Cycling in S.W. NOva Scotia

Heading to Canada, ehy?
Posted on January 12, 2010 by cyclinggypsies
Please see this great blog by the same name

Yep, it is finally time to leave Europe and cross the Atlantic for Canada. So long and thanks for all the baguettes…

You will find our new home beyond Heart’s Desire, beyond Crooked Lake, beyond Malignant Cove and beyond Upper Dyke Village. Once you get to Bear River take the quiet road to Grosses Coques and look for our place at the far edge of town where the grickle grass grows. Note: if you end up at Burnt Head you have probably taken a wrong turn at Sissiboo.

As you can probably tell I have spent unhealthy amounts of time on Google Maps, exploring the surrounding regions of our new destination, an area rich in lobster and wacky town names. Where in the world are we talking about? The west coast of Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada. Fear not, if I have lost you already, a Google Map is provided below


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Grosses Coques, literally translating from French to ‘big shell’ (thank you Google Translate), overlooks the Bay of Fundy, a stretch of water known for whales and having the most extreme tides in the world. Because of the unique shape of the bay a funnel effect is created, meaning the difference in water level between high and low tide can be as much as 14 metres. The tides are so extreme in some upper bay rivers the river flow is completely reversed by the rising tide (thank you Wikipedia).

Our winter home will be provided by our friends Colleen and Andre in exchange for some renovations. On the agenda for 2010 is putting in some new oak flooring downstairs, refinishing the pine floor upstairs, redoing the upstairs walls, putting in new windows and a small bathroom upstairs, starting an organic garden, creating a successful bakery, completing triathlons, marathons, becoming fluent in French, brushing up on some ‘dumb newfie’ jokes, becoming a competent sea kayaker, spotting some whale/puffin/caribou/dumb newfies, learning to play the guitar and perhaps the fiddle, and more regular stretching. By the way, happy new years!

In amongst of all of this we hope to save some money for more cycling adventures – starting with a 6,000 km loop around the east of Canada. You can see the basic route idea below, starting in Nova Scotia and heading anti-clockwise through Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Labrador, Quebec, and New Brunswick.