Valleyview Provincial Park, Bridgetown, Nova Scotia (June 9-12, 2024)

 Since we arrived in Nova Scotia, we have established that most of our travel days are going to be SHORT...unless we veer off path to sightsee. This day was no exception. We left Blomidon and 2 hours later we were at Valleyview Provincial Park in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia. The reason it is called Valleyview is because the park is on top of a mountain and has a great view of Bridgetown in the valley. We also decided that we will drive Sol on major highways where possible as the other roads are narrow and not as well maintained (translation----potholes!).

Valleyview was our home base to explore Annappolis Royal, Middleton, and Digby. 

Our first afternoon we drove the coastal road to view a couple of lighthouses. The first was Hampton. The lighthouse houses a museum, but it was closed when we visited. The beach is rock covered, reminding me of Oregon beaches.

We continued down the coast road to Delaps Cove where the road ended. From there we drove east and found Port Royal, a Canadian  National Historic Site. It was almost closing time, but the docents gave us a quick tour of the buildings We used our Canadian Park Passes for entry. (when we were making reservations before we left home we realized that to camp in a national park in Canada, you pay the camping fee and a daily entrance fee. The park pass pays for the daily entrance fee--ours has already paid for itself). This was the first permanent settlement in Canada and it was used in the fur trade.

 

 

 

The next find was Melanson National Historic Site just a few miles north. Both historic sites were part of a Geocache Adventure Lab. No, not a single picture...we were staying ahead of the mosquitos as we walked the trail around the site!

The following day we drove to Annapolis Royal to visit Fort Anne and the Historic Botanical Gardens. We enjoyed walking around the old fort. The officers' quarters is the only building standing, and it had been rebuilt using some original materials.

 

 From Fort Anne, we walked to the Historic Botanical Gardens. This hatched roof gardener's shed had mason bees living and working in the thatch....we didn't want to get too close!

Bumblebees were busy elsewhere in the garden.

There were artworks and sculptures throughout the garden.

After exploring the two places and completing a couple of Adventure Labs, we stopped by Annapolis Brewing Company before heading to Sol. It is the first place we have been in Nova Scotia where they had tin signs for sale! Bob got one to add to his collection by the pool.

Our third day in Valleyview, we headed north to Middleton to walk a nature trail and pick up some more geocaches. We also took our bikes so we could ride from Middleton to Kinston...and we didn't take any pictures! We rode our bikes on the roughest trail we have ridden (it was nothing but washboard most of the way). Once I was off my bike, I felt like I had been on one of those belt shaking exercise machines from the 1960's. Whoever put me on it, gave me the full body belt! I thought I would never stop the bouncing!

After our ride, we found the nearest Wal-mart to pick up a few supplies. Most of our campgrounds have not been near towns...most have been at least 10 miles from any town with big stores.

Our last day in the area, we chose to drive to Digby, the scallop capital of the world!

We visited Digby Pier Light which has been rebuilt.

We drove to Prim Point to see the tallest lighthouse we have seen so far in Nova Scotia. I enjoyed walking on the rocks! The lighthouse had a cute gift store in what once housed the light keeper.

Yes, the scallop fleet was in for most of our day in Digby. We did see a few boats going in and out of the harbor after the tide changed.

And, YES, I had scallops for lunch. They were delicious! (Bob had a lobster roll).

We enjoyed our time at Digby, but it was time to head back to camp. June 13 would be a travel day.