Rounding the South of Nova Scotia

Friday, September 19, 2008

Got off this morning in time to beat the school buses. Getting caught behind one on its collection run on a winding road is deadly. Found my way to Yarmouth’s Tourist Bureau after running the gauntlet that is Main St. The tourist information centre is new complete with port hole windows, lighthouses and a terrarium in the Men’s. They also have Wi-Fi. The MV Bluenose is no more but just down the way is the dock for the new CAT. The Nova Scotia Shoppe sells Grand Pre Wine and Hatmetack Wineries’ Blueberry Wine. Stopped at the Social Centre Parking Lot in Eel Brook to make brunch. Climbed their fire escape to take pictures.

The old Hwy 3 which I followed is a hilly, occasionally rough, winding piece of highway but rewards the intrepid traveller with sporadic vistas of the sea and bays which are its lifeblood. Hwy 103 is straight but passes through rocks and trees. Stopped at Barrington Passage to walk the government wharf and admire the fishing fleet moored there and look across to Sable Island and the Wind Farm sitting idle there.

My destination was Thomas Raddall Provincial Park and I found the signs along the highway without difficulties. After a winding paved road a sign warned of a speed limit of 30 K/h and a 3 kilometer drive to the administration office. That’s a long trip along a bush road through potholes and dust. Makes the gate keeper a welcome sight. As usual I got excellent advice on picking a camp site and although I drove straight in and parked on the level I was unable to find that exact same sweet spot once I backed in. When I went for a walk to the beach I heard what seemed like rather raucous teens wailing away at the shore. When I finally got there snickering at the park bench located at the halfway point I discovered that the noise was probably from teenagers but these weighed in at a quarter-ton each and sported blubber and flippers. The harbour seals were pulled out on a sandbar and making their style of amorous courtship. At low tide the ‘beach’ is a morass of eel grass. A walk along the beach later in the evening found the seals still at ‘it.’ A pair of loons was calling in the distance.