Day 2 - Tuesday, April 25th, 2017 Digby to Annapolis Royal 30km

I woke up at 7am and realized I was sporting a very bad sunburn on my neck. Jenipher had a big blister. We slathered on sunscreen and blister pads and we were almost as good as new.

Paul drove us to Digby at 8:30 and on the way out of Sandy Cove we had our first wildlife sighting as a large coyote ran across the road, must have been late for work. The sun was shining and it was going to be a lovely day.

We joined the trail on the outskirts of Digby and the track swept around the water and stayed close to the Annapolis Basin for most of our walk.

Looking up the Annapolis Basin from Digby

The path is a bit ugly at the beginning passing piles of old building debris and some "Deliverance" type places. We passed a house with a couple of hounds dogs in pens and they barked loudly until we were out of sight.

Excellent use of flotsam...or is that jetsam?

Our first port of call was Smith's Cove, home of the Mountain Gap Inn where I lived briefly when Tony, my then husband, was the chef there. It's changed, doesn't look like an old-fashioned seaside resort as it used to. In fact, I'm not sure it's even a hotel anymore, it may be condos.

Road down to Mountain Gap Inn

View of the Gap - you can just see the St. John ferry leaving

 The trail continued on through the woods, we only met one person, an older man on a bike. He's one of the very few people we met all day. The trail leads over the road bridge at Joggins and at about 8km from the start we reached the old lighthouse at Bear River where the track ended as the bridge over the river has been removed. We crossed on the Bear River road bridge and then rejoined the trail by scrambling down the bank on the other side.

Trail beyond Smith's Cove

Lighthouse at Bear River

View from road bridge looking up Bear River

There was a rather grand house on the water close the bridge and we had to pass it along the trail. There were lots of no trespassing signs but we couldn't resist stopping take a photo of the house next door. As we were doing this I noticed a man was standing watching us from the posh house, he didn't speak and it was a bit disconcerting. I made sure he wasn't following us!

More Nova Scotia folk art

Deep Brook was the next little community we were aiming for and generally the path wasn't too far from the the road. Jenipher had the brilliant idea to have lunch at The Hollow Spot near Cornwallis. Talk turned to cheeseburgers and milkshakes and this spurred us on. The little takeout was only a minute or two off the path and we were soon happily stuffing ourselves at a picnic table in the shade - shoes and socks off!

Barracks at Cornwallis - Basic Training Camp

Cornwallis Train Station

The trail passed right through Cornwallis, once a basic training camp now used by various business operations. We walked through lovely woods and on to Clementsport and our first challenge of the day. We had to leave the trail and make our way around the mouth of the river by beach and then by road.

The trail end at Clementsport

We tried to rejoin the trail on the other side but it was so overgrown that we had to go back on to the road. We stopped at the post office and asked for directions and the woman there told us we could get back on it just up the road. So on we marched but when we got back on the path it quickly became impassable so we had to scramble back on to the road.

A bit farther on we passed a very ornate pair of gates leading up a beautifully landscaped drive, we couldn't see the house. Just beyond this I thought I saw an open trail down behind some houses. An old man working was outside so I asked him and yes, it was a trail and a landing strip for aircraft. What? Jen had looked at the map earlier and said there was an airport, I thought she was nuts, maybe I was wrong?! I was, there was a paved strip long enough to land a small plane, must be for the house across the street. The paved road ended and narrowed again into a wooded path, we were back on track or so we thought.

Much steeper than it looks

At the bottom of the ravine

Warning!

We carefully climbed down the embankment where the bridge had once been and up the other side. At the top it looked like we were in the middle of somebody's garden. The local residents seemed to be trying to deter people at all costs and were incorporating the track into their landscaping. I understand they probably don't want ATV's and snowmobiles speeding by but it's still a public right of way and so on we went.

We were both starting to get a bit tired now and Jenipher's blisters needed some attention. Warning disturbing graphic below of Jen's foot!

Time to operate

The walk was really very pretty but we were getting tired and not appreciating it as much as we would have normally. We passed by Upper Clements Park and the road just kept on going.

Roller Coaster

Looking back down the Annapolis Basin towards Digby

Walking with poles helps

Annapolis Royal in the distance

We finally saw Annapolis in the distance. The motel we stayed at is a little out of town and we could see it to our right and soon we were able to take a shortcut across a field.

We made it, Paul and Jenipher's sister, Kathy, were there to meet us. After a bit of a rest and a hot shower we headed into town to meet up with some Sandy Cove friends to celebrate Jenipher's birthday at Bistro East. Then back to the motel and bed.