To Halifax and Back Again

Leaving Moncton we travelled 70km to Amherst, stopping along the way at Fort Beausejour, near Sackville. Just as we pulled into the site the rain came pouring down, so we took the opportunity to check out the indoor museum, which explained the battles between the French and the English in the area. Fort Beausejour became Fort Cumberland when it was taken over by British Forces, and remnants from each part of the forts history can be seen. During a rain-free break we walked the grounds and explored the old barracks and casements. We waited a while in a picnic shelter while the rain came down again, then made a bolt for a campground.

The next night we camped just outside of Truro, after 100km of riding. We were lucky that a fellow camper in Amherst had suggested we take the scenic highway over the main road. The scenic route turned out to be the old highway, and still had large shoulders and was fairly smooth, with very little traffic. Roads in Nova Scotia tend to be less than ideal for cycling.

Another 100km brought us to Halifax, where we met up with John, a connection through warmshowers. It was a late night (no surprise there) so we ate, and went straight to bed. The next day was rainy and cloudy so we grabbed some breakfast, and went to the Halifax Citadel.

The citadel was built to be as intimidating as possible, to ward off attacks on the coastline. Apparently it worked, because after construction, it never was attacked. It is now restored, and staffed to show what life for a soldier was like, including the noontime canon which is fired everyday except for Christmas.

After the Citadel we took a walk by the harbour, and I was very excited to run into Theodore, and I naturally had to stop to take a photo.

We stopped by the old Keiths brewery for a late lunch, and sampled the Keiths Family of beers. A very nice way to spend the afternoon!

Since we were in the area, we also decided to check out Pier 21, the pier where around 1 000 000 people first came in their process for immigration to Canada. Families came with promises of a new future, some returned to their home countries with disappointment, many troops left to go to war, and some came home (some with brides and babies). It was really interesting to hear stories and see photos of the many years the pier operated, and there was a great movie presentation that is definitely worth checking out.

After putting it off for quite some time, we knew it was time to deal with our tent issues (the broken pole from back in Percé). Going into the Atmosphere store, we discovered that they didn`t have any of the same tent to replace the part, so we went back to Johns, grabbed our tent, and went back to do an exchange. We ended up with a new North Face Minibus tent, which actually worked out well for us.

With some sunshine coming our way the next day, we took the opportunity to check out Peggy`s Cove. Leaving some of our heavier belongings at John`s house, we took the scenic

50km route, walked through the Flight 111 memorial site, took some classic Peggy`s Cove photos of the lighthouse, and travelled another 20km to Shad Bay, where we stayed with Greg and Kourtney (friends of John).

Greg and Kourtney have a beautiful house on the water, where they teach yoga and kayaking lessons. When Greg offered to let us borrow a canoe the next morning we were very excited to get out onto the water. We have seen a lot of great things from the bikes, but it was definitely a nice break to paddle for a few hours instead of pedaling.

We paddled along the shoreline and checked out some cool rocks and shells beneath the water. We also found some clusters of rock islands covered in birds.

Making our way back to Halifax (about 25km) didn`t take long that afternoon, and we rode through Point Pleasant Park, watched boats coming in for the night, and saw more of the strategic lookouts for the city.