Nova Scotia South Shore

It’s a stormy night in Cape Breton so we decided to splurge and have holed up in the Creignish Craft Works B & B on the island. It’s an eclectic place – once a school house it has been refurbished into a B & B overlooking the ocean. There are really no words to describe a house decorated with Scottish tartan and a giant tuna (among the hundreds of things that crowd the hallways and rooms here). But our room is warm, only slightly over budget and out of the howling winds and rain. Our host, Sandra, is quirky and the raccoons out front are amusing.

We arrived in Cape Breton this evening after touring the eastern and southern shores of Nova Scotia for the weekend. We started off Saturday by heading north from Halifax to the Fort Edward National Historic Site. We had to cut our visit short when Jon set off the alarm at the fort building trying to open the door to the blockhouse. We waited a few minutes for someone to show up (the site doesn’t have anyone at it) before scrambling back to our car and heading out of town. We stopped for some apples and cider in the apple capital of Nova Scotia before turning our sites to the slightly out of way Digby Neck, a spit of land that juts out alongside the Bay of Fundy. We were hoping to spot some whales from shore as it is well known for being home to several species this time of year but all we saw was a light house. Bored of another unscenic scenic coastal drive we cut across the middle of the province to the southern shore, famed for Lunenburg and Peggy’s Cove, to spend the night.

Sunday was our day for the big sites. We stopped first at the Kejimkujik National Park Seaside Adjunct where we were the only people in the park. We wandered through the fog to the shore where we saw Harbor and Grey seals lounging on the rocks (I only know that because they have interpretive plaques). Several large rocks provided an excellent spot to sit and watch them up close. Then it was off to Lunenburg (finally, a scenic scenic drive!) to see the Bluenose II and purchase a bobble-headed lobster for our dashboard. Patches was terrified of the Bluenose so we left shortly after watching it dock. We set up camp near Peggy’s Cove before heading to see the famed lighthouse in the late afternoon. Nice, but very windy so we didn’t stay long.

This morning we got lost in Halifax trying to get to the eastern shores and hit every patch of construction. We did stop at two beautiful beaches, but the wind kept us from sitting around too long. By the late afternoon we’d made it to the northern shore and we crossed the causeway (an adventure with the spray) into Cape Breton.

Tomorrow its off to the whiskey distillery and a location called Meat Cove (we’ll find out if they let vegetarians in) to try again for some whales. I have high hopes for some scenic vistas, excellent weather and lots of CBC Radio 1.