Lunenburg

I spent a whole day in the amazingly picturesque village of Lunenburg.





Lunenburg is a UNESCO heritage site. UNESCO sites are places around the world that the UN has determined to have important cultural and historic value.

I spent time in the local museum that specializes in fish and fishing history.





They had a couple of ships to tour including a schooner and a fishing boat. This was a visiting ship on one of the docks.





This is the bunk area for the seamen on the fishing boat right next to the engine room. It must have been really noisy and stinky.





The wheel used to be in the open and in rough weather, the sailor at the wheel was tied to a ring in the deck so he wouldn't fall overboard. Later, wheelhouses were built to give some shelter.





Men would row out from the ship in dories to fish using longlines.





Before the industrial revolution of the late nineteenth century, everything was done using muscle power. Simple machines like levers, screws, wedges, wheels, and pulleys were used to help but it still took immense amounts of muscle power. To build a wooden ship, thousands of holes were drilled through hardwood, like oak, using augers. Then, trunnels (treenails), which were large dowels, were pounded into the holes. Drilling through feet of hardwood with a hand auger is brutally hard work. We might think that life back in the day was romantic but in reality, it was incredibly tough and uncomfortable.

They gave a demonstration of how ships were launched. The whole process involved using an inclined plane, a cradle for the ship, wedges, gravity, and friction.





I spent a bunch of time taking lots of photos of neat buildings and ships.











I went to the edge of town where the restoration of the wooden ship Bluenose II is going on.





The original Bluenose was a Nova Scotia built fishing schooner that won international fishing boat races during the 20s and 30s. It was a national hero during the depression kinda like the racehorse Seabiscuit was in the states and now is immortalized on the back of the Canadian dime. The ship was eventually sold and wrecked in a storm off of Haiti. a replica, the Bluenose II was built in the 60s and the hull is now being completely rebuilt in Lunenburg. Launch is scheduled for next spring.

There are several lovely churches in town.


You can certainly tell that the money to build them came from the sea.


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Lunenburg

Drumlins, Eskers, and Erratics, Oh My!

After spending several hours in Annapolis Royal, I stopped at the historic gardens on the edge of town. They had a reproduction Acadian house and garden.


There was a neat garden statue.


I then headed out towards Kejimkujik National Park. As I climbed out of town, a woman called out, "It's all uphill!". Well, it really wasn't, it was just a series of long rolling hills. Since it was getting a bit late, I decided to stop at Raven Haven Park where I ended up staying in s great little hostel for two bucks more than for a campsite.


The view was fantastic.


It was a treat to sleep in a bed! The next day, I met Deborah, the supervisor for the county recreation department. She incited me to go kayaking with her on the lake. I'd never been in a kayak but got the hang of it pretty quickly.





I stopped to take a photo.


After I put my camera away, I automatically started pushing on the rudder pedals and was momentarily surprised when I didn't start moving. I'm not much of a swimmer so I've always been apprehensive of being in the water so this was a great experience. Thanks Deborah!

The next day, I finally got to Kejimkujik National Park after riding several hours in the pouring rain. Keji, like the rest of Nova Scotia was heavily glaciated during the last ice age. The lakes are all glacial depressions and all the hills are actually drumlins which were formed by the glaciers forming piles of rubble into inverted spoon shapes.


Eskers are ridges formed by streams carrying debris under the ice sheets and erratics are large boulders left behind by the melting ice.

After pitching the tent in the campground, I left all my gear I camp and rode a mountain bike trail to the dock. The trail wasn't particularly technical but it did test my riding skills a bit which was good practice on my new bike. I still find myself not trusting this bike as much as my old one so this was good for gaining some confidence.

At the dock, I rented a kayak for a few hours.


I saw lots of wildlife including this large turtle which doesn't look particularly large in the photo.


I also saw several deer, a duck on it's nest, and two beavers really close up. I've never seen beaver in the wild so this was really cool. I drifted up so close to one as it was eating some lily pads, I couldn't believe it. I think I'm hooked on kayaking!

Location:Kejimkujik National Park

Nova Scotia

The ferry from Saint John to Digby, Nova Scotia arrived at 11 PM two nights ago so it was almost 11:30 before I got off. The noise on the car deck was pretty heinous. The opening of the main door on big ferries sounds a bit like a Death Star scene from Star Wars. The only thing missing is the ominous music.









Riding at night wasn't too bad since once all the ferry traffic had passed, I only saw a few cars. I used my camping headlight to light the road and easily made it to the campground. I decided to take a day off in Digby to relax and plan my further adventures. Digby is a neat little beach town. The Fundy tide is evident here, too, with a sea level change of around 30 feet.

Low tide.


High tide.


Digby is famous for its scallop fishing fleet so I had fresh sautéed scallops for dinner which were fantastic. The restaurant had some hefty lobster claws on display.


The morning after my relaxing day off, I woke to torrential rain pounding my tent. The campsite had some nice shelters so I took refuge there. Having access to wi-fi and the web, I was able to get the forecast with a radar picture that showed heavy rain for most of the day but good weather the following day so I stayed in Digby for another night.

This morning I rode the 25 miles to Annapolis Royal, site of Fort Anne, an old fortification dating back to the 1600s.


The French first occupied this area, built the fort, which they called Fort Royal, and French settlers established farms in the area and became the Acadians. This was during the many wars between the French and English so the fort changed hands a bunch of times. In the US, we call these the French and Indian wars. During one of the wars, the English drove away the Acadians and some of them ended up in New England and also down in New Orleans where they became the Cajuns.

There is a really nice tapestry that was made about ten years ago, depicting various historical events in the life of the fort. This section is from the early French times.






-- Post From My iPhone

Ferry rides and the Fundy tides

I crossed into New Brunswick, Canada a few days ago at Campobello Island.


Campobello is a play on the name Campbell with a couple of Os thrown in to make it sound cool. The island was Franklin Roosevelt's summer residence during his childhood and before he became president. There is an international park there now including the Roosevelt cottage and grounds.


The tour of the cottage was a fascinating look at upper class life at the turn of the 20th century. This is the living room.


This is the schoolroom where FDR's children were taught.


This is the laundry room.


There is a special stove designed to heat flatirons.


FDR was very active all his life until he contracted polio at age 39 while vacationing at Campobello. I cannot imagine what a blow it must have been for him to lose the use of his legs. The name of the disease, infantile paralysis, probably just added insult to injury. That he was able to overcome his disability so well that he won four presidential elections is a testament to incredible strength of character and the support of his amazing wife, Eleanor.

From Campobello, I took a ferry to Deer Island. While waiting for the ferry, I met Bob and Allison, who drove me out to see the Quoddy lighthouse at the end of Campobello Island.


Thanks for the ride!


I rode across ridiculously hilly Deer Island and talked to some sardine fishermen who were repairing their weir nets.


The ferry came in.


After I rolled aboard, the ferry captain waved me over and invited me up to the bridge where I got to hang out for the whole trip. This is the view from the bridge.


This is Michael, the captain.



I've been on countless ferries but the Deer Island ferry has been the most unique, for sure.

After another 10 miles of constant hills, I finally got back to pedaling my old friend, the Trans Canada Highway sections of which I've ridden in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. They grade the highway, unlike other roads in New England which means the climbs are far more gradual. I couldn't believe how easy the riding was! I hauled an easy 20 miles to camp and another easy 35 miles to Saint John this morning.

I am now hanging out by the famous reversing falls on the Saint John River. This whole area is on the Bay of Fundy, home of the highest tides in the world at over 50 feet. During low tide there is a set of rapids on the river but during high tide, the tide rises so much that the rapids are submerged and the river flows upstream.

This is low tide. The rapids flow from left to right out towards the sea.


High tide. The river has now reversed and is flowing upstream.


I honestly didn't think this would be as cool as it was.

Between low and high tide, I rode down to downtown Saint John and checked out the New Brunswick museum. Photos weren't allowed, which is too bad since the collection of whale skeletons was very cool. I got to touch baleen, which is made of a horn-like substance. It also has long hairs on it with the texture and length of a horse's tail. Filter feeding whales take huge gulps of water in their mouths and force the water through the baleen, catching the plankton on their baleen. They then lick off all the trapped prey with an enormous tongue. There was a juvenile sperm whale skull displayed, also. The skull is enormous, of course, but what I found amazing was how narrow the lower jaw was at less than a foot across. I also didn't know that sperm whales only have teeth in their lower jaws.

There are a number of sculptures by an artist named Hooper in the downtown Saint John area that I really liked.








I am now on the three hour ferry ride to Digby, Nova Scotia. Sam is on the car deck.


Here is the departing view of Saint John.



-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Reversing Falls, Saint John