Nova Scotia Bicycle Tour - Day 7 Ovens to Chester

Nova Scotia Tour

Day 7 Ovens to Chester

Lobster Boat

I woke up early again to yet another magnificent day. Today was the last day of lobster season in this part of Nova Scotia. While eating breakfast, I watched a lobster boat picking up the traps for the season. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen any recreational boats since leaving Yarmouth. All the boats I had seen were fishing boats of one type or another.

My camping fee included admission to the Seacaves Trail. So I took a short hike after packing up camp. The trail follows cliffs and leads down stairways built into the rocks to the seacaves below.

View from inside a seacave.

The caves were formed by the sea eroding the base of the cliffs. The caves were extended by mining activity during a brief gold rush in 1861. The mining supported a boom town of over 1,000 people with stores, hotels and banks.

According to a native legend a M'Kmaq Indian entered the cave and paddled his canoe across Nova Scotia emerging near Blomidon.

Ovens Seacaves Trail
Seacaves Trail

The seacaves were beautiful and interesting. I got back on my bike and headed to Lunenburg. My lock had broken a couple of nights before. I needed to replace it in order to lock up my bike while I visit the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.

When I reached Lunenburg, I followed the signs to find the visitor's center. The visitor's center was located at the top of a huge hill. The visitor's center directed me to a bike shop just outside of town where I replace my lock and topped off my tires with their floor pump.

I returned to town (skirting the big hill, of course). My main reason for visiting Lunenburg was to see the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. I had read that it was an interesting museum. I was not disappointed.

Fisheries Museum
The Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic

The museum covers every facet of the fisheries industry in the maritime provinces. I spent a couple of hours in the museum building, a former fish plant. The museum building featured various exhibits, an aquarium, boats, engines, machinery, and a memorial chapel dedicated to the fishermen who died at sea. I was totally fascinated. One can not appreciate Nova Scotia without understanding the fisheries that have supported her through the centuries.

I found two ships moored outside the main building. These ships are part of the museum. The first was a schooner built in 1938. The second was a modern side trawler built in 1962.

The schooner Theresa E. Connor was particularly interesting. The crew worked in pairs in small dories. Each pair would row a mile or two from the schooner to bait hooks and haul up cod on "long lines". I can only imagine, what is must have been like out in the middle of the foggy Atlantic is a small boat unable to see the mother ship.

Spartan crew quarters aboard
the Theresa E. Connor.

I left Lunenburg about 3 PM and continued my journey. I passed through Mahone Bay and camped at Graves Island Provincial Park just outside of Chester. This was one only provincial campground I stayed during the whole trip. Most of the other provincial parks did not open until mid June. I got a water front site facing Mahone Bay. It was absolutely beautiful. This was my third waterfront site in four nights of camping in Nova Scotia.

As I was sitting in tent watching the sun set through the screen door. The campground hostess came by. I was debating whether or not to visit Peggy's cove, or head straight across the peninsula to Windsor and the Bay of Fundy. She invited me to come by her site in the morning to discuss routes and places to visit.

Continue to Day 8.