East Coast 2019 - Part IV

We bid farewell to Kay, Geoff, Jay and Wilson, and The Island. After a quick goodbye coffee, we headed south to catch the morning ferry at Wood Islands, to take us across the Northumberland Strait to Nova Scotia. The crossing was pleasant, and after a quick stop in New Glasgow for a new cooler and hoodie sale too good to pass up, we carried on.

We took a quiet back road, following a scenic and circuitous drive (289/336/357) through the interior, hitting Upper Musquodoboit, Middle Musquodoboit, and finally Musquodoboit Harbour, all en route to our camping destination at Porters Lake Provincial Park.

Site 51 was wonderful - on an island across a causeway, on the point of a peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides. After setup, we darted back to the nearby village for groceries and liquor....only to see the sign on the second time entering that it was prohibited to consume or even possess alcohol on the premises!

The camping was good, with fair weather though a fair bit of rain. Unlike last year, when someone forgot the tent fly....this time, we brought the fly, but it leaked at the first sign of rain! As the drizzle began overnight, we ended up pulling a tarp over ourselves INSIDE the tent as the drops continued to fall. At least there was a break the next morning to dry out our bedding.

All in all, a great spot for relaxing, reading, and campfires - though maybe selling people DRY wood would be a good start to the park season.

We scooted into Cole Harbour for some water repellent spray to treat the fly, once it was dry and calm enough to do so.....but to no avail. It leaked again two nights later when the rains returned, though it took a little longer before the drip drip dripping began.

With two more days of straight rain in the forecast, we made the late decision (i.e. when we woke up one morning) to leave early and head for home, to spend the extra time visiting family in eastern Ontario instead. Spelling each other at the wheel, we drove for sixteen straight hours through mostly rain to reach a warm bed by just before midnight, even after gaining an hour to time zones.

We had a great visit with my mother and sister, and friends of ours from Kingston popped out for a few hours too. We also set up the tent again and dried out everything which had been packed up wet.

Only the six-hour trek home remained, to long grass and cooped up cats and a considerable mess, owing partly to a 22-year old feline starting to have some issues. Luckily, we had a team of three people taking rotations to look after things while we were away.....or it could have been much worse! (thank you thank you thank you)

Leaving PEI on the Wood Islands ferry

Great camping spot!

Reading by the fire

Hamburger Helper for lunch!

Great view out the door....

Drying out after the flood

Some good reading material!

An aqueous awakening

Site 51 at Porters Lake Provincial Park

Drying out wet camping gear at Mom's!