Our two previous trips to the Maritimes involved so much driving and being in new places almost every other day that we wanted to do something different this time. Not to say that we didn't enjoy those trips because we both did, we had a blast both times. That being said, when you drive for hours everyday it leaves you needing a vacation from your vacation.
The 2017 trip was going to be different. We would be driving less, going to fewer places and enjoying time spent with Ryan's family and friends in his hometown.
One of the road trips that we did take was up the Digby Neck and to Brier Island, Nova Scotia's most western point. We drove part way up the neck the first time we visited but decided that we didn't want to take the ferry across to the next section and therefore never saw Brier Island. We've been talking about going back ever since.
The only stop we made along the neck was to this lovely little cove that I knew was hiding good seaglass (we found lots before!) and our options were stopping on a beach to kill time before the next ferry or sitting in the car on the side of the road. Beach obviously wins every time.
To get to Brier Island you have to take two separate ferries, both are relatively small and pretty quick. If I had to guess I would say the ferry holds about 20-25 cars. If you've read my blogs for a long time now you probably know that I don't really like ferries and you might even know that the last one I was on made me more sick than I've ever been in my life. With that in mind I wasn't looking forward to these trips but I was willing to do it anyway. As it turns out, they were fine as long as I didn't look at the other cars around me. Seeing cars that are moving but not really moving and being in a boat thats moving but I am sitting stationary is just a little too much for my brain to handle.
When we eventually arrived on Brier Island we were greeted by a charming little town, lots of sunshine and no idea which road to drive down. Since there weren't many options and we had nowhere to be, we got driving. Our chosen road dead-ended after about 2 minutes but led us right to a lovely lighthouse.
As someone who loves to find new lighthouses I was thrilled by this one. Sitting on its own chunk of rock out in the water, surrounded by vibrant colours, just a bit of fog and seagulls; just perfect. And to make the scene even sweeter we spotted a Grey Seal swimming just next to us!
Instead of getting back in the car to find another road we decided to just walk along the rocks above the water. Some of the rocks had a "Giants Causeway" look about them which was pretty cool and also made for great walking platforms.
Our little hike led to beautiful views, fresh air and one broken shoe for me. I can't pretend I wasn't really mad about it and extra mad about the fact that I had to walk back to the car with one bare foot. Fortunately I had some flip flops in the car or the rest of the day might have gone differently.
After a stop at what may be the only gas station on the island we found our next road and the one that would lead us to the Western Light or Brier Island Lighthouse. Apparently this light marks the spot where the Bay of Fundy official begins!
I've seen photos of this lighthouse online so many times and it was just as lovely to see it in person. There is something about the colours in Nova Scotia that really get me, I suspect maybe its that "the grass is always greener on the other side" ... when you get a good clear day the sky is so blue, the green is vibrant green, the water shimmers and lighthouses like this stand out perfectly.
0 comments:
Post a Comment