NS 2025: Day 8: Northport, NS: Beach Pup

Morning walk was a repeat of yesterday’s route. It was just a few degrees cooler. Pace was better. I did manage to see 4 deer on the walk. None in the kilometre long woodland trail. All in the neighbourhood. Only one deer picture for you today.

We got ready and hit the road before 11:00. We stopped by the Masstown market to do a bit of provisioning. Amy and I hung out in the van while Mrs Milddogs picked up the goods. Next stop was at Mrs Milddogs sister’s place for a short visit, some raiding of their large garden and an eagle sighting. Mrs Milddogs sister (henceforward MMS) is a really good nature photographer. When the eagle flew over I snapped a picture hoping to rival the quality she gets. So here it is, heavily cropped. Admittedly, hers are way better.

Next stop was the place commonly known as “the beach”. We arrived somewhere around 13:30 and got the van levelled up.

The tide was ebbing when we arrived. Once the tide had subsided enough we headed out on the beach for a stroll. Amy was thrilled to be off leash, a rarity for her.

We had a lovely dinner of lobster, steak, salad and garden fresh corn. It was yummy, and sourced locally (mostly). The corn came from MMS’ garden. The lobster from MMS’ husband’s lobster boat and the steak from Australia by way of the Real Canadian Superstore.

One of the cool things about this part of the country is that you can see three provinces at once. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI. This is the only part of Canada you can do that. Before you object, the key word is “provinces”, not territories. Also, pretty sure you actually see a mirage of PEI. Unless you are like Mike and think the world is flat, then you are definitely seeing the “real” PEI.

As we drive the back roads of Nova Scotia, when I’m not trying to figure out just how deep that rut is in front of us, I like to pay attention the place names. Our Garmin GPS kindly lists plenty of them. The pervasive use of adjectives in the names is interesting. Upper, lower, east, north, upper north and more added to any place name is fair game. Perhaps Economy, Upper Economy and Lower Economy are my favourite. Which one would you choose? I think we drove through a place called Ashley Tishdale, not far from Sharpay (of course).

Today we are using our Starling Mini for the first time. The cell tower for Bell / Telus is way over in PEI so we vary between a few bars of 3G and 1 of LTE. Our Starlink Mini is on the new low speed plan. True to its name, it’s low speed. Disclaimer: we ordered the Mini when it first came out in Canada, before the “changes”.

The sun sets in the west here. Whom would have thought?