Lunenburg to Digby, Nova Scotia – 12 September 2023
On Tuesday we moved from the East to West coast to Digby which sits on the Bay of Funday. Digby is known as the Scallop capital of the world, which unfortunately was a little lost on us seeing we are not huge seafood eaters. The campsite was very well maintained and across the road from the Bay. That evening Frans, Lucy and I took a walk from the campsite into the town of Digby and wandered along the main road and oceanside.
The following day we took a drive along the Digby head peninsula which extends into the Bay of Fundy separating Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and was created over 200 million years ago from volcanic activity. First we stopped at Sandy Cove which was a lovely beach with red sands. After that we continued down to East Ferry where we drove onto a water taxi which took us across to Long Island. From Long Island we took a short detour to Boar’s Head Lighthouse. After that we continued south down the island to the start of the Balancing Rock trail. This was a very nice trail through the forest with about 252 steps down to a platform overlooking the Balancing Rock. The Rock is a narrow column of basalt balancing on its tip – sometimes called a sea stack. It was formed as a result of lava that poured through cracks in the surface of the earth creating columns of volcanic rock. Over the years erosion has shaped it into this unique structure.
After the hike we drove to the bottom of Long Island and caught another ferry across to Brier Island. On Brier Island we first drove to the right and ended up at another lighthouse and search and rescue station. There were tremendous ocean views from here and apparently usually a fantastic whale watching spot. Unfortunately none in sight today though. We did meet one of the staff at the station who chatted about the location. From there we drove into the small town took in a few more sights before returning back to campsite again.
We had been monitoring a hurricane that was heading towards Nova Scotia and whereas it first looked like it would stay out to sea, it was now confirmed that it would in fact hit Nova Scotia. Looking at our plans, it made sense to move to our next campground earlier as it offered safer shelter than Digby. So we cancelled our last day in the campsite and booked an extra day in Brookside. In the meantime, we decided to spend our last day exploring Annapolis Royal.
Annapolis Royal was a pretty little town with lots of history related to the Acadians. There seemed to be a lot of art around and also many heritage buildings. We walked along the wharf and through the town before picking up the requisite Latte at the local coffee shop. At the top of town was Fort Anne, an old fort built in 1702 by the French and then later taken over by the British and used to repel French attacks during the early stages of the St Georges war.
As we were walking on the immaculately mowed lawns at Fort Anne, the heavens opened and there was a tremendous downpour. Derek, Frans and Jax made it to the car in time, but Lucy and I got drenched. On the way back to the campsite the rain was really bad but did clear up later.
