Mill Village, Nova Scotia

Today we decided to have a closer look at Mill Village, rather than just driving past it on the highway. Mill Village developed as a logging and lumber community because of the River Medway.

We left the car at the Post Office and walked over this bridge which crossed the Medway.

Right on the other side of the bridge, by the river, is this interesting old village store.

The store sells most grocery items as well as Martock beef, chicken, veil and bison and Foxhill cheese. There is a gift shop and a very nice Cafe. We didn’t know about the cafe and had our picnic with us, but we still managed to try out their coffee and blueberry scones! Next time we’ll stop for lunch.

The walk through the community is surrounded by ancient hard wood trees and pine trees.

I  loved the way this tree and rock made a natural scupture.

There weren’t many locals about, apart from this little girl, tied to the tree. Perhaps this is a local form of punishment?

Next to Mill Village is Charleston, not Charlestown as in Fife.

The residents of this house seemed very pleased to see us.

As we walked back to the car, we had a last look at the River Medway.

We will bring our bikes here in the fall and cycle up the Medway to Bang Falls. I think the colours will be amazing!

Spring is here at last – well maybe!

This Easter week-end has marked the beginning of some warmer weather here in Nova Scotia. Yesterday we went to Kejimkujik Seaside, which is a National Park.

You can see our walk on Googlemaps.

http://goo.gl/maps/ND7gJ

We started out by walking the rocky shore  along Boyd’s Cove and MacLeod’s Cove.

There is a rough track in places

The sea was very blue – I did not touch up this photo.

Parts of the coastal track had been washed away the last time we walked here. Another path has been cut, a bit further from the shore, through the trees.

And the  boardwalk has been repaired in places or totally renewed, like this section.

Unlike Europe, the ‘history’ here is not very old. This is the ruin of the house of Hugh Cameron, a shepherd on St Catherine’s River Farm in the early 1900’s. But sheep farming here was a harsh existence and the land was eventually given to the Federal Government and became the Seaside Adjunct of the Kejimkujik National Park.

Yesterday, the bay was full of lobster boats, the better weather a pleasant change for these fishermen, who are only allowed to fish here on this part of the shore during the winter months! It has been a tough time for them – probably harder than sheep farming!

In my last post about this park, I added this photo of a wrecked boat that we spotted sitting high and dry on Little Hope Island.

There used to be a concrete lighthouse on the island until just after Hurricane Juan in 2003, when it collapsed.

This amazing photo was taken by Jeff Tutty of Hunts Point, Nova Scotia in August 2003 and the wrecked boat was already there!

Seemingly, the crew of the Lady Helen  fell asleep!!

I didn’t have my tele-photo lens with me yesterday, but the boat has gone and the rocky island is hardly visible above the water.

We continued round to the sandy beach

and walked as far as is possible.

Then it was back to the car – a total of 14 km.

The forecast for this week is back to freezing most days, so maybe Spring isn’t here yet.

If you’d like to see Kejimkujik in the summer, with the birds and flowers, you can look at the blogs I wrote in 2009.

https://queensincanada.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/kejimkujik-national-park-part-1/

https://queensincanada.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/kejimkujik-part-2/

Blue Rocks in Winter

Winter is hanging on here in Nova Scotia.

We get a warm-ish day, of + 8 degrees, followed by a day of snow and freezing conditions. This week we will have a high of 0 and a low of – 12.

I usually take my photos of Blue Rocks in the summer, but thought I’d show you how it looks just now.

The little fish houses sit amongst the blocks of ice.

And the sea moves like a bowl of thick porrage.

The lobstermen work when they can, in the open sea, and in the bays.

In the summer we launch our kayak from this little bay.

From the beach or down the ramps.

I think we’re ready for a melt and some warmer weather.

I’m looking forward to another hot, hot summer, like last year.

Cape Split Hiking Trail

A couple of week-ends ago we decided to head to Cape Split on the Bay of Fundy. We did drive to Scots Bay 2 or 3 years ago, but gave up because of the potholes in the road. They were worse than anywhere else in Nova Scotia.

Nothing had changed in the condition of the road, in fact it was worse, but we persevered to the end. There were diggers, machines and lots of workmen and we thought it was just our luck that the trail was closed. But no, they were just starting on work to make a new car park at the entrance to the park and seemingly there are to be 2 compostable toilets at a cost of $42,000!

We headed along the trail, enjoying the sculptures of the old trees.

There is no tree management and so trees are allowed to  grow as they like.

With trees growing horizontally and branches shooting up at odd angles.

 

The trail ends at Cape Split, well named.

There is no way across to the stack of rock.

So we just had to enjoy the view while we ate our picnic.

 

This little squirrel seemsed to be putting his tongue out at us.

There were more wild tree shapes on the return trip, a total hike of just 15 km.

We saw this abandoned church on our drive to the park and had to stop for photographs.

I can’t see anyone taking this on as a renovation project.