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PLANNING TO RIDE NOVA SCOTIA

R

RICHKAWI

Member
Member
Been wanting to do this ride for several years and the summer of '24 looks like the time.
I'd be interested in any comments or suggestions from anyone who has ridden the island.
 
I did it many years ago in a Navy Van.
So can't comment much on the ride itself.

We did the lighthouse/Bay of Fundy/Peggys Cove/etc.
The Bay of Fundy map shows a loop on that part of Nova Scotia.
www.bing.com

bay of fundy - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.
www.bing.com www.bing.com
One thing I found particularly interesting was The Citadel/Fort George.
The tour gave a lot of information.
en.wikipedia.org

Citadel Hill (Fort George) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Looking at a map I see a National Park (Cape Breton) at the Northern tip of Nova Scotia.
I think I would make that a detonation.
www.bing.com

road map of nova scotia - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.
www.bing.com www.bing.com


Ride safe, Ted
 
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That National park is the Cabot Trail, a great ride, don't get over confident. The Digby Wharf Rat Rally and the Halifax wharf (near the Citadel)
 
Been to Nova Scotia a few times. I recommend riding up the east coast, stopping at some nice places. Lunenburg, The Swiss Air flight 111 memorial, Peggys cove, The Citadel in Halifax (and the Halifax water front), Sherbrooke Village, are all places I enjoyed riding to and stopping at. If you keep riding the coast past Sherbrooke, you can take the Country Harbour Ferry. All very memorable, and in that order from south to north riding the coast.
Then of course you have to proceed up to Cape Breton Island. We stay in Baddeck when up there for a couple of nights. I like the Cabot Trail Motel & Restaurant. It's slightly out of town, but right on the lake. It also has a decent restaurant on site, that over looks the lake. You of course have to ride the Cabot trail. That's a day in itself. (thus the two nights in Baddeck ) I recommend riding the counter clockwise direction when riding the trail. To me, it has much better views, and you're riding on the ocean side of the road.
Then if you're riding in or out of NS on the highway rather than taking a ferry to/from the US, check out Truro. You have to check the tides chart, but you can experience the Tidal Bore. It's one of those things that you should not pass up seeing. They have a nice park called the Fundy Discovery Site, that's a great place to watch the tidal wave come up the Salmon River. I think there is only a few places in the world where this phenomenon takes place.
There's other things and places, but this is where I would start. I enjoyed so much when with the riding buddies, I brought the wife up later, so she could enjoy it. Which she did. We also spent time on Price Edward Island as well. Since we had the time, we used it.

​

 
We went in a Chevy Vega (GT) in November 1976 poor as church mice on our honeymoon. The hotel we stayed at in Nova Scotia was a madhouse - everyone was drunk, noisily staggering around, slamming doors, arguing and falling down. I went to speak to the management - they were drunk too. We went up the east side - cold in late November. Came back with pocket change. The stop leak I used in the Vega plugged up the heater core. We came back to Maine cold, hungry, and broke. That was 47 years ago. We're close (Maine) maybe we'll give it another try.
 
Been there once during the COGmotion Along the Ocean National Rally back in '97. Rode into New Brunswick at Calais, stayed in St. John. Hooked up with others there and then on to PEI across the Confederation Bridge on the day after it opened. Had the Rally banquet in Charlottestown. Roamed around the Island and took the ferry over to Nova Scotia. Stayed in Port Hawkesberry for the night then did the Cabot Trail the next day. Got off the trail at a couple of spots, but Meat Cove was one of the most memorable.... including the dirt/gravel road getting there which was riddled with pot holes. It was also raining on and off which added to the excitement. Then, while out at that spot at the end of a trail, I met a tourist couple from Hampton Roads, VA. Whoda thunked. I'd lived and worked down in that area for a number of years before moving to Richmond.

Headed back to the trail and finished the loop and stayed in Hawkesberry again for the night. Rather than trying to catch the ferry at Yarmouth, we rode back out through New Brunswick and took a couple more days to get home. We carried camping gear and put it to use when we weren't staying with the rest of the Rally herd at scheduled motels. It was a good trip. Those were pre-digital days for me and I shot 11 or 12 rolls of film during that adventure. The prints and slides are buried somewhere in a closet. Need to dig those out and revive the memories.
 
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Cap'n Bob said:
Been to Nova Scotia a few times. I recommend riding up the east coast, stopping at some nice places. Lunenburg, The Swiss Air flight 111 memorial, Peggys cove, The Citadel in Halifax (and the Halifax water front), Sherbrooke Village, are all places I enjoyed riding to and stopping at. If you keep riding the coast past Sherbrooke, you can take the Country Harbour Ferry. All very memorable, and in that order from south to north riding the coast.
Then of course you have to proceed up to Cape Breton Island. We stay in Baddeck when up there for a couple of nights. I like the Cabot Trail Motel & Restaurant. It's slightly out of town, but right on the lake. It also has a decent restaurant on site, that over looks the lake. You of course have to ride the Cabot trail. That's a day in itself. (thus the two nights in Baddeck ) I recommend riding the counter clockwise direction when riding the trail. To me, it has much better views, and you're riding on the ocean side of the road.
Then if you're riding in or out of NS on the highway rather than taking a ferry to/from the US, check out Truro. You have to check the tides chart, but you can experience the Tidal Bore. It's one of those things that you should not pass up seeing. They have a nice park called the Fundy Discovery Site, that's a great place to watch the tidal wave come up the Salmon River. I think there is only a few places in the world where this phenomenon takes place.
There's other things and places, but this is where I would start. I enjoyed so much when with the riding buddies, I brought the wife up later, so she could enjoy it. Which she did. We also spent time on Price Edward Island as well. Since we had the time, we used it.

​

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Nice to hear Bob , which year were you over ?
 
RICHKAWI said:
Been wanting to do this ride for several years and the summer of '24 looks like the time.
I'd be interested in any comments or suggestions from anyone who has ridden the island.
Click to expand...
I did the entire Eastern seaboard all the way up to Halifax and Cape Breton Island. Nova Scotia was okay, pretty level terrain with some shoreline, but Cape Breton was fantastic! Would have gone to Newfoundland but the ferry was around $250 I think. We figured we could at least say we touched the Northeastern most point of the continent accessible by road.
 
greenie said:
We went in a Chevy Vega (GT) in November 1976 poor as church mice on our honeymoon. The hotel we stayed at in Nova Scotia was a madhouse - everyone was drunk, noisily staggering around, slamming doors, arguing and falling down. I went to speak to the management - they were drunk too. We went up the east side - cold in late November. Came back with pocket change. The stop leak I used in the Vega plugged up the heater core. We came back to Maine cold, hungry, and broke. That was 47 years ago. We're close (Maine) maybe we'll give it another try.
Click to expand...
Where you at in Maine?

My son is on the basketball staff at UMaine . I need to figure out a way from INdiana to Maine using old US highways for travel across PA/NY/Mass and north

Just went by car (Jeep) from Bangor to Boston down US 1 the second week of Dec. Happily I opted for the Jeep as we woke up to a heavy snow on the Monday AM we were leaving from Bangor.
 
I'm in Bangor. I have ridden US Route 2 in a few sections - it spans the US from east to west except for a big gap that the Great Lakes occupy. Wikipedia claims it was intentionally always a 2 section highway by design. The eastern section starts at Rouse's Point NY and ends at Houlton Maine. It's a nice ride while it lasts. I've never found a good route west from Maine (even using slabs) and always cross into Canada in Vermont/NY (I-91) and use the Trans Canada to Detroit. Indiana to Maine would involve a bunch of different US and state Highways as you stair step northeast. The Lincoln Highway goes too far south to be practical to use for anything but a short section. The Canada section is mostly slabs - 401 and other unpleasant roads - not even fast because of Canada's slow speed limits and honking big speeding fines which top out just short of beheading ;)
 
Next time I am up visiting I will be sure to DM you. He is living over by the Cross center (if you ever need a ticket for Hoops let me know) .

Nice town and all the people I have met so far are great. Thanks for the Info, I will never try to cross Vermont going west again. We were on "State" Highways that were truly dirt roads at the time, stripped down to the dirt going over a mountain during repaving. I will be going down to Mass and go across ...as in *never again*.

US 30 across Ohio and into PA but we have a problem from there. Thanks for the info. I need to spend this winter trying to figure this out.
 
Rt 6 across northern PA then you could hook up with rt 202 all the way into Maine. I did 202 out of NY to Maine a few years ago. It keeps you off the interstate but is very slow. All the towns are too close to each other with slow speed limits. We were not in a hurry so it worked good. Plenty of gas and food stops available.
 
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