Wednesday, June 29, 2022

I had a difficult night the previous night, and my shoulder and neck pain was really acting up, but when I got up at 8:00 a.m. Jim had plans for the next two days. When at home I would first try using a topical pain relief medication, use my electric massager and as a last resort, take one Tylenol and one Advil for arthritis, with coffee. Unfortunately I had neither the topical pain medication or the massager with me. There was coffee available in the kitchen though.

The plan was to go to  Peggy’s Cove this day. We stopped at the local pharmacy, where I got the topical pain medication, before we left Halifax. I slept most of the way to Peggy’s Cove.

I guess my memory of Peggy’s Cove from our trip there sixteen years ago was vague. To me it felt much more commercial this time, with huge tourist buses driving through the narrow street that led to the main parking lot. There was a big gift shop and dining area near the lighthouse. The streets were crowded. Jim insisted they were all there the last time we were, except for maybe so many people, and I later learned he was mostly right when we compared the picture of the fishing docks I’d taken back in 2007 with the view this time. The only discernable difference was the replacement of one fishing boat with a Tourist Expedition one.

It was lunch time when we arrived and I was really hungry. Frequent meals is another thing that helps my pain,  but instead of first going to one of the two eateries available, we wandered around, stopping many times to take pictures. We walked through the Gift Shop and took advantage of the washrooms. I was glad to see social distancing was still being enforced.

One thing that is definitely new is the wooden walkway, with railings, leading over the once open, often wet and slippery rocks where the iconic lighthouse sat. I was thinking it just added to the commercialization, but some claim it is an overdue safety necessity. People wandering on their own over the rocks sometimes refused to heed the warnings about getting too close to the slippery edge. The new walkway offers protection to only one ocean-side area and perhaps a greater warning to these adventurers. If a person slips off the cliff into the ocean, even the trained lifeguards can’t help them. The water moves so fast, a tossed safety ring would flow away before it could be grabbed, as would any lifeguard who jumped in to try to save them. Four lives have been lost during the past twenty years, according the records kept.

At the higher areas along the path, there are spots where colourful Adirondack chairs are grouped on the flatter rocks, a place to rest and maybe eat lunch. Hint, hint. Jim didn’t take the hint.

A man dressed in Swiss style clothing entertained tourist with tunes on an Alpine Horn, a very long horn that touches the ground.

We finally made our way back to the upper parking lot, where we’d left our car. We headed up the road, away from the Cove, in search of a restaurant Jim had noticed on our way in. He thought we could find some lobster rolls. We found the restaurant – there was a long line to get in – and ordered, not lobster rolls (way too expensive), but a bowl of muscles. They were good, but it wasn’t a very big meal.

After leaving there, we toured a number of dead-end roads that took us into little fishing villages. The scenery was spectacular. I wonder if any of these were devastated by Hurricane Fiona that hit the Maritimes a few weeks later.

Once back on the road toward Halifax, we stopped for gas and I asked for muffins and iced coffee to quiet my rumbling stomach, and help keep me awake.

When we arrived back in Halifax, Jim thought we had time to wander along the boardwalk that skirted the harbour. I was getting really tired by then. I suggested we pick up something for dinner at one of the many food trucks, and take it back to our suite to eat and relax. We found lobster rolls in a couple of places, but were shocked by the price. What we’d gotten in any restaurant on our last trip for about ten dollars each, were now twenty-two dollars!

“I guess we’ll go find a restaurant,” said Jim.

We eventually settled on a burger place, not far from our apartment. We got big burgers and fries for only twenty dollars each (yes, I’m being facetious), and sat on the outdoor patio watching the city life roll by. It was 7:30 when we climbed up those stairs to our suite again.

I turned in early and slept well in the big comfy bed, fortunately, since the next day’s planned adventure involved a lot of bicycling, walking and attending the Tattoo.