August 8, 2023
Rain seems to be the norm for our travel days. It started raining just as we were preparing to leave Martin’s River. We left our campground, Rayport Campground, this morning at 10:30 AM in the rain and it was still raining when we arrived in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia.
The owners of the Bridgetown Campground checked us into our campsite. They were very friendly and gave us some sightseeing tips for the area. Our RV neighbor arrived at the same time and they were also from Arizona…Oro Valley. Two RV’s from AZ…pretty unusual!
We drove a few miles to Hillsburn to grab some dinner at The Crow’s Nest Restaurant…supposedly the best Scallops in the world???? With that reputation we needed to check it out. First of all, Hillsburn is not really a town. I’m not really sure it’s a community. It consisted of a few homes on a road towards the Bay of Fundy. The restaurant was located on that same road to the Bay. We passed by the restaurant building and thought we would do a quick drive around Hillsburn. It didn’t take long for us to realize that we had already seen all of Hillsburn. We turned around and headed back to the restaurant. The restaurant is a small colorful building with a small gravel parking area in front. There were people eating ouside at picnic tables and others standing in line to order food. It was cold and drizzling rain…no way we were eating outside! We discovered that there was a small inside seating area and Ken went in to find us a table. No luck, it was full. Our choice was to order and take our food back to the RV where it was warm and dry. While we waited on our food, we met some nice people…a local family and a couple from Texas that were with a Fantasy RV Caravan. We had a nice chat while we all waited on our food. We picked up our order and drove back to the RV. Our order was the Seafood Platter and an extra order of Scallops. Sooooo Good!
Digby NS
Digby is located on the Bay of Fundy and is known worldwide for their famous Digby Scallops.The annual Digby Scallop Festival was scheduled for 8/11-13. We arrived in Digby in the late morning just as many of the vendors were setting up their booths. It became clear that the festival wasn’t going to get started until later in the day.
I stopped to talk with a jewelry vendor that was open for business. She was selling “beach jewelry” with handpainted Nova Scotia scenery. I bought a copper Canadian penny necklace with the Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse painted on one side of the coin. Very Cute! I asked her about Scallops; how and where they are found. She showed me a Scallop Shell with a small Scallop Pearl…all new to me! Since I was her first customer and had traveled so far, she gave me a large Scallop Shell. I was a happy customer!
Digby is home to one of the largest Scallop Fleets in the world. We walked down to the fisherman’s wharf to see the Scollop and Lobster boats. We saw lots of Lobster Boats, but, don’t think we saw any Scallop boats. Fisherman’s Wharf is also a good place to view the tide fluctuations which can be up to 30 feet in 6 hours. The Tide was still coming in while we were on the dock, but, the boats were still well below the top of the dock. We witnessed fisherman climbing down ladders to get to their boats! Not something I want to do!
The signs around town told us that Digby is the Scallop Capital of the World, but, we did not see one place selling fresh scallops! What??? We did find a farmer’s roadside stand and bought some really tasty sweet corn and blueberries. We ate all of the blueberries on the ride back to the campground. Delicious!
On our way back to Bridgetown, we drove through Anapolis Royal, one of the places listed on most RV Caravan itinerary’s.
Annapolis Royal
The French built Fort Anne on the shore of the Annapolis Basin in the 1630’s. When Great Britain took control in 1710, the name was changed to Annapolis Royal in honor of Queen Anne. Annapolis Royal was the capital of Nova Scotia from 1710 until Halifax was founded in 1749.
We drove by Fort Anne, the main attraction, but, we weren’t interested in touring another preserved Fort and museum.
Next stop – New Brunswick and a return stay at Elm River for one night
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