Mahone Bay

 

Traveling in Nova Scotia is not like driving on a Toll Road Perry Texas Highway where the speed limit is 85, that's miles per hour pardner. Too often with a high profile vehicle one watches out for encroaching brush and tree branches. Tire eating potholes, uneven patches, one-lane-bridges, sharp curves, steep hills, and even dirt roads. Highway construction is done in summer. Even on expressways traffic is often two-way and the curves are left in and the hills can be very steep. This is to say that it takes longer to get there on these kinds of roads.

My trip this Thursday, June 18 was on the Route 3, until the construction of HWY 103 the main road from Bridgewater to Halifax and along the South Shore heading South-West all the way to Yarmouth. In the 60ies I traveled it by school and commercial bus and even once or twice by car. Patronage being what it is how recently certain sections have been repaved tends to depend upon the constituent's voting patterns. Wake-up Hill with its sharp curve left at the top of a blind hill is particularly memorable.

I left Lunenburg on the Kissing Bridge Road. The covered bridge that would have given this road its name has not existed in my memory. Much of the route winds through alder, birch, and swamp. Finally one gets sight of Mahone Bay and its reputed 365 islands and around a bend in the bay a glimpse of the famous three churches: Anglican, Lutheran, and United. Along the waterfront is public parking and even a civic washroom, clean and well appointed.

As I was to discover, they don't roll out the sidewalks in Mahone Bay until 10:00 AM so I found the Biscuit Eater Cafe closed. Tim Hortons was open and even has a drive-through window but I can visit one of those anywhere in Canada. Jo-Ann's is a combination gift shop, fruit stand, emporium, bakery, and tea house and it was open to browse but... ...I decided to wait it out.

As billed The Biscuit Eater Cafe was a book-lovers paradise with new and used books, self-serve coffee, and tables located amid the stacks. Staff were warm and helpful. My on request breakfast omelet came with biscuit and jam and a delightful salad. I'll go back when I visit next year.

Shopped the area boutiques and picked up a colourful print by Paul Hannon, right:

Back at my Van I was charmed to find the South-Shore Mobile Library parked on the Bay Side Lot. 

 Paused to capture a close-up of the churches though this combo slights the Angican Church.

Drove on to Hubbards to find camping. Walked out to Hubbards Beach but even the gulls weren't braving the wind-swept whitecaps. The cabins here look exquisite. Watched a carpenter drown a fish burger in Ketchup at the canteen. Sat in my home on wheels and used the Wi-Fi to catch up online.