Day 48. On the Road again: lighthouses to Lunenberg.

Goodbye Nancy and thankyou - for everything, including leading us to the very edge of Halifax and waving us off! We hope to return the favour, or at least cook supper for you in Massachusetts!

Tonight we're in Ovens Park, Ovens actually meaning sea caves, which run around the base of the cliffs on which we're happily camped.

This is the south shore of Nova Scotia, and it's gorgeous. Candy-striped lighthouses, tiny fishing coves, primary coloured boats bobbing just so against the deep blue water. So picture-postcard that it's actually hard to take pictures - every one a cliche - but I think we've now accepted that snap-happy tourism IS our way of life...

We were going to skip Peggy's Cove because it's where everybody goes. (That strange snobbery, you know, where everyone ELSE is a tourist but you're an independent traveller.) But Nancy said we just had to see it, and she was right. It's filled with gaggles of visitors snapping identical pictures of the octagonal lighthouse, trekking between faded fishing shacks. But it is really memorable.

The lighthouse stands guard over a massive spread of sheets of granite rock, with waves breaking into huge high showers of spray. We had a lot of fun, plus excellent lattes on the way back to the carpark with the most courteous attendants yet ("Welcome to Peggy's Cove,and do feel free to stay all day"). Hoorah.

Then a lovely lovely drive all around the wiggles and curves of the coast, something like Cornwall meets the Greek Islands...seeing the boats coming back from lobster fishing, and wondering who lives in those pretty clapboard houses with vast porches presiding over long velvet lawns by the sea. (We did find another couple who live in a GMC, dropping by at King Neptune's Campground to say hello to Bill and Neetsa,  friends of Paul and Nancy's - I love the fact that just turning up in Harvey made us Part Of The Family.)

Just when we were getting seriously hungry, we came to the Trellis restaurant at Hubbards, and some of the BEST grub. R and I both had smoked salmon quiche with asparagus and goat cheese, which came with a salad (some magic combination of spinach, strawberries, asiago cheese, and poppy seed dressing), then shared an obscenely enormous piece of gingerbread with cream on top. Tom was so defeated by his big bowl of homemade mac and cheese, that he lay down and snoozed in the RV as we took off again.

We were going to drive straight to the campsite but were seduced by the town of Mahone Bay. It's famous for the first view you get, of three church steeples in a row. When we'd driven past those, and past the quaint marina, and craned our necks to look at the fascinating rooflines and woodwork of the 18th century houses on Main Street, we were finally captured by the multicoloured frontage of Dad's Icecream, and forced to pull over. We had a minor shopping frenzy too (Mum and Margaret should be pleased), and somehow it was after five when we left.

We left the UNESCO world heritage site of Lunenberg for tomorrow (so many sights, feeling dizzy), and drove on to this tiny campsite at the end of a lot of woods and water. I'm ignoring the strains of "Live Music!!" which are drifting over, having failed to realise that was one of the attractions, but you can't have everything...After a 99 mile drive today, it feels just right to be here, and I am resolved to persuade Mum and Dad that they should fly to Halifax next summer so they can blog their own lighthouse views... and Mum, the quilt pic was for you ! xx