Gifts from the Sea

The sea does not reward those who are
too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient” (Anne Morrow Lindburg)

We have been
in Canada for a month, beach combing almost every day... We have “combed” the
west and east shores of the Gaspe’, the Gulf of St Lawrence, the Northumberland
Strait, and the Bay of Fundy. Now we are on the Atlantic side of Nova Scotia. Since
we are neither geologist nor jewelers, it doesn’t really matter if we find
anything of value but our collection of priceless mementos grows. At some point
hard decisions will have to be made about what must be left behind.

We completed
our exploration of the Fundy Shore along the base of North Mountain and moved
our base camp to Jagger’s Point Campground on Smith Cove near Digby. It is on
the other side of the Annapolis Basin, making it nearer for us to access Digby
Neck and the little islands that mark the end of North Mountain. We loved
Annapolis Royal and had a great time admiring the wonderful old house and
buildings in the second oldest town in North America, and we liked Digby too.
It is a hardworking town with a big harbor and the  terminal for the Digby to St. Johns Ferry.

Our campsite
was only 100 yards from the beach and despite four days of variable weather, we
had plenty to do.  We drove out to the islands
in the mist. We took two ferries to get to Brier Island and finally found a
great spot for sea glass, right under the lighthouse. The island is said to be
named for the wild “brier”roses that grow there. The bushes are big as
Volkswagens and smell wonderful! The Nature Conservancy owns much of the island
and it is  wild and beautiful.

When we left
Digby we spent a night at Kejimkujik National Park. The mid-section of southern
Nova Scotia, between the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic, is a maze of lakes and
rivers. Many of these connect to make hundreds of canoe trails but involve
portages and paddling on windy lakes. Keji NP is famous for its canoe trails
and every vehicle has a canoe or kayak on top. I had hoped to paddle on the
Mersey River in the Park but it didn’t work out. We did go on a Ranger led hike
to a petroglyph site.

A young man
at Delaps Cove had advised us not to miss seeing The Ovens, and told us where
they were. They are a cliff filled with sea caves on Lunenburg Bay. In 1861
gold was discovered in the cove there, resulting in the usual “rush”. Miners
build ladders to access the caves and later a local family improved on them to
create a tourist attraction. They have a campground, canteen, petting zoo, etc.
but it is still pretty rustic. The trail over the cliffs and the access to the
caves is phenomenal. There is no way a place like that could be opened to the
public in the US, somebody would get hurt and sue. Since we were camped there,
I was able to get an early start and check one more thing off my bucket list. I
did my morning meditation deep within a sea cave with the surf crashing
in.  It wasn’t Staffa, but it was good.

We are now
at the Board of Trade (municipal) Campground at Lunenburg. We are high on a
hill overlooking Mahone Bay. The entire city of Lunenburg is a UNESCO historic
site because of the outstanding number of historic buildings here. It is not
like Williamsburg, it is a real honest-to-goodness town, but the architecture
is marvelous. We went out on a sailboat yesterday and got a great view of the
town from the water. This is a
good base for lots of sightseeing and hopefully some more beachcombing. We were
tipped yesterday about a great spot behind a bakery at the cable ferry at
LaHave. Sounds like our kind of place. 

 

 

 

"All vessels in distress are welcome in this harbor"

The tiny harbor, four lobster boats, had the usual blue and white Marine Nova Scotia sign with its long list of rules and regulations, fees and fines. At the bottom was a handwritten sign that read, "All vessels in distress are welcome in this harbor".
 

After entering Nova Scotia on Monday, we headed for the Northumberland Strait and settled for the night near the village of Pugwash. Our campground, on a high cliff overlooking the strait, had lots of wind and beautiful views. We used it as a base to explore the coast road as far as Pictou, stopping to walk the beaches and look for sea glass. In 2008 we caught the ferry from Prince Edward Island to Pictou on our way to Newfoundland so we had already been along that coast to Cape Breton Island. We especially enjoyed the Chatterbox Cafe in Pugwash. It is a combination deli, used bookstore, and hangout for the locals. When they made fun of us being from Sopchoppy, we told them they had no room to laugh.

On Wednesday we towed west to Truro and southwest  to Annapolis Royal using the limited access highways. They are not always four-laned but they do allow a faster speed and are usually in better repair than the secondary roads. We chose to stay at Fundy Trails Campground in Delaps Cove because we wanted to have good access to the coves and villages along the Shore Road on North Mountain.

North Mountain is the 100 mile long ridge that forms the north wall between the Bay of Fundy and the Annapolis Valley. It is a huge basalt ridge with palisades, coves, beaches, sea caves, and little villages grouped around small harbors. The Shore Road sort of runs along the crest but is narrow, often unpaved, and sometimes ends abruptly, forcing you to drive around looking for another road to continue. The coves may have a little harbor for four to six lobster boats and access to the Fundy shore.  Not only is this area stunning beautiful and surprisingly remote, but the rock hunting is wonderful.

Butch and I started here at Delaps Cove and worked our way north to Keatings Beach today. We met a young fisherman at Port Lorne who gave us directions to a beach we would never have dreamed of finding on our own. It had everything; a long cove with acres of deeply pebbled beach, a palisade of basalt columns, and sea caves with waterfalls. It was absolutely magical! We collected some great rocks, a little bit of sea glass, and took dozens of photos.

Delaps Cove, where we are staying is lovely too. It's little harbor has six lobster boats and we have enjoyed watching them come and go and visiting with the lobstermen. Last night we bought fresh lobsters and cooked them at our campsite. ($6 a pound). We plan to continue our exploration of the coves on the shore road tomorrow.

 

 

Hurricane Season - You can run but you can't hide

After leaving Perce’ we continued our drive down the eastern coast of the Gaspe’ to Bonaventure. We camped in the municipal CG, a huge place right on the beach. I had hoped to canoe on the Bonaventure River but it was just not possible. Imagine, if you can, a corporation like the Nantahala Outdoor Center having complete control of the access and use of the Nantahala River. If you paddle it, you do so with their equipment and with their groups at their price. That is the case with the Cime Corporation on the Bonaventure. Like Maine, most of the interior of the Gaspe' is owned by huge private companies and the roads are private. We did get some information from locals about places that we could see the river and we drove on some interesting logging roads to do so.

We spent one day at the Miguasha Fossil site and it was pretty amazing. From this one cliff on the Strait, one of only two like it in the world, they have mined thousands of incredible fossils from the Devonian Period. Most are prehistoric fish forms some are huge and in three dimension. They are still actively digging there every summer. Their visitor center is very impressive and we enjoyed the walk to the site as well.

Despite the impending storm, we had a pleasant drive around the Quebec side of Chaleur Bay . Is just one village after another so is slow going. We crossed into New Brunswick at a place with the prosaic name of Tide Head. Not Ste. du Tide Head or Mont-sur-Tide Head, just plain Tide Head. I liked it. The road signs were in English too.

Looking for a place to shelter, we decided on Kouvhibouguac  (Koochie-boo-quack) National Park, south of Miramichi in NB. It is on the northeastern side of  North America and Hurricane Arthur was coming from the southwest, right up the Bay of Fundy. This part of NB lost power on Friday evening but us campers were ok. Butch filled up the fresh water tanks and we used the generator to make coffee. The winds were a little scary at times but the rain was the worst. It was constant and relentless, hour after hour after hour. Both Fredrickson and St. John NB had record rainfall and lots of flooding.

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful. We walked on the beach and dried our stuff out. Still no power at the Park though. We left this morning and are now on the Northumberland Strait in Nova Scotia at Pugwash NS. We are in one of those little Mom & Pop campgrounds that used to be somebody's hay field overlooking the Strait and right on the beach.  I found five or six nice pieces of sea glass in about an hour this afternoon. Now that we have internet again we can take a look at where we want to go next.

Camping Culture

Our campsite at Perce’ was terrific. We were jammed in side to side, but everybody had a “back yard” that overlooked the ocean and the famous Rocher-Perce. This pierced rock is one of the primary landmarks on the Gaspe’. It is a sheer rock formation sitting in the Gulf of St. Lawrence just off the village of Perce’ (Pierce) and is one of the world’s largest natural arches located in water. A little further off-shore is Bonaventure Island with the second largest gannett rockery in the world.
We took the boat to Bonaventure and spent the day hiking the trails and looking at the hundreds of thousands of birds. Gannets are really beautiful birds but the smell and the noise were a little much. Fortunately the Chemin-du-Roy trail returns to the boat dock via the edge of the cliffs on the other side. It descends to a lovely little beach with a spectacular sea cave. These rocks are formed of reddish-gold limestone and shale and the colors are stunning. I love the driftwood that collects in these indentions in the shoreline and of course the pebbles and rocks are wonderful. This being a Parc National, we couldn’t collect anything.
It’s funny how campgrounds can have a personality. We didn’t care for Camping Gaspe’ and left two days early, forfeiting our prepaid reservation. It was over crowded and the parking and traffic issues seems to be an irritant to everyone. Camping Le Havre de la Nuit, at Perce’, was also crowded, but there was plenty of parking space and everyone was super friendly. There was a holiday mood with lots of visiting, campfires, walking on the beach, and drinking wine. We were included in the general good will even though we don’t speak French.
On Canada Day there.t no flags are flying and no parades or “fetes”. Very different from our past experiences. I feel badly for the Quebecer. Their separatism has isolated them from their own country and is an economic burden for their young people. I do understand wanting to preserve your culture and your language, but it’s hard to participate in a global economy when you can’t even communicate with your own countrymen.
Camp

We Must Be Travelers

“Tourist don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they are going.” (Paul Theroux)

The Gaspe’ is divided into sections, The Valley, The Coast, The Haute-Gaspesis, Land’s End, and The Bay. We have worked our way north and east to Land’s End. Yesterday we took a modified zodiac out in the Bay to look for whales. We did see some behemoths, but I enjoyed the opportunity to see the cliffs and sea caves even more. After our return to shore, we set out to hike the 7K roundtrip to Cap Gaspe’, the real “Land’s End”. Butch made a valiant effort but his knees gave way and I had to Summit on my own.
It was a stunningly beautiful walk. At the top there is a lighthouse and markers regarding the Appalachian Trail (placed by the Georgia AT group) and the international Appalachian Trail. It is just amazing to know that we have traveled along these same ancient mountains for almost 2000 miles.

Gaspe’ Bay brings bittersweet memories for those of us who lived through WWII. It was prepared as a safe area for the British Royal Navy in case Britain had to surrender to the Germans. All of the vessels at sea, who could escape, were to come here. What a sight that would have been, but how happy that it never happened.

Did a little beachcombing late yesterday. Still finding tiny piece of green glass & not much else. Didn’t these folks do anything but drink beer? Out of green bottles? We are moving on to Perce’ tomorrow. It is only 50 miles away but we want to camp on the beach again and to take the boat out to Bonaventure Island to see the bird colonies.

Can you say Travoux? (Road Work)

After four days on route 132 we have learned a new word. Travoux means "road work" and it is the most common sign seen in Quebec.

We really enjoyed Reviere-du-Loup but  we needed to move on. The drive up the western coast of the  Gaspe' along the St. Lawrence River (Seaway) was terrific. There are dozens of little villages spaced only three to five miles apart, each with a huge church and store or two and many brightly colored houses. Each village has a campground, usually right along the beach.. We stopped several times to walk on the beach and to search for sea glass. We camped at Mont-Louis, a little village grouped around a cove. Our campsite was right on the beach and I picked up about a cup full of sea glass, mostly the ubiquitous green, but some blue and red pieces as well. We walked to an award-wining restaurant in the village for dinner.

I could have stayed longer at Mont-Louis but we are running into another holiday weekend, Canada Day. Butch and I have spent 9 of the past 10 years in Canada on Canada Day and we knew from experience that we needed to get settled before the hordes descend or we

would be camping at Walmart.  Traveling northwards, Highway 132 began to climb and to edge along cliffs far above the seaway, much like the Pacific Coast Highway. Very spectacular scenery so we stopped often to take photos and enjoy it. We skirted Forillon National Park in favor of an early arrival at Gaspe' (au Sandy Beach). We used On-Star to track down a campground and found a spot at Camping Gaspe'. Needless to say, the National Park CG's were full.

This is a pleasant little private park. The owners have wintered in Daytona Beach for 39 years and speak English well. They were very anxious to accommodate us and although our site is small, the setting is very nice and we are comfortable. There is another couple from the lower 48 here, from North Carolina! This is the first time since we left NY that we have had English-speaking neighbors.

We drove over to Forillon NP today and saw some spectacular scenery. We will be going back tomorrow.

Keep the Camping Karma Coming

Last year, when we went to Alaska, I did a Blog from time to time about our trip. I am the ultimate over-planner and I planned myself into a frenzy. This year we are headed north to Somewhere. We have been so busy getting our NC house ready to rent that I didn't have time to think about what we were going to do when the renters came. So, the first night we slept in the travel trailer in the Mason's barn in Farner, TN. I will admit that it was a different experience and isn't that what travel is all about?

The next day we finished getting ready for our trip and drove as far as Bristol, TN. We had a general plan to go to the Atlantic Provinces but had done no route planning at all. We were between Knoxville and Asheville on I-40 when we learned there was a road closure ahead. Just two miles down the highway was the intersection with I-81, our route planning was done for us.

It was a no-brainer. We left the fast accumulating congestion on I-40 and joined about a million 18 wheelers going north.

As dinner time was approaching, we consulted the Camper’s Guide and decided on Shadrack Campground in Bristol, TN . I used my new tablet to look up restaurants and picked the Mad Greek for dinner. It was a race weekend in Bristol and the Mad Greek was a Mad House. The place looked like a casting call for a NASCAR movie. We waited our turn and were rewarded with an excellent dinner at a reasonable price. 

 We continued north on I-81 through Virginia. Bad road and bad traffic, but the scenery is to die for. The Blue Ridge is always visible off to the east and the valleys and vistas are stunning. A multi-vehicle accident slowed us to five miles per hour for almost an hour, so we chose Shenendoah River State Park for our second night on the road. We stayed over an extra day so that I could paddle. Butch put me in at a low water bridge and I paddled back to the campground. Wonderful! We also met a great couple, Mary and Bill, who are folksingers from Florida. They are called Heart Strings. We are hoping they can come to Sopchoppy next spring.

Our third night was spent at Lake Lackawanna SP in PA. We had stayed there before and knew it would be quiet and nice. The next day we switched from I-81 to I-88 on the advice of a trucker from Quebec that we met at a rest area. A good choice as this interstate goes up through the Adirondacks and is like a parkway. We exited at Plattsburg to stay at Cumberland Bay SP, right on Lake Champlain.

We rarely make reservations in advance but do try to work around known holidays such as Canada Day, Victoria Day, etc. Little did we know that June 24 is a national holiday in Quebec (Ste Jean the Baptiste) and the weekend before is like our 4th of July. Plattsburg is only 40 miles south of Montrial and the campgrounds were packed. By agreeing to move from site to site we managed to stay at Cumberland Bay for three nights. This gave us an opportunity to hike and raft the amazing AuSable Chasm and to take the Ferry to the Vermont islands.

Leaving Plattsburg on Saturday, we zigzagged across northern VT and NH on secondary roads, often less than five miles from the border. This is beautiful country but the roads are terrible. We stayed one night at Brighton Bay SP near Ocean Pond, VT. This was a heavily wooded little park on the shore of a generous-sized lake. We almost had the place to ourselves. This small state park out in the wilds had the most fabulous CG backrooms I have every seen. They looked like something out of a first class hotel Go figure!

The next night we stated at La Roche de Or CG near St. George, PQ.  I thought I had seen everything but I wasn't prepared for La Roche de Or. It has 300 sites, a huge swimming pool, all kinds of recreational activities, a restaurant, and campers packed in like sardines. Each campsite appeared to have at least 10 residents and everybody was yelling in French. But, camping karma kicked in again. Our assigned site was too small and we could not get into it. We were given two sites at the top of the hill with nobody around us. Very nice.

Finally, we reached Camping Municipal de La Pointe  in Riviere-du-Loup. It is a lovely place. We are up on a hill over the St. Lawrence River with spacious, shaded campsites and within walking distance of all kinds of goodies (including the "glace" store). The actual holiday (Ste Jean de Baptiste) was yesterday and even Walmart was closed. Our CG had planned a "Fete" and invited us to attend but it was rained out. We though we might take a whale-watching tour here but it is very cool and we are told that we will probably see lots of whales as we travel northward along the coast. So far we are doing splendidly.