Bayfield Provincial Park

Nova Scotia has many, many small provincial parks. They are uniformly neat, well-maintained, beautiful and never crowded. Here is one of the tiniest, on the Northumberland Shore east of Antigonish.

I've added the weblink for this park. From there, you can browse all the parks Nova Scotia.

Today was sunny and the schools are nearing the end of the year so there were a lot of school buses heading to the beach. It's wonderful to think that somewhere people still believe kids ought to have fun experiences, outside the school building, as part of their education. 

 

This beach lies deep in a protected cove, so there are no waves to speak of. The water is shallow and warm. This is the first place we've seen children actually in the water in June. Great for small children.

These kids would have to walk out a hundred meters to get in water over their heads.

 

Right around the corner from the park is this small harbor. Again, it's afternoon, so all the lobster boats are in for the day. The building in the center, in the rear, sells fresh lobster right off the boats. Yum.

St. Pierre, Cape Breton

It's easy to waste a day doing nothing in Nova Scotia. We spent one day in St. Pierre, a little town on the main road from the Canso Causeway to Syndey.  "Little" means no stoplight and a one-lane bridge on the main route.

Cape Breton is a mix of peoples and St. Pierre is evidence. Once named San Pedro, then St. Pierre, Cape Breton also hosts Irish (Gaelic) and Scots as well. The music here is fantastic.


St. Pierre is best known for the small canal that links the Bras D'Or Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. They're not really lakes, but large inland seas with salt water. But the lakes are protected, so there are few waves and only a small tide. This is a sea kayakers' paradise.

We visited Battery Park, one of the many Provincial parks in Nova Scotia, which lies along both sides of the canal. Campers park along the seacoast and picnic areas with tables line the canal. The park warden was a very helpful college student.

The local lobster boats park right in the canal, since the waters are protected. Most of the fisherman are done checking their traps by noon. We could see them unloading crates of live lobster to the refrigerated trucks, which would take them to market and someone's table that night. Of course, you can buy lobster right off the boats if you want (cheap).

The canal has a system of locks so boats can get in and out of the lake.  Here the seaside locks are closed and the lakeside locks are open in the distance.
Looks like this is also a great place for fishing.





We're always on the lookout for good fish and chips. Believe it or not, Chubby's in St. Pierre's wins the prize for us. Best we've had yet.