Day 17-Peggy's Cove

A typical eary start to the day after having a travel discussion with a few fellow travellers in the breakfast room. They were heading where I've been so they were asking some questions. It was neat to talk about where I've been to someone.

The day was a sight different than yesterday with just a few clouds and nice sun peaking through. A perfect day for Peggy's Cove!

After getting a little turned around on the highway I found the right road I got going in the right direction! There are some signs to Peggy's Cove but there were other places signed before Peggy's Cove. Oh well I saw some of the country side!

The final side road to Peggy's Cove is narrow and winding and what you notice first is the lack of trees. It looks like tundra! Weird.
One little sign directs you down a road to the Cove and I stopped and parked at the information centre and walked to the famous lighthouse. Good plan. The road got narrower and narrower and there were coach buses driving on it! Yikes....

When you think of Peggy's Cove you see the picture of the lighthouse on the edge of the rocks and the sea in the background but there is much more to the cove and this is the actual cove. I'm sure I've seen this in a jigsaw puzzle somewhere in The Mother's house.
As you can see below the wind was calm and the sun shining. A perfect day!

There are many advantages to getting to a place early means there are less people and less chaos. Today was no different and I'm glad I got away from Dartmouth before 9.
A winding walk along the road to the famous lighthouse but the landscape is so amazing and the rocks are so smooth to walk on it's fun to climb all over them.

What I heard when I got out of the car was bag pipes and there was a piper near the base of the lighthouse playing her heart out. She was awesome and really made the atmosphere complete. The wind, crashing waves and the piper. Really great.

I spent a couple of hours walking then sitting and watching the waves and sights and sounds and enjoying all that is Peggy's Cove.

There isn't a cloud in the sky as you can see by the picture above. Just awesome.

The rocks have been smoothed by glaciers receding and they aren't really smooth to sit on but with a view that great it's something that you over look. The glaciers have left big boulders just sitting on the long rock faces and it's weird to see. The whole area is so beautiful but I can only imagine what it's like in the winter or during a storm. The sea was quiet and the waves were still really rolling! It was great.

There was a stone carver that called Peggy's Cove home and he decided that the granite rock sticking out at the back of his property was perfect for carving. So he set about making a mural in memory of Margaret, the woman who survived a shipwreck and washed ashore at what would become Peggy's Cove, the fishermen that work the seas off the shores and the angel, Grace, that protects them. He never completed it but I have a feeling it was a continuous work of love and he never intended to finish it.

When I saw this I thought of my friend DB, who is a stone carver when he's not being an Anglican priest. He would love this. I think this would be a dream for him. Walk out the back door of his house and just carve the rock that's there. Very cool. I went back to look at it a second time because the light had changed and the shadows brought out different things to see in the artwork. So impressive.

I left there and headed along the same side road that I had been travelling and came across the Swissair 111 memorial. This area has been built as a permanent memorial to the 229 persons who died in that flight in 1998. It also is a thank you to the people that worked in the rescue and recovery effort. The two round stones you see perched up are actually a boulder split in half and engraved on the inside. The stones are aligned at the two angles that make a triangle when aligned with the crash site. It is quite moving really and to know that it happened just off the shore (11 kms out).

This whole area has been rescuer to so many different kind of wrecks and disasters that I think they just took it as another day in the life around here. The people that live here are quite hardy I think.

Again the scenery continued to be something spectacular. I can see why this is a cottage area and that many people flock here to enjoy the scenery and the water in all the little bays and coves.

Time for lunch and not knowing what was around the next corner when I saw a sign I stopped. This was at St. Margaret's Bay and the building had a patio overlooking the marina so I jumped at the chance and took a long lunch.

This was my view so you can see why I was taking my time. It was a self serve type of place and I just enjoyed sitting outside. This is what Nova Scotia is great for!

I realized I had been outside for over 5 hours and I was starting to feel a little worn out, I had a bit of a drive ahead of me and I didn't want to get too tired going back to the hotel because I didn't really know where I'd end up. The roads around me still get me turned around. I did want to take one of the bridges over Halifax Harbour though...

Not surprisingly I guess the good old Equinox knew where to go because I ended up going over the McKay bridge which is right near my hotel. Convenient! It cost me a whole loonie. I even hit the coin basket on my way through. Ha!

Tired and a little worn out from my activities I was happy to flop on the couch and watch the Blue Jays game.
Tomorrow I plan to head to Lunenburg and spend the day there. That means that I have another early day before me and I'm going to get all confused on the roads I'm sure again. I am just looking around too much and I think I need to focus when I'm heading out. Ho hum.

Oh yeah, since the weather was so bad yesterday the Natal Day fireworks are tonight. I think I can see them from the hotel here. That is if I can stay awake long enough....