34 Yarmouth and beyond

Canada
Québec & New Brunswick
Nova Scotia & Newfoundland
Québec & Ontario
Manitoba to the Pacific

32 Off to Nova Scotia
33 Whales, Digby Neck
34 Yarmouth and beyond
35 Through to Lunenburg
36 Lunenburg
37 To Halifax
38 Halifax
39 Halifax and Bluenose II
40 Halifax
41 Halifax Citadel
42 Fixing Morty
43 Greenwich & Stanhope
44 Charlottetown
45 Canadian Confederation
46 Whisky and Ceilidh
47 On to Broad Cove
48 Glace Bay and Marconi
49 Arriving in Newfndlnd
50 To St John's
51 St John's
52 St John's
53 Avalon Peninsula
54 To Twillingate
55 Rain to Rocky Harbour
56 Gros Morne
57 Vikings up north
58 Wind and ferries
59 Labrador

Canada

Whale Cove to Clyde River, Nova Scotia

Tuesday 6 September 2005 (day 107)

Balancing Rock, another curious formation

Not wanting to be late back to the campsite last night we had not stopped at one of Long Islands main sights, the Balancing Rock, so we headed back there this morning. It was high tide when we got to the ferry and watching it come over from the other side it seemed to be battling against the current. They are strong here, eight to ten knots.

The Balancing Rock is a geological oddity. The rocks here are all basalt, remnants of a long ago volcanic eruption. The whole shore line is characterised by formations that look like sticks of black chalk standing up on end. A path takes you about one kilometre through meadowland and forest t a flight of two hundred and thirty seven steps which lead you down and to the shore for views of the Balancing Rock. It is a pillar of rock that looks like it has been snapped in half but then stood back on top of itself, almost like a vertical game of Jenga. Whilst it was unusual to see, the pictures we had seen in leaflets from Tourist Information had led us, and an American couple who were also there, to expect something a lot bigger! We took a couple of photos and then climbed back in and headed on.

We had no firm plans of where we would end up today but were just heading in the direction of Yarmouth. British influences were ever present in the place names as we passed Brighton (without even noticing it, it was so small), Plympton, Weymouth, New Edinburgh, Bangor, Norwood and Pembroke before reaching Yarmouth. These were all small fishing communities with just a few houses and lots of lobster pots outside. Yarmouth seemed to be a pretty charm-less place. Ferries run from here over to Maine on the US coast and the town looks as if its sole purpose is to meet the needs of the ferries. We decided it was not for us and carried on through on route 3 working down to the southern shore of Nova Scotia.

This road took us through Argyle (including central and lower Argyle) and Pubnico (west, middle west, lower west, and lower east). You would think they could have been a bit more inventive with the place names! This area is meant to be one of the last Acadian areas (i.e. French) that we wil go through in Nova Scotia but you would not believe it from the names on the post boxed - they were all very English and German.

Talking of post boxed, Posties seem to have it easy here. No going up drives to individual houses to deliver the mail here. The post boxes are on the side of the street, and just one side so they do not even have to cross the road. In some of the smaller towns and villages it is even easier still for them as there is a central place for all post boxes and people have to come and pick up their mail themselves. While I am side tracking, we have also had a couple of hairy bridge crossings on wooden bridges where the slats have started to look, and feel, the worse for wear. They are perfectly safe I am sure (or the bridges would have been closed) but it was a bit harrowing none the less.

Route 3 winds down to Shag Harbour, famous for a UFO sighting in 1967 when something crash landed into the water of the bay. We have no more information about it than that! Some of the villages we have passed along the way have had beautiful buildings, very pristine and well looked after. It seems to be quite a religious part of the country, lots of churches proclaiming in different ways that God can save you. We chucked at the sign for a financial planner - J Achenbach - must be Jewish with a name like that!

Stef then told me a story which is probably why Jewish people are associated with money and being good at managing it. In the Middle Ages, no banks or money really existed except gold coins. There was not really a concept of lending money and charging interest but kings and nobles did need money now and again. Dealing with money was deemed to be below the esteem of the nobility and for some reason only Jewish people were allowed to practice money lending. (or something like that...)

We carried on through Doctors Cove and up to Barrington where we stopped for supplies (we seem to be shopping every day, probably due to the lack of space to store enough for a week at a go). This need to stop was primarily alcohol driven but resulted in a few other bits and pieces too including a very tasty apple crumble pie (and a bit of cream to go on top!) - oh dear, the trousers are starting to get tight again!! A very helpful pharmacist gave me a tester of an emollient cream as an alternative to E45 as my stocks are running low and they (Crookes Healthcare i.e. Boots) do not sell it in Canada. She has also given me a different shampoo to try and help my continuing bad dandruff situation.

Our campsite was a little further on and ten kilometres up the Clyde River, suitably called Clyde Farm Camping. It is a small site with not many people there. Our first spot was hot and full of mossies so we moved to a cooler fresher place. The lady who checked us in was actually one of the people with a seasonal trailer here. Today is her birthday and her two sisters and her sister in law, whose birthday it is in a week, have come up to visit her. We could hear them guffawing for quite a while. They were friendly enough and I chatted to them for a while (the sister in law's daughter works in London and is the publisher of Investment something or other) until Stef came to rescue me.

By the time we were set up it was already quite late. Another clear night sky accompanied us but it got too cold and we retreated indoors. It then got so cold that we also resorted to tucking up in bed to watch the end of the film.

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