Morning distant sightsMorning always seems to come early on these trips, when the exact opposite is true. I'm sleeping much later than normal, but given that my bike seems to keep rolling all day long, I suppose that's a natural state of affairs. This morning I was the first person in the dining room at 7:45. I was presented with a menu that contained lots of choices, and was told to order anything or to order everything. I started with oatmeal, and continued with a wonderful cinnamon bun surrounded by fresh fruit. That along with breakfast conversations with an older German couple who have been wandering through sections of Canada for what sounded like months gave me a good start for my biking day.
Water slides through green grasses
Ocean to the sky
My route today started on Route 3 then jumped onto the higher speed and busier (but still two-lane) Route 103 for a while. The scenery along 103 was much like yesterday's, trees and fields surrounding the ribbon of road. The difference? There were more sections with fields lined in the distance with smaller evergreens, a road with a much more open feeling. Then it was time to loop down towards the coast on little Route 309, following the Lighthouse Route. Silly me, I thought there would be lighthouses scattered along the route. Actually, there was the opportunity to see two, but both were along an out and back route of unknown distance - so my wheels chose not to turn from my current path. When I spoke to the woman staffing the museum in Shag Harbour, she told me that many of the lighthouses here are either on islands or are in locations that are not obvious (to find) unless you know where they are. No regrets here, I just thought that it was funny that I don't seem to be stumbling across too many lights.
The road continued to roll comfortably. Leaving the coast in Shelburne, I started rolling through sections of trees. As my wheels started around the peninsula framed by Route 309, I started to see water sliding through marsh grasses, with the grasses waving in the wind. There were wonderful pattterns of water and green grasses enhanced by birds, sea gulls and crows. Late in my riding day, water started to fill the view off the left side of the road. Water, islands, water everywhere, sparkling in the sunshine that finally emerged from the cloudy start to the day.
My home for tonight is in Shag Harbour. The town's claim to fame - in addition to being home of a fleet of lobster boats - is the sighting of an unidentified flying object. I had to stop at the post office to see the little green man standing guard at the door. I don't need to mail anything, but according to the Nova Scotia Doers and Dreamers Guide "the post office in Shag Harbour has a special stamp cancellation commemorating the sighting of a UFO which crashed and sank here in 1967". The reports of the UFO came from two different people who have been fielding questions about the occurrence ever since. Here's a quote from one of them from a newspaper article many years later: "I know something came down out of the sky that night and it landed in Shag Harbour Sound. Where it was, where it is, and what it was, I couldn't tell you." Interesting. And strange too.
If you want to read more about this strange occurrence, here's a link to the article: The Shag Harbor UFO Alien CrashShower first, then it was time for a walk down the road to the Chapel Hill Museum and Observation Tower. I really went to climb the tower and look out over the sea, but I was fascinated by a chair and some carved leaves that were made from wood retrieved from shipwrecks. The artist was Gilbert Nickerson, a Shag Harbour resident who lived from 1859 to 1945. There was an interesting story related to the carved leaves that the museum had on display. One of the museum directors saw a set of leaves for sale on eBay, and knowing that they were created by a local, he bid on them for the museum. When the owner of these artifacts found out that the bidder was from the Chapel Hill Historical Society, she donated them to the museum.
Shag Harbour - and Shand's Lookout B&B - is on the coast. It appears to be a town with houses and a dock for working boats, but no stores or restaurants. When I called from the nearest visitor center to see if there was a room available, I also asked about a place for dinner. Chris said that they would be happy to drive me to the next town up the road that has a restaurant. That's definitely a good service for a hungry cyclist!
Philip was my chauffeur, interrupting his work on his lobster traps to drive me to the restaurant and then come back and pick me up. The waitress at the restaurant seems quite used to calling Shand's Lookoff for a ride home for her customers. The restaurant? The only game in town, pretty much the local watering hole. The fare? Fried food, of course! I had fried clams and scallops, and while I don't eat fried food too often, sometimes that bad stuff tastes pretty good. Of course it helps that the seafood is fresh. The waitress told me of a couple from near Boston who were looking for a place to camp. She sent them to the gazebo by the sea where information about the UFO visit is displayed. She wondered how they made out, and I was able to tell her that they were quite pleased with her suggestion and were happily proceeding east along the Atlantic Coast. They were one of the two touring couples who I met yesterday.
As we drove down the road towards my dinner spot, I got a preview of tomorrow morning's ride. The beginning of the day follows the Atlantic coastline, with the ocean in full view. As we drove back to the house this evening, Philip pointed out several islands that are the last point of land (looking to the west) before the water crashes into the United States.
