BYE NEW BRUNSWICK, HELLO NOVA SCOTIA.
Day 20 – It was 37 degrees this morning at 7 a.m., windy & cloudy. This was a good campground & we’d love to stay at least until we saw some Moose in the marsh nearby, but we’re also looking forward to getting into Nova Scotia. We departed Ponderosa Pines Park at 10:25 a.m.; it was 42 degrees and quite cloudy.
183 miles, (3:55), 38722-38905
There is a Canadian holiday coming up this weekend. It’s called Victoria Day and it’s in honor of Queen Victoria’s birthday. It’s always the second to last Monday of May. For some Canadian Provinces, it’s a 4-day holiday and is considered to be a Government holiday, for others it’s not. We had no idea if this holiday weekend would effect campsite availability. At several places we went in New Brunswick, people mentioned the crowds they were expecting. Based on that bit of news, we called ahead to campgrounds in Nova Scotia, thinking we’d better get reservations in advance. The campground personnel said things like: “NAH, it’s too cold here still, we’re not expecting a crowd till it gets warmer”, or in one case, “Lady, we have more than 100 campsites here. We will not be filled up, so c’mon in”. We also reserved a space on the ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and paid in advance, just to be safe.
The drive to our campground was almost 4 hours long, including a stop for lunch at a rest stop. This was one of our longer drives this trip. We’ve been striving for short drives to slow down our pace. After more than two years of traveling, sometimes we still feel like we have to get somewhere quick because we don’t have much time. We are slowly adjusting to this feeling.
We drove from Lower Cape, NB east along the Bay of Fundy on a bouncy two-lane highway to Moncton, NB, a large city (the largest city we’ve encountered yet this trip in Canada). The Bay of Fundy becomes the Peticodiac River at Moncton. The tides roll in and reverse the flow of the Peticodiac River, causing a “tidal bore”. The tidal bore is a wave that flows up the River, which under the right circumstances, can be surfed. This phenomenon is a big tourist draw. We had wanted to see it, but the tides didn’t coincide with our schedule. That will be a goal for another trip, maybe a detailed tour of New Brunswick. As we drove around Moncton to get on the Trans-Canada Highway, we passed by the area where people come to view the tidal bore. All we saw at this time was several smaller waves since we’d missed the main event. Once we got on the Trans-Canada Highway, it was mostly 2 to 4 lanes of nicely maintained road and we headed towards the Nova Scotia border.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
After entering Nova Scotia it seemed like there were less towns and more forested land; maybe that was from the sprawl after Moncton and at Sackville, another decent-sized city along the Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick. The highway climbed into the hills and up a mountain before descending back down to some farmland and more towns as we approached lakes, rivers, and our destination, Pictou, Nova Scotia (NS). We turned off the 104/Trans-Canada Highway to get on the NS Highway 106 north. Soon we were surrounded on several sides by rivers and we arrived at our campground, Harbour Light Campground, in Pictou. We arrived at 2:20 p.m. It was 44 degrees, mostly cloudy and windy. We’d requested a campsite with a good water view. We got it.
During the time it took for us to let the girls out, unpack & set up camp, and turn on the electrical & water hook-ups, Bald Eagles, a Kingfisher, 5 ducks, and an Osprey flew by in front of the RV. We have a campsite overlooking the water (YAAA!), and although this campground is quite occupied with seasonal campers, we certainly cannot complain about the view! When Rob finished hooking us up outside the RV, he came inside and three Bald Eagles flew down to the water in front of our site. He got the best pictures he could through the front RV window with the glare and the glass between them and us. They were fighting over a fish and one of them was upside down, talons spread. We rushed outside, cameras in hand, but they’d flown off. Oh well, we’ll be here 3 nights, so we’ll probably see more out front of the RV!
The high today was 47 degrees (in NB). We are still not seeing much in the way of spring. The farther north we go, the more back into the winter season we go. As far as I’m concerned, the longer it stays cold, the longer it takes for the biting bugs to arrive. We toasted Nova Scotia with our beer and wine this evening. The sun came out amongst the clouds. It was lovely. Tomorrow should be a relatively nice day. We have some grocery shopping to do, assuming we can find some fresh produce around here. There’s much to see in this area, maybe dinner out, and then the rain arrives again on Saturday.