September 18, 2009 – A Coastal Drive

Another beautiful day dawns, so we’re off to explore. We had read about a small coastal village named “Peggy’s Cove”. Described as quaint and picturesque with a population of 70, it supposedly represents what a fishing village looked like 50 years ago as it has not changed. One caveat, the big tour operators had found “Peggy’s Cove” and it was now inundated daily with tour buses. So, if you were to go, you would find yourself with 250 of your closest friends in a town of 70.

Camped next to us is a couple from Ontario. When I mentioned to the husband that we were considering visiting “Peggy’s Cove”, he responded that it was a farce. He thought we would be better off to see “Mahone Cove” and “Lunenburg”. Later, while I was outside, a woman walking by stopped to chat. She was of the same opinion when it came to the towns above. So we were off to MC and L.

The coast here is ragged, not rugged. While you might be on a coastal road, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will see the coast, most often the forest block any view. Then you will come around a bend and see what appears to be a small lake or large pond, but it isn’t. It is a low area that the sea has reached into made a bay. And if you look really hard, you can probably see the inlet through which the sea flows. Consequently, the coast appears constructed with jigsaw puzzle pieces, some are wet and some are dry. But none are edge pieces.

As we approached “Mahone Cove” we saw three towering church spires. Entering the town, two of the churches sit side by each while the third is just across the small bay. There was a farmers’ market in the municipal parking lot where we parked. We could walk the entire town which is defined by a Y-intersection. There is a colorful small boat harbor in the bay. Then the typical establishments fill out the town: Artisan shops, art galleries, B&B’s, cozy little restaurants, quilt and yarn shops. In the Pewter Shop, Carol found a crèche. She has started to collect ones she finds unique or unusual. This shop had a crèche with all pewter figurines. I knew as soon as I saw it, the crèche was coming home with us. When she left empty handed, I thought she might not have even seen it, but alas, she deemed it too costly. Then it was off to Lunenburg.

But before we got there we took a road less traveled to a little fishing village of Blue Rocks. If you ever have a chance to visit Blue Rocks, pack a lunch because there is nothing there. Well, that is not really true. Blue Rocks has several homes, a small wharf, a couple of very small protected harbors useable only when the tide is in and several small colorful fishing shacks. While we were there, a woman was busily painting the row of shacks behind the wharf. We spoke with her a bit. She lives in Maine in the winter and in Nova Scotia during the summer. I’m not sure I see the logic to her choices, but they are hers.

Lunenburg is a much larger town then Mahone Cove and appears more of a real working town then Mahone Cove. For my windsurfing friends, North Sails has a loft here where they make real sails for real boats. It is also home to the Blue Nose II, a working replica of the Blue Nose fishing schooner. The original BN was the fastest fishing schooner for 18 years running. There are a couple of other schooner/tall ships which offer sailing tours here also. After dropping into several of the shops and buying the obligatory ice cream cone, we search for the Lunenburg Soap Factory we had read about in the tour guide. We found that it had been located in the abandoned building where we were parked. So with that sad discovery, we were set to return home. It had been a great day of seeing the countryside.