Truro, Nova Scotia

Total Km = 294

Woke to overcast skies and fog with the weather man predicting rain. There was evidence of rain overnight but nothing at the start of the day.

We decided to seek out one of the 62 wooden covered bridges that are in NB – 59 of them are still functioning. Most of these date back to the early 1900’s with the newest one being built in 1983. We got careful directions from our faithful internet connection and off we went, riding some back roads to the bridge pictured here. This is the Cocagne River Bridge built in 1942 measuring 146 feet long. We looked up some of the history of these bridges to try and see what the reasoning was behind building them covered and all we could find was the stories of how when the guys were taking the gals back home after a dance or whatever they would steal a kiss in the darkness of the covered bridge!

We then rode a little further North to the town of Bouctouche pronounced “booktoosh” where there is an Acadian village called Le Pays de la Sagouine where we were very well entertained with stories and music from the past. The village is accessed by a wooden walkway to an island in the middle of a river. We attended an English presentation on the history of the Acadians and it has given us a better understanding of why we are encountering people fluent in English and French. They have such an uncanny way on of knowing we only speak English– Doug thinks we must have a big E on our foreheads. We are, of course, virtually nonconversant – what a waste of all those years of high school French 40 + years ago.

One of the village “houses” contained Mathilda, the cook who provided samples of what she was making – the only condition of a taste was all males had to give her a hug. She was getting pretty desperate to find herself a man and kept trying to make a deal for Doug! She really did make some very good treats – we sampled two different items.

We had lunch in the village and tasted Acadian fare which included “poutine frappe” which is mashed potato/shredded potato with salt pork in the middle, formed into a ball and boiled then served with brown sugar and molasses – obviously an acquired taste but we thought we needed to give it a try. Not too bad, although fruit in the middle would be better?

While we were at the park one of the workers pointed out a large green tailed Luna moth perched on a post. Pretty spectacular.

Rode further south into Nova Scotia along the freeway, specifically over the Cobequid Pass tollway. We dutifully got ready to pay our $4 but were summarily waved through by a protesting first nations group (Micmacs we think). The skies started to clear and the rain predicted never did materialize. We are really noticing the humidity now though.