Two Sore Backs

I am writing this about ten days after we were on the Acadian Shore and two days after post tropical storm Lee made landfall in this region.

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Our journey south from Halifax, around the tip and over to Digby is more of the same – stunning scenery at the water’s edge.

We are driving along the Acadian Shore. This stretch is also known as the Evangeline Trail. Evangeline is a beloved symbol of the Acadian people and the main character in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

It is a sentimental tale of two lovers separated when British soldiers expel the Acadians (French colonists) from what is now Nova Scotia. The lovers, Evangeline and Gabriel, are reunited years later as Gabriel is dying.

There are many lovely coastal villages between Yarmouth and Digby. Back in the mid 1700’s French settlers coexisted with indigenous Mi’kmac peoples. The many French place names and some Mi’kmac place names reflect this history.

Yarmouth

There is a calmness to Yarmouth that belies it’s past (and future).

Many storms touch these shores and many lives are lost. The town pays homage at the Lost to the Sea Memorial. The monument is poignant. So so many names – surnames listed repeatedly – from Yarmouth’s beginning up to today. It is overwhelming.

Nearby an interpretive board mentions the shipwreck of the coastal steamer Robert G. Cann off Grand Manan Island in February 1946. Decades earlier, in 1912, my great grandparents travelled on the Robert G. Cann from Canso to Mulgrave on their wedding day. At the time the steamer ferried mail, supplies and people back and forth in Chedabucto Bay (up the Eastern Shore). From Mulgrave the newlyweds boarded another steamer to take them to Boston on their honeymoon.

The storyboard tells of one crew member’s survival of this shipwreck. Recall it is February. This crew member survives 19 hours in a life raft in icy cold conditions. He is the only survivor (of 13 on board). It is a harrowing story. It sends shivers up my spine. From happy times to a very sad ending. The power of the sea.

There are other public expressions of the sea as foe.

Just north of Yarmouth we pass by Maitland.

Not so idyllic on Sept 16th!

Belle Baie Campground

We arrive at dusk and set up camp. We are at the water’s edge. Our tenting neighbours are a couple from Vermont that we crossed paths with back at Thomas Raddall PP. She recounts how she got stuck inside the outhouse at Raddall and hoped that the couple from BC would hear her yells but we didn’t 😦 They are cycling a loop that includes Keji NP – on a tandem bicycle. Wow!

The next morning we wake up to a lovely mix of sun and fog.

The couple in the tandem bike have left already – cycling to Yarmouth to catch the catamaran to Bar Harbour, Maine.

Digby

We head to Digby to a solid ‘fast’ charger.

The drive is wonderful. We pass through gorgeous small villages – Clare, Grosses Coques, Bellevieu’s Cove, Saint Bernard – are some of the names. Saint Bernard boasts a church that is impressive in size and beauty given the rural setting.

As we drive by we make note of Savary Provincial Park and the memorial to Maud Lewis, known for her folk art paintings.

Maybe we’ll have time to check out both a bit later.