Around Blomidon Prov Park, NS

As mentioned, we're staying at Blomidon Park for a few days, to stay out of weekend traffic etc. We hit some beautiful weather. Here are some pictures from around the park and area:

View from Blomidon Park office area, tide pretty well in

Similar view to above, tide partly out (or partly in)

Down on some nearby tidal flats

Tidal erosion between us and the farm

The white things are bleached wooden erosion barriers

A project boat for somebody? Then give it to us when done :))

At the Fox Hill Farms Cheesery

Our Wolfville lunch spot, under a patio umbrella

Lunch special on the patio (enough for supper too)

Heading back to camp (on the hill ahead on the left)

I meant to mention, the road up onto the park entry is not friendly for larger motorhomes. There are bumpy steep hills and hairpin turns. There are some good-sized 5th wheels here but maybe only one or two motorhomes larger than about 25 feet.

 

 

Harbour Centre NS to Blomidon Prov Park NS

More of a driving day today, we're positioning to get to Digby Neck area next week. After another nice Boondockers Welcome overnight stay, we headed in to Antigonish quite early to visit Wamart's facilities. Way too early as it turned out, as that Walmart doesn't open until 9am! There were  number of RVs parked in their lot, very orderly and quiet-looking this morning. Good to know the Antigonish Walmart is still RV friendly and it looks like a good spot to overnight.

They lost our business today though, as we headed to a nearby McDonalds to start our day. We had to chuckle at the sign in their 2-lane drive-thru:

It seemed obvious to us, but maybe not to everyone

After a light breakfast there we hit the road west towards Truro NS, and stopped at their Walmart for a bit of shopping and a break. Unlike Antigonish, the Truro Walmart is not RV friendly, with posted "No Overnight Parking" and a lot that's awkward to get into even with our van, at least the way we found to enter.

The drive got nicer after Truro, as we got back on to mainly secondary roads. A stop at Anthony, a small Provincial Picnic area, revealed some surprises hidden from the road:

The Minas Basin tide was pretty low right now

Nice dock out into the mud flats. There's even parking for tour buses at this park.

Signs of an old pier

That green grass must be tough stuff

Another stop was an old lighthouse at Walton, again maintained and run by volunteers. Still a low tide, the mudflats are out of this world:

 

We think this guy's boat was stuck until higher tide

Along the way, we hadn't seen this before. To get at the underside of the bridge, they had a special portable scaffold for the workers:

 

Since we will be at Blomidon Park for a few days, we set up our little screen house to use for the first time. It's been very nice to use so far, easy to set up. Usually there have been at least some bugs around, and they find me. Not tonight though:

We're in an overflow area in Blomidon again - nicer than a lot of their sites.

 

We'll be staying here until Sunday, to get past the weekend rush, and may not be blogging for a couple of days.

Today's route map:

 

Salsman Prov Park to Harbour Centre NS

Another short travel day today. It felt like we were off the touristy routes, rarely seeing another RV. Rainy and cloudy in the morning, it was still an enjoyable drive.

We were going to head for a smoked fish place we've been to before, St Mary's Smokehouse. Unfortunately a company bought them out in 2017, then closed the St Mary plant and outlet, moving production to Charlottetown PEI. We decided to take that route anyway, a nice mix of coastal and interior roads.

First we headed to a small ferry crossing. It runs every 1/2 hour so not long to wait:

Continuing on, we stopped in to a lighthouse in Port Bickerton. Surprisingly there were at least 10 other cars there, using up all the (limited) parking, so we didn't take a tour. 

We needed a Walmart break and some lunch, and Antigonish was on the way. From there we headed north to Cape George and some nice seaside views:

Love the wild rose hedgerows...

and the variety of plantings on the other side

Great sea views, as usual from a lighthouse

Over in the haze is the West coast of Cape Breton, and the Celtic Coast Trail

Very peaceful here

 

Just south of Cape George is Ballantyne's Cove, a mostly working harbour including tuna fishing in season (late Aug thru November). Apparently the legal tuna season changes each year to match when the tuna are showing up in the area:

Inside the Interpretive Centre

 

They had a nice display with a "3rd order dioptric, or freznel" lens, which would have historically been used in the lighthouse:

The large light in this picture...

... came from a standard household CFL bulb, magnified by the lens

Tonight we're staying at another Boondockers Welcome site, in Harbour Centre NS:

The view from our site tonight

Here is a map of today's route:

Linwood Harbour NS to Salsman Prov Park NS

Today was a short drive to another NS Provincial Park. First we visited a wharf near where we camped last night. Very pretty, but where's the beach the signs pointed us at? Never did find an accessible beach. Nice little drive though:

Safety First?

 

Then since it was sort of on the way, we went into Antigonish to get a replacement for the step we use to get in and out of the van. Our old one had been repaired and the repair had cracked, so not safe to use. It needs a good shop that knows how to weld aluminum. Our new plastic one will get us by until then.

Then on to Salsman Provincial Park. We'd been here before and lucked in to a really nice site. We hoped to get it this time too, but didn't expect to. No problem today, for several hours we were the only campers in the whole park! It's a bit out of the way, but several beautiful waterfront sites:

Even some firewood left by an earlier camper

A kingfisher was hard at work nearby

Nice lunch with Sugar Snap peas from the Mabou market, and local smoked salmon

 

For supper we tried out our new butane stove. I see a lot of nomads using these because they are smaller and lighter than the usual camp stoves. We carry it to use when we want to cook outside. It worked really well for us.

Very stable in use

My homemade wind deflector

Magnets hold the deflector sides in as needed

Packed and ready to stow away

 

The only issue we've found is that the stove isn't quite hot enough for searing things in very windy conditions. This has only been an issue once in 4 years though (note as of 2023). 

Tonight we cooked some scallops outside, they tasted great: