Saturday, October 21, 2023: Indian summer on the east coast!
Info:
I already tantalized you with the most important information about Nova Scotia on May 4. A lot has happened in the meantime: There was a fire here too – and on an unprecedented scale, with smoke enveloping New York for several days and even traveling as far as Europe. And as if that wasn’t enough, Nova Scotia was hit by Hurricane Lee in mid-September, which led to flooding and a lot of damage.
My opinion:
Canada’s East in Indian Summer! Fall is also a particularly beautiful time of year in Austria, when the sun shines and the leaves glow in all colors. But the many maple trees in Nova Scotia make it even more colorful than it is at home. And there is a sea!
Diary:
After being advised at the garage not to drive around too much, but rather to take the direct route to a European Fiat garage, I decided with a heavy heart to skip Cape Brenton in Nova Scotia and look for a campsite near Halifax. On Google I came across one that was still open in October and was by the sea – in Hubbards, just 50 km from Halifax on the Lighthouse Route, which I had been so excited about in spring.
I booked for four nights.
And on the second day I extended for another week. It was just so fantastically beautiful there … I couldn’t imagine anything better. And I had already seen and experienced so much on this trip! So why not simply spend the last week and a half walking on the beach and through the bear-free forests to round off the trip?
Annie Way also had to be converted from habitable to seaworthy again, which would mean a lot of work anyway.
I went back to Peggy’s Cove to see the lighthouse and the granite rocks polished smooth by the ice age glaciers. In contrast to the melodramatic seclusion in spring, this time there were several coachloads of people there.
And I also wanted to see Chester again.
Otherwise, I spent a lot of time on the beach.
A conspicuous number of people from Halifax had parked their trailers at this campsite and came here every weekend. A close-knit community. Apart from me, there were no more travelers on the road. There was an internal competition to see who could contribute the most to the general level of knowledge about me. Whatever I said, everyone knew within an hour at the latest. And it was a very large campsite.
As soon as I realized this, I only passed on information about myself in small doses. Conversely, I learned a lot of life stories and problems. On the last day, I even unpacked my father’s story in three portions, and at the very end, the most persistent lady found out that I have a travel blog and a podcast.
I put Annie Way on the beach for the final work on the last day. It was fantastically beautiful, but had suffered greatly from Hurricane Lee, as I had been told several times. The storm had blown some of the sand inland, exposing many of the stones.
Nevertheless, for me one of the most beautiful places of the whole trip! Not spectacular, but really something to enjoy and feel good about. I was simply happy and grateful. What a wonderful end to my North American adventure!
How did Chief Seattle put it? “Take only memories with you, leave nothing but footprints.”
Wistfully, we left the beach and the campsite and Hubbards and the Lighthouse Route on Saturday, October 21, 2023, to drive to our last stop, a hotel in Halifax.
When we were almost there, only 300 meters to go, I overlooked a turn-off, drove a little further and turned into a side street to turn around. Google Maps showed a distance of 450 m to the destination.
At that moment, Annie Way’s oil control lamp lit up red and the computer happily announced: “Maximum oil quantity exceeded.”
We immediately parked at the side of the road.