In the morning, I packed my belongings and left the hotel as it didn’t provide any. I followed one of their suggestions and visited a café that was open on a Sunday morning. I had a coffee and muffin in a cozy place and could set off already at 8:30. During the night, it rained heavily but now the streets started to dry, the weather would still be cloudy for the next two hours.
I left Lunenburg in direction northwest, riding through a mix of forests and farm land. After a while I passed the little village of New Germany where also large plantations of Christmas trees were located.
Slowly the temperature rose and there were more sunny spells. I remembered that I hadn’t switched on my GPS tracking app and corrected that. During this trip I relied solely on my mobile phone that I charged continuously with a power bank stored away in a fairing box, safely protected by some fresh underwear.
Around 10:30 I arrived the town of Annapolis Royal that was composed of old wooden houses of this Maritime style. A lot of trees and meadows give it sometimes more the feel of a park than a town. I rolled into the ‚centre‘ of town and spotted a ‚German bakery‘. Curiously, I checked the menu at the outside and concluded that this must be a real German baker. Maybe later.
I rode through Fort Anne with the views on the bay and rolled slowed slowly through the mini waterfront before turning around. I stopped at the bakery again and as I was really thirsty, I thought it might be a good idea to consume some quenching liquid. In the bakery, I was attended by an East German waitress and could see that the bakers produced genuine products. So I ordered a salami roll with a Bavarian wheat beer. Unlike back home, I asked for a alcohol free version. In the background, I could hear some German Schlager. Entering customer showed that this place was quite popular. I finished my second breakfast and continued my ride.
I was entering Annapolis Valley, supposedly one of the highlights of Nova Scotia. I avoided the Highway 101 and chose the smaller Highway 201 that lead through lush fields with scattered farms. It has one of the mildest microclimates and is known for its fruit and vegetable crops. I enjoyed riding with the humming ST1300, the sunny weather was also playing along. I stopped here and there, taking pictures. In one village, I spotted a painter that was painting an enormous mural in great details – impressive.
In Kentville and Wolfville, the area got more urban, quite a wealthy area, it seems. My next stop was at Grand-Pré, a national historic site. The Grand-Pré National Historic Site is a park set aside to commemorate the Grand-Pré area of Nova Scotia as a centre of Acadian settlement from 1682 to 1755. The French settlers built dykes to hold back the tides along the Minas Basin. They created rich pastures for their animals and fertile fields for their crops. Grand-Pré became the bread basket of Acadia, and by the mid-18th century was the largest of the numerous Acadian communities around the Bay of Fundy and the coastline of Nova Scotia.
Serving as a kind of museum and memorial site, the Site tells the story of the Acadians that got caught in the middle of the colonial wars between the British and the French. Although French-speaking, they did not want to take sides, staying neutral. After the occupation of Nova Scotia by British troops, they did not want to swear an unconditional oath and allegiance to the British Crown. As a reaction, in 1755 their property was confiscated and almost all Arcadians were deported. Many Acadians died from drowning, starvation, imprisonment, and exposure. By modern terms, this would be considered an ‘ethnic cleansing’.
The “Landscape of Grand Pré” was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2012. The 1,300 hectares of polderised marshland and archaeological sites in the Grand-Pré area were recognized as an “exceptional example of the adaptation of the first European settlers to the conditions of the North American Atlantic coast” and as “a memorial to Acadian way of life and deportation”.
I visited the exhibition, attended a film, visited the park and chatted with some museum guides about remaining Acadian culture. After the visit, my trip was basically over. I rode westwards to Truro and further to the motorbike rental place. I changed clothes, packed my suitcases and waited for the pre-booked taxi that would get me to Halifax airport. The trip was quite entertaining, as I had a lively discussion with a well-informed driver. At the airport, I had quite some time on my hands, as my flight departure was delayed for two hours. Enough time to have dinner and to survive the Air Canada Lounge.
One flight to Frankfurt and a connecting flight to Brussels later I was back home. A nice short trip through most of Nova Scotia!
Hutzlmandl On Tour 
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