention was to spend more time in Halifax and see if it would be a place I’d want to work but I was feeling awfuly lonely and introverted so I drove out of town to camp in the woods. It wasn’t a very pleasant drive because of the fog and rain showers that would come and go but I was happy to be out of the city.
Traveling on a roadtrip and camping in the car it’s actually the cities that are the hardest to stay in. Other than a Walmart parking lot there isn’t a lot of options or privacy. I would get an airBnB but with rates over 100 $/night it’s not worth it.
From Halifax north along the Eastern Shore there wasn’t a lot to see until I reached the tip where I went on a hike near the community of Canso. Canso also has a National Historic Site Visitor Center for a fishing colony and I was excited to see another Element parked beside me from Colorado but he left before I could talk to him.
Entering Cape Breton I visited the Fort Louisbourg National Historic Site in the morning. It’s a really cool complex with lots of recreated buildings to wander in and see different aspects of how the french would have lived in 1744 to produce cod for France. I didn’t see many people but one of the staff told me that it gets busy in the afternoons. Another staff member told me that only 20% has been recreated yet it’s already a sprawling complex.
Some of the buildings are museums while others are recreated as life would have been such as the blacksmit’s shop, bakery, and storehouse. There are several restaurants and staff in period costumes are making things the way they were done in the past. Interestingly, the colony was only for fishing cod and supporting that industry. They weren’t allowed to make clothes or furniture but had to have that shipped from France. This was to maintain the French economy but seems crippling to me because then clothes and everything became really expensive to ship over.
The climate was shooting off a cannon just before noon. I left shortly after that because I needed to get groceries in Sydney before boarding the ferry for Newfoundland in the afternoon. My plan is to return to Cape Breton to drive the Cabot Trail after Newfoundland and Labrador so that I don’t have to rush it while enjoying better weather on the island for the next week.
