The Long Drive South

After spending the morning at the Fortress of Louisbourg and the Louisbourg lighthouse we knew our time in Cape Breton was finished. I can't remember now at what point we decided to go to the South Shore, but that is the direction we went. 

From Louisbourg it was sugggested to us that we go back up through Sydney, where we had stayed the previous night and take the highway from there to get back to the mainland. I had hoped to take the route directly from Louisbourg but apparently the highway is in really bad shape. 

As beautiful as it is to drive through Cape Breton the roads aren't what I would describe as "nice" for anyone who gets motion sick in the car. I am one of those people, or at least I used to be. It's been a long time since I felt car sick but these roads were too much for me. Fortunately the intense winding roads start to straighten out the closer we got to the mainland. We had to stop along the way to pick up some Gravol and Tums but once we crossed back over the causeway I was feeling better. 

Our initial plan was to try to make it all the way from Cape Breton to Bridgewater in one day but that amount of driving wasn't going to happen. When we considered stopping for lunch, gas, etc.. it would have taken much longer than what we hoped so a quick plan change led us to Truro for the night. 

Once we got our room we didn't leave again until breakfast the next day. We decided on fresh fruit and mini cereal again so we could eat while driving and hopefully arrive at our destination by a reasonable time. We both knew there would be stops along the way.

 

We got ourselves straight from Truro to Lunenburg with a quick drive through Mahone Bay along the way. 

We took our time walking around Lunenburg for a while, enjoying being out of the car. We stopped in a few shops, walked along the waterfront, checked out the Bluenose ll and considered lunch but ultimately decided against it. 

Our next stop was "The Ovens," a provincial park that allows its visitors to peak inside the sea caves that dot this area. 

There is a marked trail that walks along above the cliffs and stairs every so often that go down far enough to see the large openings. Some of the stairs actually go inside the caves so we could have a true sense of them. I was surprised to see how deep some of the caves went. 

I have to say, based purely on the price of admission, I probably wouldn't go again. We were told it would take about 2-3 hours and we finished everything in 45 minutes. It was really cool to see once though. 

Back in the car and running low on food energy we both knew what our next stop had to be. LaHave Bakery. I cannot pretend I'm not still obsessed with this place because I really am. 

To get from The Ovens to LaHave quickly the best way to go was on the ferry. We didn't take it last time, possibly because we both hate ferries, but it was surprisingly okay. Really though, it probably took less than 5 minutes to get across and cut 30 minutes off of our drive. Plus, it comes out right beside the bakery!!

As soon as we got inside I fell even more in love, I can't get enough of this place. 

After Ryan pretended that he needed convincing, we decided to visit the Skateboard shop upstairs. The owner was in the middle of screen printing his new shirt design when we got there and he happily chatted with Ryan about it while I looked around the shop. In the end we bought one of the new shirts and it was my turn to pretend. I said I was buying it for Ryan but we both know that I'll probably wear it more than he does. 

Shopping aside we went downstairs for lunch. I had an amazing vegetarian wrap, Ryan had a sandwich that he couldn't get enough of and we shared a pot of blueberry tea. And yes, we obviously bought pastries for the road. A brownie and a cupcake (that I have recreated twice since being home!)

Our final stop of the day before finally arriving to surprise Ryan's family again was Carters Beach. I saw photos of this beach last year but we never got a chance to actually check it out. 

The amount of incredible places we have hiding in Canada is mind blowing. This beach has perfect white sand that glitters in the sun and incredibly clear blue water. You could be forgiven for looking at these pictures and not believing that they are in Nova Scotia. 

We spent quite a while here walking along the beautiful shore and splashing in the shallows. I seriously considered that we should stay and swim but decided that tomorrow would be the beach day instead.