Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Peggy’s Cove–Mahone Bay–Lunenburg–Digby

The following day we collected our rental car we would use for the remainder of our vacation, a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

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The first stop on todays drive was in the village of Peggy’s Cove, about an hour South of Downtown Halifax. 

The village is well and truly on the tourist circuit as a quintessential unspoilt East Coast fishing village lighthouse.  Peggy’s Cove is also known for being the nearest village to the site of the 1998 Swissair 111 flight that crashed just off the coast in St Margarets Bay, a memorial for this event is found a short distance West of Peggy’s Cove.

Sculptor and painter William E deGarthe lived in Peggy’s Cove and created a Fisherman’s Monument in the form of 30ft engraving in a granite outcrop depicting 32 fishermen, their wives, children and St. Elmo the patron saint of sailors. He donated the rock and land it sits on to the village of Peggy’s Cove before his death and it is now protected as parkland.

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Views of pretty Peggy’s Cove as we walk up to the lighthouse, the morning fog still burning off.

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We reach the lighthouse.  Huge waves are crashing over the rocks around us.

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At this time Hurricane Leslie was off the coast in the Atlantic only a day or two away so while the weather here on land was still fine the first effects in the sea could be seen.

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Peggy’s Cove lighthouse and village as the sun is breaking through the mist.

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Me on the rocks near the lighthouse.

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Final view of the lighthouse……

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….and of the village before we continue on our drive along the coast.

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We take the coast road along the South Eastern side of the province which winds through small villages and hamlets beside the water which is dotted with small rocky islands.

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Soon we reach the village of Mahone Bay, easily identified by its three distinctive churches side-by-side along the bay.

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The three churches of Mahone Bay

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Shortly after passing Mahone Bay we reach the quaint fishing village of Lunenburg where we stop for lunch.  The view from our table in the restaurant overlooking Lunenburg Harbour.

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David and Dad both enjoyed an excellent full lobster lunch.
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After lunch we walk along the Lunenburg waterfront.

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The village has a pretty harbour which is still quite active and working as well as being a popular tourist attraction.

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A memorial to those who are lost at sea.

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The ‘main street’ of Lunenburg Montague Street which is lined with preserved historic homes and businesses.

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After our visit to Lunenburg we continue the longer drive across Nova Scotia through rolling forested hills and farmland.

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Eventually we see the sea again as we reach the west coast of this small province.

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And our base for the evening, the Summers Country Inn in Digby.

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