Waves constantly grind away at the red sandstone cliffs and colossal tides forever stir the fine silt.  The Petitcodiac Riverdoes indeed look like chocolate as it flows past our campsite.  When the tide goes out, the banks are covered with a thick layer of this slick goo.  Some places they slide down it like a giant slip and slide….we didn’t.

There are covered bridges around here.  That shouldn’t be a surprise I guess.  This is pretty much farm country like middleIndianaor much of PA with lots or little streams to get across.   It is cool to know that they have historical groups that work to save these romantic landmarks up here as well.

16 million dollars.  That is what the provincial government will have spent to rebuild the Bluenose II.  It is a schooner which it seems started out as an advertising gimmick for some brewery but has somehow through history has been elevated to the symbol of the fishing trades of Nova Scotia.  A pretty marvelous story for what is now a beloved icon.  She will re-launch later this summer.  It’s just a ship, right!?  Oh, the power of symbols.

Lunenburg is home of the shipyard completing the Bluenose reconstruction.  The town lies along a great drive that traces this rugged coast with it’s New Englandish churches and countless shops filled with local crafts and art.  Every cove floats sailboats large and small with working fishing and lobster boats mixed among them.  A picture perfect view appears around every corner with glimpses into the lives of those who still make their living from the sea.  A cluster of men repairing nets.  Piles of traps and nets lining the docks.  Trails of ice along the wharf where they had moved this morning’s catch.

Perfect for boulder hopping.  Sunning on the warm stone.  Marveling at the power of nature.  Boulders as big as whales.  Waves crashing and spouting high into the air.  Cracks so deep that I can’t see to the bottom.  Crisscross patterns in stone created as lava flows millions of years apart worked their way to the surface.  Deep scratches across granite that mark the trails of ancient glaciers.  Tide pools.  Clear rainwater puddles.  Grasses and wildflowers clinging to the smallest bit of soil in the windswept boulder fields.   Bright white lighthouse blinking its caution to all who come near.  Peggy’s Cove.

A group was there painting…a bit of a detraction from the beauty of the place but a cool thing.  They were volunteers from the painters union doing the job for free.

Darn public radio!  As I tooled along in the Miata toward Peggy’s Cove I listened to public radio.  The science segment introduced me to the concept of a new geological epoch, the anthropocene.  Epochs, it seems, are individually started and ended based on some unique fingerprint in the geology of the planet.  Has mankind acted in a way that will be evident in the geology of the planet millions of years from now?  If so, we get an epoch of our own and we might call it the anthropocene.   Seems the answer is yes and that the tell tale fingerprint is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and the mass extinctions that it is bringing about.  Geeze, one more angle of science telling us we are messing this beautiful place up.  Suppose we can get our shit together and leave fewer fingerprints?

Port Hawkesbury NS Roadside sign

We caught a short lakeside drive, picked a few wild blueberries, and watched for the resident eagles.  Then the rain set in.  It’s been a pretty quiet afternoon and evening with a couple naps, crossword puzzles and solitaire.   Lazy can be good!

The St Peters Canal and its tidal lock chambers connect Bras d Or lake to the Atlantic.   Floating through this half mile long, hand dug channel sure beat the old choice, dragging whatever boat they were in, over a high granite hill on a log road.  Since the 1850s it all works pretty much like the locks on major rivers but since this channel is so small and the gates operate from canal-side consoles, we could get right up close to watch boats going through.