Blomidon Provincial Park
One of the areas I wanted to visit while in Nova Scotia was Blomidon Provincial Park. It lies approximately 20 kilometres north of Wolfville, 600 feet above the water, and provides magnificent views across the bay. Although not a long distance, it can be challenging especially the last climb and switchbacks up to the park. Fortunately, I was able to leave some gear with friends in Wolfville. Zander and I cycled through fields of corn, strawberries, and vegetable gardens, pastures with cows and pigs, and views of the bay—or should I say the mud flats since the tide was out. Since I am now at the “head” of the Bay of Fundy, the difference in the tides can be 15 metres or 50 feet; it has the highest tides in the world. The height is impressive, but I find the changes in the “width of beach” the most impressive. At times, I looked out and could no longer see where the water created a shoreline!
The cycle up to the park was done on a bright, warm, sunny day. The park is at the top of an incredibly steep hill. However, the last six kilometres also have some hefty rolling hills. A father-son team in those last six kilometres passed me. Their steady pace seemed quite fast and strong, so I thought they might have made it up the hill. They were able to go further up than I, but even they were reduced to walking with a loaded bike. The father thought his son might be able to do it without a load, but he and I felt confident neither one of us could do it even without a load!!
But all the effort was worth it!! The park is 600 feet above the water and provides magnificent views across the bay. There are about 14 kilometres of hiking trails through woodlands, “bog-like” areas with lots of ferns, and access to the beach. When the tide is out, you can walk quite the distance into the bay. In addition, we were early in the season, so the squirrels were quite brave, and Zander enjoyed chasing them back up into the trees. And the small, black rabbits were so cute and allowed us to get quite close. Zander is relatively quiet and calm around rabbits, because our favourite pet store in Edmonton has rabbits for pets. Zander goes in quite gently to great his pal each time we buy food!
The wind came up in the late afternoon—and boy does it blow at the top of the cliffs!! It was a good thing that I had staked the tent well, because the sides of the tent were blown in and the fly fluttered madly! And the night sky was clear so the stars once again shone in the sky!! It is such a delight to be able to see them so clearly.
The day we left Blomidon, it rained—and rained quite hard. The rain cape came out, and Zander was quite soaked for some time!! Since the temperatures were warm, the rain did not make us feel cold, although Zander is never fond of getting wet. And even though there were some tough hills on the way home, it took us less time to make the trip back to Wolfville.
That evening, Sue and John took us to the Wolfville farmer’s market for dinner. You pay $10.00 and get 5-$2.00 coupons, a plate with salad and bread. The coupons go for buying food from local vendors. The choices were a pork slider, Moroccan food, Indian samosas and pakoras, Italian pasta, German schnitzel, vegetarian fare, and gelato. It is every Wednesday during the summer, I believe—and quite the social affair. It was a great ending to two days of solid, challenging bicycling and hiking.
cycleyogini 