On the Road Again!

May 5: First night camping at St Margaret's Bay

I managed to get White Westy out of hock at the terminal today after interminable bureaucracy.... export agents, import agents, shipping company, Canada Customs, insurance agency. etc etc. The upshot is that she is free now, and running on the Netherlands registration in Michelle's name. All should be good for getting to BC where I will have to transfer it to my name.

I had a fun chat with these Saskatchewaners at the dock. they were just retrieving their 76 VW after a few months in Europe. Much to my annoyance, they had their van fully loaded with their camping gear, while our exporter had told us to have it totally empty.

We have spent yesterday and today equipping the van with essentials such as a guitar for Pat, a couple of classical bicycles and rack, dishes, bedding, cutlery, a propane BBQ,  electrical hookups, and filling with propane and water. At least three different thrift stores were involved, a Walmart, Canadian Tire and a great little music store (Halifax Folklore Music). She ended up with a lovely little 3/4 size Kala. The store had an in house luthier who insisted on going over the guitar before handing it over. He reported that he was surprised what good quality it is, with full cedar backing and real bone string bridges.

We also picked up our bikes from the bicycle shop, and in the evening took a final walk down to the waterfront.

We moved room at the hotel today, from an OK basement room to a lovely third floor double bed room. Turned out to be only for the one night, as we decided we were ready to hit the road.

May 6:

Checked out and hit the road. First stop was a residential area over near Sackville for a strap on bike rack I saw on Craigslist. $50 for a brand new rack. From there to more thrift stores for pillows, blankets, and a few more odds and ends.

We then set off southward, with even more provisioning stops for propane, groceries and other essentials. We hauled up a little bit short of Peggy's Cove, in a somewhat bedraggled campground on St Margaret's Bay. The manager happened to mention it had been below zero the night before, and sure enough, it was friggin' cold, with insufficient sleeping bags. We survived with a bit closer than usual snuggling. A lovely sunset at the bay across the road from the campground.

May 8:

Our first true tourist day with a morning stop at the iconic Peggy's Cove. We parked just off the highway, and almost a kilometre away from the harbour to get a quiet and slow absorption of the locale as we walked in. It really is the picturesque wonder that it is known to be, and at this time of year there were only a few dozen tourist instead of the summertime hundreds,

 

In early afternoon we had to do another big box store stop (Walmart) for better sleeping bags and groceries. Then set off southward along the seashore again, keeping to the old coastal highway rather than the freeway. Our goal was Lunenberg, but as we were approaching we realized that the town's campground wasn't open until May 19. An online "free camping" site alerted us to a little marine side park below the town. There's no one here but a boat skipper who just pulled in... he said it's not allowed but everyone does it! So here we are on a lovely little bay side park, all by ourselves, for free, while Pat stirs up some veggies and eggs for dinner.

Tomorrow we will check out Lunenberg, then continue south toward Yarmouth.

One little amazement, for you car folks. You may be aware how rare old Volkswagen vans are on the east coast, so imagine my surprise to suddenly see this car lot on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere. There were a couple dozen vans in varying condition, and a nice big shop. Being Sunday, it was closed and no-one around.