Thursday, 01 June 2006

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

So, June has arrived, but not the weather you would hope for. It was cold and misty outside, and perhaps not surprisingly reminded me of Scotland - last August to be exact when I cycled round the Shetlands and then through the Orkneys and John O'Groats and all the way to Dundee before I saw any sun. Hopefully I won't have 2 weeks with no sun in New Scotland, although the forecast for the next few days isn't looking great.

I went out first to the library but it didn't open until 10am so I spent a hour or two browsing round in the Yarmouth County Museum, with it's displays of local life and maritime history. It's fascinating to see how much life has changed over the last 200 years.

In the afternoon I cycled out to Cape Forchu with its lighthouse - still partially shrouded in the mist. It was a pleasant easy cycle, and it was quite nice to have a relatively lazy day although I also felt a bit guilty that I should have set off travelling today. Tomorrow will come soon enough...

Believe it or not I can't find any nice chocolate here; just things like Snickers bars and the like. No good fruit and nut bars. No nice biscuits either; certainly no Chocolate Hob Nobs. Mixed dried fruit seems absent too. What am I going to do without any of my favourite cycling snacks...? I did find something which sounds disgusting but which I'll have to try; chocolate covered peanut butter 'cups'. I'll let you know.

There are a few more brick and stone buildings in yarmouth than I was seeing in New England, but wooden houses still predominate. The thing I like is that the style vary so much, and so do the colours. You rarely see two houses alike. I love the contrasts and brightness of all the combinations and variations.

I have a room-mate for my second night in the backpackers hostel. He doesn't seem too sociable - I'm positively chatty by comparison. If he snores, I might have to kill him.

If you're ever in Nova Scotia, I can recommend a bottled beer from the Propeller Brewery in Halifax called Extra Special Bitter. (ESB) Very Nice. http://www.drinkpropeller.ca

Distance: 27.4 km
Cycling time: 2:25
Total distance: 902.8 km