Missing links

Missing links

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LJtLSDQkwruES7VDA

We've missed allsorts of things this holiday but here is a Fisher!  Definitely what we saw at Fort Anne. 

Today we missed the tidal bore at Truro - quite a few hours too early.  We missed the Mi'qmac (1st nation) interpretive centre just outside Truro because we ended up on the wrong road (poor signposting yet again).  We did find Victoria Park in Truro though and survived walking the Hemlock Trail (Hemlock is a tree in Canada) and we also walked part of the heritage architecture walk - Truro again.

Once on the wrong road out of Truro we found The Provincial Wildlife Park and pulled in to eat our lunch.  Then we thought we might as well go and have a look at the wildlife imprisoned here.  The weather was considerably better by this time.  We didn't miss the Linx but missed photographing it as it was lying in long grass the other side of its compound.  Also the bobcats, wolves and otters proved to difficult to photograph.  Then we found the fisher (a lady called Barbie!) and our trip was complete!

Now we're in Halifax, at Shubie Campground, 2km up the road from the Canadream rental depot.  We  had a quick walk in Shubie Park, had a look at a swimming beach on Lake Charles where people were actually swimming (weather warming up a bit at last|) and saw the old canal which was to have linked Halifax to the Fundy Shore for freight but its usefulness was overtaken by the railway.

We have eaten our supplies so had to walk 1/2hr to the nearest restaurant where we were presented with enormous rib-eye steaks. 

I'm writing this putting off the cleaning and packing up -perhaps it can all wait til the morning!

Watery subjects

Watery subjects

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZXbVbPCH4V3H7Ba67

The weather has deteriorated in Nova Scotia and it rained heavily all day yesterday.  We did not return to Halifax to see the Queen but, if you saw any tv news coverage it would have shown wet weather outfits and umbrellas.  We are, however, on our way back to Halifax, currently back on the Fundy shore north of the Minas Basin at 5 Islands Campground.  We are hanging around a bit this morning hoping for a weather improvement to try to see the 5 Islands through the mist.  One more night tonight and then we'll be back to a Halifax campground for Wednesday night to hand the truck back early Thursday.

Since our last post we saw the Hector at Pictou but the boat, museum and its wharf were 'Closed until further notice'.  Then we stopped at Brule Point, still on the Northumberland Shore.  This was an unexpected pleasure.  Seals on the rocks in the distance, we could see them from our pitch!  It was magical.  We tried to walk out towards them over the beach and rocks but the nearer ones took one look at us and dived into the sea unfortunately.  Eventually there were about 24 in a group on a further rock and they stayed there for hours until the incoming tide forced them to swim off.

Yesterday the weather was a wash out.  We drove across towards the other part of the Fundy Shore that we missed last time hoping to take a look at the ski area at Wentworth.  Well, we went through Wentworth but saw no indication at all that the area might have something to do with winter sports, but even if we had it was pouring and we would have wanted to stay in the camper to keep dry!

At lunchtime we stopped at Parsboro which is another fossil hunting area.  Beside us as we ate, was an extraordinary view of cormorants floating about on large inflatables.  They seemed to prefer the Loch Ness Monster and the ocean going liner for some reason.

The sun has just come out so I'm off to see how many islands I can count.

Imprisoned wildlife & communications

Imprisoned wildlife to Pictou

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PjqDjkdEZ2E2x5fs6

We departed Louisbourg in pouring rain but the weather improved slightly on our way to the 2 Rivers Wildlife Park South of Marion Bridge on the Mira River.  Our aim was to see the missing wildlife but we knew we would have to see it behind bars.  We saw mink and martens which convinced us that they were considerably smaller than the creature we had seen at Fort Anne.  The moose was looking very sorry for itself, although it did have a  big enclosure of several acres.

In the middle of Cape Breton Island is the Bras d'Or Lake.  (Golden Arms).  This is a huge salt water lake with an opening to the sea just east of Englishtown/ west of Sydney.  We made our way via some small roads in very poor condition, a bridge and a ferry to the town of Baddeck. 

Baddeck is where Alexander Graham Bell had his summer house and where a lot of his scientific, aerofoil and hydrofoil investigations were done.  Of course he is famous for the invention of the telephone but he was interested in all sorts of communication, especially in teaching deaf people to speak.  He developed the first aeroplane to be flown in Canada and also record breaking hydrofoil speed boats.

Whilst on the subject of communications, I forgot to mention the Marconi/Louisbourg connection.  He had one of his relay stations in Louisbourg for wireless telegraphy between N America and Europe.  Again the relay stations on the other side of the Atlantic were in Cornwall and Ireland.

For once we have been on a 'big' road.  The Trans Canadian Highway to be precise.  It took us from Baddeck back to the Canso Causeway off Cape Breton Island.  (mostly a 3 lane highway with the overtaking lane swapping from side to side).  We have now started on the sunrise trail along the Northumberland Shore (salmon coloured section on the map).  Last night we stopped at Linwood Harbour Campground and today have followed the coast west to Pictou.  Pictou is famous for being the gateway to Nova Scotia for the scottish emigrants.  Tomorrow I hope to see the replica of the ship the first scots arrived on and Steve hopes to find a suitable sports bar to watch the England vs Germany match.  Fingers crossed!

Espionage

We seem to have taken a lot of photos over the last two days.  I'll let the photos tell the story as far as possible today as time is short to write it all up.  There are 3 albums to click on.

First there was our 3 hour boat trip from Englishtown to 'The Bird Islands'.  There is a bit of a bald eagle problem here as you will see.

Puffin Boat trip

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JCJaJmPBvLEam7H39

This morning, before the England game, we visited the Sydney and Louisbourg Railway Museum.  Lots of preserved bits and pieces and many scale models.  The railway did most of its business hauling coal and there was a 3 storey jetty on the Louisbourg Wharf (just behind our campground pitch - now housing a rather noisy and smelly fish factory - the whole town holds nose at 10.15am every day when the fish offal is trucked out!).  Louisbourg was the preferred location as the Canadian entreport because its harbour didn't freeze over during the winter as badly as others such as Sydney or Englishtown.

Trains

https://photos.app.goo.gl/WCmgC48ig3i99nRv6

Another 3 hours this afternoon at another National Historic Site of Canada - the Louisbourg Fortress.  It was established as a french fortress, the frence having arrived in 1713.  It was named after King Louis 14th and built during the reign of Louis 15th. Louisbourg quickly became France's most importnt stronghold and seaport in what is now Atlantic Canada.  Later it was the scene of two decisive sieges between the English and French in 1745 and 1758. By 1760 it lay in English hands and its fortifications were destroyed.  James Wolfe (Westerham again) was the hero of 1758.  The Fortress today is the largest recontructed 18th century town in North America.

It was more role playing like the Citadel in Halifax but on a bigger scale.  The soldiers and townsfolk made conversation as though the tourists were players too.  Mostly we were greeted in french.  We were in deep trouble as soon as we opened our mouths!  It was explained that the date was 1744 and the whole town was on high alert because of fear of the arrival of the english.  The soldiers in particular were very cagey when talking to us and  suggested our freedom might be in jeopardy! 

Louisbourg Fortress

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In National Park, incommunicado

Cabot Trail - click on the photo to see the other photos

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This evening, Monday, we finally received a text message sent by James wishing Steve a Happy Fathers Day.  It arrived so late because we had no mobile signal the whole time we were in the Cape Breton Highlands  National Park.  (Dark green section on the map on the last post)

We left our campground at Port Hood and resisted the distillery choosing to stop instead in Mabou where there is a very famous pub, The Red Shoe, which has live gaelic music every evening.  We were there at lunch time so the music was piped but Steve seemed to enjoy his Red Shoe pint.  Also in Mabou is a sweet little church, well a shrine actually - do look at the photos.

Joe's Scarecrows provided us with a light-hearted diversion.  We met Joe himself doing a bit of routine maintenance on one of his characters.  He asked where we were from and, hearing it was from the UK he said he had had a long visit from Billy Conolly who was going to include the scarecrows in a travelog he was making.  Has anyone seen it yet?

At Inverness Harbour we saw some more lobster boats being unloaded into another old fire truck.  When we came back from a walk along the very impressive Inverness beach a little rv had parked up beside us.  It was identical to the one we had in W Canada 2 years ago - we had been expecting something of a similar size this time before we were given the truck.  We have got used to the truck and appreciate the space and facilities when on campgrounds.  I suppose we're used to driving too, though I knocked a wing mirror of a pick-up on the ferry we had to go on today - no harm done thankfully.

The night before entering the National Park was spent at a good campground on Cheticamp Island.  Once more an Acadian area,  actually Cheticamp is supposed to be the largest settlement of acadians in N Americal at present (and also the rug hooking capital of the world...)  Apparently acadians were granted land there not long after the 'expulsion' of 1755.  The camp host explained that, although he was an acadian and spoke french, he, like all other Acadians, also speaks english and he is loyal to the Queen and personally looking forward to her visit to Nova Scotia next week.

Yesterday morning we paid our National Park fees, collected the warning literature about bears (black) and coyotes and set off.  It was our greatest hope that we would see moose - the campsite chap and the National Park staff said we would but sadly we haven't.  Lots of walks in places where they are supposed to frequent and all we saw was their massive footprints and plenty of 'poop'.  We didn't see any black bears or coyotes either.  The best we could do was several green frogs, located because of their croaking and a couple of red squirrels (both in campsites).  Vegetation has been slightly more interesting as we have seen insectivorous plants and also lady's slippers orchids.

The landscape in Cape Breton Island is more rugged than the rest of Nova Scotia that we have seen so far - the National Park particularly so.  Also pretty isolated.  There are mountains and most of the woods and forests are of various pines.

Tonight we are in Englishtown- a very small town with a wharf, church, fire station, post office and village hall with about 10 houses and a campground.  Tomorrow morning we are hoping to go on a 'Puffin Boat Tour' to see birds and seals.  We have to just turn up and they will run the trip if there are more than 5 people wanting to go on it.  Hopefully it will be a nice day and the sea will be calm again.

We have failed to go on another whale watching trip.  Either no boats because their owners are still lobster fishing or the wrong sort of boats.  Nevermind, we could hardly be as lucky again as we were off Digby Neck.

Thanks for your comments, keep 'em coming please.

To answer some outstanding questions - Colin, flowers in gardens I have seen here are very similar to those at home and so are the weeds.  We've just been admiring a beautiful patch of buttercups for example.  There is a mystery about Hostas here - they are very popular and never seem to have any holes in their leaves.  Perhaps there are no slugs or snails in NS. - Wendy, there are very few tourists doing the trails with us.  It has been slightly busier here on Cape Breton Island and there have been 4 or 5 overnight rvs at campgrounds rather than the 1 or 2 we've been used to.  All the locals we speak to say their real holiday period doesn't start until July.

catch of the day better than match of the day!

Fox island to Port Hood

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8wuutTcbFqByBpD29

We are now at Port Hood on Cape Breton Island - site chosen with care for its internet availability and arrived at early enough for Steve to be able to enjoy (!) the England Algeria match this afternoon. 

It rained all day yesterday for our journey along the Eastern Shore (Turquoise on map) from Murphy's Cove to Fox Island, nr Canso.  The road surface was particulary bad and the roads were practically deserted.  We had to use another short ferry to cross an inlet but fortunately timed it pretty well and didn't have to wait for an hour!  Our biggest worry was that we would run out of fuel - the area is very remote and we drove for 120 miles looking for the next filling station!

Fox Island was a pretty spot, even in the rain and mist.  This morning it was sunny again - long may it continue so.  The area's main claim to fame is its straight line proximity to Europe and therefore its suitability for the landfall of trans-atlantic telegraph cables.  Gordon Bennett, of the New York Times was a partner in the cable company that brought in the cables to Fox Island, Canso and established a relay post there in 1876.

Once we had bought some very expensive petrol in Canso, we set off along the rest of the Eastern Shore for the causeway to Cape Breton Island (green on map above).  Before reaching the causeway we stopped at the 'Look-off' near Guysborough to read about the theory that Nova Scotia was discovered by one Prince Henry Sinclair of the Orkneys in 1398.  A bit further along we stopped for our 'picnic' in Eddy Point Marine Park to find that the lobster boats had just come in and crates of live lobsters were being loaded into a fire truck of all vehicles.

Cape Breton island is no longer an island as a causeway was constructed in 1955.  We are currently travelling round Cape Breton island in a clockwise direction up the Ceilidh Trail. The other language on road signs is now gaelic!  There's even a distillery...trouble is someone has to drive!

British vs French

Fort Anne via Grand-Pre to Murphy's Cove

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8HJf9oLUjyYMZRam9

Before we left Annapolis Royal we did a tour of Fort Anne.  Our arrival was made more exciting by a sighting of some sort of brown, long bodied, furry tailed, shortish legged animal.  It ran from the Powder Magazine building over the fortifications towards the river/sea and then back round the main building and up and down another ditch towards some trees and the town.  A parks official was with us and thought it might be a mink.  It was bigger than  a big domestic cat.  Too quick and too distant for me to photograph sadly.
Fort Anne was interesting and had a bit of a British/Loyalist bias. 

After Annapolis Royal we drove the length of the Annapolis river valley.  The early french settlers (Acadians) had built dykes in the salt marshes to produce good quality farm land.  Too good really.  Nowadays there are a lot of hay fields and as you work further up the valley towards Grand Pre (Large meadow) the size of fields and the variety of crops increases.  This is quite a change from the rest of Nova Scotia where most of the land is covered in dense mixed woodland/forests.

We stopped the night at Evangeline Beach and saw first hand the extent of the enormous tidal range of the Bay of Fundy.  (See the photos in the above album)

This morning we visited the Grand Pre site.  This time the history was presented from an Acadian perspective and the exhibits and video presentations were in french with english very much second! 
It was the same story we have heard which basically boils down to Nova Scotia being in between New England (Boston Mass. area) and New France (Quebec area).  The french got there first, made friends with the local 'first nations' people, converted them to Roman Catholicism and set about farming, fishing and trading wood and furs and surplus crops.  Over the years Acadia changed between french and british rule and there were various battles.  The Acadians, according to today's presentation, were neutral.  However in the mid 18th century they were under great pressure to sign an oath of allegiance to Britain (and protestantism) and those who refused to do so (most of them) were forcibly deported in 1755 and their land, homes and belongings were confiscated.  New England 'planters', who were loyalists, were brought in and given the productive farms of the Acadians.  The Acadians were split up and sent to New England and some back to France.  Over the years some of them were able to make their way back to Nova Scotia but had to make do with poorer agricultural areas.  The Acadian flag ( a tricolour with a single star) flies bravely all through the areas of Yarmouth and Acadian Shores and Fundy Shore and Annapolis Valley.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a classic poem about the 'deportation' called 'Evangeline: the tale of Acadie' which describes a fictional heroine, Evangeline and her search for loved ones after the deportation .

From Grand Pre we drove across the middle of Nova Scotia, back to the Halifax area and then east along the 'Eastern Shore'.  We have stopped at an idyllic spot near Tangier called Murphy's Cove.  Another stunning campground with suberb sea views and its own wharf/jetty.  Tonight we have enjoyed an evening around a campfire with Mr Murphy holding court and cooking complimentary mussells on the campfire.  He hauled a crate of them out of the sea and filled up a cooking pot and cooked them over the campfire.  Can't get much fresher than that!  Mr Murphy's family were from Ireland but have been here since 1750!  We asked about the mystery animal at Fort Anne and their suggestion is that it might have been a Marten but probably a 'fisher'.

A seal sometimes shows up for these nightly campfires but he was absent tonight unfortunately.

Whale success!

Whale of a time! https://photos.app.goo.gl/FoShuECpDSEr132x7

From Churchpoint we drove up to Digby yesterday and stopped to admire the view of Digby waterfront by the Tourist Information office.  With hindsight we should not have read all the information boards about 15m tides in the Bay of Fundy but gone straight into the tourist information office because, when we eventually got in there to ask about whale watching tours and suitable campgrounds, it appeared that finding a whale watching trip wasn't going to be as easy as we had imagined.  Mid June is considered very early season and a lot of attractions and facilities just aren't operating. The lady behind the counter phoned around and told us that the nearest whale watching boat would be leaving at 1pm from Tiverton, East Ferry, Digby Neck (see location map with above photo album.  And there wouldn't be one at all tomorrow (today).  So the boat owners asked us to make a dash for it (12 noon was the time when this was being negotiated)_We had a 45mins drive down Digby neck to reach East ferry by 12.30.  We arrived to see the ferry just reaching the opposite side at 12.45.  The whale watching boat negotiated with the ferry which came back for us (normally only 1 an hour) so, miraculously, by 1.15 we were on the whale watching boat with a family of 6 who had driven from Toronto and 4 female students from various Canadian universities.

The sea was amazingly calm but there was quite a chill breeze.  After 1 1/2hrs straight 'out' the crew almost turned back as all we had seen were a few sea birds and the tail of a harbour porpoise. Actually they didn't turn back because they received a radio message from another boat saying that it had passed some whales 45 mins further on.  Sure enough eventually we came into an area where there must have been about 10 huge humpbacked whales and some attending white sided dolphins. We had about 1/2 hr with these animals and it was 'awesome'.   The dolphins were incredibly difficult to photograph, they were much too quick and most of the shots of them are just splashes!  The whales moved much more slowly but spouted very unpredictably so we didn't manage to photograph a spout either. They didn't always wave their tales in the air either. The crew kept saying it would be marvellous for us if a whale stuck its head out of the water, however briefly, but none of them did.  They were very busy feeding (they are filter feeders).  A couple of seals came along too.  Then it was time to turn for shore, and reaching it took us until 6.15!  A very long afternoon but entirely worth it.  I was particularly grateful that the sea was not at all nausea inducing and that we had had time in the ferry queue to put on some extra layers of clothing and to grab a quick sandwich and a box of biscuits!

The nearest (and only) campground was at Whale Cove a few minutes from East Ferry on the mainland.  This was a very quirky place with a huge collection of bits and pieces and some home made models for campers to look at in a rec room.  Also two very friendly and fluffy ginger cats.  And a totally unique line in movable fire pits made from old lawn mowers and washing machine drums.

This morning Steve had an 'Oh dear, what can the matter be?' experience when the door lock jammed on the shower room he was using.  (We use campsite showers when we can as it saves us lpg gas and we're not sure how long the onboard gas is going to last - when it runs out we'll have to find a refilling station as the tank is built into the vehicle).  Fortunately the campsite owner heard Steve banging and managed to release him with the aid of a hammer and screwdriver.  The shower room was built of breeze blocks and had no window and the switch for a very noisy fan also controlled the light.  So Steve had to opt for total darkness in order for his banging on the door to be more likely to be heard.  I could only hear a muffled drumming sound which I assumed was some sort of work going on but I had reached the stage of going to investigate because he had been such a long time.

We had time for a walk down to Whale Cove itself.  It is small and rather run down.  It had a very large fishing industry in the past but today there were only 2 fishing boats tied up at the wharf.

On the way back to Digby we stopped at Sandy Cove where we had our first experience of 'fog', more of a sea mist today.

Tonight we are parked up near Annapolis Royal where we went round some historical gardens and drove past Canada's only tidal power plant to reach our site. Once again we are too early in the season for swimming pool or cafe...

Thank you to those of you who have left us a comment, it's nice to get some feedback.

We've survived the shock of filling the petrol tank!

Carters Beach to Church Point https://photos.app.goo.gl/moiUrTMrkdJ3XVmq7 When we pulled into a filling station and said 'fill her up' to the attendant we weren't expecting the bill to be $170!  (£120) (and that's at $1.04 a litre) Otherwise we are getting used to the big beast.  Still having problems with the width of roads, the lack of proper sized parking and nightmares when we have to turn round for any reason.  But the living accommodation is great - very spacious and luxurious.

Weather-wise we are being very lucky though some people we met who'd driven up from Louisianna were finding it rather chilly.

Our last couple of days have been straight out of a guide book - the prettiest beach, the oldest church, courthouse, goal, the biggest church.  We have passed though the Shelburne 'Loyalist Area' where American Loyalists retreated to stay in a British area, Birchtown where the Loyalists in question were also black.  The Loyalist flags flying along the Shelburne streets look strangely familiar...

Now we are in the Acadian area which was originally french, french is still spoken and the Acadian french flag with its star flies everywhere.  Churchpoint, which is where we are now, has the largest wooden church in N America and a french speaking university (the only one in Nova Scotia.).

I haven't found a way of getting a map into this part of the blog but there is one with each of the photo albums.

Tonight we are right beside the open ocean.  The tide has just come up and the sound of the waves will hopefully send us to sleep!  Tomorrow we are heading for the Fundy shore and hopefully some whale watching.

Goodnight!

We are now living in a vehicle the size of a furniture lorry!

Peggy's Cove to Lunenburg

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qyk6Jp9DyU8DxQBE8

To cut a long story short, our residence is now not a campervan but a 25' RV which would normally accommodate 4 people.  It has all sorts of facilities including 2 sections which expand outwards (slides) to make the 'dinette' and bedroom areas wider when parked up.  This is very luxurious for campgrounds but more of a problem for driving on narrow roads (the norm so far) and also difficult to park anywhere.  It's furniture van size.  Hopefully it will prove less of a challenge once we get more used to it - or the roads and car parks get bigger!  The hiring company regarded this very much as an upgrade for us but there are downsides, like its size and increased petrol consumption and the bigger campsite pitches it needs too!  On the plus side it has a permanently set up bed, a full size shower and toilet and a large fridge/freezer.  No telly though as that was stolen from the hiring company's yard!

I have conquered the web album picture problem today atleast.  Just click on the photo above and it should take you straight to the web album for your slide show. 

We are following the 'Light house' route along the 'South Shore' at present.  The roads are not really any better than we were expecting from our W Canada trip 2 years ago.  Our first campground was just north of Peggy's Cove at Indian Harbour.  A superb ocean-side setting. 

This morning we 'did' Peggy's Cove and its famous light house which is set on granite rocks.  It was spectacular though quite busy with lots of people all taking photos of the most photographed lighthouse in Canada.

This afternoon we booked into the campground at Lunenburg's Visitor Centre.  Ocean views on both sides today! 

Lunenburg is a UNESCO world heritage site because it has a very well preserved towncentre of lots of 18th and 19th century wooden buildings.  Very picturesque and colourful with a particularly active waterfront.  The original settlement was of local aboriginal people and early french settlers but they wouldn't swear an oath of allegiance to the British and were 'replaced' by protestants, mostly german speaking people.  The town was named for George II who was also duke of Braunsweig and Lunenburg in Germany.

We had a good look round the town and came back to the campground via a walking trail through the woods. For most of the way it was lined with lupins and daisies.

Arrived safely

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jMLQPFNWJVsPWVzC8

(The link is to an album of photos taken today.  If you click on slideshow, that's what you should get.  I have forgotten how to get the picture of the album to click on at the moment!)
We have survived our circuitous route and finally arrived at our hotel in Halifax fairly late yesterday evening.  The London - Toronto leg of the journey was rather marred by me spilling a small glass of complimentary red wine onto my new off-white jeans!  The stewardess gave me lots of paper napkins and a glass of soda water but there is a limit to the rescue I could achieve when hemmed in in a window seat with  a meal on the fold out tray.  The soda water did eventually make the trousers look as though they had been tie-dyed rather than having met an axe murderer but they certainly don't look new any more!

We had a strange encounter in the middle of the night in the hotel too.  A couple of hours after we had gone to sleep the room door was opened with a key card and another couple tried to move in!  We were shocked by this and so were they, but, after a few minutes, they retreated and said they would return to reception and ask for another room!  This morning reception admitted that we had been checked in incorrectly, all our paper-work (which they didn't give us) was for the room across the corridor but our key was wrongly issued for the room we are in. 

Today we have explored central Halifax on foot.  Halifax was the first English settlement in Canada (1749) and is dominated by the Citadel, an old fortress on top of a hill within a star shaped system of deep ditches/moats. It is now run by the national parks of Canada and is inhabited by role playing soldiers and civilians.  These staff stay in role all the time and there is much changing of the guard, soldiers being drilled and pipers piping.  The flag flying is the Union Jack and the soldiers are mostly in kilts, supposedly being from the 78th Highlanders.  We heard the Noon Cannon being fired and saw the Old Town Clock (1803) from various angles. 

Halifax Public Gardens, dating from 1753, were the first public gardens in Canada and are modelled on St James' Park in London.  After the Citadel, Clock and Public Gardens we wandered on down to the waterfront and some restored Historic Properties.

Tomorrow we pick up the Camper van and plan to head south along the 'Lighthouse route'.

Watch this space!

We are completing our last minute preparations for another trip to Canada.  This time we opted for a shorter flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia for another camper van expedition and booked it all months ago.  Travel agents/airline have already changed the plans and we have lost the 'shorter' flight option and will have to go to Toronto, spend a couple of hours in the airport and then change planes and fly back to Halifax!

Hopefully we will find lots of wifi internet at campsites, just as we did in Western Canada 2 years ago.

Do join us on our trip by following the blog, looking at our photos and leaving us comments.