Tag Eastern Shore

Walking Nova Scotia – Cape to Cape Journey’s End

Robert Bradt 2 Comments

Between May 18 and July 5 of 2023, I walked from The Hawk on Cape Sable Island, the southern tip of Nova Scotia, to its northern tip at Cape North on Cape Breton Island, a 1000+ km trek. This is the story of part of that journey.  See these posts to read about the whole journey:

A big thank you to everyone who has bought me a coffee over the past year.  The Buy Me a Coffee service allows patrons like you to fund writers like me, to cover things like the costs of running this blog, new shoes and gear, and journeys like this.  If that sounds like a worthy idea to you, then go ahead – keep buying me coffees.

Where am I now?

Home, in Lunenburg.  I’ve had a few days now to let things sink in – that I finished my journey;  that I made a plan and saw it through; that I have a life to fit back into, everyday things to do, friends to see, family to hug and hold.

Fun Facts

I walked a total of 1,027 km, which is about the same as:

  • walking from Toronto to Montreal and back again
  • walking from Paris to Berlin
  • walking a bit more than 24 marathons

It took me around 264 hours of walking to do it, so I averaged just under 3.9 kph, which sounds slow but in my defence that walking time includes rest breaks.  I probably rested around 10-12 minutes for every hour I walked.

I climbed just under 4500 flights of stairs, according to FitBit, and a flight of stairs in Fitbit-land is equal to roughly 3 meters, making it more than 13 km of vertical ascent (and descent, since I started and ended more or less at sea level).  That’s like:

  • climbing both Mount Everest and Mount Blanc
  • climbing the CN Tower in Toronto 31 times
  • descending the 1829 meter deep Grand Canyon more than 7 times

It took me about 1.4 million steps to do it.  Think about that the next time you’re walking on an exercise machine.

I crossed 32 rivers – here’s the list, see how many you recognize: Barrington, Clyde, Roseway, Jordan, Sable, Tidney, Broad, Mersey, Medway, Petite, Lahave, Mushamush, Martins, Gold, Middle, East (the one west of Halifax), Musquodoboit, West, East (the other East River next to Sheet Harbour), Salmon, Moser, Ecum Secum, Liscomb, Gaspereaux, St. Mary’s, Larry’s, Salmon (the other one near Guysborough), Southwest Mabou, Mabou, Margaree, Fishing Cove, and the North Aspy.  Not to mention dozens of brooks and streams.

I passed through several hundred cities, towns, and hamlets with names that include one of these words: Bay, Basin, Cove, Harbour, Lake, or Point.

I saw at least one moose, beaver, seal, deer, whale, bald eagle, osprey, otter, fox, snake, turtle, frog, toad, squirrel, and chipmunk.

I slept in my tent in provincial park campgrounds, National park campgrounds, private campgrounds, a couple of backyards, and on crown land.  I also spent the night in several inns, hotel, and motels, as well as in a couple of apartments, four houses or cottages, a glamping tent, a yurt, a fancy manor inn, an RV, and on the floor of a house under renovation. Somehow I missed sleeping in a barn.

I lost about 5 lbs in weight in total and about an inch off my waistline, and gained a few pounds of leg muscle.

I saw the following objects by the side of the road:

  • A spoon, a fork, a knife, in separate locations hundreds of km apart
  • A kids backyard play set
  • Enough furniture to fit out a living room including a sofa, an armchair, several coffee tables, and an ottoman
  • A ladies black patent leather pump, left foot, 3 inch heel, fortunately empty
  • A men’s black rubber boot, also empty
  • Several tires
  • Many banana peels
  • Hundreds of work gloves

With hand on heart, I can truthfully sing:

I’ve been to Ecum Secum and I’ve been to Chezzetcook.  

I’ve passed through East Port Medway and I’ve walked to Necum Teuch.  

I’ve crossed the River Mushamush and been to Mushaboom.  

I climbed up Cape North mountain and I’ve seen the lilacs bloom.

From Barrington to St Lawrence Bay I’ve hiked through many trials,

And from cape to cape along the way I’ve gotten a million smiles.

The Blooper Reel

When you take on any project, there will be mistakes made and lessons learned.  I am the first to admit that I got lucky on several occasions – the God of Fools was watching over me.  

First and foremost, had I started my journey just a few days later in May, I would have been stopped right away by the forest fires near Shelburne.  And despite central Nova Scotia getting flooded out with rain for days on end in June, I really only had a few bad-weather days to walk in the rain.  So luck played a big part in my ability to complete the journey with minimal fuss.

But the God of Fools also made sure that I was bitten on the arse by my own mistakes, just to make sure that I learned something:

  • Like when I tried to follow the maps I was using, stubbornly, when my own eyes told me that there wasn’t a road there to follow.
  • Like when I didn’t check my map and just assumed I was on the right road, which took me several km in the wrong direction near Voglers Cove.
  • Like when I made accommodation arrangements in advance, but forgot to change or cancel them when I changed my plans.  I ended up cancelling things last minute, too late to get a full refund, or even a partial refund in some cases.
  • Like when I refused to use bug spray but sat out anyway amidst swarms of black flies.  I was bitten so badly in Sheet Harbour that my ears and right arm were swollen and puffed out red, itchy blisters.
  • Like when I didn’t keep my water bottles full and ran low in high temps, near Judique, and nearly collapsed from heat exhaustion.

My Favourite Things

Lupins and daisies and ferns in green grasses,

Sunlight that dazzles the sea through my glasses.

Lichens on rocks and the ferns under forest,

Blue jays and robins and the crows in their chorus.

Tumbling water and waves on sands sings,

These Scotian delights are my favourite things.

Ahem.  Apologies for the parody.  But here are a few of my favourite things from the journey:

  • Favourite coffee – Uprooted Cafe in Musquodoboit Harbour
  • Favourite fish and chips – Seaside Seafoods in Hunts Point
  • Favourite sandwich – the breakfast wrap from LaHave Bakery in LaHave 
  • Favourite meal – tie between the lobster dinner hosted by Jude Avery in Larry’s River and the dinner of pasta with cured shad roe prepared by Eric Southey in East Port Medway.
  • Favourite campground – Graves Island Provincial Park
  • Favourite bit of trail to walk – the stretch of the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail near Judique
  • Favourite moment – sitting by the Clyde River just listening to the water 

Thoughts

If there was one question that came up again and again from people I met, from Barrington to Bay St. Lawrence, it was “why are you walking this journey?”

There isn’t a single answer to that. What I told people during my journey was part of the answer: that I did it because I wanted to see if I could; that I wanted to explore the province and see places that I’d never visited before; and that deep down, I had this nagging feeling that I’m getting older and if I don’t do these things now, I may not get the chance in future.

But when I was a child, a middle child who was always content to imagine his own adventures, I would make lists, devouring mail order catalogues searching for jack knives and hiking boots and tents and sleeping bags and ropes and axes and all the things that I’d need for the journeys I wanted to make; borrow every book in the town library that told tales of adventures and explorations; and lacking the ability to actually buy the things I thought I wanted or travel off to strange lands, I’d cobble together backpacks from scraps of wood and an old pair of jeans and fill them with cookies and sandwiches and my pretend camping gear, to set off through the nearby fields and bush lots to find my dreams.

And now I am, perhaps, a grown-up child, able to peruse online catalogues to purchase real packs and tents and gear, and buy it and take some food and few clothes, to set off on actual adventures, sleeping in the woods and meeting strange creatures and overcoming fierce adversity to accomplish my quest.  Are we not all kids at heart, at least some of the time?  Maybe deep down, this was my boy’s own adventure.  

I don’t know, to be honest.  I’m sure I walked this for many reasons, only some of which are transparent to me.  But I do know that I’m glad that I did it.

*****

What was the best part of the journey?  Hands down, I’d have to say it was meeting the many, many people who stopped to chat with me.  I had dozens of interesting conversations, with people in every community I passed through, always with smiles and often handshakes as well as a few hugs.  

The kindness shown, again and again, reaffirmed my belief that most people, in most places most of the time, are decent, warm, thoughtful, and caring, and to be able to share their thoughts as I passed through their community remains my enduring memory. 

*****

There were often times when I’d be explaining my journey to someone and they would ask, “are you doing this on your own?”  And I would say yes, I’m walking it solo.  

Maybe I was in a physical sense, but I was never alone.  Ann was always with me.  She was constantly in my thoughts, and we would touch base several times a day.  

But deeper than that, she was with me because she’s a part of me.  We’ve been through a lot together.  I could not have completed this kind of journey without her support.  Thank you, my love.

What next?

More walks, of course.  I have my bucket list of journeys, and I hope to cross off a few more.  Ann has relatives in Ireland who are getting older, we haven’t been there in a few years, and we know we need to get there soon.  Maybe a walk or 3 there could be next.

And of course, I’ve only scratched the surface of Nova Scotia and the Maritimes; parks I haven’t visited, places I haven’t seen.  I’d love to walk the shores of the Bay of Fundy, along both the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia coasts; do the circular hike round Kejimkujik National Park or the coastal path along Cape Chignecto Provincial Park; the rail trail along the Annapolis Valley; or more of Cape Breton Island, along the eastern shore.

But in the short term, I think it’s about consolidation.  Sorting out what I learned, what I liked, what I’m leery of repeating.  Saving up.  Planning and preparing.

And lastly, I think, there’s some writing to do.  I told myself on this walk that I should try to turn this into something publishable.  So let’s see. 

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Walking Nova Scotia – Cape to Cape Post #5

Robert Bradt

Between May 18 and July 5 of 2023, I walked from The Hawk on Cape Sable Island, the southern tip of Nova Scotia, to its northern tip at Cape North on Cape Breton Island, a 1000+ km trek. This is the story of part of that journey.  See these posts to read about the whole journey:

A big thank you to everyone who has bought me a coffee over the past year.  The Buy Me a Coffee service allows patrons like you to fund writers like me, to cover things like the costs of running this blog, new shoes and gear, and journeys like this.  If that sounds like a worthy idea to you, then go ahead – keep buying me coffees.

Where am I now?

Cape Breton Island! 

I scrambled across the causeway 

to reach Port Hastings this afternoon, and then took a taxi to Port Hawkesbury where there’s more choice for places to stay and shops.

To get here since I last posted from Port Bickerton on Sunday, June 18, I’ve walked through Country Harbour, Isaac’s Harbour, Goldboro, Drum Head, Larry’s River, Guysborough, Boylston, Monastery, Linwood, Havre Boucher, and Aulds Cove.

The weather was rainy and cold at the start of this stretch, but by the time I got here summer was well and truly in force – blue skies,  blazing sunshine, and sweltering temps.  

And, by the way, the little corner of the province tucked along the Northumberland Strait by Cape Jack is gorgeous – green rolling fields with a background of blue seas and the mountains of Cape Breton.  My morning walk today was wonderful, meandering the backroads to Havre Boucher.  

Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the lovely rolling hills around Guysborough and Milford Haven.  

Or the rugged countryside between Goldsboro and Seal Cove.  

Or the Acadian charm of Larry’s River.  

This past week has taken me though parts of the province which were not only new to me, they also surprised me with their history and the strength of their communities.  This was the best part of my trip so far, and that’s saying something on a journey that’s been full of great experiences.

Here are some stats about the walk so far:

  • Total kilometres walked – 765
  • Total # of days spent walking – 33
  • Total # of steps walked – 1,037,000+
  • Total # of hours spent walking – about 194
  • Total # of flights of stairs climbed according to FitBit –  3062

Looking ahead, I have just under 260 km still to go, give or take a few.  I have 11 more walking days planned – still unsure whether I need to add one.  

Sleeps and Eats

This stretch has not only surprised me with the scenery and history, the stays and meals have been full of unexpected charms.

In Drum Head, I stopped at the Market store and met Martin, the owner.  We had corresponded previously and I’d asked him about places where I might camp.  When I arrived, wet after a misty/foggy/chilly day, I wasn’t really looking forward to setting up my still wet tent but gamely approached him for advice.  After looking at the map, and not seeing anything that appealed, he offered to let me sleep around the back of a house he owned that was being renovated.

We walked over to see what would work, and he mentioned that the plumbing was partly done so there was cold water plus a working toilet.  We went into the house to check that, and I looked around to see that the floors were down and the windows in, while outside fog swirled and sopping wet grasses sagged mournfully – “can I camp out in here?”, I asked.  Sure he said, so that’s what I did; spread out my sleeping gear under a dry roof and kipped down quite comfortably.

And, since he owned a general store full of foods, I picked out a frozen pizza which he baked for me for dinner, then in the morning he made me a breakfast burrito and a cheese wrap for my lunch.  Simple but tasty and very much appreciated.

The next night in Larry’s River was even more interesting.  I stayed at a lovely B&B called Murphy‘s Inn, which was very comfortable and would have been a great evening all by itself.  But on top of that, Bob, the owner, had become interested in my journey when I explained what I was doing, and he arranged with a local author, historian, and raconteur named Jude Avery to have me invited to a lobster dinner party that Jude arranges on occasion.

What an evening!  Huge, perfectly cooked lobsters were the featured course, along with salads, wines, cakes, and cookies – I was properly stuffed at the end.  

And even better than the food was the conversation, on subjects ranging from my journey, to the youthful antics of some of the dinner guests, to the history of the Acadian deportations in the 1750’s.  I had a wonderful time, and I can’t say thank you enough to everyone who made me feel so welcome, especially Jude, the host.

After that, my stay in Guysborough seems a bit anticlimactic, but of course it wasn’t because Ann joined me for a couple of nights.  We stayed at the Desbarres Manor Inn, a bit of luxury compared to my camping nights.  Since I had planned for a rest day while she was there, we drove over to Antigonish for an afternoon of browsing the shops and enjoying a lingering lunch before returning to the Inn for a drink on the deck.

Leaving Guysborough, I walked to Linwood and camped for the night at the Linwood Harbour Campground, which was quite pleasant, though the bugs forced me into my tent before 8 pm.  We won’t talk about my Mac ‘n cheese meal.

Stories

Reaching Cape Breton Island is a major milestone for me.  But getting here over the causeway was more of a challenge than I thought.  I wasn’t sure if I could even walk across, because when I looked in detail at satellite pictures I couldn’t see a pedestrian pathway.  

And as I got closer to the on-ramp, the shoulder of the road faded to near nothingness.  I looked for signs saying No Pedestrian Access or some such thing but didn’t see anything.  I passed a truck weigh station with a security vehicle parked outside but no one shouted out to stop me.  

So I kept going, and found myself picking my way over a shattered jumble of rocks, which I assume are pushed up when winter ice jams against the structure, along with stray garbage and vehicle parts and other flotsam, tangled with straggly tall grasses and weeds.

It’s about 1.2 km across and it took me the best part of 20 minutes to do it.  And while perhaps I shouldn’t have walked it, I would have felt that I had cheated had I been forced to hitch a ride for this short but crucial piece.

*****

Trail Angels, part 2

  • Martin, owner of the Drum Head Market, who made me dinner, breakfast, and lunch, plus tea and coffee; let me camp in his under-renovation property; and kept me entertained with stories and conversation about the local area, wind and solar power generation, software development, and military history, amongst other things. 
  • Gary, owner of Gary’s Groceries in Havre Boucher, who let me sit in the shade on the deck of his house to cool off on a blazing morning.
  • The owner of the campground in Linwood who watched me squelch sweatily into the office to register, took a look at my soaked hat, shirt, and hair, and silently reached into the fridge to get a cold bottle of water, pushing it across the counter and letting me gulp down half before he asked me who I was
  • The woman in Port Hawkesbury (whom I swear was Mary Walsh or her twin sister), who called out from her pickup “I hope you’ve had a wonderful day” with a big smile, to end my day on a high note.

Where next?

This last leg of my journey will end when I reach the Cape North Lighthouse.  To get there, the immediate next step is to follow the Ceilidh Trail from Port Hastings to Inverness, staying in the Judique area, Port Hood, and Mabou along the way.

This is the heart of Gaelic Cape Breton, and a highlight for me will be visiting the Red Shoe pub in Mabou, where there’s always live music to enjoy.  

And between here and there, I have two days of rain in the forecast.  Time to get the wet gear out again.

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Walking Nova Scotia – Cape to Cape Post #4

Robert Bradt

Between May 18 and July 5 of 2023, I walked from The Hawk on Cape Sable Island, the southern tip of Nova Scotia, to its northern tip at Cape North on Cape Breton Island, a 1000+ km trek. This is the story of part of that journey.  See these posts to read about the whole journey:

A big thank you to everyone who has bought me a coffee over the past year.  The Buy Me a Coffee service allows patrons like you to fund writers like me, to cover things like the costs of running this blog, new shoes and gear, and journeys like this.  If that sounds like a worthy idea to you, then go ahead – keep buying me coffees.

Where am I now?

In Port Bickerton, sitting in Whitney’s Corner Store so I can use the WiFi, get some breakfast, and eavesdrop on the locals chatting.

Since Thursday, I have walked from Moser River to Liscomb Mills, then from there to Sherbrooke, and now to Port Bickerton (which the locals seem to pronounce as Beckerton).

Here are some stats about the walk so far:

  • Total kilometres walked – 628
  • Total # of days spent walking – 25
  • Total # of steps walked – 855,000+
  • Total # of hours spent walking – about 162
  • Total # of stairs climbed according to FitBit –  2450

Looking ahead, I have just under 400 km still to go, give or take a few.  I have 16 more walking days planned – we’ll see whether I need to add one or two.  Hope not, but those hills and mountains on Cape Breton Island get bigger every time I review my plans.

Sleeps and Eats

I spent a couple of nights at the Liscombe Lodge, and very welcome it was in the pouring rain on Wednesday past, when I walked from Port Dufferin to Moser River.  

It’s a nice resort-style inn, with outdoorsy facilities like hiking trails or indoorsy ones like swimming pools – the sort of place that’s in most of the tourist guides and attracts people from all over. While I was there I overheard bits of German and French, English lilts and American twang, and Maritime and Ontario accents.

The demographics, this time of year, are skewed to an older guest – I was one of the younger diners one night, just looking around.  Then again, school isn’t out yet so families are still a few weeks away.  But there was a nice little ceremony I noticed when walking past one of the ballrooms, to see what I think was a high school graduation party in progress.  Good on them.

I also camped for a night at the River’s Edge Campground in Sherbrooke, a nice place by the St Mary’s River. 

The view over the water was lovely, watching the swallows swoop and dive, and the sound of it burbling made for a peaceful sleep.

And this morning as I write this, I had a wet and windy night of it camping on some property in Port Bickerton owned by Whitney, of Whitney’s Corner Store.  A big thank you to her and her husband Kevin for letting me do that.  

And, by the way, they are also a restaurant serving a generously-sized order of fish and chips, amongst other things, which I had for dinner last night – just what I needed after 6 hours of walking.  Plus they do a hot breakfast (yummy veggie omelette), which solved my cooking in the rain conundrum.

I also took advantage of the opening of the Sherbrooke Market to browse, pick up lunch, chat with some locals, listen to music, and wolf down a delicious grilled sausage.  Open Saturday’s, starting June 17 this year and probably running through Labour Day.

Stories

In a previous post, I talked about the God of Fools, who has been looking over my shoulder on this trip.  The other day, I set out from Moser River to walk to Liscomb.  I started out at a good pace, motoring along and taking pictures of things along the way.

I came upon a picturesque church 

and went to grab my phone, only to realize in a panic that I didn’t have it.  After patting all my pockets 3 times, I decided to leave my pack at the church and back-walked along the road.  I finally found it more than a kilometre away, lying on the shoulder of the road at the last place I’d taken a pic.  It must not have slipped into my pocket securely.  

I thanked my stars that it had fallen on the road shoulder, so it didn’t get run over.  But retrieving it cost 30 min of the day, so I decided to skip a bit of a detour I had planned to make, taking an extra hour to follow the coast around by Mitchell Bay.  

But the God of Fools was working behind the scenes.  By not taking the detour, it meant I was back to the Lodge about 2 minutes before the heavens opened to a one-hour downpour.  Had I not dropped my phone, I would have gotten soaked.

*****

Hikers doing one of the long distance trails in the US, such as the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail, are often helped out by locals along the way, with little gifts of food or baked goods, cold drinks, or rides from the trail to nearby towns to pick up supplies.  The hiking community likes to call them Trail Angels.

And on my journey so far, I’ve had help from several Trail Angels here in Nova Scotia.  

  • The kind local gentleman outside Voglers Cove who gave me a lift back to town after I made a wrong turn
  • My neighbours from Lunenburg, Susan and Robert, who drove down to Sable River to bring me a hot dinner and treats
  • The cheerful and chatty ladies whom I met in Sheet Harbour, who slyly bought me breakfast while I was nattering on about my trip
  • The firefighters from Sheet Harbour who called their chief to get me permission to camp behind the fire hall in Moser River (a welcome offer, but one that I declined due to the heavy rain that day which led me to arrange a lift so I could stay at a hotel)
  • The kind woman who saw me walking to Sherbrooke as she drove there, picked me up a sandwich and a bottle of water, and dropped them off with a “thought you might be hungry and thirsty” when she saw me on her drive back
  • The local Port Hilford baker who saw me at the Sherbrooke Market, and gave me a homemade chocolate cookie when she came across me 15 km later along the road.
  • And the dozens of people I’ve chatted with along the way who have wished me well, and the hundreds of who have brightened my journey with a car horn toot and a wave.

I’ve been amazed and gratified and uplifted every day by all of these acts of kindness.  Thank you everyone.  

Where next?

I’m 3 days walk from Guysborough, where Ann is joining me for a couple of nights while I take a rest day.  To get there I need to trek along Route 211 from Port Bickerton to Isaac Harbour and connect with Route 316 to Drum Head to camp, and then keep going Larry’s River for a stay at Murphy’s Inn, and finally on to Guysborough.  I’m really looking forward to the break.

And from Guysborough, I have one more night on the mainland at Linwood, and then it’s over the causeway and onto the Island.  I’m looking forward to that as well – I haven’t been to Cape Breton in 30 odd years.

I’m getting there, one story at a time.

Route

Here’s the original plan.  I have more or less followed it as written until part way through Step 9, where I had to move off the trail, skip steps 10-13, and just followed the road from East Chester and through Halifax (step 14).  

This latest bit has seen me start at Step 15, for Step 16 followed route 207 instead of the trail, did step 17 and 18, and am now in the middle of a step 19.  After that, it’s still more or less the plan as described.  

  1. Start at The Hawk on Cape Sable Island, and follow coastal roads to reach Barrington Passage.  
  2. Pick up the Shelburne County Rail trail and follow it to Clyde River
  3. Then walk along the tedious Highway 103 to Shelburne
  4. Where you’ll get back onto the rail trail to walk to Lockeport
  5. And then from Lockport, continue following the rail trail through and past the Tidney River Wilderness area to reach Highway 3 at Summerville.
  6. Where you continue on the highway for a bit and then get back onto the rail trail to reach Liverpool
  7. And then continue on the rail trail up to around Port Medway, before exiting onto Route 331, the Lighthouse Route coastal road, to walk all the way to LeHave.
  8. From LeHave, take the ferry over the river and walk to Lunenburg on the local back roads, and then 
  9. From Lunenburg, take the Rum Runners Trail through Mahone Bay, past Chester, and on past Hubbards to Upper Tantallon, and then
  10. Detour south onto the Joshua Slocum Trail to reach old dirt roads through Five Bridges Wilderness Area to reach Glen Margaret, where you
  11. Pick up Route 333, the Peggy’s Cove Road, to walk down to the lighthouse, and then bear east towards Prospect to connect with 
  12. The Old Halifax road which takes you north back to Glen Margaret
  13. Where you connect onto the old St. Margaret’s Bay Road to walk east to Halifax
  14. And then walk through the city to the ferry terminal.
  15. There you catch the ferry over to Woodside in Dartmouth
  16. To reach the Shearwater Flyer rail trail, which takes you northeast to Lawrencetown
  17. Where you follow back roads to Porters Lake and then onto Highway 7 to reach Chezzetcook,
  18. And then keep following Highway 7, past Musquodoboit, Jeddore, Ship Harbour, Spry Bay, Sheet Harbour, Moosehead, Ecum Secum, and Liscombe, all the way to Sherbrooke.
  19. Where you turn onto Route 211 and follow the coast road northeast to Isaacs Harbour, and then 
  20. Branch onto Route 316 and follow that to Larry’s River.
  21. At Larry’s River, you follow (natch), Larry’s River Road north to reach Highway 16 outside Guysborough,
  22. And Highway 16 takes you to Boylston where you get onto Route 344, which
  23. Bears northeast and then north and then west, around the coast to Aulds Cove, where the TransCanada Highway Canso Causeway clambers across to Cape Breton Island.
  24. You feet fall onto the Celtic Shore Coastal Trail, and follow that all the way to Inverness.
  25. From Inverness, follow Highway 19 to Dunvegan and then branch onto Route 219 along the coast to Margaree Harbour.
  26. Pick up Highway 30 and follow that to Cheticamp, and Grand Etang where you’ll enter Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
  27. Follow hiking trails, including the Skyline Trail, northwards before rejoining Highway 30 again.
  28. Continue along that north until you reach Fishing Cove, and detour there down hiking trails to the water.
  29. Retrace your steps back to Highway 30 (the Cabot Trail) and follow it north to Pleasant Bay
  30. Turn the corner and follow the Cabot Trail east, up across the island past Big Intervale and Sunrise to reach the hamlet of Cape North (not the actual Cape North, just yet).
  31. Turn onto the Bay Saint Lawrence Road and follow that to Bay Saint Lawrence.
  32. Follow the Money Point Road to reach your goal, the lighthouse at Cape North!
  33. Walk back to Bay Saint Lawrence and meet your darling wife who will drive you to Baddeck for a well-earned rest

If all goes well, I’ll finish in early July 2023.  More blog posts to follow, of course.

[insert buy me a coffee footer]


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Walking Nova Scotia – Cape to Cape Post #3

Robert Bradt 1 Comment

Between May 18 and July 5 of 2023, I walked from The Hawk on Cape Sable Island, the southern tip of Nova Scotia, to its northern tip at Cape North on Cape Breton Island, a 1000+ km trek. This is the story of part of that journey.  See these posts to read about the whole journey:

A big thank you to everyone who has bought me a coffee over the past year.  The Buy Me a Coffee service allows patrons like you to fund writers like me, to cover things like the costs of running this blog, new shoes and gear, and journeys like this.  If that sounds like a worthy idea to you, then go ahead – keep buying me coffees.

Where am I now?

On the road, at Norse Cove Campground outside East Ship Harbour, where I am camping for the night the Marmalade Motel in Port Dufferin the Liscombe Lodge in Liscomb Mills. (Started this post a couple of days ago and am trying to finish it, I swear!)

This 3rd leg of my journey along the Eastern Shore began on June 6 in Halifax at the Ferry Terminal.  At time of writing (June 10 June 13 June 14) I’m about 100 150 165 some odd km from Halifax, and almost have just passed the halfway point of the journey.

Places

I had never taken the ferry to Dartmouth before, so it was fun and vaguely reminiscent of taking the ferry in Sydney, to board it that morning.

After landing, I was off and since then I’ve passed through Dartmouth, Cole Harbour, Lawrencetown, Porters Lake, Musquodoboit Harbour, Head of Jeddore, Salmon River, Ship Harbour, East Ship Harbour, Spry Harbour, Spry Bay, Mushaboom, Sheet Harbour, Port Dufferin, East and West Quoddy, Moosehead (isn’t that a Bluenose name!), and Moser River.

And it’s a bit of a story but given a persistent day of rain, instead of stopping and camping in Moser River and then walking on to Liscomb Mills the next day, as I had planned, I decided not to be a martyr; instead I booked two nights at Liscombe Lodge, walked to and stopped at Moser River in driving rain, got picked up by a nice guy named Doug who drove me to the Lodge, and am now lording it in a fancy dining room having a glass of wine looking out over the Liscomb River at misty, rainy, low fog under which I might otherwise have camped, on sodden grass.  So there.

But to get back to the journey.  

The character of the Eastern Shore is different from the South Shore – more rural, more rugged, and less populated.  Almost the entirety of this leg of my journey has been road walking, and since Musquodoboit Harbour it’s been along Highway 7.  

I have diverted a few times along some back roads, but for the most part what I see has been determined by whether the road is near the coast or whether it veers inland.  

So it’s road walking, which can mean brain-off slogging sometimes, but also offers the little serendipitous scenes that catch the eye as you walk. 

Like passing a farm where the washing was out on a line, all black clothes, except for a lime green shirt in the middle.  

Or some of the interesting mail boxes I’ve come to expect.

Or the ghost stairs that are the only remaining part of what had been a house.

And I’ve kept myself amused noting some of the road signs I’ve passed, some for businesses

And some for other things

As places go, Sheet Harbour is the town that sticks out for me. The only other town since Dartmouth that actually felt like a town was Musquodoboit Harbour, and even it didn’t have the shops and restaurants and varied businesses that make a town a living entity.

Sheet Harbour in that sense is a proper town with a library and a hospital and a big school, and parks, and actual sidewalks.  I liked it more than I thought I would.

That’s probably because I met a number of interesting people there, from the hardware store manager who gave me directions to a good cafe, to the firefighters who stopped to chat about my journey when they saw me walking past with my pack.

So thank you Sheet Harbour.  But next time, you can keep the black flies to yourself.

Sleeps and Eats

So far on this leg of the journey, I’ve had a range of accommodations.  I’ve camped 4 times, once at Porters Lake Provincial Park, where I was the only camper in the whole place making for a spooky evening as the fog rolled in off the lake and the crows gathered to glower at me from the trees surrounding my tent.

I’ve also camped 3 times at private campgrounds including Norse Cove, Spry Bay Campground, and East River Lodge and Campground.  

Spry Bay and East River were fine, though they cater primarily to RV campers. I was the only tenter at either one, which was good for me since it meant that no one else was using the washrooms, and being early in the season both were almost empty and very quiet.  I slipped in, set up, slept, and slipped out without much fuss at either place.

Norse Cove was cool because it’s almost entirely a tenting campground, and the sites are set into the forest on platforms so you get a level space for your tent and a view of the bay in front of you.

The campers there are much younger than at the RV resorts – very different demographics – and the vibe is very laid back.  I met a young woman there who was friends with another woman who had inadvertently overheard me explaining my journey on the phone.  She stopped to chat as I was charging my devices, curious to know more. I explained where I was going and she wished me good luck and safe travels. And it turned out that her friend was from Lahave, just up the road from Lunenburg.  I love small world moments.

I’ve also had a couple of AirBnB stays, including a simple but spacious and comfortable basement apartment near Mineville hosted by Andrew, on my first night out of Dartmouth, which had a private deck overlooking his green oasis of a garden.

Plus, a great glamping tent stay on a quiet lake hosted by Kim and Mark – I loved the fact that I got the closeness to nature of camping but someone else dealt with the tent and provided a much comfier bed than I use backpacking.

And finally I’ve had a couple of stays at little inns.  The Salmon River Country Inn is run by Margit, originally from Bavaria, so it has a German country inn feel which reminded me of trips to Munich.

And then there was the Marmalade Motel, once an old school motel and now a fully renovated and eclectic little gem, full of character and designer chic.  And when I arrived at the Marmalade, I got the bonus of a wedding going on outside 

(part of this post was written while I was being serenaded by the wedding party singing karaoke – Gangnam Style, Dancing Queen, etc – badly and with much laughter). 

And tonight I am at one of Nova Scotia’s classic country inns, the Liscombe Lodge, old school perhaps but charming and staffed by lovely warm people who call you Hon.

*****

Along the way, I’ve had some memorable meals as well.  My glamping tent hosts, Kim and Mark, run a restaurant and pantry called Lupin, and even though the restaurant wasn’t open when I was there, Kim cooked one of her take-home-pantry chicken and broccoli casseroles for me – simple comfort food done well.

And Margit at the Salmon River Country Inn does Bavarian favourites, so naturally I had chicken schnitzel, traditionally prepared and perfectly served, still sizzling, accompanied by the simple potato and cucumber salads I remember from my visits to Munich.

Uprooted Market and Cafe in Musquodoboit Harbour serves great coffee, makes a tasty vegetarian egg breakfast sandwich, and offers a pretty darn fine oatmeal cookie.

I’ve eaten my share of room service club sandwiches at hotels all over the place, when I travelled on business back in the day, and Ralph’s Down East Diner does theirs really well.  And the fries are great too.

The Marmalade Cafe in Sheet Harbour is another good spot for coffee, plus they do breakfasts, sandwiches, salads, and soups.

The Slippery Oyster, also in Sheet Harbour, served a surprisingly tasty chicken quesadilla, not something you find on many Nova Scotia menus.

And the Marmalade Motel offers picnic lunches and continental breakfasts. I ordered the picnic as my dinner and was amazed and delighted to be served a massive tray of tasty food that really hit the spot after a day of walking.

The Liscombe Lodge offers its signature planked salmon as well as classics like steaks, chicken supreme, and Caesar salads, but even if the menu is stuck in 1985 and looking around I see that I’m one of the younger people here, the food is prepared with care and is comfortably part of my culinary past, the wine is good, and the atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming.

And of course, since I’ve camped several times, I’ve also had a few backpacker meals. My staples are things like oatmeal for breakfast

 or just-add-hot-water things like Raman noodles.

And camping has offered the bonus of being eaten alive by mosquitoes and black flies.  Nothing says Yum like slurping noodles with one hand while holding your bug net off your face with the other.

Stories

Oh my, the stories.  As this journey has unfolded, it seems the people and stories have gotten better and better.  

I stopped at Ship Harbour at the only restaurant between Salmon River and Norse Cove – Ralph’s Down East Diner.  I walked in, wearing my pack, and all eyes swiveled onto my sweaty figure.  No one said anything at first, just watched as I put my pack down and ordered.  And then the one guy who’s in every room said loudly enough for the whole place to overhear, “So where’d you walk from?”  

“From Salmon River this morning.  I left Dartmouth 5 days ago.”

“Where you headed?”

“Cape Breton.  I’m walking the length of Nova Scotia, headed for Cape North.”

“Are you?  Good for you.”

And then as the guy was leaving, he said “Good luck buddy, and stick to it.” You know you’re down east when someone calls you Buddy.

*****

And just after I left that diner, I passed a house where two young boys, maybe 9 or 10, were out playing on the front porch.  They looked up as I passed.  The bold one called out, “Did you walk from down there?”, pointing back along the road.  

“Yep.  From Halifax.”  

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Where are you going?”  

“Cape Breton.”

Shock, eyes growing wide and a disbelieving glance at his friend. After a moment to pick up his jaw, he blurted out “Why?”

“To explore, to see things.  That’s how you learn, by exploring.”

Dubious shake of the head, another quick glance at his friend.  “Good luck, mister.”

“Thanks.”

*****

Sheet Harbour offered a wealth of characters.  There was the owner of the East River campground, who asked about my journey, and after we got to chattin’, offered to give me a lift to a local restaurant and then stayed to have dinner with me.  We talked for an hour about travelling, life in general, and just doing things while you can and are able  – we were both of a certain age.  Afterwards he gave me a guided tour of the town and shook my hand as we parted – “good luck”.  

Then the next morning I went to the Marmalade Cafe for breakfast.  I spent an hour reviewing my upcoming plans while eating, as regulars came and went.  When I got up to leave, and walked over to where I’d left my pack, two women came up.  “Where are you off to then?”

“Cape Breton.”

“Are you now.  Where did you start from?”

And then after a few minutes of chit and chat as I explained my journey, they asked where I was heading next.  “Port Dufferin to the Marmalade Inn tonight, and then somewhere around Moser River, but I don’t know where I’ll stay that night.”

More chat and suggestions and conferring between themselves and offers to call a friend to see whether I could camp on so-and-so’s land, and several other suggestions.  Finally, I said thank you for their advice and we wished each other well.  “Keep going, you’ll do it”, they said.

And then, after they’d left, I turned to pay for my breakfast.  “It’s paid for”, said the server. “Those two ladies took care of it“.  So thank you, the Ladies of Sheet Harbour Who Frequent The Marmalade Cafe.  I’m smiling as I write this.

Where next?

The immediate next step is to go back to Moser River, then walk to Liscomb Mills as I’d planned and keep going along the Eastern Shore.  Once I reach Sherbrooke, I can finally get off of Highway 7.  I’ll follow Route 211 for a while and then at Isaac’s Harbour I’ll connect with Route 316 which will take me to Larry’s River.

Oh, and here’s another story.  At Larry’s River, a treat is in store.  In booking my stay at Murphy’s Inn, I was corresponding with the owner, Bob. I explained about my journey, and he in turn was interested enough to chat about it with others in the area.  The upshot is that he’s arranged to have me invited to a lobster supper, with chats with several local historians and fellow guests interested in the history of the area and the Inn, and on top of that I’ll be interviewed by the local paper.  Thanks Bob, I’m very much looking forward to it.

And that’s really the story of this journey, it’s been about meeting great people – the finest kind.

Thank you, Nova Scotia.

Route

Here’s the original plan.  I have more or less followed it as written until part way through Step 9, where I had to move off the trail, skip steps 10-13, and just followed the road from East Chester and through Halifax (step 14).  

This latest bit has seen me start at Step 15, for Step 16 followed route 207 instead of the trail, did step 17, and am now in the middle of a step 18.  After that, it’s still more or less the plan as described.  

  1. Start at The Hawk on Cape Sable Island, and follow coastal roads to reach Barrington Passage.  
  2. Pick up the Shelburne County Rail trail and follow it to Clyde River
  3. Then walk along the tedious Highway 103 to Shelburne
  4. Where you’ll get back onto the rail trail to walk to Lockeport
  5. And then from Lockport, continue following the rail trail through and past the Tidney River Wilderness area to reach Highway 3 at Summerville.
  6. Where you continue on the highway for a bit and then get back onto the rail trail to reach Liverpool
  7. And then continue on the rail trail up to around Port Medway, before exiting onto Route 331, the Lighthouse Route coastal road, to walk all the way to LeHave.
  8. From LeHave, take the ferry over the river and walk to Lunenburg on the local back roads, and then 
  9. From Lunenburg, take the Rum Runners Trail through Mahone Bay, past Chester, and on past Hubbards to Upper Tantallon, and then
  10. Detour south onto the Joshua Slocum Trail to reach old dirt roads through Five Bridges Wilderness Area to reach Glen Margaret, where you
  11. Pick up Route 333, the Peggy’s Cove Road, to walk down to the lighthouse, and then bear east towards Prospect to connect with 
  12. The Old Halifax road which takes you north back to Glen Margaret
  13. Where you connect onto the old St. Margaret’s Bay Road to walk east to Halifax
  14. And then walk through the city to the ferry terminal.
  15. There you catch the ferry over to Woodside in Dartmouth
  16. To reach the Shearwater Flyer rail trail, which takes you northeast to Lawrencetown
  17. Where you follow back roads to Porters Lake and then onto Highway 7 to reach Chezzetcook,
  18. And then keep following Highway 7, past Musquodoboit, Jeddore, Ship Harbour, Spry Bay, Sheet Harbour, Moosehead, Ecum Secum, and Liscombe, all the way to Sherbrooke.
  19. Where you turn onto Route 211 and follow the coast road northeast to Isaacs Harbour, and then 
  20. Branch onto Route 316 and follow that to Larry’s River.
  21. At Larry’s River, you follow (natch), Larry’s River Road north to reach Highway 16 outside Guysborough,
  22. And Highway 16 takes you to Boylston where you get onto Route 344, which
  23. Bears northeast and then north and then west, around the coast to Aulds Cove, where the TransCanada Highway Canso Causeway clambers across to Cape Breton Island.
  24. You feet fall onto the Celtic Shore Coastal Trail, and follow that all the way to Inverness.
  25. From Inverness, follow Highway 19 to Dunvegan and then branch onto Route 219 along the coast to Margaree Harbour.
  26. Pick up Highway 30 and follow that to Cheticamp, and Grand Etang where you’ll enter Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
  27. Follow hiking trails, including the Skyline Trail, northwards before rejoining Highway 30 again.
  28. Continue along that north until you reach Fishing Cove, and detour there down hiking trails to the water.
  29. Retrace your steps back to Highway 30 (the Cabot Trail) and follow it north to Pleasant Bay
  30. Turn the corner and follow the Cabot Trail east, up across the island past Big Intervale and Sunrise to reach the hamlet of Cape North (not the actual Cape North, just yet).
  31. Turn onto the Bay Saint Lawrence Road and follow that to Bay Saint Lawrence.
  32. Follow the Money Point Road to reach your goal, the lighthouse at Cape North!
  33. Walk back to Bay Saint Lawrence and meet your darling wife who will drive you to Baddeck for a well-earned rest

If all goes well, I’ll finish in early July 2023.  More blog posts to follow, of course.


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