Hello Everyone

High time for a write-up, a lot has happened sins the last time I wrote. The last time I was on the way to Nova Scotia with Kathy. The ferry arrives in New Glasgow and we take the road to Cape Breton where we want to follow the famous Cabot Trail. The weather is still not very good and we decide to book in a B & B for the night instead of a campsite. The next morning after a breakfast of fresh fruit, freshly baked scones, breads and cereals we start our trip in the rain. The Cabot Trail is a coastal route which is known as one of the most spectacular of North America. The route goes along the coast over the mountains through the woods to small fishing villages, and what we see is very beautiful.

In the morning we decide to pay a visit to the Glenora distillery, it the first distillery in Canada which produces single malt whisky. We take a tour with a glass of whisky may try, it's strong stuff and I have there is not much sense of but it is not wrong. It is pretty interesting and I never knew that it takes so much work in order to produce a glass of whisky. After the tour we continue our trip and stop here and there to enjoy the view because fortunately it stopped raining and we have even a little bit of sun. We are almost at the destination for the night when suddenly less than 100 meters in front of us a black bear crosses the road. I drive slowly further to see if we can still have a glimpse of him and there he is between the trees looking at us .... Wow that is somthing else, but very special. That night we have once again rain and it is a lot, I am glad that we are in a cabin because we'd drifted away in our tent.

After some doubts, Kathy decided to go back to Quebec to spend some time instead of traveling to Newfoundland before she goes back to France. So a few days later I bring her to the bus and I travel further along the coast towards Halifax. Along the way I see beautiful and less beautiful towns and country sides and to make a long story short, I arrive after a few days in Digby a fishing village on the Bay of Fundy. This Bay lies between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is counted to one of the greatest natural wonders in the world due to the large tidal differences the difference between high tide and low tide is 15 meters to the side of New Brunswick. I go looking for the Back-Packers hostel, the owners of the hostel are the sister and brother-in-law of a girlfriend in Holland. Saskia the sister off Paula has no idea that I'm in Nova Scotia and is therefore very surprised if I explain who I am, after all, we have not met each other previously. But after a small tour through the hostel we go sit outside with a cup of tea. We chat about anything and everything and I decide to stay a few nights. Later that evening I met Claude, Saskia's husband who speaks a few words of Dutch.

It is a very cozy hostel and I share the room with Katharina from Germany, she is in Canada for 3 months and has just visited her sister in Montreal. She is planning to work a while on an organic farm in exchange for room and board but still has a few days before they expect her at the farm. That Saturday, almost everyone from the hostel is going to the farmers market in Annapolis Royal a picturesque village a half hour drive from Digby Katharina and I decide to go to a performance of a local artist that evening in the theatre. His name is Ryan Cook and his music is described as a mix of country, blues and folk. We have no idea but it seems nice. The band consists of five members including Ryan who wrote many of the songs himself and although some lyrics are quite funny is the music very nice and he looks nice too so what more could you want.

Katharina and I would like to go camping and canoeing or kayaking in the Kejimkujik Park about an hour's drive from Digby. So Saskia and Claude give us a canoe, life vests and an extra sleeping bag and mattress to borrow so we can go camping. After some struggling with ties through the windows of the car we have the canoe attached to the roof of the car and we are ready to go, euhm ... surely not .... we forgot thoughtlessly to open the doors before tying up the canoe so after some more fiddling we are finally ready to go. We are lucky the weather forecast is good for the next few days and to our opinion we get the best spot on the camping in the forest on the edge of the lake where we easily put the canoe into the water. The only drawback is the annoying sound that we hear at night but what we cannot figure out what it is. It is a monotonous sound which is quite loud and first we think about a duck but it goes on and on all night ...Turns out that it are frogs the bullfrog ... the one you don't want in your pond in your backyard, I can tell you.

The following day we have ideal weather for canoeing, there is no cloud in the sky and the lake looks like a mirror .... Super. We have a relaxing day with paddling and enjoy the sun at the beach what we encounter along the way. That night we get visit from 2 raccoons who rummage around the tent looking for food, but we were warned about the raccoons so we put all our stuff in the car. So they disappear and quickly moved to the neighbors, it seems the following morning that they had food in the tent and were not able sleep for the rest of the night because the raccoons tried to come in to their tent. They are very cute but can be a pain in the...

Back at the hostel in Digby I could be a little bit creative. Saskia had mention that they would liked to have the content of the kitchen cupboards painted on doors, so it is easy to see where you can find everything. What I found a nice idea and I could already picture a few drawings in my head so I offered to draw some for her on the cupboards. So again I can indulge me with my small containers of paint and brushes and if there is still someone who needs to ask where the coffee mugs and glasses are, I don't know it anymore.

We had so much fun on our camping trip that Katharina and I decide to continue to travel together towards Maitland where she is going to work on the farm. The Annapolis Valley, where we drive through is very nice. On the coast I see again red cliffs and beaches like I had seen on Prince Edward Island had seen and it still is fascinating, especially when the sun is shining and the colors are so bright. It is amazing how quickly high tide and low tide exchange, as the water retains all that remains is red clay. After a few days traveling together I bring Katharina to the farm, where they mainly grow organic vegetables, especially lettuce and fresh herbs. They sell them to various restaurants in Halifax and at the farmers market. They ask if I would like to stay and help out as well but I decide to continue my trip. So I here I am touring by myself again. But next time more about that.

Gabriëlle