The Acadian Propulsion

L. and I headed to the Annapolis Valley today to drop her at a week-long overnight camp (Lisa is in Montreal, on assignment).

Every time I go to the Valley I am reminded how very far away it is. You look at a map, and it seems like it should be close; it’s only 160 km as the crow flies:

When you factor in all the hither and yon necessitated by bodies of water and terrain, though, you end up driving more than double that, about 380 km. The quickest route involves going to Halifax, and then bouncing back; confounding if, like me, you are averse to doubling back:

We made it—left the shore at 9:00 a.m., and pulled into camp at 4:00 p.m.—and it was a beautiful day for a drive. We shared the Bluetooth on the drive, and thus alternated between intense teen music and esoteric NPR podcast interviews.

Having dropped L. at camp, it seemed folly to drive back the 380 km to PEI on the same day, so I booked myself a room, and am staying in Wolfville for the night.

The summer I turned 18, I bought myself a train pass and travelled east, ending up in Halifax, where I stayed for three nights in the residence at Dalhousie University.

How 1984 me knew that such a thing was possible, pre-Internet, I have no recollection, but it was a helpful, mind-expanding stay for someone whose lodging on the road theretofore had consisted of Holiday Inns and Howard Johnsons. 

Staying at Dal was cheap, clean, and central; I paid $25 a night for my room, which included breakfast.

Tonight, echo of that, I’m overnight at Acadia University in Wolfville. 

It’s $85 a night, no breakfast included. But it’s relatively cheap, mostly clean, and certainly central.

I brought my Brompton folding bicycle with me, determined to build activity into the end of a day which otherwise involved staring at highways. 

Looking at the map, I found that there’s a cycleway that runs along the old rail bed, through Wolfville and along the edge of  Grand-Pré. I found myself a restaurant a reasonable 7 km cycle from my dorm and headed off to supper.

The cycleway proved a stunning way to travel; I cannot imagine a better way to experience the Grand-Pré dyke system up close:

It took me about 25 minutes to make it to the restaurant. The meal was, alas, forgettable. But the location was lovely, and the weather on the patio was perfect.

On the ride home I diverted into the Grand-Pré National Historic Site. I’d visited before, a decade ago, but a visit at sunset was a whole different experience: I had the entire site to myself, and the golden hour made everything pop into resplendence.

The ride home was slightly more downhill-feeling than the ride there, and so I was more relaxed. 

I stopped on the edge of Wolfville to look at the mud flats:

On Main Street, I perched on the steps of the old MT&T building, and sketched the Acadia Cinema opposite:

The ride up to my dorm was a lot more effort than the ride down; I pulled in about 9:00 p.m., two hours, and 14 km of cycling after I left.

A very large day.