We started with 4 days in Halifax, Nova Scotia in a wonderful AirBnB, whilst sorting out our next couple of weeks (we didn’t plan too far ahead due to the wildfires and not knowing where/what we could do because of the fire and hiking bans in place) and catching up with boring things like laundry!
We did get to explore Halifax, walked miles, got soaked in a couple of showers, found a couple of very nice pubs (Quinns Arms and Brown Hound), a fun brewery (Good Robot) and watched a little local cricket at the Halifax Cricket Ground. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Citadel
and Maritime Museum of the Atlantic with its excellent exhibitions of the Titanic and the Halifax explosion, as well as the history of many ships of the area, and walking the harbour Boardwalk.
There was also a poignant visit to Fairlawn cemetery to pay our respects to 121 victims of the sinking of the Titanic.
Then we picked up a hire car for our road trip. First stop was Peggy’s Cove. A gorgeous little fishing village on the south coast, which has managed to remain unspoilt, despite it having one of the most photographed lighthouses (yep, here we go again!) in Canada.
We then travelled along the coast, past some stunning little coves to Mahone Bay, where we enjoyed a couple of lovely sunny days. It is famous for its 3 churches view and history of wooden ship building, but unfortunately for us, there was some major road construction going on, so not quite as picturesque as advertised.
We did spend a day exploring the unspoilt village of Blue Rocks and then the UNESCO town of Lunenburg, where the famous schooner Bluenose II (a replica of the Bluenose, a fishing schooner that won the International Fishing Trophy in 1921) was doing some tours from.
We saw her in full sail, looking quite majestic, whilst we were driving from Blue Rocks. Lunenburg was busy but we walked miles exploring the streets full of colourful old houses and businesses – the blacksmiths is now a distillery and we found Andy’s idea of heaven – a large wooden boat building shed (he should have been a carpenter).
Sadly, we were unable to visit inside St Andrew’s church, due to a special service, but it does look amazing outside.
We enjoyed a delicious seafood chowder at the Fish Shack before returning to our BnB.
On Wednesday evenings in the summer Mahone Bay hold free concerts and we managed to catch Freya Milligan doing hers, which was an unexpected surprise and a great way to spend an hour in the evening overlooking the cove.
From Mahone Bay, we made our way up through the middle of Nova Scotia to the Annapolis Valley, via the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum. Annapolis valley is a fertile area and we travelled through lovely rural townships, passed pumpkin fields, apple orchards, vineyards and old Dutch style barns until reaching our destination of the old Nova Scotia Capitol of Annapolis Royal. It is a lovely town to walk around with historic gardens,
old buildings dating back to the 17th century, Fort Anne (Canada’s first administered national site, fought over by the scottish, french and english over the years),
a lovely boardwalk and the old wharf all overlooking the stunning annapolis basin (with a tidal range of about 9metres!). The saturday market was excellent, with lots of local produce and crafts.
On our onward journey we stopped by the very well reconstructed french fort of Port Royal on the other side of the river,
before meandering up the opposite side of the valley, to Wolfville (couldn’t find any parking so didn’t stop here) and up around the coast road – now overlooking Canada’s natural wonder – the Bay of Fundy where you could see some of the world’s highest tides (up to 16metres, depending on the position of the moon). We stopped off in Walton to see the lighthouse that has been moved due to coastal erosion.
The area used to be busy due to it having the world’s largest barite deposit and was mined until the late 70s. Then it was on to Truro for the night. Apparently, you can see the tidal bore in several spots in Truro and even “ride” it in inflatable boats, although our timing was off, so nothing to see!
From Truro, we headed up to Cape Breton. We crossed the Canso Causeway, stopped at the Information centre for some tips on the area, then did a quick trip around the lovely Isle Madame and up to St Peters for lunch, just to catch the tail end of their Pirates Day celebrations. We missed the parade but there were some great decorations.
Then up along the edge of the huge Bras d’Or lake and on to Sydney, where we did something we’ve never done in all our years of travelling – check in to a hotel and after seeing our room, check straight back out again!! After a quick panic and internet search, luckily, Erin and Babu at the Simon Hotel came to our rescue and found us a couple of rooms for the next 3 days and rescued our stay.
Sydney is a nice little town where the cruise ships come in (there was 5 in the 3 days we were there as September is a busy month for them) and home to the Big Fiddle (17 metres high and weighs 8 tons).
Lots of little eateries, a really good cider house (Island Folk), pleasant boardwalk to meander along the harbour, and just generally a good place to chill. We took a day to see the Fortress of Louisburg national historic site – well worth a visit but be prepared to take a few hours to do this. 20% of the original site has been reconstructed in the 18th century period using archaeological digs and historical records from France and Canada. The staff are very knowledgeable and are in costume, there are various tours you can do or just explore on your own.
On the way back, we had, of course, to pop by and see the Louisburg lighthouse – built on the ruins of the first lighthouse erected in Canada.
We left Sydney to head towards the Cape Breton highlight –Â the Cabot Trail, described as one of the world’s most beautiful drives. We stopped in the pretty lakeside town of Baddeck for lunch before getting up to Ingonish Beach for the night.
The next day, with park pass in hand, we entered the national park.
As we had entered the park at the furthest point from the Skytrail, we decided just to bimble our way around, stopping off at little places like Neil’s Harbour,
White Point and Dingwall. Funnily enough, there’s a lighthouse at Dingwall (!) – St Pauls, which has come from St Pauls Island (known as the Graveyard of the Gulf due to the number of shipwrecks around it). Katie gave us a tour of the tiny but very interesting museum here.
We also did some of the shorter hikes and, of course, stopped off at the many lookouts to admire the scenery. The Skytrail was open again (it closes once the carpark is full and fills up quickly in the mornings) when we got there but the weather had closed in and rain was due so we decided to miss this.
We ended our long day in Port Hood (the beach capital of Cape Breton with 5 beaches) with a beautiful crimson sunset.
The Cabot Trail is definitely worth the trip, even if you don’t hike any trails. Oh, and photos will not do what you have seen justice!
Our final day in Nova Scotia saw us leave Cape Breton and head to Tatamagouche – just because we liked the name! We went via Cape George and the sunrise trail but the weather closed in again so we didn’t get to see much (other than the Cape George and Arisaig Lighthouses, both cared for by the local communities now).
Sadly we couldn’t get into the Tatamagouche Railway Inn, where you can stay in a train carriage
but we did manage a couple of “Hippie Dippies’ in the Tatamagouche Brewery (good music too) and a tasty seafood chowder in the Chowder House.
Next day we meandered the tiny back roads, via Fox Harbour and Pugwash (Andy had to have a photo at the sign but no Captain to be found!)
and stopped at a couple of local markets before finally, and sadly, leaving Nova Scotia.
We enjoyed our 17 days in Nova Scotia – a trip that was a little more loosely planned than usual, due to restrictions from fire and hiking bans in places, but we still managed to see a wide variety of places, met lovely people, learnt a lot of the local history, ate a lot of fresh fish, drank some good local ales and ciders and even had great weather until the last couple of days!
Places we stayed
Halifax – AirBnB on Oxford/Summit
Mahone Bay – Fairmont B & B (delicious breakfast)
Annapolis Royal – Annapolis Royal Inn & Suites
Truro – Best Western Glengary
Sydney – Simon Hotel
Ingonish – Skyline Cabins
Port Hood – Hillcrest Hall Country Inn
Tatamagouche – Balmoral Motel