Day 16--Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Day 16, Sunday June 27
Houlton, ME to Baddeck, Nova Scotia
440 miles

Looonnnnggg day in the car, mostly on large four-lane roads. The route took us up and down long hills with spruce and deciduous woods on either side. The trees get shorter the farther north we get. Also many of the hills had been logged and replanted so the trees were all about the same height. Tiring, never-ending-seeming drive.

We stopped for a rest at “The Blueberry Capitol of Canada” and took Twinkie pix of each other with a large kitschy blueberry that was luring tourists like us in. Stopped again at a convenience store and I took photos of some beautiful wooden canoes in the parking lot and talked to a guy who was cycle touring. He had ridden solo across Canada from Vancouver. He was pretty close (relatively speaking) to his destination: St Johns, Newfoundland. He was riding solo because, "no one rode his pace." Well, I guess not. He was averaging over 157 km (ca. 120 miles) a day. He’d been cycle touring for 17 years and already had his next route planned, which was cycling the Canadian and US east coast to Florida.

Beautiful wooden canoes



Vancouver, BC, to St John's, NFL

We are in a small privately owned motel (The Baddeck Inn) tonight high up above Bras d’ Or (Arm of Gold). Small but comfy room. Hotel owned by a Scotsman. When Suz asked for the senior rate he replied: “Nae not at that price. Ye won’t be havin’ that price much longer.” All this in a deep Scot’s drawl. (We are one week ahead of tourist season up here.)

View of the Bras d' Or from our room at the Baddeck Inn

We drove into town and ate a complete 5-course lobster dinner which included, a bowl of chowder, all you can eat mussels, potato salad, coleslaw, biscuits, 1 whole lobster, dessert (I had rhubarb crumble) and drink (coffee.) Cost $27 + tax + tip. Smallish but good lobsters. Lobsters are being over-trapped in this area. We ate in a corner of the porch and could see a man preparing planked salmon. Suz went out with my camera and took some photos (below). She said the man was using brown sugar, maple syrup, and other ingredients that he would not reveal.

Saw on TV that Queen Elizabeth and Phillip arrived in Halifax today—the first in a series of cities on a Canadian visit. They are also having a Tattoo in Halifax.This is a show inspired by Military Tattoos given by military bands and display teams and including, in Halifax anyway, some non-military performers. It has taken place annually in Nova Scotia's capital, Halifax, since 1979. WISH we had more time to go to these things. I would love to hear the bagpipes. Here's a YouTube clip of the bagpipers in the parade. Guess it will have to do for the nonce.

(I later learned that Tattoo organizers ignited a controversy in 2010 when the Queen canceled her special Royal Tour appearance at the Tattoo because the event organizers, citing safety reasons, refused to allow her to climb up a set of steps on the Tattoo stage. The steps were theatrical stairs and very steep with no railing.)

They are flying their flags up here at half mast for the three Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. One was from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, our waitress told us.

Both these last days have been the big push to get close to our ferry departure city (North Sydney) for our June 29 trip across to Port aux Basques, NF, so have been relatively uninteresting on big roads.