Day 08 (Aug. 9) - Annapolis Royal to Halifax, Nova Scotia

Rob took a few pictures of the house and front garden this morning before breakfast. Can you spot who is peeking from a window?

Here's a close up of the 2nd floor window, second from the left.

Here's a look at the riverside garden in front of the B&B. Guests can sit out here and watch the tide roll in/out. This is where we watched the fireworks with the new friends we met from Edmonton.

This morning just the nice couple from Massachusetts remained, so our host Suzan joined us at the breakfast table. We asked about her travels to Spain and she revealed that she has done the 500 mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage eight times! She walks the entire route herself and meets people doing the same along the way. She's learned that going in the fall is much better weather-wise, as a portion of the route hikes up and over the Pyrenees! If she is tired, she gets a hotel and stays an extra day or two and eats at very good restaurants. We were all amazed by her bravery and agreed it's not for us. 

We chatted until 10am and had to hit the road since we were behind schedule for the day. Halifax is only 128 miles from Annapolis Royal via the direct route (cutting across the interior of Nova Scotia). We chose to go the long way to Halifax following the coastline which put our mileage for the day around 320 miles. The skies were cloudy and it started to rain 45 minutes after we set off. We had heavy fog at times, then moments of clearing to see rivers and inlets. 

Leaving Annapolis Royal, we headed south towards Digby following the Nova Scotia coastline, then onward around the southeastern portion to Yarmouth. We continued on to Barrington where we turned east and made our way towards Lunenburg. This colorful tourist town was bustling with people, tons of shops and an interesting waterfront. 

It was crowded and hard to find parking. Where we planned to have lunch had a line out the door so we stopped at Subway for a quicker meal, it was already about 2pm at this point. 

Next on the agenda was a stop at Peggy's Cove, a famous lighthouse and lookout point. It was windy and cold so we made quick work of taking pictures.

It was just an hour to get to Halifax from Peggy's Cove. Due to road construction we had to retrace our route taking 333 south back to 103. This added about 20 minutes. We found our hotel and got situated, then walked to dinner at the Brown Hound, an English Pub. After dinner, we walked around Halifax a bit. The art museum had cool architecture.

A big ship in the harbour had gigantic pipelines onboard. We wondered for what purpose might these be used? 

We walked up to the Halifax Citadel, an important naval coastal fortification built in 1749. It was closed but we could walk the perimeter, read the informational signs and look at the city from high above. Here is the Old Clock Tower that sits just below the Citadel.

Tomorrow we head north to North Sydney.